Brian Kilmeade, host of Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends and his eponymous radio show, responded to Democrats’ direct and indirect references towards him during Tuesday’s House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry hearing with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. He joined the same-day edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak.
In October, Kilmeade speculated that Vindman “tends to feel simpatico with Ukraine,” while assessing Vindman’s foreign policy view. Left-wing news media outlets subsequently characterized Kilmeade’s comments as questioning Vindman’s patriotism and denigrating Vindman’s character.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) framed Kilmeade’s comments as hostile towards immigrants during Tuesday’s hearing:
I am concerned that your loyalty has been questioned not because you’re bring forward evidence of wrongdoing against the President of the United States, but because you are an immigrant. Recently, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade said, “He,”– meaning you — “were born in the Soviet Union, emigrated with his family young, [and] he tends to feel simpatico with Ukraine.” I find this statement reprehensible because it appears that your immigrant heritage is being used against you. Lieutenant Colonel, I came here when I was three months old, and your family fled the Soviet Union, and you fled to America when you were three and a half years old. … From one immigrant American to another immigrant American, I want to say to you that you and your family represent the very best of America.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) accused unspecified Fox News personalities of attacking Vindman’s character during Tuesday’s hearing.
“Colonel Vindman, we have seen far more scurrilous attacks on your character and watched as certain personalities on Fox have questioned your loyalty,” said Schiff. “I know that you have shed blood for America, and we owe you an immense debt of gratitude. I hope no one on this committee will become part of those vicious attacks.”
LISTEN:
Kilmeade recalled the moment he was informed of Democrats naming him during Tuesday’s hearing
“I was doing a Fox Nation special at the time, so they said to me, ‘We need to see you. You just got blown up about the comments you made about the Ukrainian, the lieutenant colonel born in Ukraine, Lieutenant Colonel Vindman,'” said Kilmeade. “I said, ‘The thing to keep in mind is, [Alexander Vindman] has a different point of view than the president when it comes to Ukraine. He was born there. His parents lived there. He’s simpatico with the Ukrainians,’ and they took that and said I think he’s more loyal to the Ukrainian government than ours.”
Kilmeade continued, “I’m saying it’s a point of view to understand, that [Alexander Vindman] made up talking points that were pro-Ukraine. Which, by the way, I personally want to give them all the weapons in the world to fight against the Russians. But having said that, if it’s diverging from the president, it’s not up to you to judge those orders. It’s not up to you to go report the president, and because [Donald Trump] didn’t go with your talking points, maybe [Alexander Vindman] might have a proclivity to lean more towards [his] native land who I did not know turned around and offered him a secretary of defense position, which of course he’s not going to take, but that’s how close he is with the Ukrainian government.”
“So I thought that was an important point of view,” added Kilmeade. “I’m not saying, ‘I don’t like colonels that got wounded in Iraq,’ so I think anybody that knows me — I don’t have to justify my loyalty to our military or to anyone in the military. So they’ll just keep with their antics at 1:22 in the afternoon.”
Various news media figures mischaracterize comments made by their detractors in bad faith for political purposes, noted Kilmeade.
“There are people that — no matter what — will just sit and wait for something to twist, or they just don’t like what I think or what I say,” Kilmeade concluded. “There’s nothing you can do about it. There’s nothing you can do. What you do is, you’re paid to give your opinion, to make sure they’re learned opinions, which you go to school on and get background on, talking six hours a day. If they want to take something and put it out there, they can do it.”
Kilmeade’s latest book, Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History, was published on November 5.
Breitbart News Tonight broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125 weeknights from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern or 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.
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