CNN anchor and chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto warned on Thursday that Americans should not “dismiss” as “bluster” Elon Musk’s threat of the death penalty against Alexander Vindman, a key witness during Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.

Musk wrote on X Wednesday, “Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States, for which he will pay the appropriate penalty.” Vindman, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who worked at the National Security Council during Trump’s first term, has not been investigated or tried for treason, an offense that carries up to the death penalty.

Sciutto commented on Musk’s wild accusation, saying, “The accusations and threats are becoming more constant – each targeting a new “enemy within” where the “crime” apparently is not being on his side. Government employees one day, a US veteran the next. This of course mimics Trump’s strategy of demonize and divide. I wouldn’t dismiss it as bluster.”

Vindman himself hit back at Musk, writing, “Elon, here you go again making false and completely unfounded accusations without providing any specifics. That’s the kind of response one would expect from a conspiracy theorist. What oligarch? What treason?” He added:

Let me help you out with the facts: I don’t take/have never taken money from any money from oligarchs Ukrainian or other otherwise.

I do run a nonprofit foundation. The https://ift.tt/pNfix5s to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s unprovoked attack on Feb 24, 2022. I served in the military for nearly 22 years and my loyalty is to supporting the U.S. Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. That’s why I reported presidential corruption when I witnessed an effort to steal an election. That report was in classified channels and when called by Congress to testify about presidential corruption I did so, as required by law.

You, Elon, appear to believe you can act with impunity and are attempting to silence your critics. I’m not intimidated.

Musk, the world’s richest man who immigrated to the U.S. from South Africa, has been given an official role in the next Trump administration after being one of Trump’s biggest megadonors during the election.

Russian pro-democracy activist Garry Kasparov also sounded the alarm on Musk’s threat, writing, “America, this is your next four years, or longer. Oligarchs protected by Trump accusing former public officials of the gravest crimes without evidence or even pretense to provide any. Trial by social media, which of course is owned by said oligarch. Russia in the Wild West 90s.”

__

The post CNN Anchor Warns Americans Not to ‘Dismiss’ As ‘Bluster’ Elon Musk’s Latest Threat first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/tMWJamh