‘You can’t even troll well’: Rubio mocked by wife of Trump impeachment trial witness

The wife of Alexander Vindman, a top witness in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, mocked Florida Senator Marco Rubio after he appeared to try to make the case that President Joe Biden committed the same offences that Mr Trump did in relation to Ukraine.

Mr Rubio tweeted a link to a story by Politico on Friday about Mr Biden halting military aid to Ukraine, prompting criticism from some who argued that Mr Rubio was just trying to get into Mr Trump’s good graces.

Mr Trump was accused in 2019 of withholding military assistance to Ukraine in an effort to get them to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

“Remember when freezing military aid to Ukraine was an impeachable offence?" Mr Rubio tweeted as he shared the story, which the White House called partisan “nonsense”.

Rachel Vindman, a podcast host and the spouse of the former director of European Affairs for the US National Security Council, responded: “Oh, no you don’t. What was impeachable was the attempted extortion. You’re so bad at this; you can’t even troll well.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pushed back on the Politico story, saying that Ukraine is still receiving US funding.

The report by Politico said: “The Biden White House has temporarily halted a military aid package to Ukraine that would include lethal weapons, a plan originally made in response to aggressive Russian troop movements along Ukraine’s border this spring.”

“The aid package would be worth up to $100 million, according to four people familiar with internal deliberations,” the reporters added.

“The idea that we have held back security assistance to Ukraine is nonsense,” Ms Psaki said during a press conference. “Just last week, in the run-up to the US-Russia summit, we provided a $150 million package of security assistance, including lethal assistance.”

“We have now provided the entire amount appropriated by Congress through the Ukraine security assistance initiative. Two days before the Summit, President Biden stood on the stage before the entire world at NATO and said that we would keep putting Ukraine ‘in the position to be able to continue to resist Russian physical aggression,’” Ms Psaki added.

Alexander Vindman, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel, became a national public figure in late 2019 after he testified before Congress about Mr Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. The evidence he presented led to Mr Trump being charged with abuse of power in the following impeachment proceedings.

Mr Trump was impeached in the House and acquitted in the Senate during the early 2020 impeachment trial, much like he was during his second impeachment trial following the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January.

Then-president Trump forced out Lt Col Vindman from the National Security Council after the first impeachment proceedings.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Rubio’s office for comment.