Washington • Rep. Chris Stewart told Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman on Tuesday that he was wrong to equate President Donald Trump’s request for “a favor” from a foreign power with an “order” or demand.
“I think it's nonsense. Look, I was in the military,” said Stewart, who retired from the Air Force as a major. “I could distinguish between a favor and an order and a demand, and so could my subordinates.”
Stewart, a Utah Republican who has joined his GOP colleagues in attempting to peel apart the testimony of Vindman and other witnesses in the House impeachment inquiry, said neither Trump nor Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have said they understood Trump’s asking for a “favor” in a July phone call as a simple request, not a demand.