In this exchange with Rep. Chris Stewart, Mr. Vindman admits that he made Devin Nunes call him Lt. Colonel because people on Twitter attack him and marginalize him as just a “military officer” or something:
But even more substantively, Stewart challenges Vindman’s characterization of Trump asking Zelensky for a favor as a “demand”:
Lt. Col. Vindman characterized the 7/25 phone call as a “demand” based on his military experience & military culture.
President Trump & President Zelensky—who have never served in the military—did not interpret it as a demand.
Anyone else's interpretation is irrelevant. pic.twitter.com/ra1SlGSiOb
— Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) November 19, 2019
Vindman claims given the context of a July 10th meeting, reporting that was going on, and something about Giuliani made it clear to him that it was a “demand”.
But Stewart points out that’s it’s not clear at all, because neither Zelensky nor Trump said they interpreted it that way. Also, just to point out the obvious, Zelensky didn’t know there was a hold on the money during the phone call, no investigation ever happened and the money was indeed released.
The only thing that seems clear is that Vindman was wrong about it and won’t admit it.