Fox News is attempting to distance itself from John Yoo, after the lawyer for Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman sent a letter to the network requesting a retraction or correction following a segment in which Yoo appeared to claim that he could be guilty of espionage.
David Pressman, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, sent the letter to the network on Wednesday, according to the New York Times. Aside from the comments in question made by Yoo, the former Bush administration lawyer who authored the “torture memo,” Pressman also highlighted remarks that were made by others on the network, including Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson.
“LTC Vindman and his family have been forced to examine options, including potentially moving onto a military base, in order to ensure their physical security in the face of threats rooted in the falsehood that Fox News originated,” Pressman wrote in the letter. “He wants, as any responsible news organization would want, to see the truth published. And Fox News is in a unique position to correct its falsehoods with truth.”
A Fox News representative told the Washington Examiner, “As a guest on FOX News, John Yoo was responsible for his own sentiments, and he has subsequently done interviews to clarify what he meant.”
Yoo, now a professor at the University of California, appeared on The Ingraham Angle on Oct. 28. Laura Ingraham highlighted one part of a New York Times report, which stated that Vindman was born in Ukraine and that Ukrainian officials sought advice from him on how to deal with the president’s personal attorney Rudy Guiliani. He responded to Ingraham, saying, “I find that astounding. Some people might call that espionage.”
Yoo’s remarks sparked an outcry until he tried to clarify his remarks a day later.
“I want to clear up a misconception of my remarks on the Laura Ingraham show last night,” he previously told the Washington Examiner. “I did not accuse Lt. Col. Vindman of committing the crime of espionage. I have tremendous respect for a decorated officer of the U.S. Army and a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What I was addressing was a report that Ukrainian officials had sought to contact Vindman for advice on how to handle Rudy Giuliani acting as a presidential envoy.”
“I meant to say that this sounded like an espionage operation by the Ukrainians,” he added. “I think it deliberately misconstrues my words to say that the separate issue of the phone call between the U.S. and Ukrainian president through the chain of command constitutes espionage by Vindman, or that Vindman is some kind of double agent.”
UPDATE:
Yoo said he was unaware of the request and directed the Washington Examiner to an opinion piece he wrote in USA Today days after the initial segment.
