The hashtag “DevinNunesIsAnIdiot” started trending on Twitter after Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman asked GOP Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to address him by his military title.
Nunes, the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, was questioning Vindman during his Tuesday testimony in the impeachment inquiry and referred to the Ukraine specialist on the National Security Council (NSC) as “Mr. Vindman.”
“Ranking member, it’s Lt. Col. Vindman, please,” he responded.
The moment went viral on Twitter and more than 20,000 tweets with the hashtag knocking Nunes quickly spread.
Vindman, during Nunes’s questioning, said he had had discussions about Ukraine with two officials, one being senior State Department official George Kent, who were “properly cleared individuals with a need to know” such information.
Nunes attempted to probe more about the other individual, an unidentified member of the intelligence community. However, Vindman said that he was advised by his lawyer not to discuss specific members of the intelligence community.
“You can plead the Fifth but you’re here to answer questions and you’re here under subpoena,” Nunes said. “So you can either answer the question or you can plead the Fifth.
Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) interjected and said the whistleblower has a “statutory right to anonymity.”
Vindman is testifying with Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Pence.
Vindman and Williams are among the officials who listened in on the July 25 phone call in which Trump allegedly pressed Ukraine’s leader to open two politically-motivated investigations, including one into 2020 rival and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.