'He's the one in jeopardy': Trump's 'first buddy' could soon face defamation lawsuit

A newly elected Democratic congressman hinted a defamation suit was coming against Donald Trump's right-hand adviser for accusing his twin brother of treason.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk claimed retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was guilty of being a traitor and warned that he should "pay the appropriate penalty," and his brother Eugene Vindman told MSNBC's "The Weekend" those claims could form the basis of a lawsuit.

"I would say that if anybody's on the cusp of having to pay it may be Elon Musk because his comments are really false and defamatory, no basis in fact," said Vindman, who won his first House election this month in Virginia. "So I think he needs to dial back what he said. My brother served honorably in the Army, he's fought and bled on battlefield, and even statement that Elon Musk made is false."

"So I think he needs to dial that back," Vindman added. "Otherwise he is the one in jeopardy of having to pay for defamation."

Musk, who has ensconced himself as "first buddy" at Mar-a-Lago after pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Trump's re-election campaign, accused Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the former president's first impeachment, of being unwittingly used by Russia.

“Vindman is on the payroll of Ukranian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States,” Musk posted on his social media platform X, "for which he will pay the appropriate penalty."

Musk's post was made in response to an interview Vindman gave on the Tesla CEO's reported conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, which he called “particularly troubling” because Trump had given the South African-born mogul access to state secrets and “Top Secret security clearance.”

“It’s possible that some of that is seeping through,” Vindman said. "[Putin] been using the richest man in the world to do his bidding. In some cases, that’s encouraging him probably to support Donald Trump.”

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