Rachel Vindman, the sister-in-law of Democratic U.S. House candidate Eugene Vindman, twice donated to the VoteVets political organization that is advised by her husband, Alexander Vindman.
News of her donations to VoteVets, which supports the campaign of Eugene Vindman, surfaces after Rachel Vindman apologized for social media posts minimizing the second attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
In a post she later deleted, and described as “flippant,” Rachel Vindman (pictured above) wrote, “No ears were harmed. Carry on with your Sunday afternoon.”
According to FEC records, Rachel Vindman made two donations directly to VoteVets, once on October 26, 2023, and a second time on November 21, 2023, for $20.
However, the FEC database indicates Rachel Vindman had given a total of $220 to VoteVets over the course of the year at the time of her November 2023 donation. Records also reveal she donated using ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform, more than 10 times over the course of 2023, which could include previous donations to VoteVets.
Rachel Vindman’s donations to VoteVets represent another connection between the organization and the Vindman family. The organization is currently supporting Eugene Vindman’s political campaign and employs his twin brother, Alexander Vindman, as a senior advisor.
Both Vindman brothers played a key role in the Democrats’ first effort to impeach Trump, when Alexander Vindman claimed to overhear Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, then reported the purported contents of the call to Eugene Vindman, who forwarded them to White House lawyers.
Alexander Vindman is named as a “senior advisor” to VoteVets in the organization’s press documents, including one published as recently as February, when he appeared on CNN in this role.
Created to support progressive veterans as they campaign for public office, VoteVets was accused of illegally contributing to Eugene Vindman’s political campaign in August, and a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint was filed against it.
The FEC complaint was filed after Eugene Vindman’s political campaign referred The Washington Free Beacon to VoteVets when the news outlet requested clarification about the candidate’s military record. Eugene Vindman has claimed he served in combat, but The Daily Mail reported in 2019 that he saw no combat.
In response to the request, Eugene Vindman’s campaign reportedly referred the outlet to VoteVets, and told the outlet the third-party organization would provide a statement on behalf of the campaign.
The apparent collaboration sparked a complaint from the Functional Government Initiative (FGI), which said the relationship “raises an obvious concern that VoteVets is effectively serving as a staffing service for Vindman for Congress by paying staffers to perform core campaign functions.”
The complaint additionally alleges that VoteVets previously classified payments to one of its employees as an in-kind campaign contribution to Eugene Vindman and reached the legal limit for such contributions in the campaign cycle.
“Thus, any in-kind provision of personal services is necessarily an excessive contribution,” FGI said in its complaint.
Internal polling released by Derrick Anderson, the Republican who will face Eugene Vindman in November, showed the race is statistically tied in August, with the Democratic nominee supported by 42 percent of likely voters and 41 percent supporting Anderson.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rachel Vindman” by Rachel Vindman.
