Rep. Eugene Vindman’s marketing campaign shelled out $38,783 in what it labeled a “fundraising expense” final month at a Florida bookstore the place his brother held signing occasions for his best-selling ebook criticizing Western coverage towards Russia, monetary disclosures reveal.
Vindman’s twin brother, Alexander — a retired Military lieutenant colonel who was a key determine in President Trump’s first impeachment — bragged about signing a whole lot of copies of his tome “The Folly of Realism” at Books & Books across the time of his brother’s mysterious marketing campaign outlays.
Books & Books has a number of shops across the Miami space, however an worker on the Coral Gables retailer confirmed to The Put up Wednesday that Alexander Vindman had ebook signings at that location, which is the place the marketing campaign funds had been directed.
That particular person additionally stated that Eugene Vindman’s group had requested earlier within the day what the shop would do if a reporter got here round asking questions.
Federal Election Fee data don’t specify what the purported “fundraising expense” entailed, or whether or not these funds went to bulk purchases of Alexander Vindman’s ebook, which briefly cracked the New York Occasions “hardcover nonfiction” bestseller listing for the week ending March 16.
“The Folly of Realism” was launched Feb. 25 from Hachette E book Group at an preliminary value of $30. Ten days later, on March 7, the Eugene Vindman marketing campaign made a $7,809.55 cost to Books & Books. A second cost, for $30,972.97, was processed March 20.
Over the previous 15 years, there was no FEC file of main political fundraisers at Books & Books, with just a few bills for meals totaling not more than $54 listed by teams resembling Emily’s Record and former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré’s unsuccessful 2010 marketing campaign for the US Senate.
FEC data present that Books & Books was the one Florida-based firm that obtained funds from Vindman’s marketing campaign through the first quarter of 2025.
On March 9, two days after the $7,810 cost to Books & Books, Alexander Vindman posted a photograph of himself signing scores of copies of “The Folly of Realism.”
On March 21, a day after the second cost of $30,973 was made, Eugene Vindman posted photographs on social media displaying him at a Chili cookoff in Caroline County, Va. the prior day.
On April 12, Alexander Vindman introduced he had signed 800 extra copies of his ebook on the Florida retailer.
The Put up reached out to reps for each Vindman brothers for remark. The Put up additionally contacted Books & Books administration to inquire about whether or not a political fundraiser came about on the retailer.
Eugene Vindman narrowly gained the race to signify Virginia’s seventh District on a message of preventing in opposition to corruption, touting his efforts to assist his twin brother in opposition to Trump.
“Eugene Vindman’s hypocrisy is rich,” Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Maureen O’Toole informed The Put up.
“Vindman is in Congress to advance his own out of touch agenda and, apparently, bail out his family’s abysmal literary endeavors,” she added. “Virginians will kick this lying loser to the curb next November.”
The Put up beforehand reported that the now-congressman declined to reply questions final 12 months about whether or not his taxpayer-funded journeys to Ukraine performed a task in his enterprise ventures of attempting to promote weapons to Kyiv.
Eugene Vindman had bragged to the Prince William Occasions in late 2023 about making 14 journeys to the war-torn nation, funded by the “Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group” State Division program.
Throughout that timeframe, his firm, Trident Assist LLC labored to promote the Ukrainian authorities a weapons system. That firm additionally used the identical PO field as Vindman’s congressional marketing campaign.
Vindman took in $125,000 from Trident in early 2024 regardless of stories that he didn’t earn a wage from the corporate, monetary disclosures present.
