White House aides testify publicly as impeachment inquiry hearings continue
Vindman said he reported ‘without hesitation’ the July 25 call details
White House aides who listened in on President Trump’s controversial call with Ukraine’s president testified publicly for the first time Tuesday, bringing the impeachment inquiry directly into the White House and providing damaging new details about Trump’s efforts to press a foreign leader to investigate his political rivals while he held up crucial military aid.
The firsthand testimony countered days of complaints from Trump and his allies that previous testimony in the House Intelligence Committee was based on second- or third-hand accounts. Instead, the public heard from several officials or staffers who were on the call, or attended White House meetings, at the root of the inquiry.
The third day of hearings in the Democratic-led inquiry dragged on for more than 11 hours as lawmakers from both sides peppered four witnesses with questions. At least some evidence bolstered the Democrats’ case, and Republicans largely responded by trying to discredit the witnesses rather than dispute their testimony.
One key witness, who was summoned by Republicans, wound up shooting down conspiracy theories embraced by the president, saying pursuing them in Ukraine did not serve the “national interest.” He also called it inappropriate for Trump to ask a
foreign leader to investigate a U.S. political rival.
The first witness Tuesday, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, said he was so alarmed by Trump’s “demand” on a July 25 call for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly investigate the Bidens that Vindman reported it “without hesitation” to a White House lawyer, calling it his “duty to report my concerns to the proper people in the chain of command.”
“It was inappropriate, it was improper for the president to demand an investigation into a political opponent, especially [from] a foreign power where there’s at best dubious belief that this would be a completely impartial investigation,” Vindman, a decorated Iraq war veteran, said during the hearing.
Although Trump didn’t use the word “demand,” Zelensky would have understood it that way “because of the power disparity between the two leaders,” said Vindman, who emigrated to the
United States as a baby when his father fled the Soviet Union.
In response, Republican lawmakers intensified attacks on the media and sought to undermine the witness’ credibility. In several striking moments, they suggested Vindman was inflating his importance and questioned his integrity, even his decision to wear his Army dress uniform to the hearing. The 20-year Army veteran said he wore it because his patriotism had been questioned.
A Republican lawyer pressed Vindman to explain why a senior Ukrainian official had asked him several times to consider serving as the country’s defense minister, and asked if the official spoke in English or Ukrainian. Vindman said he dismissed the offer – made in English – as “funny,” and had immediately reported it to his superiors and U.S. counterintelligence officials, as required.
The harsh questioning followed conservative media attacks on Vindman’s loyalty to Trump and, implicitly, the country. Republican lawmakers also pressed him on whether
he leaked to the press or would describe himself as a “never Trumper,” allegations he denied.
House Democrats are racing to complete their inquiry and decide whether to bring articles of impeachment against Trump over allegations that he hijacked U.S. policy toward Ukraine to boost his 2020 reelection bid by getting Zelensky to publicly commit to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate.
Seven witnesses had testified by Tuesday night, and five more are scheduled before Congress leaves Thursday for the Thanksgiving recess.
Along with Vindman, the first serving White House official to give a deposition, and one of the first witnesses to provide direct, firsthand confirmation of numerous details in the anonymous whistleblower’s complaint that first fueled the inquiry, the committee also heard from Jennifer Williams, a State Department Ukraine expert assigned to Vice President Mike Pence’s office.
Williams said Trump’s request for specific investigations in his call with Zelensky struck her
as “unusual and inappropriate” and “shed some light on possible other motivations” for Trump’s decision to freeze nearly $400 million in security aid to Ukraine in early July. She did not contact lawyers or her superiors.
Tim Morrison, who focuses on Europe and Russia policy at the National Security Council, and Kurt Volker, the former special representative to Ukraine, testified in the afternoon and evening.
Republicans had summoned them in hopes they would bolster their case that Trump did not block military assistance in a direct ploy to get Ukraine to help his reelection campaign. But both Morrison and Volker ultimately said they thought it inappropriate for Trump to ask a foreign leader to investigate a U.S. political rival.
Although Morrison said he found nothing improper with president’s phone call, he said he contacted White House lawyers because he worried how it would play in Washington’s charged political climate if the conversations leaked. In the end, the White House released a rough transcript of the call.
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