‘Improper’ request
Republicans at hearing attack Vindman’s loyalty
Testifying Tuesday, national security official Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman described concerns he had after listening in on a July 25 call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“Without hesitation, I knew I had to report this,” Vindman said. “It was inappropriate. It was improper.”
WASHINGTON – A career Army officer testified Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine was “improper,” as Republicans in the impeachment inquiry tried to undercut the national security official with exchanges questioning his loyalty to the U.S.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman said that it was his “duty” to report his concerns about the phone call, but deflected repeated Republican efforts to divulge everyone he told about it – an attempt by GOP lawmakers to identify the anonymous whistleblower who spurred the impeachment probe.
Vindman, a 20-year military officer who received a Purple Heart after being wounded in the Iraq War, was among the officials who listened in to the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The whistleblower raised significant worries about Trump’s push for Zelenskiy to investigate Democrats, and Vindman said he shared those concerns.
“Without hesitation, I knew I had to report this,” Vindman told the House Intelligence Committee. “It was inappropriate; it was improper for the president to demand an investigation into a political opponent.”
Vindman’s emotional testimony launched a pivotal week as the House’s historic impeachment investigation reaches further into Trump’s White
House. Democrats say Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden while withholding U.S. military aid to Kyiv may be grounds for removing the 45th president. Republicans have argued both that there was no linkage between the two matters and that there is nothing inappropriate even if there was.
Vindman testified alongside Jennifer Williams, his counterpart at Vice President Mike Pence’s office. Both said they had concerns as Trump spoke with the newly elected Ukrainian president about political investigations into Biden.
Vindman spent long stretches fielding Republican attacks on his loyalty to the U.S. and his career in public service.
Vindman and Williams opened a high-stakes week of public testimony.
On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is to appear.
Trump said he had watched part of the day’s testimony and slammed the ongoing impeachment hearings as a “disgrace” and “kangaroo court.”
Two other witnesses testified later Tuesday.
Former White House national security official Tim Morrison recalled Sondland telling him he’d told a Ukrainian official that his government would have to announce investigations into Trump’s Democratic political foes to free up the assistance.
And former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker said he should have realized at the time but sees now that Trump was using the aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son Hunter.