- A White House national security official heard Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rival Joe Biden
- Alexander Vindman, an Army lieutenant colonel, will tell the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry that he ‘didn’t think the call was proper’
- He is the first official to publicly state he heard the call but insists he is not the whistle-blower who first raised concerns with the CIA last month
- Vindman, who served in Iraq and was awarded a Purple Heart, said he never had direct contact with the president but was asked to serve on the NSC in 2018
- Trump vented on Twitter about ‘people that I never even heard of’ testifying about the call, but then insisted Vindman was a ‘Never Trumper’
- Vindman reported another incident to superiors involving EU ambassador Gordon Sondland
- Sondland allegedly said Ukraine should ‘deliver investigations’ into the 2016 election, Bidens, and Burisma Holdings, where Hunter Biden was on the board
- Vindman said the remarks were made following a meeting with Oleksandr Danylyuk, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council for Ukraine
- In a late night Tweet, Trump declared the only crimes in the ‘Impeachment Hoax were committed by Shifty Adam Schiff’ who ‘made up’ the phone conversation
A White House national security official will tell investigators Tuesday that he listened to Donald Trump‘s call with Ukraine’s new president Volodymr Zelensky and ‘did not think it was proper.’
The president began his day on Twitter swinging at the man, Alexander Vindman, an Army lieutenant colonel who was awarded a Purple Heart in Iraq, saying he had ‘never heard of’ him but insisting he is a ‘Never Trumper.’
Vindman is expected to testify in the House impeachment inquiry that he twice raised concerns over the Trump administration’s interest in having Ukraine investigate Joe Biden and his son.
He will be the first White House official to say he heard the July 25 telephone call between Trump and Zelensky that is at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
Vindman does not appear to be the anonymous whistle-blower whose complaint about the call launched a now weeks-long chapter in the impeachment saga.
Trump vented that a transcript of the call makes it clear he did nothing wrong, and that Vindman is an unimportant figure who never crossed paths with him.
‘Why are people that I never even heard of testifying about the call. Just READ THE CALL TRANSCRIPT AND THE IMPEACHMENT HOAX IS OVER! Ukrain [sic] said NO PRESSURE,’ Trump tweeted.
Calling Vindman a ‘Never Trumper’ in the hours that followed will create confusion about whether he indeed kn him.