Alexander Vindman will testify before the House impeachment inquiry, becoming the first current White House official to provide testimony on Trump’s July 25 call to Volodymyr Zelensky
Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images On Tuesday, the National Security Council’s leading Ukraine expert, Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, will testify before the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry, becoming the first current White House official to provide testimony on Trump’s July 25 call to Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he pressured him the Ukrainian president to investigate Hunter Biden in exchange for the release of military aid.
In his opening statement published on Monday night, Vindman reports that he twice expressed his objections to superiors, concerned that the administration’s actions would “undermine U.S. national security.” His first complaint came after a July 10 meeting in which U.N.
I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine. I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained.
Vindman, a Ukrainian-American immigrant who was wounded by a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq, was also concerned by “outside influencers promoting a false narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views” inside the intelligence agency. According to all indications, — and additional documents reviewed by the New York Times — that’s the crack team of Rudy Giuliani.
Aside from corroborating the testimony of ex-NSC official Fiona Hill — which established the national security apparatus’ extreme hesitancy toward Trump’s actions and Giuliani’s presence — Vindman’s account as the first current White House official to appear before the House impeachment inquiry also shows that the president’s efforts to suppress testimony aren’t going to succeed beyond true believers in the administration or on his payroll.
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