Trump ups pressure on star impeachment witness Vindman – POLITICO

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And less than an hour later, Trump was retweeting several posts calling for Vindman to be fired “ASAP.”

Trump’s comments followed several media reports that Vindman, a Ukraine specialist at the National Security Council, could be reassigned from his NSC detail to the Pentagon as soon as Friday. Trump punted the announcement of any move to the NSC, teasing that “you’ll be hearing soon” about their decision.

Vindman’s removal from his post would come amid three months of relentless attacks by Trumps allies in Congress, the White House and on Fox News, questioning the Iraq War veteran’s patriotism and honesty. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) launched a multi-day string of Twitter attacks on Vindman during the impeachment trial.

Vindman is one of the few firsthand witnesses House investigators were able to secure testimony from before charging that Trump abused his office by withholding vital aid from Ukraine until it announced investigations into his political opponents. He testified to lawmakers that he flagged Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy to a top White House lawyer, and he testified publicly in November that he considered Trump’s call improper. His testimony elicited a mid-hearing attack from the official White House Twitter account and drew the ire of the president’s allies.

A transfer would almost certainly be interpreted by some as an act of retribution for Vindman’s testimony against the president, and the Washington Post reported that the White House is mulling reassignments for other administration officials who defied the White House’s orders and testified in the inquiry.

A source close to Vindman suggested as much Friday, saying that it appears the White House “is getting ready to retaliate.”

Trump called out Vindman directly, as well as his twin brother, who also serves on the National Security Council, during a lengthy celebration of his impeachment trial acquittal Thursday.

The discussion of Vindman’s future comes as several of the other 17 witnesses in the House’s impeachment inquiry have returned to the news.

For example, Jennifer Williams, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence who testified alongside Vindman and similarly raised concerns about Trump’s July 25 call, is moving to a new role at CENTCOM this spring, sources revealed last week. Bill Taylor, the former top U.S. envoy to Ukraine, left his post last month and took to the pages of the Washington Post to chide Secretary of State Pompeo for wondering whether Americans cared about Ukraine.

And Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine ousted by Trump amid a smear campaign by his allies, detailed her impeachment experience in an op-ed earlier in the week, applauding those who would call out “wrongdoing” by powerful officials.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/07/donald-trump-pressure-impeachment-witness-alexander-vindman-111997

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