Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was hilariously shut down by the wife of retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment trial.
Rubio tweeted a Politico story on the White House freezing military aid to Ukraine that was labeled “nonsense” by press secretary Jen Psaki.
“Remember when freezing military aid to Ukraine was an impeachable offense?” Rubio asked. Continue reading.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the decorated war hero who retired from the Army in July after calling out “intimidation” from the White House, said in an interview published Monday morning that Trump is a “useful idiot” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Donald Trump fired Vindman from the National Security Council in February, a move largely seen as retaliation for Vindman’s congressional testimony during the House impeachment investigation.
“President Trump should be considered to be a useful idiot and a fellow traveler, which makes him an unwitting agent of Putin,” Vindman said in an interview with the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. Continue reading.
The Pentagon got the document as Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was on track to be promoted to colonel. Sources said the accusations could block a promotion if found to be true.WASHINGTON — The National Security Council sent a list of allegations about Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman to the Pentagon after he testified before the House in impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, according to a person who has seen the document and two others who were briefed on it.
The Pentagon received the document, which alleged that Vindman created a hostile work environment at the NSC, as he was on track to be promoted to colonel. The accusations outlined in it, if substantiated, would have kept him from moving up a rank in the Army, the people familiar with the document said. They said it was not the typical evaluation that military officers serving on the NSC are given when their temporary positions end and they are set to return to the Defense Department, as Vindman was scheduled to do about six months after the document was sent to the Pentagon.
The NSC is housed in the White House and chaired by the president, although it’s managed day to day by the national security adviser. Continue reading.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of the House Democrats who led the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, on Wednesday thanked Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for participating in the proceedings after Vindman announced that he was retiring from the Army.
Schiff wrote in a letter to Vindman that his testimony during the inquiry stuck with him because of the military officer’s stated belief that in the U.S., “right matters.” Schiff also took aim at Trump’s “bullying and retaliation,” writing that Vindman should not have had “to choose between your oath of office and your career.”
“Right matters. Right does not matter to Donald Trump. But it matters to you. It matters to this country and to its people. It will always matter,” Schiff wrote. “And with those words, you have left an indelible mark on our nations’ conscience and history. For if right does not matter in our country, if truth does not matter, then we are truly lost.” Continue reading.
Illinois Democrat demands more information on this ‘disgraceful situation’Sen. Tammy Duckworth will keep her hold on more than 1,100 military promotions in place despite Wednesday’s announcement of the retirement of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
The Illinois Democrat announced the hold on Thursday amid concerns that Vindman would not receive a promotion to the rank of colonel in retaliation for his testimony before the House last year.
Vindman, a former Ukraine expert to the National Security Council, was ousted from his White House job following his November testimony in which he validated many of the concerns raised by the whistleblower whose report sparked the impeachment inquiry. Continue reading.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served as a key witness in President Trump’s impeachment trial, announced Wednesday that he has moved to retire from the military after 21 years of service amid fears that he will “forever be limited” due to political backlash over his testimony.
The big picture: The president fired Vindman in February as the leading Ukraine expert on the National Security Council for being “insubordinate,” but top military leaders including Secretary of Defense Mark Esper claim Vindman had not been politically targeted.
Kellyanne Conway is trying to smooth over President Donald Trump’s firing of Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman and his brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, from the National Security Council, by claiming they were not fired at all.
Her husband, prominent conservative attorney George Conway, isn’t having it, appearing to call her remarks “gaslighting.”
The senior counselor to the president told Fox & Friends Monday morning it’s “typical” for someone from the NSC to be reassigned. She did not mention his brother was fired as well, nor did she note they were escorted out of the White House complex like criminals. Continue reading.
He had been publicly vilified by President Trump, marched out of his national security office across from the White House, so Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman wanted only to get his mind off politics as he settled in to watch a television show with his grade-school-age daughter Friday evening.
Then his wife returned home with some news: Much of the country had just watched as former vice president Joe Biden implored the audience to give a standing ovation in Vindman’s honor at the nationally televised Democratic presidential debate in Manchester, N.H.
“Stand up and clap for Vindman. That’s not who we are! We’re not what Trump is!” Biden thundered in the name of the Army officer whom Trump had hours earlier ousted from the White House National Security Council in retaliation for his testimony in the House Democrats’ impeachment probe. Continue reading.
Trump tweeted that Vindman ‘had problems with judgement, adhering to the chain of command and leaking information.’Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s attorney vigorously pushed back Saturday on President Donald Trump publicly tying the impeachment witness’ ouster to insubordination and leaking information.
In a statement, attorney David Pressman said Trump’s claims “conflict with the clear personnel record and the entirety of the impeachment record of which the President is well aware.”
Trump tweeted Saturday morning that Vindman, who was the top Ukraine policy officer on the National Security Council, “had problems with judgement, adhering to the chain of command and leaking information.” Continue reading.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was escorted out of the White House on Friday and told to leave his position at the National Security Council (NSC), according to a statement released by his attorney.
Vindman was one of the key witnesses who testified in connection with the House impeachment inquiry about President Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president during which Trump raised investigations of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine.
“There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House,” David Pressman, Vindman’s attorney, said in a statement. “LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful.” Continue reading.
