A White House national security official who is a decorated Iraq war veteran plans to tell House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that he heard President Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president to investigate one of his leading political rivals, a request the aide considered so damaging to American interests that he reported it to a superior.
Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman of the Army, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, twice registered internal objections about how Mr. Trump and his inner circle were treating Ukraine, out of what he called a “sense of duty,” he plans to tell the inquiry, according to a draft of his opening statement obtained by The New York Times.
He will be the first White House official to testify who listened in on the July 25 telephone call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that is at the center of the impeachment inquiry, in which Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The New York Times:
A few items from Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman opening statement:
- Not the whistleblower
- Appearing today voluntarily pursuant to a subpoena.
- Convey certain concerns internally to National Security officials.
- Never had direct contact or communications with Trump.
- Did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen.
Read Vindman’s opening statement here:
