President Trump waited barely 48 hours after his acquittal by the U.S. Senate to exact revenge against witnesses who gave sworn testimony to Congress about the administration’s withholding of military assistance to Ukraine. The retaliation was raw, in the open and reminiscent of the purges seen in an authoritarian regime that equates truth telling with disloyalty.
First to go Friday was Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council official who had testified in the House impeachment inquiry that he flagged a White House lawyer about what he regarded as Trump’s improper call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy. Next out was his twin brother Yevgeny, who served as a senior lawyer on the NSC.
Vindman had listened in on that July 25 phone call between the two presidents.
“Lt. Col. Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth,” said David Pressman, an attorney for the decorated Iraq War veteran. “His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful.”
As if there were any doubt that vengeance was driving the day, by sundown Gordon Sondland was recalled as ambassador to the European Union. Gordon had been working behind the scenes with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to pressure Zelensky to announce an investigation into Hunter Biden’s lucrative deal with a Ukrainian gas company while his father, Joe, served as vice president.
Sondland testified that, yes, there was a “quid pro quo” behind the withholding of $400 million in military aid and investigations into Trump’s political enemies. The ambassador, a Trump appointee and a $1 million donor to the president’s inaugural committee, added that “everyone was in the loop” about the scheme.
Vindman and Sondland provided some of the key testimony that led the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to approve two articles of impeachment against Trump. On Wednesday, the Senate acquitted the president on each count, with Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah the only Republican to vote for conviction (on abuse of power).
Susan Collins, R-Maine, who voted for acquittal, suggested Trump “has learned from this case” and “will be more cautious in the future.”
His subsequent actions — from his lashing out at critics at a bizarre East Room celebration on Thursday to the ouster of Vindman and Sondland on Friday — suggest otherwise. It seems his takeaway from what he calls the “impeachment hoax” is that he can be as imperious as he wishes without fear of accountability.
This attack on public servants who came forward under oath sends a chilling message to others who may suspect or witness wrongdoing in government. Equally disturbing is the talk among some of Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill to launch an investigation of the whistle-blower who brought the Ukraine scandal to light.
In his House testimony, Vindman spoke of his late father’s decision to leave the Soviet Union 40 years ago for a better life of American freedom for his family.
“Do not worry,” Vindman would have assured his late father on that day. “I will be fine for telling the truth.”
In the Trump White House, however, it proved a firing offense.
— The San Francisco Chronicle
