WASHINGTON -- A handful of Republican senators tried to stop President Donald Trump from firing Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who testified in the House impeachment hearings, but the president relieved the diplomat of his post anyway, according to people briefed on the discussions.
The senators were concerned that it would look bad for Trump to dismiss Sondland and that it was unnecessary, since the ambassador was already talking with senior officials about leaving after the Senate trial, the people said. The senators told White House officials that Sondland should be allowed to depart on his own terms, which would have reduced any political backlash.
When State Department officials called Sondland on Friday to tell him that he had to resign that day, he resisted, saying he did not want to be included in what seemed like a larger purge of impeachment witnesses, according to people informed about the matter.
If they wanted him gone that day, Sondland conveyed to the State Department officials that they would have to fire him. And so they did, ordering him recalled from his post effective immediately. Sondland's dismissal was announced just hours after another impeachment witness, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, and his twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, were escorted out of the White House by security officers and told that their services were no longer needed.
The ousters came just two days after the Republican-led Senate acquitted Trump on two articles of impeachment.
Democrats called the firings a "Friday night massacre" aimed at taking revenge against government officials who were forced to testify under subpoena about what they knew.
The Republican senators who sought to intervene on Sondland's behalf reached out to Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, and Eric M. Ueland, the legislative affairs director, to register their protests, according to one of the people informed about the conversations, who like others declined to be identified discussing private talks.
The senators did not express the same concern about Alexander Vindman.
Trump on Saturday defended his decision to fire Vindman, calling the decorated Iraq War veteran "very insubordinate."
"Fake News @CNN & MSDNC keep talking about 'Lt. Col.' Vindman as though I should think only how wonderful he was," Trump wrote on Twitter, without explaining why he put the colonel's rank in quote marks.
"Actually, I don't know him, never spoke to him, or met him (I don't believe!)," the president continued, "but, he was very insubordinate, reported contents of my 'perfect' calls incorrectly, & was given a horrendous report by his superior, the man he reported to, who publicly stated that Vindman had problems with judgement, adhering to the chain of command and leaking information. In other words, 'OUT'."
Trump offered no explanation for why Yevgeny Vindman, who worked as a lawyer on the National Security Council staff, was also fired and escorted out of the White House complex at the same time even though he did not participate in the House hearings. The president also did not mention his decision to recall Sondland.
Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council staff, and his brother were scheduled to remain at the White House until July but will now be sent back to the Defense Department. Sondland, a political appointee, will return to the U.S.
A lawyer for Alexander Vindman said Trump's Twitter messages contained "obviously false statements" about his client.
"They conflict with the clear personnel record and the entirety of the impeachment record of which the president is well aware," said the lawyer, David Pressman. "While the most powerful man in the world continues his campaign of intimidation, while too many entrusted with political office continue to remain silent, Lt. Col. Vindman continues his service to our country as a decorated, active-duty member of our military."
Alexander Vindman will report to the Pentagon until a previously scheduled assignment at the Army War College begins in July, while Yevgeny Vindman, who goes by Eugene, will join the office of the Army general counsel.
"Throughout this process the Army leadership has been supportive of both Alex and Eugene in terms of their detail to the National Security Council and throughout the impeachment process," said Michael Volkov, who represented Alexander Vindman when he testified in the impeachment inquiry. "The Army has been supportive and would never participate in the president's desire for retaliation."
A Section on 02/09/2020