WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Friday ousted two government officials who had testified against him during his impeachment hearings.
First came news that Trump had removed Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the national security aide who played a central role in the Democrats' impeachment case. He was escorted out of the White House complex Friday, according to his lawyer, who said he was asked to leave in retaliation for "telling the truth."
"The truth has cost Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman his job, his career, and his privacy," David Pressman, an attorney for Vindman, said in a statement.
The Army said in a statement that Vindman and his twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, who also was asked to leave his job as a White House lawyer on Friday, had been reassigned to the Army.
Both brothers, whose tours at the White House were scheduled to last until July, will retain their Army ranks and now return to military service. Alexander Vindman, who had been expecting the move and had begun removing personal items, was told he will go to the Pentagon before moving to the National War College in July as originally planned, according to one person close to the situation. Yevgeny Vindman, who goes by Eugene, was told he will report to the office of the Army general counsel.
Next came word that Gordon Sondland, Trump's ambassador to the European Union, also was out.
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"I was advised today that the President intends to recall me effective immediately as United States Ambassador to the European Union," Sondland said in a statement.
Sondland was a witness in the House impeachment inquiry, telling investigators that "Everyone was in the loop" on Trump's desire to press Ukraine for politically charged investigations. He told lawmakers how he came to understand that there was a "quid pro quo" connecting a desired White House visit for Ukraine's leader and an announcement that the country would conduct the investigations the president wanted. However, he said those were his assumptions and there was no direct order from the president.
"I am grateful to President Trump for having given me the opportunity to serve, to Secretary [Mike] Pompeo for his consistent support, and to the exceptional and dedicated professionals at the U.S. Mission to the European Union," Sondland added in his statement.
Alexander Vindman's lawyer issued a one-page statement that accused Trump of taking revenge on his client.
"He did what any member of our military is charged with doing every day: he followed orders, he obeyed his oath, and he served his country, even when doing so was fraught with danger and personal peril," Pressman said. "And for that, the most powerful man in the world -- buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit -- has decided to exact revenge."
"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, the lawyer, said in a statement. "Lt. Col. Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful."
The White House did not respond to Pressman's accusation.
"We do not comment on personnel matters," said John Ullyot, spokesman for the National Security Council, the foreign-policy arm of the White House where Vindman was an expert on Ukraine.
Vindman's status had been uncertain since he testified that he didn't think it was "proper" for Trump to "demand that a foreign government investigate" former Vice President Joe Biden and his son's dealings with the energy company Burisma in Ukraine.
Trump said Friday that he was not happy with him.
"You think I'm supposed to be happy with him?" Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. "I'm not. ... They are going to be making that decision."
Vindman, a 20-year Army veteran, wore his uniform full of medals, including a purple heart, when he appeared late last year for a televised impeachment hearing. Trump supporters raised questions about the immigrant's allegiance to the United States -- his parents fled the Soviet Union when he was a child --and noted that he had received offers to work for the government of Ukraine, offers Vindman said he swiftly dismissed.
"I am an American," he stated emphatically.
DIFFERING REACTIONS
Trump backers cheered Vindman's removal, while Democrats were aghast.
"The White House is running a two for one special today on deep state leakers," Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., wrote on Twitter.
A Twitter account used by the president's reelection campaign, TrumpWarRoom, claimed Vindman leaked information to the whistleblower whose complaint about Trump's call ignited the investigation, and "colluded with Democrats to start the partisan impeachment coup."
Former Trump National Security Council official Tim Morrison testified that others had offered concerns that Vindman may have leaked something. Vindman, in his own congressional testimony, denied leaking any information.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said the firing was another example of how the "White House runs away from the truth."
"Lt. Col. Vindman lived up to his oath to protect and defend our Constitution," Schumer said in a statement. "This action is not a sign of strength. It only shows President Trump's weakness."
Schumer said that the Pentagon had assured him that whistleblowers "like LTC Vindman" would be protected. "Any reprisals against him or others who came forward to tell the truth are wrong and should be seen for what they are: An extension of President Trump's cover-up," he wrote on Twitter.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who orchestrated the House impeachment, said she was "stunned" to hear that Vindman would be pushed out of the White House. "That's such a shame," she told reporters. "What a patriotic person. This goes too far."
Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee that lost to Trump, recalled how Vindman said in testimony before the House impeachment panel that he had reassured his worried father that he would be "fine for telling the truth."
"It's appalling that this administration may prove him wrong," Clinton said in a tweet.
At least one Republican joined the protest. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said witnesses should not be punished for giving the House required testimony. "I obviously am not in favor of any kind of retribution against anyone who came forward with evidence," she said in Maine, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper was asked what the Pentagon would do to ensure that Vindman faces no retribution. "We protect all of our service members from retribution or anything like that," Esper said. "We've already addressed that in policy and other means."
Pressman said Vindman was among a handful of men and women who courageously "put their faith in country ahead of fear" but have "paid a price."
'GREAT RELATIONSHIP'
With impeachment over, Trump is debating whether to make additional changes in the White House staff. Some of his advisers are encouraging him to part ways with his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney; those advisers have pointed fingers at Mulvaney for his role in the freeze of the security aid to Ukraine that paved the way for the impeachment inquiry in the House. Mulvaney was ordered to freeze the aid by Trump, according to several administration officials.
Other advisers are telling Trump that he should wait to make major changes until after the election. Some advisers hope that Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who is retiring, will join the White House as a senior adviser, though not as chief of staff. Meadows was traveling Friday with Trump on Air Force One to North Carolina.
Trump disputed speculation that Mulvaney would be pushed out in favor of Meadows. "I have a great relationship with Mick," the president told reporters. "I have a great relationship with Mark. And it's false."
Information for this article was contributed by Deb Riechmann, Colleen Long, Nancy Benac, Zeke Miller, Eric Tucker and Bob Burns of The Associated Press; by John Harney of Bloomberg News; and by Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman and Danny Hakim of The New York Times.
A Section on 02/08/2020