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Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who supplied damning impeachment proof in opposition to President Donald Trump, retired from the US Army on Wednesday after being subjected to a marketing campaign of “bullying, intimidation and retaliation,” his lawyer stated.
Vindman, 45, was fired from his place on the National Security Council on the White House in February, two days after Trump was acquitted by the Republican-majority Senate.
Vindman was up for promotion to full colonel, however his lawyer, David Pressman, stated in an announcement that will clearly not be forthcoming.
Vindman is “retiring today after it has been made clear that his future within the institution he has dutifully served will forever be limited,” Pressman stated.
“LTC Vindman’s patriotism has cost him his career,” he stated.
“Through a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation, the president of the United States attempted to force LTC Vindman to choose: Between adhering to the law or pleasing a President. Between honoring his oath or protecting his career.
“These are selections that nobody within the United States ought to confront, particularly one who has devoted his life to serving it,” Pressman said.
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth — a combat veteran who is on the shortlist of candidates to be Joe Biden’s presidential running mate against Trump in the fall — said the resignation “places the highlight on Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s failure to guard a adorned fight Veteran in opposition to a vindictive Commander in Chief.”
She said she would continue to block Senate confirmation of 1,123 senior US Armed Forces promotions until Esper could give a “clear accounting” of the situation.
Meanwhile, House intelligence chief Adam Schiff released a letter he sent to Vindman thanking him for his service.
“You mustn’t have been subjected to bullying and retaliation from this President. You mustn’t have had to decide on between your oath of workplace and your profession. You adopted your patriotic and authorized obligation to inform the reality,” the Democrat wrote.
Vindman was present during the July 25, 2019 phone call during which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open an investigation into Biden.
Subpoenaed by Congress to testify at the House impeachment hearings, the Ukrainian-born Vindman, who received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered in Iraq, said Trump’s actions were “improper.”
That testimony helped build the case leading to Trump becoming only the third president ever impeached by Congress.
Vindman’s twin brother, a lawyer on the National Security Council, was not called to publicly testify but was also forced out of his White House position in February.
John Bolton, who served as Trump’s National Security Advisor when Vindman was at the White House, told MSNBC television that his performance had been “distinctive.”
“I believe he merited promotion,” said Bolton, who recently published a tell-all book about his time in the Trump White House that is harshly critical of the president.
“And I’m certain that Congress goes to be very over the approaching weeks as to precisely what factored into his determination,” he stated.
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