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Trump Administration Looking To Take Action Against Alexander Vindman

   DailyWire.com
National Security Council Director for European Affairs Alexander Vindman arrives for a closed-door deposition at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on October 29, 2019. - A White House official plans to tell Congress Tuesday that he witnessed efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate President Donald Trump's rival Joe Biden, and that he reported it as a national security risk. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman will be the first White House official to testify to the House impeachment inquiry that Trump and allied diplomats improperly pressured the Ukraine government to open investigations designed to help Trump politically.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration is reportedly weighing options to remove Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council, which comes after remarks he made during President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearing.

Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Jacobs reported: “White House is weighing plan to dismiss Alexander Vindman from National Security Council after he testified in impeachment inquiry, a move that will be part of a broader effort to shrink Trump admin foreign policy bureaucracy, sources tell me.”

“The White House intends to portray any house-cleaning as part of a downsizing of the NSC staff, not retaliation,” Bloomberg News reported. “Senior officials were informed on Thursday that some staff would be leaving the White House, the people added. The moves have been in the works since at least last week and could come as soon as Friday.”

“The plan to remove Vindman suggests that the White House is feeling emboldened to retaliate against those Trump blames for making him the third U.S. president to be impeached by the House,” Bloomberg News continued. “Vindman has not been told of any change in his status, according to a person close to his legal team, and plans to show up for work until told otherwise. His twin, Yevgeny Vindman, also remains at the NSC and is not aware of any change in his status, that person added.”

The Daily Wire previously reported that during the impeachment hearings, Senior NSC official Timothy Morrison, who was the former boss of Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, testified that Vindman’s bosses had numerous concerns and problems with him.

GOP counsel Steve Castor asked, “You had indicated in your deposition that when you took over the [Ukraine] portfolio for Dr. Hill July 15 that you were alerted to potential issues in Colonel Vindman’s judgement?”

“Yes,” Morrison responded.

“Did she relay anything specifically to you why she thought that?” Castor asked.

Morrison responded that the concern apparently came from multiple officials and was an overall general concern about his judgment.

“Did any other NSC personnel raise concerns with you about Colonel Vindman?” Castor asked.

“Yes,” Morrison responded.

“Morrison later confirmed that multiple other officials were concerned that Vindman was potentially leaking sensitive information to the media,” The Daily Wire reported. “Morrison also confirmed that Vindman did not keep him in the loop about all the things that he was doing in the job and that Vindman went behind his back and did not inform him about the concerns that he had about President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine.”

“If he had concerns about something about the content of the call, that’s something that I expected that I would have been notified of,” Morrison said. “I also think as a matter of practice, since we both went to the lawyers, we didn’t both need to.”

“At any point subsequently, did [Vindman] become frustrated that he felt cut out of some of the Ukraine portfolio?” Castor asked.

“Yes,” Morrison responded, adding that Vindman was upset that he was not invited on a trip to Ukraine.

 

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