A top White House aide will testify that he twice reported concerns about Trump's Ukraine dealings out of fear Trump would 'undermine US national security'
- Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, will testify privately to congressional investigators on Tuesday in the impeachment inquiry.
- According to his opening statement, seen by The New York Times, he will testify that he felt a "sense of duty" to speak out about President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine, which he said would "undermine US national security."
- Vindman will be the first White House official who listened in on Trump's June 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - in which he pressured Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son on allegations of corruption - to speak to members of the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into the president.
- The phone call was the subject of a whistleblower complaint filed in August, and it has since become the launchpad for Democrats in their impeachment inquiry.
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A White House national security aide is set to testify before investigators in the House impeachment inquiry and will tell them that he twice reported concerns that President Donald Trump's actions were "undermining US national security."
Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, will testify privately on Tuesday to the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Reform Committees that he twice registered concerns about Trump and his inner circle's dealings with Ukraine, according to a draft of his opening statement obtained by The New York Times on Monday.
Vindman will be the first White House official who listened in on Trump's June 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - in which he pressured Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son on allegations of corruption - to testify.
The phone call was the subject of a whistleblower complaint filed in August, and has since become the launchpad for Democrats in their impeachment inquiry. The White House has said it will not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.
Vindman said in his statement that he felt a "sense of duty" to speak out against Trump's actions, which he said would "undermine US national security."
"I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a US citizen," Vindman wrote in his statement seen by The Times, "and I was worried about the implications for the US government's support of Ukraine."
"I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens ... it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play, which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained."
According to The Times, Vindman plans to testify that he is not the whistleblower that filed the August complaint against Trump, but his account of the phone call corroborates the account given by the intelligence official and adds credence to the complaint.
This is a developing story.