White House attacks Lt. Col. Vindman as he testifies against Trump

Source: Politico | November 19, 2019 | Caitlin Oprysko

The president has previously been accused of witness intimidation after prior broadsides against Marie Yovanovitch and Jennifer Williams.

The White House used its official Twitter account on Tuesday to criticize the judgment of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council official and decorated Army officer, as he publicly testified about his dismay at President Donald Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine.

The slam came after Trump was previously accused of witness intimidation for his Twitter attacks on other witnesses in the House impeachment probe: Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted Ukraine ambassador, and Jennifer Williams, a foreign policy adviser to Vice President Mike Pence.

Vindman appeared Tuesday before the House Intelligence Committee, along with Williams, to kick off the second week of public impeachment hearings. Both are considered key witnesses in the inquiry, as they both listened to the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy that is at the center of the probe.

But GOP members on the panel interrogating Vindman and Williams leaned heavily on testimony from Tim Morrison, another NSC official specializing in Russia and Ukraine, in which he cast doubt on Vindman’s judgment in his role at the White House.

Toward the end of the hearing, the first of two set for Tuesday, the White House called attention to comments Morrison made in his closed-door deposition, blasting out a graphic quoting Morrison testimony that “I had concerns about Lieutenant Colonel Vindman’s judgment.”

According to a transcript of the deposition, Morrison testified that Fiona Hill, his predecessor at the NSC, shared his concerns as well. Morrison also had concerns that Vindman could be leaking information to the press, he said.

But Vindman pushed back on Morrison’s assessment in real time during the hearing, citing his last evaluation from Hill. After he was read some of Morrison’s testimony by Rep. Jim Jordan and asked why Morrison might have gotten that impression, Vindman backtracked some.

“I guess I’ll start by reading Dr. Hill’s own words, as she attested to in my last evaluation that was dated middle of July, right before she left,” he replied before reading from a sheet of paper: “‘Alex is a top 1 percent military officer, and the best army officer I have worked with in my 15 years of government service. He is brilliant, unflappable, and exercises excellent judgment.’”

As for where Morrison’s opinion differed, Vindman pointed out that the two had not worked together long and offered that his military background might have played a role. Asked to respond to Morrison’s speculation that Vindman might be responsible for leaks to the press, Vindman called the notion “preposterous.”

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