- Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams testify publicly
- Panel hears Trump demanded investigation tied to Joe Biden
- Impeachment hearings – live coverage
Two witnesses in the impeachment inquiry have described their concern over an “unusual” call between Donald Trump
and the Ukrainian president in July, in which Trump ignored official
talking points about fighting corruption to instead “demand” an
investigation tied to Joe Biden.
“What I heard was inappropriate and I reported it,” said Lt Col Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine adviser on the National Security Council. “I did so out of a sense of duty.”Vindman and Jennifer Williams, a foreign policy adviser to vice-president Mike Pence, became the first public witnesses to offer a direct description of the 25 July call in which Trump asked Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a political “favor”.
“It was improper for the president of the United States to demand a foreign government investigation of a US citizen and a political opponent,” Vindman said.
The House intelligence committee questioned the pair at the opening of a blockbuster week in which nine witnesses are expected to testify about the suspension last summer of US military aid for Ukraine and Trump administration attempts to get Zelenskiy to announce political investigations.
Trump has said the request for investigations sprang from a desire to address corruption in Ukraine. That excuse was eroded badly on Tuesday, as Vindman testified that in the July phone call with Zelenskiy and an earlier call, Trump ignored talking points steering him to bring up anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.
“The president can choose to use the talking points or not, he’s the president,” Vindman said. But what Trump spoke about instead on the second call – investigations of Biden and the gas company Burisma – sparked Vindman to action.
“Without hesitation, I knew that I had to report this to the White House counsel,” he said. “I had concerns and it was my duty to report my concerns to the proper people in the chain of command.”
Republicans have argued that the Trump administration never directly tied military aid or the prospect of a White House visit to the announcement of investigations. But Vindman also provided the first public testimony about a scene in which Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, did just that.
National security adviser John Bolton cut short a 10 July White House meeting with Ukrainian officials that Vindman also attended, he said, “when Sondland started to speak about delivery of investigations”.
Sondland continued to press the request for investigations of “2016 elections, Biden and Burisma” in a second meeting, Vindman said.
“I stated to Ambassador Sondland that this was inappropriate and had nothing to do with national security,” he said.
Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a senior national security council (NSC) official, were scheduled to testify in the afternoon. All four were previously deposed in closed-door meetings with the House intelligence committee, which is leading the investigation.
The committee continued on Monday to add to the public schedule, announcing that state department official David Holmes, who said he overheard a phone conversation between Sondland and Trump, would testify on Thursday.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and attacked the witnesses on Twitter, baselessly calling both Vindman and Williams “Never Trumpers”, meaning dyed-in-the-wool Trump critics.
The Connecticut Democrat Jim Himes asked Vindman if he would call himself a “Never Trumper”.
“I’d call myself ‘Never partisan’,” Vindman said.
An active-duty army officer who came to the US from the Soviet Union at age three, Vindman appeared in his dress uniform, bearing a combat infantry badge and a Purple Heart medal, bestowed when he was wounded in Iraq.
In a dramatic opening statement – with his twin brother Yevgeny, who serves on the National Security Council, seated behind him – he said his ability to testify about the president without fear for his life spoke to his father’s wisdom to move the family to America.
“Dad, this is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago,” he said. “Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth.”
Answering New York Democrat Sean Maloney’s question about why he wasn’t worried, Vindman said: “Congressman, because this is America. This is the country that I have served and defended, that all of my brothers have served. And here, right matters.”
Steve Castor, a lawyer on the Republican side, seemed to suggest dual loyalty, asking about an offer from Ukrainian security chief Oleksandr Danylyuk for Vindman to become Ukraine’s defense minister.
Vindman declined the offer and reported it internally, he testified, saying: “I’m an American, I came here when I was a toddler, and I immediately dismissed these offers, I did not entertain them.”
Devin Nunes, senior Republican on the committee, used his opening statement to attack the media. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham released a statement saying the Democrats were “blinded by hatred”.
“We have learned nothing new in today’s illegitimate ‘impeachment’ proceedings,” she said.
Paul Rosenzweig, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, who was senior counsel to Kenneth Starr in the Whitewater investigation during the Clinton administration, told the Guardian Republicans had been struggling to mount an effective defense.
“The factual development is continuing to put the Republicans in a position of defending a difficult set of facts, and they haven’t figured out a way to do that yet,” Rosenzweig said.
Two of the witnesses scheduled to testify on Tuesday, Volker and Morrison, were requested by Republicans and could dispute other testimony. Morrison, who also listened to the July call, testified he did not think it was improper, and has questioned the decision of Vindman, his subordinate, to report the call to NSC lawyers.
Volker, the first key witness to be deposed six weeks ago, could find himself torn between his denial at the time that there was any effort to urge Ukraine to investigate Biden, and a preponderance of testimony since indicating that there was such an effort and that he was one its leaders.
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