White House fires officials who testified against Trump

US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland announced on February 7 that President Trump intends to recall him immediately, just hours after national security aide Alexander Vindman was expelled from the White House complex.

Gordon Sondland (left) and Alexander Vindman (right) both testified against President Trump during the House impeachment hearing in late 2019. Photo: ABC

AP news agency quoted David Pressman, Vindman's lawyer, as saying that his client had been retaliated against for speaking the truth. "The truth cost Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman his job, his career, and his privacy. He did what any member of our military is obligated to do every day: follow orders, uphold his oath, and serve his country, even when doing so posed personal danger and threat. And for that, the most powerful man in the world, with the help of the silent, the docile, and the complicit, decided to take revenge," Pressman said.

On the same day, the US Army issued a statement saying that the government had returned Mr. Vindman and his twin brother - Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, who was also asked to resign from his job as senior lawyer for the National Security Council on February 7, to the force.

According to Sputnik, the White House's expulsion of Alexander Vindman, a 20-year veteran of the Army who received many medals, came shortly after President Trump told reporters while preparing to board Air Force One that he was unhappy with Vindman. Trump said he would let White House officials decide whether to force Vindman to leave the administration.

Earlier, when asked about Mr. Vindman's situation, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper asserted that the Pentagon "protects every employee and service member under its command from punishment or anything like that."

Mr. Vindman and Mr. Sondland are two of the officials who have testified before the US Congress to serve the impeachment investigation initiated by the House of Representatives, related to the controversial phone call between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, 2019.

These two people made unfavorable statements, confirming that the White House leadership tried to pressure and even delay military aid to force Kiev to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, his political opponent.

@TrumpWarRoom, a Twitter account used by Mr. Trump's re-election campaign, recently accused Mr. Vindman of leaking information to an unnamed member of the US intelligence community who wrote a whistleblower complaint against the White House leader, prompting Democrats in the House of Representatives to launch an impeachment investigation into the president.