‚I’m not happy with him‘: Impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was escorted from the White House on Friday

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was escorted from the White House on Friday after angering the president by testifying in the impeachment inquiry, his attorney said in a statement to Insider.

President Donald Trump on Friday said he was „not happy“ with Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council.

Bloomberg News reported on Thursday night that the White House was weighing a plan to dismiss Vindman.

Vindman catapulted into the national spotlight last year when he offered damning, firsthand testimony of Trump’s efforts to strong-arm Ukraine into delivering politically motivated investigations against his rivals.

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Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who enraged President Donald Trump and his allies by testifying before House investigators in the impeachment inquiry, has been ousted from the White House.

Vindman was escorted out of the White House on Friday, his lawyer told Insider in a statement. His abrupt ouster came after President Donald Trump told reporters earlier that day that he was „not happy“ with Vindman.

„You think I’m supposed to be happy with him?“ Trump said. „I’m not.“

Here’s the full statement from Vindman’s attorney:

„Today, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman was escorted out of the White House where he has dutifully served his country and his President. He does so having spoken publicly once, and only pursuant to a subpoena from the United States Congress.

There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House. LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful.

During his decades of service to this country, LTC Alexander Vindman has served quietly but dutifully, and he has served with honor. He came into the public eye only when subpoenaed to testify before Congress, and he did what the law demanded.

In recent months, many entrusted with power in our political system have cowered out of fear. And, yet, a handful of men and women, not endowed with prestige or power, but equipped only with a sense of right borne out of years of quiet service to their country made different choices. They courageously chose to honor their duty with integrity, to trust the truth, and to put their faith in country ahead of fear. And they have paid a price.

The truth has cost LTC Alexander Vindman his job, his career, and his privacy. He did what any member of our military is charged with doing every day: he followed orders, he obeyed his oath, and he served his country, even when doing so was fraught with danger and personal peril. And for that, the most powerful man in the world – buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit – has decided to exact revenge.

LTC Alexander Vindman leaves the White House today. But we must not accept the departure of truth, duty, and loyalty that he represents. In this country right matters, and so does truth. Truth is not partisan. If we allow truthful voices to be silenced, if we ignore their warnings, eventually there will be no one left to warn us.“

Bloomberg News reported on Thursday night that the White House was debating whether to fire Vindman from the NSC.

Sources told the outlet that Vindman’s ouster would be portrayed as part of a „broader effort to shrink“ the Trump administration’s foreign-policy bureaucracy.

Vindman catapulted into the national spotlight last year when he became one of several witnesses to testify in the House of Representatives‘ impeachment inquiry into Trump.

Vindman is the top Ukraine expert on the NSC. He works at the Defense Department but has been detailed to the White House since July 2018. Vindman always planned to return to work at the Pentagon, but his departing ahead of schedule would raise questions about whether the move was politically motivated.

Some officials may be removed from the NSC because they’ve been perceived as having been disloyal to Trump, Bloomberg reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. But the White House plans to characterize Vindman’s ouster as part of a wider effort to clean house rather than a personal vendetta against the decorated veteran.

At the center of the impeachment inquiry was a July 25 phone call in which Trump repeatedly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch politically motivated investigations targeting former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner, and the Democratic Party as a whole.

Trump made those demands while withholding vital military aid (which was eventually released) and a White House meeting that Zelensky desperately wanted (and still hasn’t gotten).

Foto: National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is sworn in to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, during a public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trump’s efforts to tie US aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents.sourceAndrew Harnik/AP

Vindman directly listened in on the phone call and testified that he was „concerned“ by what he heard.

„It was inappropriate, it was improper for the president to request – to demand – an investigation into a political opponent, especially a foreign power where there’s at best dubious belief that this would be a completely impartial investigation,“ he said.

He added: „This would have significant implications if it became public knowledge, and it would be perceived as a partisan play that would undermine our Ukraine policy, and it would undermine our national security.“

Vindman testified that immediately after the call ended, he reported his concerns to John Eisenberg, the NSC’s top lawyer.

„When I reported my concerns, I did so out of a sense of duty,“ Vindman said. „My intent was to raise these concerns because they had significant national security implications for this country.“

He added that after he conveyed his concerns to Eisenberg, the lawyer told him not to talk to anyone else about what he had heard. And Vindman said Eisenberg then moved a transcript of the phone call to a top-secret code-word-level NSC server typically used to store sensitive information pertaining to national security.

Vindman was also a witness to other episodes that were part of the impeachment inquiry, including a July 10 White House meeting during which Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, explicitly told Ukrainian officials that Zelensky would get a White House meeting if he launched the investigations Trump wanted. Vindman reported details of that meeting to Eisenberg as well.

Vindman faced harsh blowback from the president and his allies in Congress after he testified against Trump behind closed doors and later in public. Among other things, he was accused of being anti-Trump and faced racist allegations of dual loyalty to Ukraine because of his and his family’s status as refugees who fled the Soviet Union four decades ago before coming to the US.

After arriving in the US and completing his education, Vindman joined the Army and received a Purple Heart after being wounded in the Iraq War.

He discussed his background when testifying before the House Intelligence Committee last year.

„Dad, my sitting here today, in the US Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to United State of America in search of a better life for our family,“ Vindman testified. „Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.“

Vindman also expressed gratitude in his belief that he would not face political retaliation for his testimony.

In Russia, he said, „My act of expressing my concerns to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions, and offering public testimony involving the president would surely cost me my life.“

„I am grateful for my father’s brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege of being an American citizen and public servant, where I can live free of fear for mine and my family’s safety,“ he said.