House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Friday blasted what she called President Trump’s “shameful” removal of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council (NSC), highlighting in her statement that the president is “impeached forever,” despite his full acquittal from the Senate.
The Trump administration removed Vindman, one of the Democrats’ prime witnesses in the House impeachment inquiry, from the NSC on Friday.
Vindman’s attorney, David Pressman, confirmed in a statement:
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.
Pelosi blasted the development in a statement on Friday, calling his firing “shameful” and a “brazen act of retaliation.”
Her full statement:
Lieutenant Colonel Vindman has proven to be an American patriot: on the battlefield when he earned a Purple Heart, and in the House triaf when he spoke truth to power. His brave testimony showed America that right still matters.
President Trump is impeached forever. The shameful firing of Colonel Vindman was a clear and brazen act of retaliation that showcases the President’s fear of the truth. The President’s vindictiveness is precisely what led Republican Senators to be accomplices to his cover-up. The firing of this patriotic soldier is a sad and shameless loss for America’s security.
History will remember Lieutenant Colonel Vindman as an American hero.
As Breitbart News reported, Vindman was suspected of being a leaker:
In a statement, Lt. Col. Vindman’s lawyer said that there was “no question in the mind of any American” that his client had been fired for testifying against the president at the impeachment inquiry.
However, there may also have been an independent reason: he was suspected of being a leaker.
Morrison himself did not share that suspicion, but he testified that others expressed “concerns” about Vindman possibly leaking information.
Vindman’s lawyer prevented the committee’s Republican counsel from asking Morrison about the issue, saying it was “outside the scope” of the inquiry.
Vindman’s twin brother, Yevgeny, was also removed from his post at the NSC, it was reported on Friday.
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) encouraged the audience to stand up and clap for Vindman during the Democrat debate Friday night, adding that the president “should have been pinning a medal on Vindman and not on Rush Limbaugh” during the State of the Union:
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