Alexander Vindman, Key Impeachment Figure, To Be Dismissed By Trump

Update: 4:30 p.m. EST

Attorney David Pressman said his client, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, was escorted from the White House Friday afternoon.

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

President Trump spent part of an hour-long rant Thursday railing against Vindman, who testified he was alarmed about Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Original story

With the impeachment trial behind him, President Donald Trump is looking to deal out swift retaliation against those individuals he believes crossed him. His latest target, a national security official, gave a key testimony against the president and Trump hasn’t forgotten.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council staff aide, is expected to be informed as soon as Friday that he will no longer be serving in his White House position, and instead be reassigned to the Department of Defense, anonymous insiders told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Vindman had already expressed his intent to leave his assignment by March. Trump, however, appears keen on making an example of Vindman by forcing him to leave his post even earlier than he had planned.

During the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry, Vindman gave testimony in which he shared concerns he held over a phone call Trump had with the President of Ukraine. Vindman said he felt a moral obligation to speak up about what he believed was an illegal action being taken by the president.

Vidman’s account was undoubtedly central to forming the case for impeachment being sought by House Democrats at the time. That fact hasn’t been lost on Trump either, according to the insiders who spoke with the Philadelphia Inquirer. They said that during and since Vindman’s House testimony, Trump would mock the NSC aide’s appearance and speech, sarcastically calling him “really amazing.”

After Trump’s acquittal by the Senate in the impeachment trial this week, it is clear that congressional Republicans and the White House are eager to hit back at the Democrats and those who failed to come to the president’s defense. White House aides are reportedly already examining whether or not to dismiss or reassign members of the administration who cooperated with the impeachment inquiry.

Last month, a special adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, Jennifer Williams, was reassigned two months earlier than previously planned, possibly in connection to the testimony she gave in the House last year.

Additionally, this week it was revealed that Trump has been assembling a Nixon-like list of individuals he plans to retaliate against for their roles during the impeachment. Former national security adviser John Bolton is reportedly at the top of the list, followed by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, among others.

Sen. Lindsey Graham has also said he and other Senate Republicans are making plans to investigate the origins of the impeachment proceedings, including subpoenaing the Ukraine whistleblower for testimony.