Trump preparing to oust national security official who testified against him in impeachment hearing: report

by Marty Johnson - 02/07/20 7:34 AM ET

President Trump is expected to push out Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council (NSC) aide who testified during House Democrats’ impeachment hearings, as early as Friday, sources told The Washington Post.

The Post’s sources said that Vindman will be assigned to a position within the Defense Department. According to the paper, Vindman had already informed officials at the NSC that he intended to leave his post by the end of the month, but it appears that Trump will move him before that timeline.

Trump on Friday addressed Vindman’s future, telling reporters at the White House before departing for North Carolina that he is “not happy” with the NSC aide but declining to say whether he wanted him to be fired.

“Well, I’m not happy with him. You think I’m supposed to be happy with him? I’m not. They’ll make that decision. You’ll be hearing. They’ll make a decision,” he said.

Trump’s comments came a day after he held an event in the East Room that was dubbed a celebration of his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial.

The event followed the National Prayer Breakfast, at which Trump took jabs at Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the only GOP senator who voted to convict Trump on abuse of power.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” he said at the breakfast. “Nor do I like people who say ‘I pray for you’ when they know that that’s not so.”

Trump continued in the same fashion at his East Room event, calling Pelosi a “horrible person” and claiming that Romney had “no sign of principles.”

Trump has reportedly mocked Vindman in private, according to the Post, and has discussed removing other national security officials that testified in the impeachment hearings, sources told the newspaper.

Vindman testified that he believed that Trump demanded Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in order to receive military aid.

He later defended career officials who testified in the inquiry.

“I never thought I would be sitting here testifying in front of this committee and the American public about my actions,” Vindman, who wore his military uniform during the hearing, said.

– Morgan Chalfant contributed

Updated: 12:44 p.m.