Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) bashed President Trump on Tuesday for his criticism of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, calling out the president as “a disgrace” for his attacks on the National Security Council (NSC) official currently giving testimony in House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
The 2020 presidential candidate criticized Trump on Twitter, saying, “You are attacking a decorated Army colonel.”
{mosads}Trump sent off a series of tweets Tuesday morning, condemning the Democrats for their handling of the impeachment inquiry and seeking to cast doubt on the credibility of Vindman, the top NSC official for European affairs.
Trump again insisted there was nothing wrong with his July 25 phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he pressed the Ukrainian president for an investigation into one of his 2020 rivals. Trump’s push for a Kiev probe into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, came days after he delayed hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Ukraine that had been approved by Congress.
Vindman indicated in his opening statement that he reported the Trump administration’s interactions with Ukraine twice to his superiors, but he said he is not the whistleblower whose report on the July 25 phone call pushed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to launch the impeachment inquiry.
House Democrats have faced criticism for holding these initial hearings behind closed doors, but they have announced they plan to hold the first public floor vote on the inquiry Thursday.