Impeachment witness quits army over Trump ‘bullying’

WASHINGTON: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who provided damning impeachment evidence against President Donald Trump, retired from the US Army on Wednesday after being subjected to a campaign of “bullying, intimidation and retaliation,” his attorney said.

Vindman, 45, was fired from his position on the National Security Council at the White House in February, two days after Trump was acquitted by the Republican-majority Senate.

He was up for promotion to full colonel, but his attorney, David Pressman, said in a statement that would clearly not be forthcoming.

Vindman is “retiring today after it has been made clear that his future within the institution he has dutifully served will forever be limited,” Pressman said. “LTC Vindman’s patriotism has cost him his career,” he said.

“Through a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation, the president of the United States attempted to force LTC Vindman to choose: Between adhering to the law or pleasing a President. Between honoring his oath or protecting his career. These are choices that no one in the United States should confront, especially one who has dedicated his life to serving it,” Pressman said.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, tweeted her support for Vindman. “The President’s vindictiveness can’t erase the truth: history will remember Lt. Col. Vindman as an American patriot, who proved his heroism both on the battlefield when he earned a Purple Heart & in the House impeachment trial when he spoke truth to power,” she wrote. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth—a combat veteran who is on the shortlist of candidates to be Joe Biden’s presidential running mate against Trump in the fall—said the resignation “puts the spotlight on Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s failure to protect a decorated combat Veteran against a vindictive Commander in Chief.”

House intelligence chief Adam Schiff released a letter he sent to Vindman thanking him for his service. “You should not have been subjected to bullying and retaliation from this President. You should not have had to choose between your oath of office and your career. You followed your patriotic and legal duty to tell the truth,” the Democrat wrote.