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Trump impeachment: Alexander Vindman and Gordon Sondland fired for testifying
- Ukraine expert Vindman was ‘asked to leave for telling the truth’, his lawyer said in a statement
- Sondland, once a Trump supporter, said he would be removed from his post hours after Vindman’s dismissal
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Two days after US President Donald Trump’s impeachment acquittal, his administration ousted two officials – Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland – who provided damaging testimony about Trump in Democratic-led congressional hearings.
Sondland issued a statement saying he would be removed from his post hours after the lawyer for Vindman, who is the White House’s top Ukraine expert, announced the military officer was being removed from his National Security Council job.
Vindman, a Ukraine-born United States citizen and decorated Iraq war combat veteran, was escorted out of the White House, his lawyer David Pressman said in a statement, adding that the move was retribution for Vindman’s testimony.
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Michael Volkov, who represented Vindman when he testified in the impeachment inquiry, said Vindman’s twin brother, Yevgeny Vindman, was escorted off the White House grounds at the same time.
“There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House. LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth,” Pressman said, using shorthand for Vindman military rank.
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