White House aide to testify Tuesday about Trump’s July 25 Ukraine call

A White House security aide who listened in when President Trump asked the president of Ukraine to investigate ex-Vice President Joe Biden’s son will tell impeachment probers Tuesday that Trump’s request would “undermine U.S. national security.”

“I was concerned by the call,” Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, a former Army infantry officer and a Ukraine expert with the National Security Council, said in prepared testimony published Monday.

“I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine,” said Vindman.

If Ukraine pursued the investigation, Vindman said, it might be interpreted as a politically partisan move that would result in its government losing bipartisan support in Congress.

“A strong and independent Ukraine is critical to U.S. national security interests because Ukraine is a frontline state and a bulwark against Russian aggression,” his prepared statement says.

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Vindman will be the first current White House staffer to appear before the House impeachment committees. He was expected to testify despite a Trump administration edict barring officials from giving testimony or documents to the House impeachment investigation.

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Vindman says in his prepared testimony that he took his concerns about Trump’s July 25 call to a National Security Council lawyer “in accordance with my decades of experience and training, sense of duty, and obligation to operate within the chain of command.”

“As an active duty military officer, the command structure is extremely important to me. On many occasions I have been told I should express my views and share my concerns with my chain of command and proper authorities,” he said.

Vindman said he emigrated to the U.S. when he was 3 1/2 years old, and that his family arrived in New York City in 1979. The Army deployed him to South Korea, Germany and Iraq, where he was wounded in an improvised explosive device attack and awarded a Purple Heart.

“I am a patriot, and it is my sacred duty and honor to advance and defend OUR country, irrespective of party or politics,” Vindman wrote.