(19 Nov 2019) Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is declining to tell lawmakers who in the intelligence community he may have spoken to after he listened in to a July call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
In response to questions from California Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Vindman testified he would not answer on the advice of his lawyer and the recommendation by the committee's chairman, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff.
Schiff said Nunes' questioning was an attempt to out a whistleblower who first revealed the essence of the call and whose formal complaint triggered the impeachment probe. The whistleblower based the complaint on conversations with people who were familiar with the call.
Schiff said "these proceedings will not be used to out the whistleblower."
Lt. Col. Vindman told lawmakers that he was offered the post of Ukraine's defense minister three times but rejected the suggestion.
Vindman, the National Security Council's director for Ukraine, said he was made the offer while attending the inauguration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as part of the official U.S. delegation.
Vindman says "I immediately dismissed these offers." He says two American officials witnessed the exchange with a top adviser to Zelenskiy, and that he notified his chain of command and counterintelligence officials about the offer upon returning to the U.S.
Vindman is testifying before the House Intelligence Committee about his concerns about President Donald Trump's decision to press Ukrainian officials to launch an investigation of his political opponents.
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