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Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, whose congressional testimony regarding President Donald Trump’s conduct while communicating with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, were central to the Trump impeachment of 2019, has announced his intention to retire from the U.S. Army.
He announced the resignation on Twitter, confirming an earlier CNN report:
A legal representative had previously put out this statement, indicating that the 45-year-old’s decision to step away after 21 years of service resulted from the conclusion that his future in the military had been “forever limited” following his testimony in the impeachment inquiry:
CNN broke the news of Vindman’s resignation early Wednesday, reporting that the White House, after dismissing not just Vindman but his twin brother from their posts with the National Security Council, had sought to involve itself in Vindman’s reassignment, reportedly suggesting, according to the report, that he man a radar station in Alaska.
John Bolton, the former national-security adviser, called Vindman’s retirement “a loss for the country,” during an interview with MSNBC. He said the news would provoke a lot of questions, “and it should.”
Vindman, said Bolton, performed admirably in his White House position and merited promotion.
Vindman, in his testimony before the House last year, directly addressed his father, assuring him that the decision decades earlier to move the family to the United States from what was then the Soviet republic Ukraine had been the right one.
“Do not worry,” he said, referring to his role in the hearing. “I will be fine for telling the truth.”
In the U.S., he said, “right matters.”
