Army officer says he raised concerns about Trump and Ukraine

Alexander Vindman, an Army lieutenant colonel who served in Iraq and, later, as a diplomat, is willing to tell investigators to the impeachment inquiry that he listened in on President Donald Trump's July 25 call with new Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and raised concerns to the NSC's lead counsel.

He raised concerns twice that Trump administration's pushed to have Ukraine investigate Democrats and Joe Biden. The official is prepared to deliver testimony in the House impeachment inquiry.

Vindman is expected to say that he was concerned by the call. 

"I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a US citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the US government's support of Ukraine."

Vindman will be the first current White House official set to appear as the impeachment inquiry reaches deeper into the Trump administration and Democrats prepare for the next, public phase of the probe.

US Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland had stressed the importance of having Ukraine investigate the 2016 election as well as Burisma, a company linked to the family of Biden, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

The US House of Representatives, which is controlled by the opposition Democratic Party, will vote on impeachment procedures against President Donald Trump for the first time later this week, according to a 'dear colleague' letter by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Trump administration reacted sharply to the move, accusing the Democrats of conducting an "unauthorized impeachment proceeding".

Vindman's statement differs from that of Sondland, a wealthy businessman who donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and said that no one from the NSC “expressed any concerns” when he testified before the impeachment investigators.

Vindman, who arrived in the US as three-year-old from the former Soviet Union, wrote that "I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained. This would all undermine US national security."

Vindman says he told Sondland that "his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the NSC was going to get involved in or push."

Vindman served in various military and diplomatic posts before joining the NSC. He was the director for European affairs and a Ukraine expert under Fiona Hill, a former official who testified earlier in the impeachment probe. Hill worked for former national security adviser John Bolton.

Vindman will be a key witness and will testify that he is not the whistleblower or the unknown government official, who filed the initial complaint about President Trump's conversation with the Ukranian president. He and Hill were both part of a Ukraine briefing with Sondland that others have testified irritated Bolton at the White House.

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

Vindman's testimony is expected the day after the House votes on a resolution to affirm the impeachment inquiry, as announced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. After voting, the House will, set rules for public hearings and outline the potential process for writing articles of impeachment against Trump. The vote is expected Thursday.

The Democrats initiated an impeachment inquiry on charges of Trump abusing his position of power by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an inquiry on Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden to expose them of 'corruption' and holding back close to $400 million in military aid unless the investigation was carried out.

It would be the first formal House vote on the impeachment inquiry and aims to nullify complaints from Trump and his allies that the process is illegitimate, unfair and lacking due process.

Pelosi dismissed the Republican argument that impeachment can't begin without formal approval from the House and brushed off their complaints about the closed-door process.

Pelosi's announcement Monday came just hours after a former White House national security official defied a House subpoena for closed-door testimony, escalating the standoff between Congress and the White House over who will testify.

Charles Kupperman, who was a deputy to Bolton, failed to show up for the scheduled closed-door deposition after filing a lawsuit asking a federal court in Washington to rule on whether he was legally required to appear.

— With PTI inputs