Republicans target military witness in Trump impeachment probe

Washington, November 20

A US Army officer and key impeachment witness saw his loyalty called into question by Republicans on Tuesday, as he testified that President Donald Trump made inappropriate demands on his Ukrainian counterpart for dirt on rival Democrats.

Straining to fight back on abuse-of-power allegations against Trump, Republicans in Congress took aim at Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a respected member of the White House National Security Council, suggesting the Kiev-born immigrant’s allegiance is not to the United States and so his testimony is dubious.

Testifying in the second week of televised impeachment hearings, Vindman steadfastly defended his patriotism, saying he had reported alarming pressure by Trump for Ukraine to investigate potential 2020 rival Joe Biden “out of a sense of duty”.

Other witnesses before the House Intelligence Committee supported Vindman’s account that Trump and his envoys held up aid to Ukraine to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky to help the US leader’s re-election chances, which Democrats say is a gross and impeachable abuse of power.

“It is improper for the president of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a US citizen and a political opponent,” Vindman told the hearing.

He called Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky -- seeking a “favour” to investigate Biden as well as vague claims of Ukraine support for US Democrats in 2016 – “inappropriate”, “improper” and a “partisan play”. AFP