Trump fires officials who testified against him in impeachment hearings

Mini-purge comes after White House spokeswoman had warned that some would 'pay' over president's impeachment

The retribution of Donald Trump‘s impeachment began quickly as Alexander Vindman and Gordon Sondland, two key witnesses in the case against the president, were fired from their jobs.

Lt Col Vindman, who had implicated Mr Trump in a quid pro quo to smear the president’s political rivals, was “escorted out of the White House” after Mr Trump said hours earlier he was “not happy” with the National Security Council’s director of European affairs and top Ukraine expert.

The decorated Iraq veteran’s twin brother, Yevgeny Vindman, who was not involved in the impeachment hearings, was also fired from his role at the NSC.

Later Mr Sondland announced that he had been removed from his role as US ambassador to the European Union. A hotelier who had won his appointment after donating to the Trump campaign, he was closely involved with efforts in Ukraine to persuade officials to announce investigations into Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

At the impeachment hearings he explicitly said Mr Trump had withheld aid from Ukraine in return for help cheating in the election, saying: “Was there a quid pro quo? The answer is yes.”

On Friday evening he released a statement saying: “I was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately as United States ambassador to the European Union.”

The testimony of the two men, and 15 other current or former officials, led the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives to impeach the president in December on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of congress.

This week the Republican-controlled Senate acquitted the president on both charges, prompting an angry and rambling victory speech by Mr Trump at the White House.

On Friday afternoon, the president, as he departed the White House for a jobs event in Charlotte, suggested Mr Vindman’s expected departure was part of an NSC shakeup – but acknowledged his frustration over the Russia expert’s testimony.

“Well, I’m not happy with him. Do you think I’m supposed to be happy with him? I’m not,” Mr Trump said. ”They’ll make that decision,” he said. “You’ll be hearing.”

Indeed. Around 16.00 local time [21.00 GMT], Mr Vindman’s attorney, David Pressman, said the Army officer “was escorted out of the White House, where he has dutifully served his country and his president”. He is expected to remain on active service and be reassigned by his army commanders. When the president returned to the White House just after 17.00, he ignored shouted questions about the matter and walked straight into the executive mansion.

Mr Pressman said the president, “buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit” had decided to “exact revenge”, adding: “Lt Col Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. The truth has cost Lt Col Alexander Vindman his job, his career and his privacy.”

Among other revelations during the House Intelligence Committee’s public impeachment hearings was Mr Vindman claiming that during a July meeting at the White House with senior Ukrianian officials, Mr Sondland brought up the president’s desire for the government there to probe his political rivals, including the Bidens.

Mr Vindman told House lawmakers he found Mr Trump’s 25 July call with Ukraine’s new president – in which the US president asked his counterpart to “do us a favour” – strange and inappropriate.

“I was concerned by the call, what I heard was improper, and I reported my concerns to [White House lawyers],” he told the House Intelligence Committee. “It is improper for the president of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a US citizen and political opponent. It was also clear that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma, it would be interpreted as a partisan play. This would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing bipartisan support, undermine US national security, and advance Russia’s strategic objectives in the region.”

He offered equally damning testimony under questioning.

“It’s not entirely accurate,” Mr Vindman told a House committee when asked if the White House’s contention that Mr Trump’s main goal was to root out corruption in Ukraine.

His evidence ended with an emotional tribute to his late father, who had brought him and his family to America when he and his brother were children. He said: “Dad, that I’m sitting here today in the US Capitol talking to our elected professionals is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family.

“Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth.”

Mr Vindman’s testimony appeared to get under the president’s skin.

During the House inquiry, Mr Trump retweeted anti-Vindman tweets from GOP lawmakers and other conservatives, including one from Congressman Thomas Massie saying, if he were Mr Trump, “I’d fire him.” Another tweet the president shared called Mr Vindman’s testimony “a scandal”, and yet another called him a “political activist”.

Mr Trump railed against his Democratic accusers and said Mr Vindman’s name during his post-acquittal “celebration” event on THursday at the White House in a mocking way.

“But Lieutenant Colonel Vindman and his twin brother, right, we had some people that, really amazing,” Mr Trump said, not hiding his disgust.

Democratic House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters earlier on Friday about the likelihood Mr Vindman would be sacked: “It’s worse than settling scores if he actually removes military officers – it’s subversion of justice. It’s another subversion of justice.”

Walter Shaub, a senior White House ethics official under President Barack Obama, tweeted that Mr Vindman’s dismissal was “reprehensible”. ”There was no need to humiliate Vindman this way, nor was it appropriate to retaliate against him for testifying before Congress,” Mr Shaub added.

Ned Price, an Obama NSC official, took umbrage with talk in Trump circles that the moves were about trimming the council’s staff, something other presidents also have sought to do. ”The previous admin downsized the NSC staff; precisely ZERO staffers were escorted out,” Mr Price said. “It was done through attrition, just as this process was billed. This is about chilling whistleblowers and eliminating potential witnesses, not streamlining.”

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham sent a shot across the bow of individuals like Mr Vindman on Thursday during a Fox News appearance.

The president wanted everyone to know how “horribly he was treated, and maybe, you know, people should pay for that”.

Some Democrats interpreted Mr Trump’s comments as a threat that he might seek revenge on those he believes wronged him.

“We’ve been going through this now for over three years. It was evil. It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars,” the president said on Thursday of the various investigations of his 2016 campaign and presidency. “And this should never, ever happen to another president, ever.”

He has yet to explain what he and Ms Grisham meant. But his foes got a clue when Mr Vindman was “escorted” from his desk.