Impeachment trial whistleblower calls Trump Putin's 'useful idiot' and 'unwitting agent'

Asked if Russia is blackmailing Trump, Vindman says: ‘They may or may not have dirt on him, but they don’t have to use it’

Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, says that the president is a “useful idiot” to Russia, in his first interview since the impeachment trial.

Mr Vindman, formerly of the US Army and National Security Council,  spoke with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, author of the recent bombshell article about the president’s disparaging remarks about the military and war dead.

Mr Goldberg asks Mr Vindman whether he believes Trump is a Russian intelligence asset.

“President Trump should be considered to be a useful idiot and a fellow traveller, which makes him an unwitting agent of Putin,” says Mr Vindman.

Clarifying the terms, Mr Goldberg explains that a useful idiot is a term commonly used to describe “dupes of authoritarian regimes”. A fellow traveller is a person who shares Putin’s loathing for democratic norms.

Pressed as to whether he thinks Russia is blackmailing Trump, Mr Vindmand says: “They may or may not have dirt on him, but they don’t have to use it.”

He continues: “They have more effective and less risky ways to employ him. He has aspirations to be the kind of leader that Putin is, and so he admires him. He likes authoritarian strongmen who act with impunity, without checks and balances. So he’ll try to please Putin.”

“In the Army we call this ‘free chicken’, something you don’t have to work for — it just comes to you. This is what the Russians have in Trump: free chicken.”

Mr Vindman left the US Army in July. He said that since his impeachment testimony the president had destroyed his army career — an allegation the White House denies.

He is now studying for his doctorate at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Asked why he’s speaking out now about Trump, Mr Vindman says: “I was drawn into this by the president, who politicised me. I think it’s important for the American people to know that this could happen to any honorable service member, any government official.”

He adds: “I think it’s important for me to tell people that I think the president has made this country weaker. We’re mocked by our adversaries and by our allies, and we’re heading for more disaster.”