February 8, 2020

Trump Admits He Fired Impeachment Witness Alexander Vindman for Being “Insubordinate”

Ugly stuff.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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One day after removing Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the White House, President Donald Trump effectively admitted that he fired Vindman for his “insubordinate” testimony during the House’s impeachment inquiry.

Trump went on to attack Vindman, who testified under a subpoena, for reporting the contents of the president’s “perfect” calls related to Ukraine. The president blocked security assistance to Ukraine as part of a failed effort to prove a conspiracy theory that he hoped would hurt former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential opponent in the 2020 elections. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for the abuse of power then acquitted by the Senate on Wednesday.

On Friday, Vindman was escorted out of the White House, where he worked on the National Security Council, by security staff. His lawyer David Pressman said in a statement, “There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House.”

“Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth,” Pressman continued. “His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful.” 

Trump also pushed out Vindman’s brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, a lawyer on the National Security Council who was not involved with the impeachment inquiry. 

To round out the retributions, the president recalled Gordon Sondland, another key witness in the impeachment inquiry, as his ambassador to the European Union.

Trump has not yet tweeted about Sondland.  

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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