A lawyer for Colonel Vindman said Mr. Trump’s Twitter messages contained “obviously false statements” about his client.
“They conflict with the clear personnel record and the entirety of the impeachment record of which the president is well aware,” said the lawyer, David Pressman. “While the most powerful man in the world continues his campaign of intimidation, while too many entrusted with political office continue to remain silent, Lt. Col. Vindman continues his service to our country as a decorated, active duty member of our military.”
Alexander Vindman will report to the Pentagon until a previously scheduled assignment at the Army War College begins in July while Yevgeny Vindman, who goes by Eugene, will join the office of the Army general counsel.
“Throughout this process the Army leadership has been supportive of both Alex and Eugene in terms of their detail to the National Security Council and throughout the impeachment process,” said Michael Volkov, who represented Colonel Vindman when he testified in the impeachment inquiry. “The Army has been supportive and would never participate in the president’s desire for retaliation.”
Mr. Sondland and Colonel Vindman were key witnesses in the House impeachment hearings. Mr. Sondland, who was deeply involved in the effort to pressure Ukraine to announce investigations into Mr. Trump’s Democratic rivals, testified that “we followed the president’s orders” and that “everyone was in the loop.” Colonel Vindman, who was on Mr. Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president, testified that it was “improper for the president” to coerce a foreign country to investigate political opponents.
Democrats and some Republicans denounced Mr. Trump’s actions against impeachment witnesses, noting that other officials who testified have also been transferred more quietly, including Jennifer Williams, who was serving as an aide to Vice President Mike Pence but was recently sent back to the Defense Department.
“By firing Lt. Col. Vindman and Ambassador Sondland like this, the Trump administration signaled it won’t tolerate people who tell the truth,” Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, said on Saturday. “The fact that Lt. Col. Vindman’s brother was also removed from the N.S.C., as well as the transfer of Ms. Williams from Vice President Pence’s staff, are signals that the president places blind loyalty above all else, including testimony under oath.”
Danny Hakim contributed reporting from New York.