- Donald Trump Jr. mocked Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman on Friday after the he was abruptly fired and escorted from the White House.
- "On the bright side, he may still be able to take the defense minister position in the Ukraine that he was offered a few times," Trump Jr. tweeted.
- Vindman is a decorated war veteran and a refugee who served as the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council and was a key impeachment witness against President Donald Trump.
- Vindman was subjected to a flurry of racist attacks from Republicans during the impeachment hearings. Among other things, they suggested that the Ukrainian government's offer to Vindman to serve as defense minister suggested he had dual loyalty to the country.
- Vindman swatted those attacks down, replying, "I'm an American. I came here when I was a toddler, and I immediately dismissed these offers."
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President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., took to Twitter to mock Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the former top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, after Vindman was abruptly fired and escorted from the White House on Friday.
"On the bright side, he may still be able to take the defense minister position in the Ukraine that he was offered a few times," Trump Jr. tweeted.
On the bright side, he may still be able to take the defense minister position in the Ukraine that he was offered a few times. https://t.co/xcFxaziD8r
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 7, 2020
Vindman was fired after the White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham signaled on Thursday that the president wanted people to "pay" for the way he was treated during the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry last year and subsequent trial in the Senate.
Vindman, a decorated war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, was one of over a dozen witnesses to testify about his knowledge of the president's dealings with Ukraine.
During the impeachment hearings, Republican lawmakers and the right-wing media machine lobbed racist attacks on Vindman by questioning his patriotism and suggesting he had dual loyalty to Ukraine.
Vindman and his family are immigrants who fled the Soviet Union four decades ago and arrived in the US as refugees.
Steve Castor, the Republican counsel questioned Vindman at one point during the hearings about how the Ukrainian government repeatedly asked him to serve as defense minister.
Vindman replied that he found the offers "comical."
"I'm an American," Vindman said. "I came here when I was a toddler, and I immediately dismissed these offers."
Vindman was a crucial fact witness in the impeachment inquiry.
He directly listened in on a July 25 phone call that Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump repeatedly pressured Zelensky to launch politically motivated investigations targeting his rivals. Vindman testified that he was "concerned" by the call and found it "inappropriate" for Trump to "demand" that a foreign power investigate his political opponent based on dubious and unfounded evidence.
He also testified that he immediately reported what he'd heard to the NSC's top lawyer, John Eisenberg, and that Eisenberg told him not to tell anyone else about what he'd heard.
The Purple Heart recipient was fired without warning on and was escorted out of the White House by security. His twin brother, Yevgeny, was also dismissed.
"Today, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman was escorted out of the White House where he has dutifully served his country and his President. He does so having spoken publicly once, and only pursuant to a subpoena from the United States Congress," Vindman's attorney, David Pressman, said in a statement to Insider.
"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," Pressman said. "LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful."
In a separate statement to Insider addressing Yevgeny Vindman's firing Pressman said: "Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, a senior lawyer and ethics official at the National Security Council, and a decorated Iraq war veteran, was escorted off of the grounds of the White House, suddenly and with no explanation, despite over two decades of loyal service to this country. He is deeply disappointed that he will not be able to continue his service at the White House."
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