Trump publicly admits he fired White House official as retaliation for impeachment testimony

I've stated it several times and will say it again WORST POTUS ever.

 

"O’Brien Says Vindman Removal Wasn’t Retaliation for Impeachment Inquiry Comments":

https://www.wsj.com/articles/obrien...nquiry-comments-11581469686?mod=hp_lista_pos3

O’Brien Says Vindman Removal Wasn’t Retaliation for Impeachment Inquiry Comments
National security adviser Robert O’Brien said he wasn’t instructed by President Trump to remove Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and his brother
By
Andrew Restuccia
Feb. 11, 2020 8:08 pm ET

WASHINGTON—National security adviser Robert O’Brien said it was his decision to remove Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council and rejected critics’ charge that the move marked retaliation for his testimony during the House impeachment investigation.

“I can absolutely tell you they were not retaliated against,” Mr. O’Brien said during a panel discussion at the headquarters of think tank the Atlantic Council, referring to Col. Vindman and his twin brother, Yevgeny Vindman, a senior lawyer and ethics official on the NSC who was also removed from his post on Friday.

Mr. O’Brien said he wasn’t instructed by President Trump to remove the Vindmans.

“It was just time for them to go back. Their services were no longer needed,” he said. He noted that they weren’t fired and have returned to the Army. Yevgeny Vindman is also an Army lieutenant colonel.

“At the end of the day, the president is entitled to staffers that want to execute his policies and he has confidence in,” Mr. O’Brien said.

Alexander Vindman, who listened in on Mr. Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told impeachment investigators last year that Mr. Trump’s request for an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was “inappropriate and improper.” He also said “there was no doubt” that Mr. Trump was asking on the call for an investigation from Kyiv as a condition for Mr. Zelensky to get a proposed White House meeting.

Mr. Trump has denied he was making any meeting or aid contingent on investigations by Kyiv and has called the conversation with Mr. Zelensky “perfect.” He was acquitted by the Senate last week on two impeachment counts related to the call.

Mr. Trump has subsequently criticized Col. Vindman, calling him a “never Trumper” and “very insubordinate.” On Tuesday, he told reporters that Col. Vindman “reported a false call” in his Ukraine testimony. “We sent him on his way to a much different location and the military can handle him any way they want,” Mr. Trump said.

Col. Vindman’s lawyer has called Mr. Trump’s statements false and said Mr. Trump was seeking revenge against his client. Prominent Democratic lawmakers have also painted the move as retribution, with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) calling the removal of the Vindmans from the NSC “nothing more than political revenge.”

In his comments Tuesday, Mr. O’Brien also said he has reduced the size of the NSC by dozens of staffers. By the end of this week, the NSC’s staff will be reduced to 115 to 120 people, part of a months long restructuring. Mr. O’Brien said there were more than 175 policy staffers on the NSC when he became national security adviser.

—Alex Leary contributed to this article.



​

 

L.IES LIES LIES this administration is full of liars

 

He says they weren’t removed due to retaliation, and then says:

“At the end of the day, the president is entitled to staffers that want to execute his policies and he has confidence in,” Mr. O’Brien said.

 

He also fails to mention why his twin brother was fired at the same time

 

Targeting the family... going all out mobster...

 

most of what you are saying here is totally false. youre either a liar or just really dumb.

 

This is patently just flat out false. Obama had a plethora of conservative leaning Bush era officials in his administration.

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/12/obama-gives-political-ambassad.html

The comments section on this one are pretty funny.

Ok. To clarify and admit I was wrong (dumb or a liar as suggested above): The article and several other sources state it was 'political appointees'. Much different than what I alleged in my previous post. Looking at the comments and seeing the right's outrage is pretty comical too.

 

Not sure why he even need to lie. Trump has every right to fire them. It is of course vindictive. But he has every right to be an ass. But when trump pressure the military to discipline / go after him, that IS retaliation.

It’s funny that some people continue to think trump isn’t doing what he publicly said he would do.

 

You do realize that no where in the article does Trump admit this, right? Or did you just buy into the totally misleading, but attention grabbing headline? In other words, fall for the fake news?

 

He might get impeached the 2nd time if he admitted to it directly. Witness retaliation is a no no in a country with laws.

edit: as far as the headline itself goes, it can be referring to Trump Jr. and grabs attention this way. Optics are pretty obvious - they got rid of all the witnesses and key people it seems.