Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman To Retire From Military, Cites Trump’s ‘Campaign Of Bullying’
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, announced Wednesday that he is retiring from the Army.
Vindman’s lawyer, Amb. David Pressman, told CNN that his client is making the move after 21 years in the armed forces because he has determined his future in the military “will forever be limited.”
Pressman said Vindman, a Purple Heart recipient, has endured a “campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation” since testifying against the president.
In February, Trump fired Vindman from the National Security Council — on which he had served as a Ukraine expert — in retaliation for testifying about his knowledge of a July 2019 call with the Ukrainian president that set off Trump’s impeachment inquiry and proceedings.
The president also suggested the military consider taking disciplinary action against Vindman.
Vindman tweeted Wednesday to say he had requested retirement from the Army, “an organization I love.”
Today I officially requested retirement from the US Army, an organization I love. My family and I look forward to the next chapter of our lives. pic.twitter.com/h2D9MRUHY2
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) July 8, 2020
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In a tasteless boast, Trump went on to reveal he refused a bank's loan of $4bn. He said: “I don’t need it. I don’t want it. And I’ve been there.”
While millions of Americans continue to suffer the effects of sluggish economic growth, Trump is blissfully unaffected. Well, that's how he makes it sound.
But He's Never Used A Cash Machine
During an appearance on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien', Trump said that he'd never seen the need to use ATMs, all the while hinting at his extraordinary wealth.
He Gets Super Defensive About Money
But unlike those struggling to make ends meet, Trump is more concerned with the perception of his wealth, which he says is "more than $9 bn".
When an author suggested Trump had a net worth of less than $300m, the property tycoon sued him for libel.
Yet during testimony, Trump admitted his own estimations depend on his "feelings".
It was reported Trump said: "Yes, even my own feelings (guide estimates of my wealth), as to where the world is, where the world is going, and that can change rapidly from day to day."
Trump lost the libel case.
He's Leading A Fact-Free Campaign
In a remarkable exchange with FOX News host Bill O'Reilly, the famously impertinent presenter took exception to flawed statistics banded about by Trump.
O’Reilly: This bothered me, I gotta tell ya. You tweeted out that whites killed by blacks — these are statistics you picked out from somewhere — at a rate of 81 percent. And that’s totally wrong. Whites killed by blacks is 15 percent, yet you tweeted it was 81 percent. Now …
Trump: Bill, I didn’t tweet, I retweeted somebody that was supposedly an expert, and it was also a radio show.
O’Reilly: Yeah, but you don’t wanna be. … Why do you want to be in that zone?
Trump: Hey, Bill, Bill, am I gonna check every statistic? I get millions and millions of people, @RealDonaldTrump, by the way.
O’Reilly: You gotta, you’re a presidential contender, you gotta check ’em.
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J. Taikwok Yung, a self-described "domainer" from Brooklyn, NY, was hauled before judges after Trump noticed he'd bought up a huge amount of his brand online.
Trump sought the maximum damages allowed - $100,000 for each of the four Trump-related domain names bought by Yung.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
