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Schumer Asks Defense Watchdog to Probe Trump Impeachment Retaliation

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer asked the
   Defense Department watchdog on Monday to investigate what he said was
   "shameful" and "Illegal" retaliation by President Donald Trump against
   a witness who testified against him at last year's impeachment
   hearings.

   Schumer asked 74 inspectors general throughout the government to probe
   any retaliation against federal workers who report Trump administration
   misconduct, but singled out the president's dismissal of Army Lt. Col.
   Alexander Vindman as a Ukraine expert at the National Security Council
   in the White House. Vindman testified against Trump at House of
   Representatives impeachment hearings leading up to approval of two
   articles of impeachment, although Trump last week was acquitted after a
   three-week trial in the Senate.

   A short time before dismissing Vindman, Trump was asked about his
   status, responding, "I'm not happy with him. You think I'm supposed to
   be happy with him? I'm not."

   Vindman testified about concerns he had about Trump's request last July
   to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate one of
   Trump's chief 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe
   Biden, his son Hunter Biden's lucrative work for a Ukrainian natural
   gas company and a debunked theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 U.S.
   election to undermine Trump's campaign. Trump's request came at the
   same time he was temporarily blocking release of $391 million in
   military aid Kyiv wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in
   eastern Ukraine.

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