According to the agency, some staff will be transferred from the NSC to another location.
The White House is considering the dismissal of U.S. Army (Ground Force) Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman of the National Security Council (NSC) after he testified against U.S. President Donald Trump under an impeachment procedure. This was reported by Bloomberg on Friday, citing two sources familiar with the case.
It is noted that the White House intends to present the dismissal of Vindman as a measure to reduce the staff of the NSC, which has nothing to do with the retaliatory steps in connection with the testimony against Trump. The U.S. authorities intend to move to concrete actions after the Senate acquitted the U.S. leader in the impeachment case, indicates Bloomberg.
In addition, according to three agency interlocutors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, some employees will be transferred from the NSC to another location due to their disloyalty to the owner of the White House.
It has been noted that Democrats and some Republicans are likely to oppose Vindman’s resignation. In turn, a source close to the NSC employee’s lawyers assured that Vindman himself has not yet received any notice of his dismissal and intends to continue to perform his duties until further notice.
The reason for starting the impeachment procedure was the assumption that Trump put pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a telephone conversation in July 2019 in order to encourage Kiev to help the head of the US administration to be elected for a second term in 2020. According to political opponents of the U.S. leader, Republican Trump tried to convince Zelensky to launch an investigation into the activities in Ukraine of the son of former U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden in exchange for financial and military assistance to Kiev.
Earlier, in his testimony to Congress, Vindman said that the US administration and Trump himself demanded that the Ukrainian side launch an investigation into the activities of Hunter Biden, son of the former US vice president, in exchange for a meeting between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and the US leader at the White House. A NSC official told the lawmakers that after the decision to speak at the impeachment hearing, he was no longer invited to some meetings at the White House.
The Senate, in which the Republicans have a majority, on Wednesday acquitted Trump of both charges under the impeachment procedure. Senators were required to garner at least two-thirds of the votes (67 mandates) to find the head of state guilty of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. However, this was not the result of two votes in the upper house trial. The first article of the indictment was opposed by 52 senators, while 48 were in favour. The second was opposed by 53 legislators, 47. The Senate’s decision is not subject to appeal.