WASHINGTON – The National Security Council sent a list of allegations about Lt. Col. Alex Vindman to the Pentagon after he testified before the House in impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, according to one person who saw the document and two others. reported. .
The Pentagon received the document, which alleged that Vindman created a hostile work environment in the NSC, as he was on his way to being promoted to colonel. The allegations outlined in it, if warranted, would have prevented him from moving up in the Army, people familiar with the document said. They said it was not the typical assessment that is given to military officers serving in the NSC when their temporary positions end and that they are scheduled to return to the Defense Department, as Vindman was scheduled to do about six months after this document was sent to the Pentagon. .
The NSC is housed in the White House and chaired by the President, although the national security adviser manages it day by day.
The Pentagon conducted a command-level investigation into the allegations, seeking evidence to corroborate claims of Vindman’s conduct while detailing it to the NSC, people familiar with the document said. But ultimately, the military was unable to substantiate any of the allegations, people familiar with him said. Included in the list was an accusation that Vindman had verbally abused a colleague, a senior administration official said.
The list of indictments suggests that the White House tried to derail the promotion of an Army officer who the President said was not “happy” and deemed unfair. He could also suggest White House retaliation against Vindman for his dismissal testimony went beyond expelling him and his twin brother, from the NSC in February, before his time was up.
Vindman’s promotion had recently become a hot spot between the White House and the Pentagon, which was planning to move forward this summer, despite opposition from the president. Defense Secretary Mark Esper made it clear to the White House that he would not remove Lt. Col.’s name from the Army’s list of promotions, two people familiar with the matter said. Esper made the case to Trump in recent weeks that blocking Vindman’s promotion would harm his presidency, the two people said.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman declined to comment on internal administration communications.
Last week, Vindman applied to withdraw from the Army after more than two decades in the military, and his lawyer said in a statement that Vindman had endured “a campaign of intimidation, intimidation and retaliation” by the president.
The White House and NSC did not respond to requests for comment.
A Vindman spokesman declined to comment.
The Army selected Vindman to be promoted to colonel earlier this year. The list of soldiers selected for promotion to colonel, which included Vindman’s name, was expected to be released in mid-May. He was sent from the Army to the Pentagon Personnel Office and finally to Esper earlier this summer. A defense official said Esper approved the list on Monday, July 6.
While the coronavirus pandemic has delayed some paperwork, including promotions, three defense officials said this list was delayed because some defense officials were concerned that the Vindman’s name would be removed by the White House.
The NSC sent its list of allegations against Vindman to the Defense Department executive secretary in late 2019, according to two people familiar with the memo.
For the Pentagon investigation into the allegation that Vindman had verbally abused a colleague with whom he shared office space, defense officials interviewed Vindman and the colleague. They discovered that the two of them had had an argument, but that it was only a minor dispute and continued to work together afterwards.
After Vindman was forced out of the NSC in February, Trump suggested that the Army could take some form of action against him for alleged unspecified irregularity. “We send it on the way to a very different place, and the military can handle it the way they want,” Trump said.
Lt. Col. Vindman, who was born in Ukraine in 1975 and moved to New York at age three, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army in 1999. He is a combat veteran in Iraq and received a Purple Heart for wounds inflicted by a roadside bomb in 2005. He was a Russian expert on the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon from 2015 to 2018 and moved to the NSC in 2018.
He was subpoenaed to testify during impeachment proceedings against Trump in the fall of 2019, and told Congress that the president had attempted to compel the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden.
Vindman’s retirement is effective July 31.
