A 73-page lawsuit filed in a federal court in the nation’s capital Wednesday alleges four of former President Donald Trump’s closest associates, including his son Donald Trump Jr. and adviser Rudy Giuliani, engaged in witness intimidation and retaliation during the first of Trump’s two impeachment trials.
The suit was filed by retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified against the former President in 2019 regarding a phone call with Ukraine. Vindman alleged that Trump offered a quid pro quo deal that would give Ukraine military aid in return for a Ukrainian investigation into the business deals of Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, who would eventually defeat Trump for the Presidency in the 2020 election.
Vindman was working for the National Security Council (NSC) as the director for European affairs when Trump engaged in the July 2019 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Vindman reported his concerns about the content of the call with the NSC’s lead counsel. That would eventually result in his subpoenaed testimony before Congress.
Vindman alleges in the suit that following that subpoena, he was the subject of “a dangerous campaign of witness intimidation by President Trump and a group of conspirators” to keep him from speaking at the impeachment. It also says that allies of the former President retaliated for Vindman’s testimony by removing both him and his twin brother Yevgeny Vindman from posts at the White House and by temporarily blocking his Army promotion.
In concert with the federal suit, Vindman also had an op-ed published in USA Today. “Sharp-elbowed politics is not against the law, nor should it be. It has always been fair game to criticize public figures. But what happened to me was something different,” Vindman wrote. “I was attacked in a way calculated to inflict maximum personal and professional damage likely in order to prevent me from testifying or to punish me for doing so. In this country, that violates the law.”
Vindman’s suit alleges two counts of violating federal law prohibiting conspiracy to intimidate and retaliate against a witness. In addition to Trump Jr. and Giuliani, the suit also names two other Trump advisers, Dan Scavino and Julia Hahn. He is seeking an unspecified amount of damages.
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