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I remember the Vindman boys fondly. Theirs is the story of America at its best. https://t.co/0Pkj8mAkwk

— Ken Burns (@KenBurns) October 29, 2019

Давая показания в Конгрессе, подполковник Александр Виндман обратился к своему отцу:

"Dad, my sitting here today, in the US Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision forty years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to United States of America in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/us/politics/vindman-statement-testimony.html

Как выяснилось, он ошибался.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a national security aide who played a central role in President Donald Trump’s impeachment case, announced his retirement from the Army on Wednesday in a scathing statement that accused the president of running a “campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation.”
The statement from attorney David Pressman said Vindman was leaving the Army after more than 21 years after it had been made clear “that his future within the institution he has dutifully served will forever be limited.”
“Through a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation, the President of the United States attempted to force LTC Vindman to choose: Between adhering to the law or pleasing a President. Between honoring his oath or protecting his career. Between protecting his promotion or the promotion of his fellow soldiers,” read the statement, first obtained by CNN.
Vindman’s name was on a promotion list sent to Defense Secretary Mark Esper earlier this year, according to one U.S. official familiar with the matter. But that list was delayed for weeks because the White House asked for an investigation of Vindman. The Pentagon did a review and found that any suggestion of misconduct was unfounded. <...>
Trump in February ousted Vindman from his job on the National Security Council, where he served as an expert on Ukraine, just two days after the president’s acquittal by the Senate. Vindman’s lawyer said then that his client had been told to leave in retaliation for “telling the truth.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/vindman-retiring-from-u-s-army-lawyer-accuses-trump-of-bullying-intimidation-and-retaliation



По отзывом его начальников Виндман был блестящим офицером, которого ждала стремительная военная карьера. Отзыв бригадного генерала Питера Звака, бывшего военного атташе США в России:

ZWACK: I think I need to lay out a working environment, which was the U.S. embassy Moscow back between 2012 and 2014 - very consequential years in our mission for a group of attaches who represented the United States Department of Defense and the military to the Russian defense establishment and worked closely within the international community and aspects of the Russian, as well, to facilitate, if you will, the defense side of our foreign policy - was a very, very, very important time.
MARTIN: Right.
ZWACK: The most - the key attribute when you get into personal relationships is imagine you're in a relatively small working space and you're on a mission to Mars. It's pretty well closed off and you have to trust each other implicitly - absolutely trust each other. We did. Alex is a hardworking, dedicated person who had the courage of his convictions and was a true area specialist. And the key point is that when we were doing work within Russia, we trusted him entirely as vice versa.
MARTIN: Do I understand then that you never had a reason to question his integrity?
ZWACK: None, none. I would trust him with my life.
MARTIN: I ask that because, as you know, President Trump supporters have attempted to call into question his loyalty. President Trump himself has called Alexander Vindman a, quote, "Never Trumper." As a career military officer yourself, what do you make of the commander in chief publicly disparaging a decorated officer?
ZWACK: That is a major reason I'm speaking today. Generally, I'm reticent on these type of events. It was unfair. It was unfounded. And to slime and slander the good name, the career and the actions of a fine Army officer, one who many who know him - and I knew him especially well - it was out of bounds in my mind. It was absolutely over the top and wrong.
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/774646265/alexander-vindmans-background

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