Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, is set to testify that he conveyed concerns internally to officials after listening to President Trump's phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, the New York Times reported Monday.
Why it matters: Vindman, a decorated Iraq War veteran, would be the first official from the White House who listened to the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky discussing former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, which resulted in a formal impeachment inquiry being launched against the U.S. commander in chief.
What he's saying: The NYT reports he said in his statement that he plans to give to House investigators Tuesday that he realized that if Ukraine "pursued an investigation" into Biden, his son and Burisma, the natural gas firm where Hunter Biden served on the board, "it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained."
- "I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine," he says in the statement, per the Times. The NYT also reports he plans to tell House investigators:
The big picture: Vindman will stress that he is not the whistleblower who reported the phone call, but he did contact John Eisenberg, the leading lawyer at the NSC, twice over his concerns.
Go deeper: Trump-Ukraine scandal: All the key players, dates and documents
