Alexander Vindman is sworn in to testify before a House Intelligence Committee hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a top National Security Council official and Purple Heart recipient, told his father “do not worry” about threats against him for speaking out at President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings.
“Dad, [that] I’m sitting here today in the US Capitol talking to our elected professionals,” Vindman said in his House Intelligence Committee statement on Tuesday morning, “is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family.”
“Do not worry,” continued the military veteran. “I will be fine for telling the truth.”
Vindman’s family fled Ukraine when he was a toddler as part of a wave of Jewish refugees coming to the US in the 1970s.
Now director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, Vindman has faced threats from the president and his supporters after he raised concerns that the phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky threatened US national security.
“In Russia, my act of expressing concern to the chain of command would have severe personal and professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the president would surely cost me my life,” Vindman said.
Soviet authorities brutally cracked down on dissent, throwing people into labor camps, psychiatric hospitals and, at the height of its repressions, shooting them after show trials. At times in Soviet history, Jews were particularly targeted for dissent, and faced broad discrimination throughout its existence.
“I’m grateful for my father’s brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege of being an American citizen,” Vindman said, “where I can live free of fear for mine and my family’s safety.”
When the transcript of Vindman’s closed-door testimony was released earlier this month, Trump tweeted that the foreign service official was a “Never Trumper” — providing zero evidence in his attempt to discredit the witness.
During his two decades in the US Army, Vindman was wounded by an IED in Iraq in 2004. He was later awarded a Purple Heart.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US Army conducted a security assessment of Vindman and is continually monitoring security threats against him and his family. The Army is prepared to move Vindman and his family to a military base for their security, if required, officials told the newspaper.
Vindman hinted at those threats by noting the “courage” of his colleagues who have appeared and are scheduled to appear at impeachment hearings.
“I want to state that the character attacks on these public servants is reprehensible,” Vindman said. “It is natural to disagree and engage in spirited debate and this has been the custom of our country since the time of our founding fathers. But we are better than personal attacks.”
His twin brother, a National Security Council ethics lawyer, sat in attendance behind Vindman at the hearing, and Vindman referenced him when talking about his father’s decision to leave Ukraine to give his sons a better life.
“His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and has instilled in us a sense of duty,” he said.
Amber Jamieson is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact Amber Jamieson at [email protected].
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