RETALIATION! Trump Jr., Giuliani served in Vindman witness intimidation lawsuit
Donald Trump Jr. has been served.
A Twitter post confirmed that the eldest son of the former president had been personally served with court papers in the lawsuit filed by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.), the Ukrainian-American former Director of European Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council, against Don Jr., former attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino and other associates of the former president.
INBOX: Donald Trump, Jr., has been served with court papers in a lawsuit brought by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.), against Trump Jr., Giuliani and others for alleged witness intimidation and retaliation pic.twitter.com/nzh0lrwwVR
— John Kruzel (@johnkruzel) February 23, 2022
The suit accuses the Trump cabal of conspiring to intimidate Vindman into not testifying in the ex-president’s first impeachment trial and then retaliating when he refused to bend to their pressure.
Vindman became a political celebrity when he appeared at the impeachment hearings in Congress and gave testimony about the infamous phone call between Trump Sr. and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the former president described as “perfect,” but that Vindman interpreted as an attempt at a politically-motivated “quid pro quo” deal exchanging U.S. military aid for a Ukraine government investigation into Hunter Biden.
Vindman’s 73-page civil lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington D.C., makes the assertion that, after the NSC member was subpoenaed in the impeachment, he was subject to “a dangerous campaign of witness intimidation by President Trump and a group of conspirators” to try to get him to refuse to appear before Congress.
His complaint alleges two counts of violating federal law prohibiting conspiracy to intimidate and retaliate against a witness and seeks to recoup financial damages of an unspecified amount.
VIndman can point to some concrete examples of retaliation that he suffered when he rejected the efforts to stymie his cooperation with the congressional impeachment managers.
His pending promotion in the Army was temporarily blocked after the impeachment hearings and both he and his twin brother, Yevgeny Vindman, were summarily dismissed from their White House posts.
In the wake of his promotion being stalled, Alexander Vindman felt compelled to resign from the military in July 2020 after a 21-year career, citing Trump’s bullying as the cause.
“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 said in a USA Today op-ed he wrote about the filing of his lawsuit. “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.”
As of press time, neither Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, nor any of the other respondents in the suit have commented publicly on the merits of Vindman’s case against them.
Expect to see significant fundraising activity from the Trump camp as the entire family looks to face legal expenses on a number of different fronts, including civil suits from New York State Attorney General Letitia James, and criminal investigations from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office looking into of financial fraud and from the Fulton County, Georgia prosecutors investigating Trump Sr.’s election interference.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
Original reporting by John Kruzel at The Hill.
We want to hear what YOU have to say. Scroll down and let us know in our comment section!
