Purple Heart vet tells Congress the White House REMOVED words and phrases from the transcript of President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president and claims his efforts to make the corrections were ignored
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the White House transcript of the July call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president was ‘mostly accurate’ but missed key words or crucial phrases that he tried – and failed – to have corrected.
Such omissions, Vindman said, included Trump’s proclamation that there were recordings of former Vice President Joe Biden discussing Ukrainian corruption, and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, directly mentioning the energy company who employed Hunter Biden to its board, Burisma Holdings.
‘He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue,’ the White House’s transcript cites Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as saying.
However, Vindman insists Zelensky specifically mentioned Burisma Holdings, telling investigators he tried to have the White House’s transcript changed to include the missing reference.
Though a number of his edits were made, such as individual words, the two cited – and crucial – corrections were never amended.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the White House transcript of the July call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president was ‘mostly accurate’ but missed key words or crucial phrases that he tried – and failed – to have corrected.
Dressed in his dark blue Army uniform with military medals displayed proudly across his chest, Vindman didn’t testify a motive behind the editing process, though his claims will likely prompt investigators to look further scrutinize how officials handed the call.
Such lines of inquiry are likely to include changes to the transcript and the decision enter it into the White House’s most classified computer system, and whether such moves were purposefully made to conceal the call’s most controversial contents.