Vindman Reportedly Testified That Nunes Ally ‘Misrepresented’ Himself as NSC’s Top Ukraine Expert

A new report said White House National Security Council top Ukraine expert Alexander Vindman had his duties usurped by a former staffer of Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) who “misrepresented” himself as a fellow specialist on Ukrainian matters.

Politico reported that when Vindman testified before the Donald Trump impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, he told them about how he attended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration in May and planned on giving Trump a briefing about it. However, Vindman told lawmakers he was instructed “at the last second” to not attend the debriefing because Trump’s advisers were worried it might confuse the president.

From the report:

Trump believed at the time that Kashyap Patel, a longtime Nunes staffer who joined the White House in February and had no discernable Ukraine experience or expertise, was actually the NSC’s top Ukraine expert instead of Vindman.

Vindman testified that he was told this directly by his boss at the time, NSC senior director for European and Russian affairs Fiona Hill.

Hill told Vindman that she and national security adviser John Bolton thought it best to exclude Vindman from the debriefing to avoid “an uncomfortable situation,” he said.

Politico reports that Patel was promoted to a senior counterterrorism role in the National Security Council around the same time when Trump had his infamous call with Zelensky. Vindman testified that Patel had unusual access to the president which allowed him to bypass the council’s normal processes, supply Trump with negative information about Ukraine, and plant a narrative of corruption in the president’s mind that Vindman, Hill and Bolton had to refute.