Yesterday, US President Donald Trump dismissed - two days after he was acquitted in the Senate of the two charges against him by the House of Representatives with the intention of removing him - an ambassador and an army officer who gave two testimonies considered essential in building the indictment against him.
Trump's opponents, Democrats, were quick to condemn the dismissal of the officials, stressing that they are victims of "reprisals" by the president.
Hours after Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Wendemann, the chief White House expert on Ukrainian affairs and a member of the National Security Council, was expelled, according to what his lawyer announced. The president also sacked the ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sundland.
"I have been informed today that the President intends to summon me immediately from the position of United States Ambassador to the European Union," Sunland was quoted by several media outlets, including the New York Times, as saying in a statement.
Trump's rivals considered the dismissal of officials among the "retaliatory measures" the president is taking against those who testified against him.
Representative Marc Dessoulnier wrote in a tweet on Twitter that what he described as "Trump's revenge" on the staff for telling the truth "a behavior worthy of tyrants and criminals, not by the president of the largest democracy in the world."
Senator Ron Wyden, in turn, said the dismissal of these diplomatic and military officials was "a new misuse of power on the part of the president".
The US ambassador to Brussels made a million dollars in contributions to Trump's inauguration ceremony, which he then appointed as ambassador to the European Union.
However, on November 20, Soundland pointed to Trump's direct involvement in a plot to force Ukraine to open an investigation into Joe Biden, the most likely former vice president to win the Democratic nomination card for the upcoming presidential election against Trump.
Sundland said - in a resounding testimony, the facts of which were carried live on the air - that he followed the president's orders to strike a deal with Ukraine to open an investigation on Biden in exchange for a summit between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelinsky at the White House.
The Democrats considered that the testimony of Sundland strongly supported the evidence that the president abused power, one of the two charges against him.
| Vendemann considered during his testimony that Trump's behavior was "inappropriate" (French) |
Improper conduct
As for Vendmann - who served as director of European affairs at the National Security Council - he was present during the phone call on July 25, during which Trump asked Zielinsky to open an investigation in Ukraine against Biden.
Democrats consider this call to be part of a plot to force a foreign ally to help rig the presidential elections in October.
"It is inappropriate for the President of the United States to ask a foreign government to investigate an American citizen and a political opponent," said Ukraine-born Vendman, who was summoned by Congress to testify.