right matters. an american story. i look forward to talking to you about that call and that book and everything around it, so thank you so much for being with us today. you were listening in, of course, as part of your duty. you were in the white house basement in the situation room and you were listening as you were supposed to take notes with colleagues any time the president is calling a foreign leader. july 25, 2019, what was your first reaction to what you heard? right. i recognized that all of my fears about the president being the driving force behind this this corrupt enterprise to favor himself in the upcoming 2020 elections were realized. before that i had fears that other people were trying to do the president s dirty work, but i had reverence for the office of the president, and in that moment i recognized it was the president. the president was the driving force. and you had heard there had been a lot going on because you heard about what rudy giuliani
this is the country i ve served and defended, that all of my brothers have served. and here, right matters. thank you, sir. november 19, 2019. the day most of the country learned the name alexander vindman. the now retired lieutenant-colonel was the one who sounded the alarm about what he heard on then president trump s july 25, 2019 phone call with ukraine president zelensky, which eventually led to president trump s first impeachment trial. and retired u.s. army lieutenant-colonel vindman joins us now, the author of the book here right matters an american s story . good to have you here. thank you. i want to talk about the testimony, what you heard on the phone call, but we were just discussing what you said in that testimony, which is your immigrant story that your family came here, i think you were 3 years old, came to brooklyn. in that testimony you touched on something that was so important
the senator from new york, mr. schumer proposes an amendment, number 1285. at the appropriate place in the resolving clause insert the following section notwithstanding any resolution pursuant to rules 5 and 6 of the rules of procedures and practice in the senate when sitting in impeachment trials, one, the chief justice of the united states through the secretary of the senate shall issue a subpoena to the secretary of senate commanding him to produce for the time period from january 1, 2019 to the present all documents, communications and other records within the possession, custody or control of the department of state, referring or relating to a, all meetings and calls between president trump and the president of ukraine, including documents, communications and other records related to the scheduling of preparation for and follow-up from the president s april 21 and july 25, 2019 telephone calls as well
25, 2019 telephone calls as well as the president s september 25, 2019 meeting with the president of ukraine in new york. b., the actual potential suspension, with holding, delaying, freezing or releasing of united states foreign assistance, military assistance or security assistance of any kind to ukraine including but not limited to the ukraine security assistance initiative, u.s. a.i. and foreign military finances, fmf, including but not limited to all communications with the white house, department of defense and the office of management and budget as well as the ukrainian government knowledge prior to august 28, to 19 of any actual or potential suspension, with holding, delaying, freezing or releasing of united states foreign assistance to ukraine including all meetings, calls or other engagements with ukrainian officials regarding potential or actual suspensions, holds or delays in the united states
the impeachment criteria laid out by the nation s founders. here s a sampling of what they had to say. president trump s conduct as described in the testimony in evidence clearly constitutes impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors under the constitution. in particular the memorandum and other testimony relating to the july 25, 2019 phone call between president trump and president zelensky more than efficiently indicates that president trump abused his office soliciting the pled of ukraine to investigate his political rivals toor in th this is something i do not think we have ever seen before. a president who doubled down on violating his oath to protect