Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a US National Security Council official, said that Donald Trump made “inappropriate” demands in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that sparked the impeachment inquiry.
“What I heard was inappropriate,” Col Vindman told the House intelligence committee, which is leading the public phase of the inquiry. “It is improper of the president of the United States to ask a foreign government to investigate a political opponent.”
Mr Vindman and Jennifer Williams, an aide to vice-president Mike Pence who also testified on Tuesday, are the latest officials to testify publicly after previously giving closed-door testimony about a White House campaign to pressure Mr Zelensky.