United was started after President Trumps first muslim ban which we found to be abhorrent and a violation of our understanding of american democracy and to our values. Its a vehicle for civil discourse and protection of our democratic ideals. Its a Great Partnership which has been able to bring you 27 outstanding programs with americas alist thinkers. We are volunteering her time and greatly crocheted or audience and express appreciation. I welcome you tonight on the half of Carolyn Kelly rabbi jim chasen and david lehr and the Leadership Team of jews united for democracy. Thank you tour many wonderful cosponsors Temple Isaiah steven wise Temple TempleTemple Israel of hollywood and the museumte l. A. A reminder next week we have former a bummer chief adviser the outstanding David Axelrod at our regular time wednesday at five and november 2 from 5 to 7 amazing to our program with a rotating cast of six brilliant panelists. They will tell us what will happen and what will it mean and in november we will have bill kristol ron brown and helping us understand what has happened in the election and we launched with an and ship they want to conclude my remarks with comments prayer to guess. We in and no doubt many others at this town hall tonight much of early lives in the soviet union. Throughout the 1960s and 70s he was a national activist leader and the latter have of the 70s led soviets recur. In addition to her advocacy and activism we traveled to the soviet union to visit tabouli theres and bring back the movie. Its a special pride to host two incredible men who were born in the soviet union and whose families were able to emigrate to the movement. We are so grateful to have you with us and to further entities are speaker of oakham committee get applicants inc. David layer a great leader and a great partner andr a great friend. Thank you janice. On behalf of committee get the kids im pleased to welcome you all to our virtual town hall with a record 5500 registered. Her audience is reaching the oceans. We went from mexico to vancouver bridge to london to pennsylvania to hawaii. Clearly theres a desire for intelligent analysis and honest discussion and its worldwide. We are offering to worldclass analysts and then some. I cant help but comment there are special guests Lieutenant Colonel alex vindman stands out as a hero one of the few individuals who have exhibited courage in the face of tyranny. For countless politicians scoured in hiddenite confronted by trumps bullying and threats they had little to use but our speaker spoke up knowing full well that his career was in jeopardy. Take a stand when countless others said nothing though they knew the character of trump what the consequences of their inaction was to our nation. A brave man who did the right thing at the right time and for all the right reasons. Max boot has made his third appearance on her Series Police are expected as historian bestselling author and foreignpolicy analyst. Eshes been called one of the worlds leading authorities on armed conflict. He is a senior fellow at the council on Foreign Relations a columnist for the Washington Post and an analyst for cnn. Our guest speaker Lieutenant Colonel alex vindman will discuss the military man in the eric trump, paying the price. Thank you very much david and thank you for what you said about alex vindman being a hero. Recently alex was born in 1975 and the soviet union in kiev in ukraine. He knew his family came here in 1979. He grew up in nerc city where i am from. He graduated from binghamton and joined the u. S. Army as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry. He subsequently served in a variety of assignments and made it his life career in germany. He was deployed to iraq and to 2004 earned a purple heart. Then in 2008 he moved from ininfantry to become an officer specializing in the former soviet union and Eastern Europe. He spent time at the u. S. Embassy there and got his nba from harvard and was an army attache at the u. S. Embassy in moscow from 2012 to 2015. He was a political military advisers and chairman of the joint chiefs and in 2018 he was assigned to the National Security council as director for Eastern Europe and kazakhstan a Russian Affairs and of course this is where he achieved worldwide fame. It was almost a year ago on november 19 of last year that alex testified before the senate before the House Intelligence Committee about what transpired on a phonecall between President Trump and the president of ukraine. When alex testified when he heard that called he listened in on them but it was deeply troubling and it was very improper and here ported it up the chain of command is subsequently when he was subpoenaed to testify before the house he did so in testified truthfully and honestly by the great or small risk to himself and my first questionn to you alex is did you have any idea what would happen when you first referred your concerns about when you agreed to testify you must have realized that you are going against the most powerful man in the country and your commander in chief and hed be deeply unhappy that your testimony. There a lot of military officers who would choose to stay out of line of fire that you advance to the sound of the gun. Was a hard decision for you . Thank you first of all for being part of this discussion and im privileged to have you be i guess my interviewer and thank you janice and david for hosting me. Its a unique opportunity to join an be a listorious group of people and its an opportunity to share what transpired. To answer your question i would say i had the lead role to no concern in making my initial report to the proper authorities at the National Securityro council. You have to understand from my perspective ive been watching the slow moving car crash for several months. It became clear there were some oddities with regard to policy as early as march when the former mayor of new york city Rudolph Giuliani started to advance some sort of narrative about interference and corruption on the part of the exceptional ambassador Marie Jovanovich and continue to do ball frankly over the subsequent months all the way through president zielinski and his election victory, the inauguration that i attended in the same timeframe really all the way through it started to come to a head in early june when the ukrainian National Security adviser came through and offered this could pro type of transaction at which point i reported that also. A lot of people wont necessarily recall that. But its obviously troubling is i tried to associate maybe because of my military high regard to the office of the presidency had tried to associate that the president tcs personally involved which was up fully apparent on that call on july 25. Nobody i shared my concerns in the hope that the proper authorities could right the ship and get it back on course. Ultimately there was no hesitation there and with regard to the testimony itself i would say i obviously knew or suspected hoping i would not give victim of retaliation but i had a high suspicion that this would be highly. Matt problematic possibly and it might career but what were my options really . I could have i guess reverse course somehow and basically went back on my initial concerns. That was not a viable option for me. I could have shirk my duties and my responsibilities as a a military officer and not appear before a coequal branch of government. None of these were Viable Options and ive never considered unless the president gave me a direct order in which it would have to play out in court, never considered not appearing before congress. Thats not the country i live in this farce im concerned that there was no chance i was not going to do my duty in this case. The most memorable part of your Opening Statement was where you addressed your father and his concerns about what were your doing where you said dad im sitting in the capital talking to professionals. Thats proof that he made the right direction to leave the sovietn union and come here to the United States of america in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth. Do you still feel that way . Do you still feel like you are fine for telling the truth because you have suffered retaliation from the United States and you had to retire early from the army as a lieutenantnt colonel and not promoted to colonel as you deserve to be. Your brother was fired along with you. Your wife was talked about and the threats that your family is faced. You still you like you are fine and if experience is an indication of the american system . In a lot of ways there was certainly the failure of congress as a whole to enforce accountability and i guess pursue justice but that wasnt my role. My role was relatively straightforward. It was the fact witness based on what i observed and going into the closeddoor testimony in a public testimony on the 19th of november theres little doubt i would face retaliation. At that point i had faced retaliation. I was ostracized by the Political Leadership and excluded from certain activities having proven myself as either disloyal or politically unloyal to the president. In the military we dont swear in those to the present we swear an oath to the constitution. Every word in my statement was carefully reviewed and i rehearsed r it. I said elected but i couldnt get it out right. That miya been the wrong worb because they were very unprofessional. We live in a very different country than where we came from. The soviet union would have and i was alluding to the fact that ultimately in s the longrun i had few misconceptions for the foreseeable future. I did ultimately end up needing to base a campaign of bullying in retaliation and intimidation. I thought id be okay in the long term. My dad came. The age of 47 with 750. 3 young sons and a motherinlaw and he managed to do fine with much much harder road ahead. Thats why i trust in the fact that id be fine and i will be. How does it feel to have been rocketed so quickly to so much fame and notoriety in particular . Watching your testimony which was selfevidently truthful and to see the way that you were smeared and vilified by so many republicans having republican members of Congress Questioning your loyalty to america which was truly sickening for somebody like you who has earned a purple heart for our country having Kayleigh Mcenany the White House Press secretary call you a junior employee and having trump himself the president of United States attack you as a quote or her as he considers to be an insult but i considered to be a badge of honor but also when he fired you from the nfc sending out the tweet about how you are supposedly given to her rent is report by your superior and wouldnt adhere to the chain of command in all these lies which the kind of stuff k we are usedo seeing from internet trolls. This is the president of the United States saying this and the person who at that time was so your commanderinchief. It must have been a surreal experience. I can imagine what that was like. Did you feel personally threatened . Did you feel like your life and your familys life were i can imagine what that experience was like. I will tell you ive been through tougher situations. Ive deployed to combat and lived for years in moscow and one of the more highstakes geopolitical gains were they high stake in separate and you have those entire Security Apparatus as an attache and my wife and i had been through our own challenges. She has spoken about those recently with regard to a bigger family. S in the big scheme of things i i tend to not really focus on the bad things. The president of u the United States, i separate the office from i hate referring to him as President Trump because he doesnt deserve that title in my mind. He has proven that he has done the exact opposite so i have little regard for the officials he put in high office because they are unqualified and frankly incompetent. His by these folks with their claims about me and my character because i have little regard for them. The people i do hold high regard for, chairman dunker, in his last day in uniform, he basically put out, he put some information out for cnn, attesting to my qualities. That means so much more to me and what comes out of the president s mouth his tweet for his proxies. Take today, we see that he and his team are spreading disinformation, are just spreading disinformation, lying, and in fact undermining, almost everything in the election, hence underlying the very foundation of our democracy. It doesnt really bother me. With regards to the threats, maybe i will say that might daughter my wife is in charge of safety i am in charge of fun. I she pays much closer attention to these things and i do. I kind of looked in challenging places, and i can generally hold my own. But it is quite disconcerting to have hate mail and threats come to the house. Meeting clearly the people know how to find us. So that is a problem and we were prepared at various times case we need to move to isolation increased safety. But we tried to live our life as much as m we could normally in this stressful situation. Its a disgrace you had to endure that because you testified truthfully. What you think about people like john bolton he refused to testify up and but could haveou added to the case against trump. What he think aboutav the republican members of congress who heard the evidence and totally disregarded to acquit even though the evidence was overwhelming that trump was guilty of the very high crimes and misdemeanors of which he was accused . What i find interesting and a little bit, i guess i can stay take solace in the back these people opt ultimately live with theirir decisions. I can speak about myself and why i chose to do my duty. I know with the right thing to do was. I knew that i would have to live with myself if i somehow did not do the right thing. I knew i have to look my daughter and her eye when she gets older and understands whats going on, and that could have made a difference. And i was not going to dishonor our family by shirking my responsibilities. These folks that failed to do that will have to ultimately live the consequences of their actions. Some of them might not even feel bad about it. Frankly, some of these folks are already selfserving. And looking to profit. I guess they will be fine, they will be fineue even if there vilified by the public. But, i think there probably will be enough people that will suffer consequences as a result of shirking their responsibilities. Youll see that in the upcoming election in a couple of weeks. That a number of people will lose their office. And the rest of them that shirk the responsibility will have that basically they will have that around their it will be a sign around them for the rest of their careers. So i will just leave it at that. Host you mention the support you receive from the outgoing chairman of the joints of chiefs. I would be curious in general for how much support did you receive from the army, from the ug and general secretary offense from general millie who replaced general dunford. Did you feel like the building as people called the pentagon was the building behind me that you are being vilified and ostracized the president of the United States . Or did they leave a wounded man on the battlefield and abandon you, under attack from the president . Sure. There is some nuance to and answering this question. Bottom line is no, never felt like i had any kind of support or f backing. But i guess the question is, who is to blame . In part the military, the defense officials and the department of defense. Chairman of the joint chief, as leaders they have some responsibility. But frankly it august back to the president and the kind of environment that he has branded in government for the past four years just about. Our institutions that have kind of kept us as we have been, have been under attack. It started with the department of justice, homeland security, intel community, state departments. Ultimately frankly because of me, the department of defense was drawn in. And these officials fundamentally had to make a choice between catering to their fears, succumbing to concerns over what the president might do but they stood behind me, and supported me. Or, kept quiet. Ultimately they decided to preserve their own positions. Whether that is to be in office as a guard rail, which is probably what they have in mind that they will somehow be in a position to spend the most agree just activities of this president. But i think there is equal part at least that these individuals were looking to secure their own position. Im did not want to risk the vindictive backlash from President Trump. And therefore, i was easy kind of part sacrificing their minds. I think its worth mentioning that in fact, it is a slippery slope with this president. And if you do not stand your ground the president is likely to pursue his aggressive plea. Weve seen that play out in Lafayette Park when he was holding secretary asper as he back to me as he pushed Peaceful Protesters for what amounted to a political ad. Civic that is a great point until traditionally been very republican group. Im guessing youve probably been a republican as well as that right . I would describe it as the military tends to run more conservative. There is a large contingent that comes out of the Southern States that tends the representative of where they originate from tends to run more conservative politics dont play a significant role in im guessing they did not have any clear clu clue. My own background and a new york city so when i registered at the age of 18, i registered as a democrat. I could see i was not active during the course of my military is not an active participant in politics. I took the concept of a military very, very seriously but frankly the president is not pulled me into politics. I wouldve stayed in that space the president gave me a voice in my side actually seen be on the curtain the personal personal photos of the president. Five any kind of impact on the upcoming i will do that. And franky thats well; for zone. I am not a interested and a lot of meeting engagements. Starting in september or telling my story in our family telling the stories of the American Public can see with the costs are for faithful public servants. In any indication that the next four years would be better, is misplaced. If anything it will be significantly worse because theres nothing guardrail another term of another election people should just know that when they go vote. What about the people much more senior to folks like general jim mattis or general john kelly or mcmaster, former senator dan coats and others who clearly have been just appalled as you are by President Trumps misconduct. But they are not out here. They are not joining us tonight, they are not speaking out they are not campaigning against trump not trying to alert a the american to the danger. These are all retired generals retired senators are set, nothing can possibly happen to them. In they do not have careers to pursue it anymore and yet they are choosing to stay silent. What is your view of that . I dont kind sentiments in this regard icy to selfpreservation selfpreservation, military officers especially senior military officers their entire career they think about preserving their options. One is many options as possible for whatever fight youre going to get andte engage in. Theyre sticking to the notion that they do not want to burn any bridges for that owner come down as a democrat or republican they were 30 or 40 years in government. Theyve improved a lot of their family. They basically, in certain regards they lost sight of the fact ive seen this in my role in Public Service continuing. I do not frankly understand why theyre not speaking up. They know it right and wrong is. The only thing that seems to suggest why theyre not speaking up is again selfpreservation. Self enrichment. A political military is absently valid. Once you hang up your uniform, you are still a leader. And you have an ability to make an impact. You should never navigate that responsibility. Feedback i want to turn to what could be the 64 billiondollar questionil here. Which people have been asking for a long time into which i still not heard a straight answer. The question essentially being, with trump and rush in particular with trump and putin. Dan coats essentially quoted said he thanks putin has something on trump. Is that something you think . Or how do you explain the fact that that trump attacks pretty much everybody in the universe except for vladimir putin. Into he has secrets why is that . Civic it is a 64 billiondollar question. The compromising material what he has is a willing participant hes a potent family hes had admired him for a long time without any kind of check. I think inn a lot of ways trump would like to be the same kind of figure hes just not as confident. And does nothe have the wherewithal to do that. So what putin has, and ive described him as both a useful idiot and a fellow traveler, and an article but were going live to minnesota for a Campaign Event with President Trump with supporters in rochester