Night for democracy and justice and community kids. Started after President Trumps first muslim man we found to be a. In violation of our understanding of american democracy to our jewish values. Established by david for decades ago, a vehicle to fight for civil discord and protection of our democratic ideals. Its a Great Partnership thats been able to bring 27 outstanding programs. We are all volunteering our time and appreciate our audience support in expressing of appreciation. Kelly, rabbi and david, the Leadership Team of united for democracy thank you to our many wonderful cosponsors, israel of hollywood, center for justice and Holocaust Museum l. A. A reminder next week, obama advisor, i standing david at her later time wednesday 5 00 p. M. November 2, 5 00 p. M. To 7 00 p. M. , an Amazing Program six brilliant panelists. We will have three separate days to understand whats happening in the election. Want to conclude my welcoming remarks for the comments from our guest tonight. We no doubt, many others in this town hall tonight spend our early lives fighting for the soviet union. Throughout the 1960s and 70 70s, is a National Leader in the latter half of the 70s, i led las efforts. In addition to our political advocacy we traveled to the soviet union and bring back the stories in the movement. It gives us these incredible man born in the soviet union and families will able to emigrate in this movement. We are so grateful to have you here tonight. Please welcome, community advocates, david, a great leader and great partner and a great friend. Thank you. Behalf of the unit, id like to welcome you all once again to the virtual town hall, nearly 5500 registered. Our audience is not bridging from last night the program to chandler, arizona, and mexico vancouver to hawaii. Really, theres a desire for an analysis honest discussion and it is worldwide. Tonight, your offering world class analyst and then some. Special guests stanza todays americans hero. Hes one of the few individuals in the National Exhibiting courage and wrongdoing. They hit when confronted by trumps bullying in his though they had little to lose. They bravely spoke up when witnessing wrongdoing, knowing full well his career was jeopardized. He took a stand when others did nothing though they knew. The consequences of their in action for our nation. Youre about to hear from a man who did the right thing at the right time and for all the right reasons. He made his third appearance in our series, a respected historian, bestselling author and Foreign Policy analyst. Hes one of the worlds leading authorities. The senior fellow relations, calmness for Washington Post and analyst for cnn. Fred and guest speaker, alex vindman to discuss the era of trump. Thank you i echo everything you said about him being a hero. Alex was born in 1975 in ukrai ukraine, he and his family came here in 1979 and grew up in new york city. He subsequently served in a variety of ways. He was deployed to iraq and in 2004 he earned a purple heart. Then in 2008, he moved from infantry to become an officer specializing in former soviet union and eastern europe. He spent time there and got a ma from harvard and he was an assistant army in moscow in 201. Then i was a political military advisor on the chairman of the joint chiefs and in 2018, he was assigned to the National Security council Eastern EuropeanRussian Affairs but of course, this is where he achieved worldwide fame. It was almost a year ago on november 19 last year alex testified before the senate, before the House Intelligence Committee about what transpired a phone call between President Trump and president zelensky of ukraine. As alex testified when he first heard that, is listening and that it was deeply troubling what was happening. He reported to his chain of command and when he came to testify, he testified truthfully and honestly but a great personal risk to himself and my first question to you, did you have any idea what would happen when you first referred your concerns about this up the chain of command . Did you hesitate . You must have realized we were going against the most powerful men in the country, commanderinchief. He be the unhappy about your testimony, theres a lot of military officers who would choose to stay out of the line of fire but you advanced to the end of the gun. Was it a hard decision for you . Thank you for being part of this discussion and i am privileged to have you as my interviewer thank you for hosting me, a unique opportunity to join this group, its an opportunity to share a little bit about what transpired. The answer, id say i have little to no concern in my initial report to the proper authorities in the National Security council, you have to understand from my perspective, ive been watching this slow moving car crash for several months. It became clear there was oddities as early as march when the former mayor of new york city started to advance a narrative about ukrainian interference and corruption on the part of the exceptional ambassador and that continued to devolve over the subsequent months all the way through president zelensky and his election the jury, inauguration i attended in that timeframe, all the way through and started to come to a head early june, two weeks before when the National Security advisor came through and offered this quid pro quo transaction and a lot of people dont necessarily number, it was obviously troubling in this case, i tried to dissociate may be because of my military training in high regard to the presidency, trying to dissociate the fact that the president is personally involved but it was apparent in the july 25 so nobody is above the law in the u. S. I shared my concerns in the hope that the proper authorities could write the ship and get us back on course and ultimately, with regards to their testimonies, i would say i obviously knew the consequences, helping i wouldnt be a victim of retaliation but its going to be highly problematic, potentially ending my career but what were my options, really . Could have, i guess reversed course somehow and basically went back on my initial concer concerns, that was not a viable option for me. As a military officer, i could have not appeared before a branch of government, none of these are really Viable Options and i never really considered, unless the president gave me a direct order in which it would have to play on the court, i never considered not testifying. That is not the country i live in as far as im concerned. The most memorable part of your Opening Statement is where you address your father and his concerns about what you are doing, talking to elective professionals, it is proof you made the right decision to come here, 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. You still feel that way . You have suffered real retaliation, hed been fired, he had to retire early from the army as lieutenant colonel, you want promoted to colonel as you deserved to be, your brother was fired along with you, your life talked about, do you still feel you are fine and the experience was a vindication of the american system . In a lot of ways, the failure of congress as a whole to enforce accountability and pursue justice, that wasnt my role. My role was relatively straightforward, i was called to testify based on what i observed. Going in to the closed door in public testimony, there is little doubt i would face retaliation. At that time, i hadnt face retaliation were ostracized by the Political Leadership and excluded from certain activities having proven myself as either disloyal or politically unreliable to the president , which in the military, we dont swear an oath to the president , is where goes to the constitution. I knew what i was getting into and every word in my statement was very carefully reviewed, i wish i had rehearsed it, i meant to say not collected professional, i meant to say elected official but i couldnt get it out right but i knew what i was saying the wrong word but go ahead. Is alluding to the fact that we live in a very different country and where we came from. The soviet union, the stakes were much higher. Ultimately, in the long run, i would be fine. I had sections for the future, i ultimately left due to campaign retaliation intimidation but i was referring to the fact that i would be okay long term, my dad came here at the age of 47 with 750, three young sons and a motherinlaw and she managed to be fine with a much harder road ahead. How does it feel to have been rocketed so quickly to so much fame and notoriety . To be watching for testimony, which was so truthful, to see the way you are vilified by so many republicans from having republican members of Congress Questioning your loyalty to america which is sickening for somebody like you whos armed a purple heart for our country, having kayleigh mcenany, the White House Press secretary calling you junior employee, having trump himself, the president of the u. S. Attack y you. But also, when he fired you, sending out this tweet about how you are supposed to give around his report from your superior, wouldnt adhere the chain of command, all of these lies which the kind of self we are used to being from internet trolls but this is the president of the United States the person who at that time, was still your commander in chief, it must have been a surreal experience, i cant imagine what that was like. Did you feel personally did you feel your life and your familys life was at stake . I just cant imagine what that was like. I will tell you, i have been through tougher situations, ive deployed to combat in the three years in moscow, more highstakes there. Geopolitical gains are played and you have an entire apparatus and my wife and i had been through our own challenges, she spoke about this recently in regards to a bigger family so in the big scheme of things, i tend to not focus on the bad things. The president of the United States, i separate the office from the person i hate referring to him as President Trump, he does not deserve that title in my mind. Yes, he won an election but hes proven, you have to earn respect and hes done the exact opposite so i have little regard for him or the officials he put in high office because they are unqualified and often times incompetent. In a lot of ways, i take it as a badge of honor when i get this 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, lying and undermining almost everything in the election, undermining the foundation of our democracy so it doesnt really bother me. With regards to the threats, maybe ill say my daughter says my wife is in charge of safety, i am in charge of the soapy she pays attention more closely to these things than i do. Like i said, ive lived in challenging places that can generally hold my own but it is quite disconcerting to have hate mail and threats coming to the house, so that was a problem. Prepared at various times, to move on, basic Due Diligence for safety but we try to live our life as much as we could normally in a stressful situation. A disgrace you have to endure because you testified truthfully, what to think about people like john bolton who refused to testify but could have added to the case . What you think about the republican members of congress who have the evidence and then choose to disregard it even though the evidence was overwhelming that trump was guilty of the high crimes and misdemeanors of which he was accused . What i find interesting and a little i guess, i take solace in the fact that these people have to live with their decision. I can speak about myself and why i chose to do my duty, i knew what the right thing to do was, i knew i would have to live my myself if i didnt do the right thing. Id have to look my daughter in her eyes when shes older and understands what is going on and i could have made a difference now is not going to his honor our family. These folks who failed to do that will have to live with the consequences of their actions. Some might not even feel bad about it. Some of these folks are very selfserving looking to profit and i guess they will be fine, even if they are vilified by the public but there will probably be enough people who will suffer consequences as a result of their response about this. Well see that in the upcoming election in a couple weeks, a number of people will lose their office and the rest of them shared responsibility, basically they will have that around there will be a sign around them the rest of their careers. I would just that. You mentioned the report use receipt, but i make curious in general, how much support did you receive from the army, from secretary defense, did you feel the building, as people call the pentagon, the building behind you that youve been vilified and ostracized by the president of the United States . What did they leave a man on the battlefield. There is some nuance in this question, bottom line is no. I never felt like i had any support for backing but the question is, who is to blame . Officials and the public defen defense, chairman of the joint chiefs, as leaders, they have responsibly but it goes back to the president and government for the past four years or so. Our institutions that have kept us as strong as we have been, have been under attack, it probably started with the department of justice, intel community, state department and frankly, because of me that they were drawn in and these officials have to make a choice between catering to their fears, succumbing to concerns over what the president might do in support of me or kept quiet and ultimately, they decided to preserve their own divisions, whether its an office, which is probably what they have in mind, they will be in a position to stamp the most egregious activities of the president but i think theres equal part at least, that is individuals looking to secure their own petition and did not want to risk the vindictive backlash from President Trump and therefore, i was part of the sacrifice in their mind that think it is worth mentioning that it is a slippery slope with this president and if you dont stand your ground, the president is likely to pursue the agenda more aggressively and when secretary esper chairman to back him as he pushed Peaceful Protesters for what amounted to a political at if they stood their ground, maybe that may not have happened. Traditionally, the military is a very Republican Group and im guessing probably are republican as well . I would say you know, i would describe it as the military tend to run more conservative. There is large continuing coming in, the representative of where they originate from. In that regard, it tends to run more conservative. Politics dont end up playing a significant role, i have no idea what the political affiliation of my peers, subordinates seniors, what the political affiliation was and im guessing it didnt know of my own. I grew up in new york city semia democrat at the age of 18. I was not an active participant in politics, i took the concept of military very, very seriously and if the president had me not politicized, i would have stayed but the president did attack me and gave me a voice and i had seen behind the curtain and i see this as part of my duty, basically speaking up and attesting to the Foreign Policy failures, personal failures of the president and if i have any role if i could have any impact on the upcoming elections, i will do that and that is way outside my comfort zone, i am not interested in a lot of engagements but ive had to comfortable starting in december, my family telling the stories, the American Public can see what the costs are for People Public servants and in the indication that the next four years would be better is misplaced, if anything, it will be significantly worse because there is not the guardrail of another election and i think people should know that when they go vote. What is your view of people for folks like mattis or john kelly or mcmaster and others who clearly, by President Trumps misconduct, they are not out here speaking up or campaigning against trump are trying to alert the American People to the danger. These are folks with a lot less to lose than you do. Nothing can possibly happen to them, they dont have careers pursue anymore and yet, they are choosing to stay silent. What is your view of that . Maybe i dont have particularly kind of i frankly see this as selfpreservation, militia officers especially senior military officers, their entire career, they think about preserving options. You want as many options as possible for whatever area you engage in. I think they are basically sticking to that notion that they dont want to burn any bridges will come down as democrat or publican monkey dont want to limit their financial opportunities, theyve worked 30 or 40 years in government, this is a time they can improve their family and basically, maybe they have lost sight that they have an opportunity in private versus public. I see my role in Public Service containing. I dont understand why they are not speaking up. They lived these values for decades, they know whats right and wrong is the only things that seems to be justified is again, selfpreservation, self enrichment, frankly, that is the way i see it. Idea of a political military once you hang up your uniform, youre still a leader