Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the reconstructed transcript the White House released of President Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not include critical words and phrases, three people familiar with his testimony told The New York Times.
Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, listened to the call from the Situation Room. During their conversation, Trump asked Zelensky to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Vindman reportedly testified that the partial transcript, which included several ellipses, omitted Trump saying there were recordings of Biden discussing Ukraine corruption and Zelensky mentioning Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden was once a board member.
Because the call was not recorded by the United States, the reconstructed transcript was put together by note takers and voice recognition software. Vindman was tasked with updating the transcript, and he told investigators that he made changes to the sections where words were omitted, but only some of his edits were approved, the Times reports. Vindman also said he "did not think it was proper" for Trump to ask Zelensky to investigate Biden, and he reported what was said to a superior. Read more at The New York Times.
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