John Kelly says Vindman did the right thing reporting Trump's 'illegal' Ukraine order

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is defending one of the subjects of his old boss' ire.

Kelly at an event on Wednesday night discussed Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman after he was removed from his National Security Council job last week. Vindman had testified in the impeachment inquiry about how he was alarmed by President Trump's phone call with Ukraine and spoke up about it.

"He did exactly what we teach them to do from cradle to grave," Kelly said of Vindman, The Atlantic reports. "He went and told his boss what he just heard."

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Kelly went on to compare hearing Trump's phone call with Ukraine to hearing an "illegal order," saying Vindman was correct to report it.

"We teach them, 'Don’t follow an illegal order,'" Kelly said. "And if you're ever given one, you'll raise it to whoever gives it to you that this is an illegal order, and then tell your boss.'"

The White House has insisted that Vindman wasn't fired, but Trump said this week he "obviously wasn't happy with the job he did," and Vindman's lawyer said he was removed because Trump "decided to exact revenge."

"Through the Obama administration up until that phone call, the policy of the U.S. was militarily to support Ukraine in their defensive fight against ... the Russians," Kelly said Wednesday. "And so, when the president said that continued support would be based on X, that essentially changed. And that's what that guy [Vindman] was most interested in."