Multiple Trump administration officials violated federal whistle-blower protection laws by removing Colonel Yevgeny Vindman from his position as a National Security Council lawyer after he made “protected communications” alleging that former president Donald Trump violated US law by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate then-former Vice President Joe Biden and his son during a 2019 phone call, according to a new report from the Defense Department’s inspector general.
“We found, based on a preponderance of the evidence, that the Complainant was the subject of unfavorable personnel actions from administration officials,” Acting Inspector General Sean O’Donnell wrote in the report, which was released on Wednesday by his office. “Furthermore, we concluded based on a preponderance of the evidence, that these actions would not have occurred or been withheld absent the Complainant’s protected communications”.
