Article snippet: MORE on Tuesday, but it was a high-risk strategy that seemed to backfire. Trump himself downplayed Vindman’s importance, despite the fact that he serves as the director for European Affairs on the National Security Council (NSC). “I don’t know him,” Trump told reporters at a White House Cabinet meeting. “I never saw the man.” Vindman was on the president’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however. So too was Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Pence who testified alongside Vindman. Trump emphasized that Vindman was wearing his uniform to the hearing, echoing an attack from the right that suggested the NSC official was doing so to bolster his credibility. “I understand now he wears his uniform when [he] goes in,” Trump said. In fact, it is standard practice for members of the military to wear their uniform when appearing on Capitol Hill. In the hearing room itself, some Republicans suggested that Vindman may have been distrusted by his bosses or that the army officer, born in what was then the Soviet Union, could have divided loyalties. But those attacks were turned back, either by Vindman himself or by Democrats. When Rep. MORE (R-Ohio) asserted that Vindman’s former boss, Fiona Hill, had “concerns about your judgment,” the army officer responded by reading a work evaluation from Hill, in which she described him as “brilliant” and “unflappable.” She also called him “the best Army officer I have worked with in my 15 years of gove... Link to the full article to read more