Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth is planning to block more than 1,100 military promotions unless impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is promoted.
Duckworth, a Democrat, notified Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Thursday that she intends to block 1,123 pending military promotions unless she receives confirmation that Vindman has been promoted or is on track to receive a promotion. She asked that Esper “confirms in writing that he did not, or will not, block the expected and deserved promotion.”
“Our military is supposed to be the ultimate meritocracy,” Duckworth said in the letter obtained by Politico. “It is simply unprecedented and wrong for any Commander in Chief to meddle in routine military matters at all, whether or not he has a personal vendetta against a Soldier who did his patriotic duty and told the truth — a Soldier who has been recommended for promotion by his superiors because of his performance.”
“I won’t just sit by and let it happen, and neither should any of my colleagues,” she added. “This goes far beyond any single military officer, it is about protecting a merit-based system from political corruption and unlawful retaliation.”
Vindman testified against President Trump during the House impeachment inquiry. After his testimony, Vindman was removed from his post within the White House’s National Security Council and reassigned to duties within the Pentagon. Trump said that Vindman was pulled from the National Security Council because he had “problems with judgment.”
Duckworth vowed to block every military promotion except for that of Army Gen. Gustave Perna. Perna was recently nominated by Trump to lead the military’s efforts in securing a vaccine to address the coronavirus pandemic. The senator sent the letter following a report from the Washington Post that claimed Trump was working to prevent Vindman from rising to the level of colonel.
Duckworth, a retired Army officer, served in the Iraq War, where she sustained injuries that resulted in the loss of her legs. Vindman, a Purple Heart recipient, caught scorn from some of his peers in the military for wearing his uniform to testify and for demanding that Rep. Devin Nunes refer to him as “Lt. Col. Vindman” after being referred to as “Mr. Vindman.”
