A US Army officer and key impeachment witness saw his loyalty called into question by Republicans on Tuesday, as he testified that President Donald Trump made inappropriate demands on his Ukrainian counterpart for dirt on rival Democrats.
Straining to fight back on abuse-of-power allegations against Trump, Republicans in Congress took aim at Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a respected member of the White House National Security Council, suggesting the Kiev-born immigrant's allegiance is not to the United States and so his testimony is dubious.
Testifying in the second week of televised impeachment hearings, Vindman steadfastly defended his patriotism, saying he had reported alarming pressure by Trump for Ukraine to investigate potential 2020 rival Joe Biden "out of a sense of duty".