Just days after Predsident Donald Trump ousted Lt. Col Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council, the president said on Tuesday the military may be open to taking disciplinary action against the official for testifying against the president in the impeachment trial.
National security expert Juliette Kayyem told Boston Public Radio Wednesday there is no reason to believe that will happen.
"I don't mean to dismiss Donald Trump's pettiness, vindictiveness, and unsuitability to be President of the United States, it all played out in what he said about retaliatory efforts against anyone who testified against him," she said. "Because he's so internally vindictive, he just says something. Do I think the Pentagon is now going to investigate? I think the answer is no. The Pentagon is going to do what the Pentagon has done for as long as I've known the Pentagon, which is, you slow roll an idea from a President until it becomes forgotten."
Kayyem said she sees no reason the Pentagon would set themselves up for a legal battle over a man who testified under subpoena.
Juliette Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.