‘Why are so many people listening in on me?’ Trump slams Ukrainegate witness as ‘Never Trumper,’ questions call procedure

US President Donald Trump has questioned the reliability of a White House official set to testify to Congress about his infamous call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, calling the witness a “Never Trumper.”

The tweet is part of the Ukrainegate impeachment saga, which the Democrats have been focusing on ever since Russiagate fizzled out. The allegation is that Trump pressured Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden over his role in ending a corruption probe into a Ukrainian energy company where his son sat on the board – and that Trump made US aid to Kiev dependent on such an investigation.

Several whistleblowers have come forward to claim they were disturbed by Trump-Zelensky call, and the first White House official to publicly testify, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, says he "did not think it was proper" for Trump to “demand that a foreign government investigate a US citizen.”

Vindman, who is the director of European affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), was due to speak to lawmakers in a closed-door hearing on Tuesday.

In the Tuesday morning tweets, Trump questioned whether the witness – apparently Vindman – was even "on the same call" as he was with Zelensky, writing: "Can’t be possible! Please ask him to read the Transcript of the call. Witch Hunt!"

The White House has released a memo on the call, and Trump has repeatedly insisted that there was no "quid pro quo" when he asked Zelensky to look into Biden's actions. 

How many more Never Trumpers will be allowed to testify about a perfectly appropriate phone call when all anyone has to do is READ THE TRANSCRIPT!

In the tweets, Trump also said he “knew people were listening in on the call” but questioned “why so many?” Trump also complained in an earlier tweet that people he has "never even heard of" are testifying about the July 25th call, another likely reference to Vindman.

The White House has slammed the "secrecy" of the impeachment process so far and called the “shady, closed door depositions” completely “illegitimate.”

The Republicans have so far regarded the Democratic-driven proceedings as illegal. In an effort to quiet the criticism and force witnesses to comply with subpoenas, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday that a formal vote would be held authorizing impeachment proceedings. Earlier, Republican lawmakers had stormed a closed hearing to protest the way in which Democrats were handling the process.

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