'We had found the smoking gun'

Alexander Vindman, star player in Trump’s first impeachment, tells SpyTalk how he found politically explosive evidence in Ukraine and Washington

Alexander Vindman was Director of European Affairs with the Nattonal Security Council in 2018 when he heard Trump on the phone pressuring Ukraine Pesident Volodymyr Zelenskyy for derogatory informaton on the Bidens in exchange for resuming arms shipments. (AP photo).

While serving as a military attache at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in 2014,  Alexander Vindman drove down to the Ukraine border on a secret spy mission determined to catch the Russians red-handed. 

It was a tense and, in retrospect, fateful time in U.S.-Russia relations.  Russian President Vladimir Putin, after annexing Crimea, was funnelling weapons and supplies to allied separatists in the eastern Donbas region. The Russians, of course, were denying they were doing anything of the sort. But Vindman, a decorated career Army officer (who was wounded in Iraq), was convinced they were lying. He just needed the proof.  

So, after pouring over road maps and looking for crossing points, he and a partner headed south, positioning themselves for hours on end at a stakeout spot close to the border. They were about to give up when they saw exactly what they were looking for headed their way: a huge Russian military convoy of troop transports,  infantry fighting vehicles and logistics trucks speeding down a two-lane road with their lights off. Vindman hopped into his car with a camera and followed the convoy.