Trump ousts 2 key impeachment witnesses

US President Donald Trump has fired two officials who had testified before the Congressional committee during the impeachment process by the House of Representatives, three days after he was acquitted by the Senate of all charges. The two officers are the Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council of the White House.

Both Vindman and Sondland were key witnesses during the impeachment hearings by the Democrats-controlled House of Representatives. "I was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately as (the) United States Ambassador to the European Union," Sondland said in a statement on Friday.

Hours before Vindman was escorted out of the White House security officials, his attorney said: "LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth." "There is no question in the mind of any American why this man's job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House," Vindman's attorney, David Pressman, said in a statement.

"His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful," Pressman added. The White House did not comment on the dismissal of two impeachment-related officials.

The White House also fired Lt Col Yevgeny Vindman, twin brother of Vindman. The two worked at the National Security Council of the White House.