Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman Alexander VindmanImpeachment witness Alexander Vindman calls Trump Putin's 'useful idiot' The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - Trump, Biden renew push for Latino support Strzok: Trump behaving like an authoritarian MORE thanked his father for leaving the Soviet Union 40 years ago to give him and his brothers the opportunity to live in a country “free of fear” for their safety.

“Dad, I'm sitting here today in the U.S. Capitol, talking to our elected professionals, is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family,” he said Tuesday during his opening statement as part of Tuesday's public impeachment inquiry hearing.

“Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.”

Vindman with a message for his father, who left the Soviet Union: "Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth."pic.twitter.com/2K1GCed83N — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 19, 2019

Vindman said his reporting of the president’s actions through proper channels “would not be tolerated” in other countries, including the one his family fled.

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Questioning the president would “surely cost me my life” in Russia, he added.

Vindman said his dad’s “courageous decision” to leave the Soviet Union and come to America as a refugee inspired gratitude and a sense of duty in him and his brothers.