Alexander Vindman explains how Donald Trump's coup attempt encouraged Putin's Ukraine invasion

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was one of a few officials who heard former President Donald Trump alleged attempt to bribe the president of Ukraine. He's been trying to warn Americans ever since of the dangers posed by Trump, particularly when it comes to Vladimir Putin and his overarching goal of seizing and reestablishing the Soviet Union.

He was among those who spoke to the New York Times for a deep dive on Russian and European specialist Fiona Hill, who worked on the U.S. National Security Council. Vindman warned that the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was the kind of incident that would signal Putin to start preparing for his invasion.

Vindman told the Times that he recalled his wife Rachel calling him to say that the Capitol was under siege.

"My first impulse was to counterprotest,” Vindman recalled. “I was thinking, What can I do to defend the Capitol? Then I realized that would be a recipe for disaster. It might give the president cause to invoke martial law.”

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There was a concern that if Trump invoked martial law, he would use it as a way to stay in the White House and refuse to give up the presidency. In an interview with Salon in February, Vindman noted that such a tactic was never a concern of his, because the military wouldn't go for it, commander-in-chief or not.

"I did not fear the military coming down on the side of Donald Trump," he said. "I trusted that the military was going to be principled and do the right thing, and not be immersed or dragged into domestic politics. But I did have some fears about the president successfully rallying a fringe, extremely right-wing radicalized portion of the public to cause real harm to the peaceful transition of power. And to a certain extent, that did happen. It lasted hours and failed. I have seen such things in other countries. These events leave me deeply worried about the health of our political system. Ultimately, I've tried to raise the alarm about the vulnerabilities in America's democracy and governing institutions without being an alarmist."

Looking back at that and seeing Putin's actions in Ukraine, Vindman said that he can't help but see the link.

“I came to see these seemingly individual events — the Ukraine scandal, the attempt to steal the 2020 election — as part of a broader tapestry. And the domestic effects of all this are bad enough. But there’s also a geopolitical impact. We missed an opportunity to harden Ukraine against Russian aggression," Vindman told the Times.

“Ukraine became radioactive for the duration of the Trump administration," he continued. "There wasn’t serious engagement. Putin had been wanting to reclaim Ukraine for eight years, but he was trying to gauge when was the right time to do it. Starting just months after Jan. 6, Putin began building up forces on the border. He saw the discord here. He saw the huge opportunity presented by Donald Trump and his Republican lackeys. I’m not pulling any punches here. I’m not using diplomatic niceties. These folks sent the signal Putin was waiting for.”

Writing at the Washington Post earlier this year, Colbert King wondered if Putin's actions in 2016 will help Republicans to wake up.

Maybe now that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is well underway, the implications of President Vladimir Putin's actions against the United States in 2016 will finally sink in, especially for Republicans in Congress. After all, he is the same Vladimir Putin "who planned, staged and launched a large-scale war on Ukraine is the same Vladimir Putin who ordered an aggressive, multifaceted, clandestine campaign to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election," wrote King.

His goal, the columnist explained was to pull another country out of the West, while his 2016 goal was to undermine the U.S. democratic process in 2016. Such efforts proved to be successful as he raked in the benefits to having Trump as his White House ally. Now, Putin "perceives that a subjugated Ukraine benefits Russia and is now working to achieve that end," wrote King.