At Trump impeachment hearings, 'American Dream' looms large

As impeachment hearings play out in Washington, high-level officials, many of m immigrants or children of immigrants, who have testified before Congress are being forced to defend ir loyalty to United States.

Ukrainian-born Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council expert, rebuffed attacks by proudly stating at proceedings: " uniform I wear today is that of United States Army." Like many of his peers who have testified, he embodies "American Dream," as an immigrant who rose to top.

Having displayed exemplary service to ir country, y boast of patriotic gratitude for United States, which gave m opportunity -- and for some, refuge from oppression.

But that attitude has given m little cover from attack as y participate in impeachment investigation against Donald Trump, spurred by a phone call in which he asked Ukraine to investigate one of his potential 2020 presidential election opponents.

Vindman, whose family fled anti-Semitism in Soviet Union to New York when he was just three, has been subject to sharp criticism from president and his allies.

As a respected member of White House National Security Council, he testified before House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday wearing his dress blue uniform displaying his combat infantry badge, campaign ribbons and a Purple Heart received for wounds suffered by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Following his testimony, which touched on pressure president's cohorts had placed on Kiev, Trump cast doubts on his allegiance.

One guest commentator on conservative TV channel Fox News even accused him of being a spy for Ukraine.

During hearing, an attorney for House Republicans questioned him at length about fact that a Ukrainian official had offered him position of minister of defense in Kiev. Vindman explained that he never knew if offer was serious and immediately declined.

Repeating multiple times that he is an American, he told Intelligence Committee that "as a young man I decided that I wanted to spend my life serving nation that gave my family refuge from authoritarian oppression."

Two day later, former national security council expert Fiona Hill, who was Vindman's superior, echoed same mess.

Almost "everyone immigrated to United States at some point in ir family history. And this is for me what really makes America great," said Hill who was born in England and became an American "by choice" in 2002.

"This country has offered me opportunities I never would have had in England. I grew up poor with a very distinctive working-class accent. In England in 1980s and 1990s, this would have impeded my professional advancement," she said.

She herself has been described by far-right detractors as a "globalist" and "mole" of George Soros, billionaire philanthropist who is often subject of anti-Semitic campaigns.

Hill joked about matter but said she was furious that former ambassador to Kiev, Marie Yovavitch, who was born in Canada to parents who fled Soviet and Nazi regimes, suffered such attacks.

Yovavitch was called back to United States in May, after a smear campaign orchestrated by Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Her absence, Democrats say, gave Trump and his allies freer rein in country.

Less than an hour into hearing, president erupted spectacularly on Twitter with an attack on highly regarded former envoy.

Asked what effect Trump's tweet might have on her and or witnesses, Yovavitch appeared unnerved.

"It's very intimidating," she told panel, after also speaking of her "gratitude for all that this country has given my family and me." US ambassador to European Union Gordon Sondland, whose parents fled Nazi Germany first to Uruguay and n to Seattle in United States, grew up in a family that he said "was er for freedom and hungry for opportunity."

In an editorial Will Bunch of Philadelphia Inquirer called out what he said was a "subliminal me" running through proceedings: that immigrants fleeing oppression "became zealous defenders - only to see a dangerous demagogue threaten to drag ir country into a muck."

Adam Schiff, chairman of Democratic-controlled House committee conducting impeachment inquiry, said that " few immigrant stories we've heard just in course of se hearings are among most powerful I think I've ever heard.

"You and Colonel Vindman and ors are best of this country and you came here by choice and we are so blessed that you did," he told Hill.