US President Donald Trump has removed two officials from their roles after they testified against him during his impeachment trial.
The US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who delivered some of the most damning testimony in the impeachment proceedings, issued a statement on Friday saying he was being recalled from his post.
Mr Sondland, a wealthy Oregon hotelier, was a Trump political donor before being named by the president to his ambassador post.
Mr Sondland told the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry in November that the president sought a "quid pro quo" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
It came just hours after Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the White House's top expert on Ukraine, was escorted out on Friday where he had worked on the National Security Council (NSC), his lawyer, David Pressman, said.
Lt Col Vindman told the impeachment inquiry that Mr Trump had made an improper demand of President Zelenskiy during a phone call in July.
"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," he said about the phone call, calling the conversation inappropriate.
Speaking about Lt Col Vindman's removal from the NSC, Mr Pressman said: "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.
"LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth."
The lawyer added that "the most powerful man in the world - buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit" had "decided to exact revenge" on his client.
During the phone call, Mr Trump asked Mr Zelenskiy to launch investigations into his Democratic rival, former vice president Joe Biden.
The president was acquitted this week with a vote in the Senate, controlled by fellow Republicans.
The upper house rejected both charges - abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
Asked by journalists asked how he would pay back those who had given evidence against him, the president replied: "You'll see."
Reporting by IRN
