David Smith
That must be a first.MariaYovanovitchis testifying aboutTrumpand, with a quiet day on his schedule, the president seems to be listening. He responded with a tweet that began: “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.”
Blaming her for the conflict in Somalia appears a stretch, even for him.
ChairmanAdam Schiffinterrupted the hearing to point out the tweet. “As we sit here, the president is attacking you on Twitter,” he said, asking the former ambassador to respond.
Looking bemused, Yovanovitch said, “I don’t think I have such powers”, adding that she and her colleagues made things better, not worse.
Schiff rejoined : “The president is attacking you in real time … Some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously.”
Such a moment was probably inevitable in the reality TV-Twitter presidency.
Yovanovitch calls Trump’s disparaging tweet ‘intimidating’
After readingTrump‘s tweet attacking the reputation ofMaria Yovanovitch
,Adam Schiffasked the longtime diplomat whether she thought the tweet was meant to intimidate her as she testified at the impeachment hearing.
Brian Stelter(@ brianstelter)
“It’s very intimidating.”pic.twitter.com/YCPwO21 dtS
Yovanovitch responded, “I can ‘ t speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating. ”
Schiff ominously replied, “I want to let you know, ambassador, that some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously.”
Updated
Yovanovitch defends herself against Trump’s smear
Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, has just readTrump‘s tweet disparagingMaria Yovanovitch
Reacting to Trump’s claim that “everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad,” Yovanovitch joked, “I don’t think I have such powers.”
Yovanovitch went on to assert that, through their work, she and her fellow diplomats had “demonstrably made things better, both for the US and for the countries I’ve served in.”
David Smith
She described a “crisis” in the state department “as the policy process is visibly unraveling, leadership vacancies go unfilled, and senior and midlevel officers ponder an uncertain future and head for the doors ”.
Yovanovitch added:“ The state department is being hollowed out from within at a competitive and complex time on the world stage. This is not a time to undercut our diplomats. ”
Such sentiments have been aired frequently during the tenures of bothRex Tillersonand Pompeo, but never on such a prominent stage for all the world to hear.
It looks like theDemocratson the House intelligence committee intend to incorporateTrump‘s disparaging tweet aboutMaria Yovanovitchinto today’s impeachment hearing.
.@ RepAdamSchiff‘s staff just handed out printouts of this tweet to Intel members on the daishttps://t.co/D9xdNt5xe8
(November) , 2019
Ironically, Trump’s tweet came shortly after the White House issued a statement claiming the president would not watch the hearing beyond the opening statement ofDevin Nunes, the top Republican on the intelligence committee.
Yovanovitch said she was ‘devastated’ by Trump’s Ukraine call
Maria Yovanovitchsaid she was “shocked” and “devastated” when she read the White House memo onTrump‘s call with the Ukrainian president, in which he called the longtime diplomat “bad news.”
“A person who saw me actually reading the transcript said the color drained from my face,” Yovanovitch told impeachment investigators.
Asked about Trump’s comment toVolodymyr Zelenskiythat Yovanovitch was “going to go through some things,” Yovanovitch said it “felt like a vague threat.”
David Smith
Republican CongresswomanElise Stefanik, 35, is becoming a “break-out star” of the impeachment inquiry hearings, at least in rightwing media circles.
After Wednesday’s hearing, Matthew Dowd, chief political analyst for ABC News, tweeted: “Elise Stefanik is a perfect example why just electing someone because they are a woman or a millennial doesn’t necessarily get you the leaders we need. ”He apologized following an online backlash.
The fracas was gleefully highlighted by Fox News, where Stefanik appeared as an interviewee.
Early today, along with colleague (Jim Jordan) , she tried to interrupt chairmanAdam Schiffbut was swatted away. She tweeted in response: “Adam Schiff #RegimeofSecrecy continues. He is making up the rules as he goes along and not only interrupts and limits Republican questions. But also our important parliamentary questions. ”
We can expect to hear more from her.
Grace Segers(@ Grace_Segers)
Keep an eye on Elise Stefanik in these hearings. She’s a rising star in the Republican Party and has made electing more Republican women her cause celebre. She is repeatedly challenging Schiff on procedure in this hearing.
(November) , 2019
Trump smears Yovanovitch’s reputation as she testifies
Trumphas sent off a two-part tweet questioning the professional reputation ofMaria Yovanovitchas the former US ambassador to Ukraine publicly testifies in the impeachment inquiry.
Yovanovitch, a longtime diplomat, has served in several “hardship posts,” including Somalia as the country was suffering a civil war.
Donald J. Trump(@ realDonaldTrump)
…. They call it “serving at the pleasure of the President.” The US now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First! With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O.
(November) , 2019
“Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad , ”Trump tweeted. “She started off in Somalia, how did that go?”
In reality, Yovanovitch has been widely lauded by her fellow diplomats as a model civil servant, and even deputy secretary of stateJohn Sullivantold her she had “done nothing wrong” when he dismissed her from Kyiv.
Yovanovitch criticizes state department leadership
In her opening statement,Maria Yovanovitchalso criticized the current leadership of the state department for not defending its staffers amid attacks.
“At the closed deposition, I expressed grave concerns about the degradation of the Foreign Service over the past few years and the failure of State Department leadership to push back as foreign and corrupt interests apparently hijacked our Ukraine policy, “Yovanovitch said.
“The State Department is being hollowed out from within at a competitive and complex time on the world stage. This is not a time to undercut our diplomats. It is the responsibility of the Department’s leaders to stand up for the institution and the individuals who make that institution the most effective diplomatic force in the world. ”
Yovanovitch did not mentionMike Pompeoby name, but the longtime diplomat’s testimony was clearly aimed at the secretary of state and will likely spark more questions about his leadership at the department.
“We are professionals, public servants who by vocation and training pursue the policies of the President, regardless of who holds that office or what party they affiliate with,” Yovanovitch said.
“We handle American Citizen Services, facilitate trade and commerce, work security issues, represent the U.S., and report to and advise Washington, to mention just a few of our functions. And we make a difference every day. ”
Yovanovitch denies baseless allegations against her
In her opening statement,Maria Yovanovitchcriticized the Americans willing to partner with corrupt Ukrainians to orchestrate her ouster, in an apparent reference to (Rudy Giuliani) .
“How could our system fail like this? How is it that foreign corrupt interests could manipulate our government? ”Yovanovitch asked. “Such conduct undermines the US, exposes our friends, and widens the playing field for autocrats likePresident Putin. ”
The former US ambassador to Ukraine also denied that she had circulated a “do not prosecute” list in connection to Ukrainian corruption or that she instructed staffers to ignoreTrump‘s wishes, as some far-right websites alleged.
Yovanovitch went on to specifically address Giuliani’s efforts to have her removed. “I do not understand Mr. Giuliani’s motives for attacking me, nor can I offer an opinion on whether he believed the allegations he spread about me, ”Yovanovitch said.
“What I can say is that Mr. Giuliani should have known those claims were suspect, coming as they reportedly did from individuals with questionable motives and with reason to believe that their political and financial ambitions would be stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine. ”
Yovanovitch sworn in
Maria Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, has been sworn in and is now delivering her opening statement to the House intelligence committee.
ABC News(@ ABC)
NEW: Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, takes the oath before beginning her testimony in the House’s second day of public impeachment hearings.https://t.co/APRDkqce3Q# ImpeachmentHearingspic.twitter.com / LwXZjDo2N9
(November) , 2019
Yovanovitch opened her statement by recounting her family’s history of fleeing the Soviet Union and her own career serving in several “hardship” posts as a diplomat.
The White House said in a statement thatTrumpwas only briefly watching today public impeachment hearing and would then return to work.
“The President will be watching Congressman Nunes’ opening statement, but the rest of the day he will be working hard for the American people,” saidStephanie Grisham, Trump’s press secretary.
However, the White House made a similar statement on Wednesday before Trump went on to repeatedly retweet messages fromRepublicansabout the hearing.
Nunes accuses Democrats of trying to ‘fulfill their Watergate fantasies’
Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, used his opening statement to criticize the impeachment inquiry and accuse his Democratic colleagues of scheming to remove (Trumpfrom office.
The California Republican saidDemocratswere engaging in “day-long TV spectacles” to “fulfill their Watergate fantasies,” even though many members of the House Democratic caucus only came around to supporting an impeachment inquiry after the September revelation of the whistleblower complaint on the Ukraine call.
Nunes also read the full transcript of Trump’s first call with the Ukrainian president, which was released just as the hearing began. Nunes’ reading of the transcript minutes late indicates that the document’s release may have been coordinated withRepublicanson the House intelligence committee.
EchoingAdam Schiff,Nancy Pelosiapplauded the long diplomatic career ofMaria Yovanovitchmoments before the former US ambassador to Ukraine was set to start testifying in the second public impeachment hearing.
Nancy Pelosi(@ SpeakerPelosi)
Today, we hear from one of our most respected diplomats, who spent her career as an anti-corruption crusader. She was viciously smeared by Trump’s allies, removed from her post, then threatened by the President on his “perfect” call.https://t.co/yJFVSQoNui
(November) , 2019
Trumpwas also tweeting minutes before the hearing began, accusing Pelosi of ignoring other priority as the impeachment inquiry advances.
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