The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Exambassador says Trump’s tweet was ‘intimidating’
Former ambassador grew up in Kent
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine engaged in an unprecedented back and forth as he attacked her on Twitter while she testified against him in the impeachment inquiry Friday.
During the nationally televised public hearing, Trump tweeted, “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.”
Yovanovitch, a veteran diplomat who grew up in Kent, Conn ., responded in the hearing: “I don’t think I have such powers, not in Mogadishu Somalia, not in other places. I actually think that where I served over the years, I and others have demonstrably made things better for the U.S. as well as for the countries I have served in.”
Yovanovitch told the House Intelligence Committee that Trump’s tweet was “intimidating.” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, DCalif., issued a warning to Trump, who the White House said was watching the hearing.
“Some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously,” Schiff said.
The unusual exchanged followed Yovanovitch’s description of her dramatic removal from the country in the midst of a presidential push for politically beneficial investigations in the impeachment inquiry’s second public hearing.
The No. 2 Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jim Himes, D4, expressed fury over Yovanovitch’s treatment during the hearing.
“I’m angry. And I’ve been angry since I learned about your summary and unexplained dismissal after a lifetime of excellent and faithful service to this country,” Himes said. “I’m angry that a woman like you would be not just dismissed but humiliated and attacked by the president of the United States.”
Himes used his time questioning Yovanovitch to highlight the idea that Yovanovitch was removed from her post because she was an impediment to Trump securing an investigation into the son of Trump 2020 rival and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden.
“It’s the president’s defense, and it’s emerging from my Republican colleagues today, that this is all okay because as the president so memorably put it in his tweet this morning, it is a U.S. president’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors,” Himes said. “I’m a little troubled by this idea of an absolute right because that doesn’t feel like the system of government we have here. I think that how and why we exercise our powers and rights matters.”
The hearing was attended by former Rep. Elizabeth Esty, a Democrat from Cheshire.
“Having watched the Watergate hearings as a child, I thought I should take the opportunity to witness a bit of these historic hearings in person,” Esty said.
Coincidentally, the Kent School where Yovanovitch attended elementary and secondary school is located in Connecticut’s 5th District, which Esty represented from 2013 to 2019.
Rep. Jahana Hayes, D5, who was elected to replace Esty in 2018, also stopped into the hearing.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D3, slammed Trump on Twitter for comments about Yovanovitch.
“Pres. Trump’s attempt to intimidate and discredit Amb. Yovanovitch’s testimony is disgraceful. She served honorably under Republicans and Democrats—until Trump & Giuliani decided their own personal & political interests were more important than our national interests,” DeLauro wrote.
But Trump, speaking to reporters, said he didn’t think his tweet was intimidating. He noted that impeachment is a political not a legal process and he retains the right to free speech.
He added, “Tampering is when a guy like shifty Schiff doesn’t let us have lawyers.”
Yovanovitch previously testified to the committee behind closed doors. On Friday, she said the president and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s “smear campaign” and effort to remove her were based on false allegations from corrupt Ukrainians. Their conduct set a dangerous precedent, she suggested.
“Our Ukraine policy has been thrown into disarray, and shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want,” she said.
Republicans and Democrats have pointed out that presidents have the power to remove and dismiss ambassadors as they please. Schiff, in his opening statement, argued that Trump’s motivations in removing an ambassador should be considered, however.
Yovanovitch also hammered the administration and the State Department for the treatment of U.S. diplomats around the world.
“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.”
As they did in the first public hearing Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans will use their time questioning Yovanovitch Friday afternoon to build their narratives in favor or against impeachment.
In Schiff ’s opening statement, he tried to portray Trump’s actions as a flagrant abuse of power. Democrats argue Trump, in the summer of 2019, tried to bribe Ukraine with the offer of a White House meeting and extort the country by withholding military aid in order to force Ukraine to investigation the son of Trump’s 2020 rival, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden. He used backdoor channels to pressure Ukraine and circumvented officials like Yovanovitch who stood in his way, Democrats said. Then, the president tried to cover up his actions, Democrats say.
Just before the start of the hearing, Trump released the transcript of an April call between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The call does not make reference to Yovanovitch, corruption or investigations, but Trump does invite Zelenskiy to the White House.
The Republican message is that Trump’s conduct may not have been traditional, but it’s not impeachable. They point out that Trump was unsuccessful at getting the investigations he wanted and Ukraine eventually got the military aid anyway.
In his opening statement, ranking member Devin Nunes, RCalif., again dismissed the hearings as a charade orchestrated by Democrats. Republicans also raised doubts that Yovanovitch and previous witnesses, Bill Taylor and George Kent, knew what they were talking about because they did not interact with the president directly over Ukraine. Many of those firsthand witness, the president’s closest allies and advisers, have been blocked by the White House from testifying or refused.
Schiff thanked the president for releasing the transcript Friday, but asked him to hand over the “thousands of records” he has instructed the State Department not to release.
Mark Sandy, an employee at the White House Office of Budget and Management, also testified to the committee in a closed door deposition Friday.
A Five Thirty Eight aggregation of polls on impeachment finds that 48.5 percent of Americans support impeachment to 47.5 percent who do not. Support for impeachment has grown since news about the Ukraine scandal snowballed in September.
But Democratic leadership now has some private worries that their public hearings won’t sway most American, CNN reported.
Democrats are continuing to perfect their impeachment message, swapping the phrase “quid pro quo” for English words “extortion” and “bribery,” as the continue to make their public sell.
“I think the message is getting across to people,” Himes said Thursday. “As the facts develop and we learn more about both what the carrots and the sticks were, we are refining the way we talk about it.”
Next week, four officials will give public testimony on Tuesday, including Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council staffer. He was present during the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy.
On Wednesday, another key player, Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, will testify. Sondland is expected to questioned about a phone call between him and Trump regarding Ukrainian investigations, which Taylor revealed for the first time in his testimony this week. Thursday former National Security Council staffer Fiona Hill will answer questions.