Trump impeachment news: Ambassador gets standing ovation for her testimony after 'intimidation' attempt by president
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Your support makes all the difference.As ex-Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch has testified before the House impeachment inquiry, just after the White House has released its transcript of the first call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, seemingly an attempt to distract from the veteran diplomat's potentially explosive deposition.
Speaking in Louisiana last night, the president complained the inquiry has been “very hard” on his family as he took to the stage to muster support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone, the plea for sympathy a marked change of tactic.
As security experts warn Mr Trump’s 26 July phone call with Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the EU, could have been picked up by Russian spies, the president is planning to take the battle to withhold his tax returns from investigators to the Supreme Court.
The Friday testimony proved to be an exciting one, with Mr Trump live tweeting the exchange until being called out directly by Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
In doing so, Mr Schiff was able to check in with Ms Yovanovitch in real time, and hear from her that she believed his comments to be aimed at intimidation.
Many have now said that Mr Trump's attack may amount to witness tampering — which could add to the articles of impeachment facing the president.
Ms Yovanovitch also described publicly a conspiracy led by Rudy Giuliani to get her removed from her post as ambassador — which she said she did not understand the purpose of, since the president could have simply fired her if he wanted.
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Mr Jordan says that the "core facts" haven't changed, and is complaining about the proceedings today.
Mostly, Mr Jordan is sticking to Republican talking points suggesting that Ukrainians weren't aware of the aid release.
Elise Stefanik is now up attacking Adam Schiff, and notes that she thinks she was interrupted "about six times" during what she described as the chairman's "regime of secrecy".
Some more from Andrew Feinberg from the ending of the hearing today. Mr Feinberg is in Washington today providing The Independent with spot on coverage:
The audience is now on their feet, clapping and cheering for Yovanovitch as she leaves the room. I’ve covered Congress for more than a decade and I’ve never seen anything like this.
Mark Meadows out complaining that "it was not a fair process" today, and has once again attacked Democrats for refusing to allow Ms Stefanik to speak in violation of committee hearing rules.
Lee Zeldin once again parsing the details of the tweet to suggest Mr Trump did not threaten Ms Yovanovitch.
In case you're wondering, Donald Trump has been retweeting these Republicans all day.
House Republicans have now wrapped up their response to today's proceedings, calling the whole thing unfair and questioning where the scandal exists since aid to Ukraine was ultimately released (after the whistleblower account was disclosed publicly).
Take a look at our write-up of the historic end to today's hearing:
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