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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Yovanovitch to testify imminently
We're expecting the former ambassador to Ukraine to give testimony any minute now.
Here she is arriving on Capitol Hill a little while earlier...
(Julio Cortez/AP)
... and here's CBS with a last minute refresher.
Second impeachment inquiry public hearing gets underway
Here are Adam Schiff's opening remarks as the Yovanovitch hearing gets underway.
Andrew Feinberg, inside the hearings for The Independent, says:
Ranking member Devin Nunes’ opening statement doesn’t appear to have anything new - it’s the same word salad of conspiracy theories and deflection he filled his opening statement with on Wednesday.
Republicans are far more animated with interruptions this morning - it’s a good indicator of how worried they are about what Yovanovitch could say.
White House releases transcript of first Ukraine call
With uncanny timing, the White House has just released the transcript of Trump's first phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky from 21 April, delayed from earlier this week.
It's almost as though they intended it as a distraction tactic.
Here's our breaking story at any rate.
Combative start to proceedings - but White House says Trump isn't watching
Andrew Feinberg, inside the hearings for The Independent, says:
Republicans are far more animated with interruptions this morning - it’s a good indicator of how worried they are about what Yovanovitch could say.
Meanwhile, at the White House, press secretary Stephanie Grisham, says Trump isn't watching: "The president will be watching Congressman Nunes’ opening statement, but the rest of the day he will be working hard for the American people."
We're watching Marie Yovanovitch's opening statements right now, and she is making the case for why Ukraine is a potential significant economic partner to the US.
"The history is not written yet, but Ukraine could move out of Russia's orbit," Ms Yovanovitch said.
Andrew Feinberg, inside the hearings for The Independent, says:
Republicans are far more animated with interruptions this morning — it’s a good indicator of how worried they are about what Ms Yovanovitch could say.
“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," Ms Yovanovitch says.
Ms Yovanovitch notes that she cannot provide any information on several fronts that the Democrats may be interested in — including the "black ledger" that led to the ouster of Paul Manafort from the 2016 Trump campaign.
Also, she notes that she cannot provide first hand perspective on the delay of military assistance to Ukraine.
center no-repeat #999999;cursor:pointer;top:-1px; border-radius: 0px 0px 2px 2px;">↵ Wondering who Marie Yovanovitch is? Well, we've got you covered with this primer:
Ms Yovanovitch says that the Obama administration did not ask her to investigate anyone during the 2016 campaign.
"Partisanship of this type is not compatible with the role of a career foreign service office."
This may be key: She's laying down the context of what is expected of foreign service officials abroad, and it is apparently not pushing for partisan investigations.
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