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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Given the accusations against Mr Trump and his handling of US foreign policy in Ukraine, this may not be as difficult to explain to the American public as Ms Yovanovitch may believe:
"It's hard to explain to an American audience, but in Ukraine the criminal justice system... is used a tool of the political system to be used against your political adversaries."
Ms Yovanovitch: “From a Ukrainian perspective, I think that what Mr Leshchenko and others looking into the Black Ledger were more concerned about was actually not Mr Manafort but former president Yanukovych and his political party."
Some perspective on that last quote from Andrew Feinberg, who is in the hearing room today for The Independent:
Castor is now asking Yovanovitch about the “black ledger” which led to Paul Manafort resigning from Trump’s 2016 campaign. His line of questioning is based on a conspiracy theory which implies that Manafort, who was convicted of tax evasion and fraud by an American jury, was framed.
Some more from Mr Feinberg in the hearing room for The Independent, on attacks against her on social media:
Laughter in the room when Yovanovitch responds to Castor’s question about social media negative comments: “Sometimes that happens on social media.”
Ms Yovanovitch being careful not to suggest she has any special understanding of what Mr Trump or others were thinking when they made certain decisions.
But, with regards to efforts to restart investigations on the 2016 election in Ukraine: "Our own US intelligence committee has conclusively determined that those who interfered in the election were in Russia."
Mr Schiff now questioning Ms Yovanovitch, asking the impact of Mr Trump putting someone in place as lead diplomat in Ukraine without experience (especially, say, a top donor of his).
"Yeah, maybe," Ms Yovanovitch says when asked if they might be willing to work with Mr Giuliani.
She then agrees that is what happened.
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