There were fireworks aplenty, but the most important development during former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s testimony at Friday’s House impeachment hearing was an undetonated bomb.

Or was it just a dud?

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Ambassador Yovanovitch came across as a compelling witness: heroic in serving the United States in the world’s badlands, dedicated to the cause of advancing American policy under administrations of both parties, and suddenly ousted by President Trump — not just in the absence of a sensible explanation, but as the victim of a whispering campaign that maligned her character and undermined her reputation for nonpartisan service.

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The president’s camp depicts Yovanovitch as a partisan deep-state operator, who abetted and covered up Ukrainian collusion with Democrats in the 2016 campaign.

The president’s camp is the unapologetic source of the whispering campaign. They depict a very different Yovanovitch: a partisan deep-state operator, who abetted and covered up Ukrainian collusion with Democrats in the 2016 campaign.

On Friday, that alternative view was the dog that never barked.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING ANDREW McCARTHY'S COLUMN IN THE NATIONAL REVIEW