Impeachment hearing: Marie Yovanovitch calls Trump's attacks on her 'intimidating'

Show Caption Hide Caption Ambassador Yovanovitch 'intimidated' by Trump live tweets Ambassador Yovanovitch explains the effect of President Trump's tweets.

About an hour into Yovanovitch's testimony, Trump attacked her on Twitter saying everywhere she went "turned bad"

Yovanovitch called Trump's comment "intimidating" but Trump said, "I have the right to speak. I have freedom of speech just as other people do."

Much of the testimony focused on Yovanovitch's ouster as ambassador to Ukraine. She suggested she had been the target of a "smear campaign."

WASHINGTON – Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told lawmakers Friday that she was targeted with a "smear campaign" that led to her ouster, as she appeared on Capitol Hill for the second public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Yovanovitch, who fielded questions from the House Intelligence Committee for 6-1/2 hours, said the effort to remove her was advanced by Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other allies of the president.

About an hour into the hearing, Trump attacked Yovanovitch on Twitter, saying that all of the places she had gone as a diplomat had "turned bad."

When House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff asked Yovanovitch to respond to Trump's tweet, the ambassador called the president's comment "intimidating."

The tweet drew a backlash from Democrats and some Republicans, including Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who told reporters it was "wrong."

'Intimidating': Trump draws backlash from GOP, Democrats over Yovanovitch tweet

But Trump dismissed the criticisms.

"I have the right to speak. I have freedom of speech just as other people do. But they've taken away the Republicans' rights," he said during a healthcare event at the White House.

-- Bart Jansen, Christal Hayes, Courtney Subramanian, Jeanine Santucci, Ledyard King, Caren Bohan

What’s next?

Eight witnesses are scheduled to testify in public hearings next week beginning Tuesday. They are:

• Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence who was on the July 25 Trump-Zelensky call

• Alexander Vindman, National Security Council aide who listened to the July 25 call and told lawmakers behind closed doors that he notified superiors twice about his concerns about it

• Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine who has told lawmakers Giuliani pushed ‘debunked’ claims about Biden and Ukraine

• Tim Morrison, a National Security Council aide

• Gordon Sondland, European Union Ambassador and a close Trump ally who other witnesses have described as playing a large role in the White House conversations about Ukraine

• Laura Cooper, a Defense Department official

• David Hale, State Department official who testified behind closed doors about the ouster of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch

• Fiona Hill, former White House aide who testified on national security adviser John Bolton’s concerns about Trump’s Ukraine policy

Also, a closed-door deposition is scheduled for Saturday for Mark Sandy, an official in the White House Office of Management and Budget. Although Sandy failed to show up for a deposition last week, his attorney said he would appear if he were subpoenaed. If he appears, Sandy will be the first OMB official to testify in the impeachment inquiry.

-- Nicholas Wu

Show of support for Yovanovitch

The audience at the public hearing burst into a standing ovation as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff gaveled the hearing to a close.

Cathy Benjamin of Long Island said she came down with two friends to see the hearings on Wednesday and Friday. She and friend Marty Cronin said they joined the applause to support Yovanovitch's courage in testifying. “It was for her that I was applauding – for her courage,” Benjamin said. “I don’t think I was surprised by it, but inspired by it.”

Takeaways: Main highlights of Trump impeachment hearing with Marie Yovanovitch

-- Bart Jansen

Trump dismisses accusation of 'witness intimidation'

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham issued a statement on President Donald Trump's Twitter criticisms on Marie Yovanovitch's record. Grisham dismissed Democrats' claim that the attacks on the ambassador - which occurred as Yovanovitch was testifying – amounted to witness intimidation.

“The tweet was not witness intimidation, it was simply the President’s opinion, which he is entitled to. This is not a trial, it is a partisan political process – or to put it more accurately, a totally illegitimate, charade stacked against the President," she said.

Later, Trump said his comments about Yovanovitch were an expression of freedom of speech, not an effort at intimidation.

"I have the right to speak. I have freedom of speech just as other people do. But they've taken away the Republicans' rights," he said during a healthcare event at the White House.

Twitter presidency: Trump tweets his way into impeachment hearings

-- Courtney Subramanian and David Jackson

Trump's Ukraine phone call: U.S. and Ukraine relationship, explained U.S. and Ukraine relations go further back than the now infamous phone call between Trump and Zelensky. We explain their relationship.

'Bad reality TV'

Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said Georgetown University is a nice place for Yovanovitch to work on a fellowship, after her removal from Ukraine. But he asked whether it was her preference to become the victim of a smear campaign, to be defamed by the president or to be ousted from Ukraine at the pinnacle of her career. She said it was not.

“It’s the end of a really bad reality TV show brought to you by someone who knows a lot about that,” Quigley said.

-- Bart Jansen

A tart exchange

Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, an Army Reserve surgeon who he was stationed in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, told Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch he understood what it was like to receive an unexpected transfer overseas. But the Ohio lawmaker noted that presidents have the right to change ambassadors and direct their own foreign policy.

“The president has the right to make their own foreign policy and make their own decisions,” Wenstrup said.

Yovanovitch agreed, with a caveat.

“What I do wonder is why it was necessary to smear my reputation,” she said.

“Well, I wasn’t asking about that, ma'am, but thank you very much,” Wenstrup replied.

-- Bart Jansen

GOP's Stefanik: Nothing wrong with asking about Burisma, Biden

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., focused on the widespread knowledge of corruption in Ukraine and U.S. efforts to counter it. President Donald Trump has said he was justified in asking Ukraine to investigate for possible corruption former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of the energy company Burisma Holdings.

Stefanik pointed out that former President Barack Obama’s administration was so sensitive to Hunter Biden working for Burisma that Yovanovitch was prepped for answers on the subject for her Senate confirmation hearing to become ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch had described the preparation in her closed-door deposition with the lawmakers.

“The way the question was phrased in this model Q&A was, what can you tell us about Hunter Biden’s, you know, being named to the board of Burisma,” Yovanovitch said.

Stefanik said Republicans will continue asking about Biden’s work for Burisma, despite Democratic complaints.

“And yet our Democratic colleagues and the chairman of this committee cry foul when we dare ask that same question that the Obama State Department was so concerned about,” Stefanik said. “But we will continue asking it.”

-- Bart Jansen

GOP's Nunes presses ambassador on Trump call

As Republicans began their 45 minutes of questioning, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the top GOP lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee, asked Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch a series of questions about the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky and the suspension of military aid for Ukraine. Yovanovitch said she wasn’t involved in any matters he asked about.

“I’m not exactly sure what the ambassador is doing here today,” Nunes said.

Nunes then tried to allocate his question time to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. But the rules that the Democratic majority in the House adopted for holding the hearings allowed the 45-minute segments for each party to be used only by the chairman or ranking member, or a designated staff member. Republicans have complained that the rules shouldn’t have prohibited designating time for another lawmaker.

Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., gaveled down Nunes and Stefanik several times as they tried to allow her to ask questions.

“It seems appropriate that we let Ms. Stefanik ask her questions,” Nunes said.

Schiff told Stefanik she was not recognized for questions.

“What is the interruption this time?” Stefanik said. “This is the fifth time you have interrupted duly elected members of Congress.”

After Schiff gaveled the two to a halt, Nunes designated the remainder of his 45 minutes to staff member Steve Castor.

-- Bart Jansen

Rep. Cheney: Trump was 'wrong' to criticize Yovanovitch

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Trump "was wrong" to tweet criticism of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch during her testimony.

Yovanovitch “clearly is somebody who’s been a public servant to the United States for decades and I don’t think the president should have done that,” Cheney said, according to the Associated Press.

Backlash: Trump draws criticism from GOP, Democrats over Yovanovitch tweet

-- Nicholas Wu

GOP lawmaker: Democrats wanted envoy to 'cry for the cameras'

Some Republicans leaving the hearing for a break defended Trump’s attacks of Yovanovitch, saying the president isn’t going to sit back without defending himself.

“The president’s going to defend himself,” said Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. “There’s no way that if Democrats are going to insist on tearing our country in half with this impeachment charade, that the president’s just going to sit back and allow Adam Schiff to play this game.”

Zeldin said Democrats spent the morning with Yovanovitch attempting to “recreate” an episode that happened during her deposition where she got upset and started crying. “They wanted her to cry for the cameras,” he said. “It’s unfortunate.”

Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican and close Trump ally, said he didn't think the controversy over the president's tweets would affect how the American people view the impeachment inquiry hearings.

“To suggest that there’s a whole lot of relevant testimony, as it relates to the impeachable offenses that the Democrats have alleged, I don’t see it being relevant,” he said.

Democrats, on the other hand, have cast the president’s tweets as witness intimidation, something that should lead to consequences.

“Any judge will tell you that they take great sensitivity to any witness that has been alleged to have been intimidated,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. “Witness intimidation is a well-known doctrine that warrants drastic consequences.”

-- Christal Hayes

Ambassador Yovanovitch devastated by Trump's 'bad news' reference Ukraine ambassador Yovanovitch describes the moment she read the phone call transcript from President Trump calling her "bad news."

GOP lawmaker: I disagree with Trump's tweet about ambassador

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who had emerged as one of President Donald Trump's most prominent defenders on Capitol Hill, said she disagreed with Trump's tweets attacking Yovanovitch.

"I disagree with the tweet," Stefanik, a member of the Intelligence Committee, told reporters. "I think Ambassador Yovanovitch is a public servant, like many of our public servants in the foreign service."

Rep. Elise Stefanik to me on Trump’s tweet attacking Yovanovitch: “I disagree with the tweet. I think Ambassador Yovanovitch is a public servant, like many of our public servants in the foreign service.” — Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) November 15, 2019

-- Nicholas Wu

Yovanovitch calls Trump's attacks 'intimidating'

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., asked Marie Yovanovitch to respond to President Donald Trump's tweets attacking her as she testified. The president claimed everywhere Yovanovitch went had "turned bad," including Somalia. Yovanovitch said she didn't think she had "such powers" in Mogadishu, Somalia and in other places.

"I actually think that where I've served over the years that I and others demonstrably have made things better," both for the U.S. and the countries she served in.

Yovanovitch said particularly in Ukraine, where there are "huge challenges" with corruption, Kiev has made a lot of progress since 2014.

"The Ukrainian people get the most credit for that," she said. "A part of that credit goes to the work of the United States and to me as the ambassador."

Marie Yovanovitch: A symbol of State Department resistance to Trump in impeachment inquiry

Schiff asked Yovanovitch what effect she thought his attacks on her had on other witnesses coming forward to expose wrongdoing.

"It's very intimidating," she said. "I think the effect is to be intimidating."

Schiff said Trump's tweets about Yovanovitch amounted to witness intimidation "in real time."

“Once again, going after this dedicated and respected career public servant in an effort to not only chill her but to chill others who may come forward,” Schiff told reporters during a recess from the hearing.

Yovanovitch called Trump’s comments “very intimidating” after Schiff read them aloud during the hearing.

“We take this kind of witness intimidation and obstruction of inquiry very seriously,” Schiff said in the recess.

-- Courtney Subramanian, Bart Jansen and Jeanine Santucci

Impeachment: Adam Schiff, Jim Jordan tiff opens Yovanovitch hearing Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was about to give her opening statement, when the congressmen got into a heated exchange.

Trump attacks Yovanovitch during testimony

About an hour into Marie Yovanovitch's testimony, President Donald Trump criticized her on Twitter.

"Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad," Trump tweeted. "She started off in Somalia, how did that go?"

Trump, who pushed Yovanovitch out as ambassador to Ukraine, said: "It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors ... They call it 'serving at the pleasure of the President.'"

Democrats in the impeachment inquiry said Trump had Yovanovitch removed because she was an obstacle to his efforts to have Ukraine investigate domestic political opponents, including Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

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. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019

-- David Jackson and Courtney Subramanian

How did it feel to be dismissed?

Former envoy to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch had been asked in March to extend her tour for a year, to July 2020. But she received an April 24 call notifying her she needed to return immediately. Yovanovitch said it was difficult to hear words that every diplomat understands: that the president had lost confidence in her.

Yovanovitch was asked how it felt to be told to leave Ukraine as soon as possible.

She said it felt “terrible, honestly. After 33 years of service to our country it was terrible. It's not the way I wanted my career to end.”

She also said she was shocked to hear President Donald Trump had mentioned her disparagingly in a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump had referred to her as "bad news."

Yovanovitch said she was "shocked, appalled, devastated that the president of the United States would talk about any ambassador like that.”

Yovanovitch said that someone watching her reaction clearly saw how shaken she was.

"The color drained from my face," she said.

-- Bart Jansen, Nicholas Wu and Jeanine Santucci

Missing sleep to watch hearing

Jack Preble rolled out of bed far earlier than usual Friday. The 17-year-old high school student camped out at 5 a.m. to watch the impeachment inquiry hearing.

“It’s history,” he said. “It was worth missing some sleep to see something we won’t be able to again."

He got about two dozen of his peers at The School for Ethics and Global Leadership to also get in line early with dozens of others for a chance to watch former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testify. Each of the students has a goal of becoming a leader, whether working in the White House, serving in Congress or making a difference in health and foreign relations.

“We’re here to watch how democracy works and watch how our leaders are held accountable,” said Katherine Cassese, 16.

Journalists crowded in the halls outside the hearing room. Many sipped coffee and snacked on granola bars as they sat in small camping chairs with laptops and cameras. Police officers roamed the halls, following a small group of protesters wearing black T-shirts reading “ARREST TRUMP.”

-- Christal Hayes

Yovanovitch tells of 'grave concerns' about State Department leadership

Yovanovitch, who has worked at the State Department for 33 years, voiced “grave concerns” about the foreign service if foreign governments learn that they can have U.S. diplomats removed when there are disagreements.

Read the full text: Text of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch's opening statement

“At the closed deposition, I expressed grave concerns about the degradation of the Foreign Service over the past few years and the failure of State Department leadership to push back as foreign and corrupt interests apparently hijacked our Ukraine policy,” Yovanovitch said. “I remain disappointed that the department’s leadership and others have declined to acknowledge that the attacks against me and others are dangerously wrong.”

-- Bart Jansen

Yovanovitch: Removal sent message to 'shady interests'

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch said in her opening testimony that corrupt officials in Ukraine have taken advantage of disarray in U.S. policy to undermine U.S. efforts to fight corruption.

“If our chief representative is kneecapped, it limits our effectiveness to safeguard the vital national security interests of the United States,” Yovanovitch said. “This is especially important now, when the international landscape is more complicated and more competitive than it has been since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. 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.”

-- Bart Jansen

Nunes reads transcript of April Trump call with Zelensky

Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the committee, echoed his opening remarks from the first day of testimony Wednesday. He said the impeachment was one of many things on the Democrats' "list of broken promises."

Nunes then read aloud a rough transcript of President Donald Trump's initial April 21 phone call with Ukrainain President Volodymy Zelensky, which the White House released as the hearing began Thursday.

Zelensky call: White House releases summary of Trump's earlier call with Ukraine president

During the conversation, which focused on Zelensky's landmark election, Trump extended an invite to the White House to his Ukrainian counterpart. "Now the American people know the very first call that President Trump had with President Zelensky," he said.​

Daniel Gleick, a spokesperson for Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, noted how the summary of the call showed how “desperate” the Ukrainians were for a meeting with Trump.

The desire for a meeting was “something that matters for the later bribery/extortion campaign where that meeting was withheld,” Gleick added.

Only thing that stands out is how desperate the Ukrainians were for a meeting - something that matters for the later bribery/extortion campaign where that meeting was withheld. — Daniel Gleick (@dgleick) November 15, 2019

-- Courtney Subramanian and Nicholas Wu

Offer of congratulations, mention of Miss Universe

The White House released a rough transcript Friday of President Donald Trump's first conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after he was elected in April, months before the ill-fated July phone call between the two leaders that became the focus of the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry.

The conversation was mostly congratulatory, with Trump describing Zelensky's election as "fantastic" and "incredible."

At one point during the brief call, Trump invited Zelensky to the White House, adding that "we’ll have a lot of things to talk about."

The president, a former reality show host, compared Zelensky’s election to his own; Zelensky is a former television comedian.

"I guess in a way I did something similar."

The president told Zelensky that, when he owned the Miss Universe organization, the Ukrainians "always had great people."

Trump talked about Ukraine being "very well represented" in Miss Universe on his first call with Zelensky. pic.twitter.com/xVTxVUPkoQ — Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) November 15, 2019

-- Courtney Subramanian

Schiff: Yovanovitch’s ouster “set stage for an irregular channel”

Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff opened the hearing with Yovanovitch by describing how her ouster as ambassador to Ukraine “set stage for an irregular channel” of policy to pressure Ukraine into opening investigations into Trump’s political adversaries.

The California Democrat tied the “irregular channel” directly to President Donald Trump.

“The President’s scheme might have worked but for the fact that the man who would succeed Ambassador Yovanovitch,” he added, referring to William Taylor, the top American diplomat in Ukraine who testified on Wednesday.

“Ambassador Yovanovitch was serving our nation’s interest in fighting corruption in Ukraine, but she was considered an obstacle to the furtherance of the President’s personal and political agenda. For that she was smeared and cast aside,” Schiff concluded.

Schiff said Yovanovitch has spent 33 years working at the State Department, earning a reputation for fighting corruption and naming names. She had arrived in the United States after her parents fled the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Schiff said. But Yovanovitch was recalled on May 20 and was told Trump had lost confidence in her, Schiff said.

“It was a stunning turn of events for this highly regarded career diplomat, who had been doing such a remarkable job fighting corruption in Ukraine that a short time earlier she had been asked by the State Department to extend her tour,” Schiff said.

Her recall opened the door to Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to open an irregular channel of diplomacy with Ukraine, where Trump urged the investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, Schiff said.

-- Bart Jansen and Nicholas Wu

Aide to give closed-door testimony on Trump call

David Holmes, a State Department official working under Ambassador William Taylor in the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, is also scheduled to testify behind closed doors today. Holmes is expected to speak in a closed-door deposition about a call in which he overheard Trump ask U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about "investigations."

The latest on Trump impeachment hearings and what it means The Trump impeachment hearings are now open to the public, but why bring back witnesses that have already testified, sometimes for hours?

Here is the latest in what is happening with the Trump impeachment inquiry:

Holmes has spoken out about dissent in the past

The phone call that Holmes overheard is not the first time he has spoken up about dissent within the Foreign Service

In 2014, he won the William R. Rivkin Award, the American Foreign Service Association's award to "recognize and encourage constructive dissent and risk-taking" in the Foreign Service.

Holmes, after working on Afghanistan policy as part of President Barack Obama's National Security Council staff, had raised a "formal dissent" to the way bureaucratic divisions on Afghanistan policy "hindered our diplomatic effectiveness," according to an archived copy of a post from the American Foreign Service Association.

"My efforts over this period, and then my formal dissent, were intended to give a voice to an important perspective that I felt lacked an advocate," Holmes wrote at the time.

Yovanovitch's previous testimony

According to her closed-door testimony, when she asked Sondland how to respond to the attacks, she was told to tweet support of Trump.

"You need to, you know, tweet out there that you support the President, and that all these are lies and everything else," she said Sondland told her.

Sondland said in his closed-door testimony he did not "recall" the conversation.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent described in public testimony Wednesday how President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had been part of a "smear" campaign against U.S. officials including Yovanovitch.

Kent said how Giuliani and his associates worked with "corrupt Ukrainians who wanted to peddle “false information in order to exact revenge against those who had exposed their misconduct, including U.S. diplomats, Ukrainian anti-corruption officials, and reform-minded civil society groups in Ukraine.”

'Go big or go home': Former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testified she was told to tweet in support of Trump

What Holmes heard

In his public testimony, Taylor said that a member of his staff, later reported to be Holmes, overheard a conversation between Trump and European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland about investigations a day after Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Sondland at the center of inquiry: Sondland said Trump 'cares more' about Biden investigation than Ukraine, Taylor says

"The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about 'the investigations,' " Taylor said on Wednesday. "Ambassador Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward."

Trump denied the existence of such a call to reporters later Wednesday.

"I know nothing about that," Trump said. "First time I've heard it. ... I don’t recall. Not at all. Not even a little bit."