Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is testifying in front of the House Intelligence Committee on the second day of impeachment proceedings. Yovanovitch is covering the details of how Trump’s corrupt pursuit of dirt and who-knows-what-else against his political rivals undermined our foreign policy standing in Ukraine, specifically, and by extension throughout the world. Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman began the questioning. During his questions about the smear campaign orchestrated by corrupt Ukrainian sources and corrupt American citizens such as Rudolph Giuliani and Donald Trump, Goldman asked the veteran ambassador how things unfolded internally between her and the State Department.
COUNSEL DANIEL GOLDMAN: Was the allegation that you were bad-mouthing Trump true?
FMR. AMBASSADOR MARIE YOVANOVITCH: No.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: Was the allegation that you had created a “do not prosecute” list to give to the prosecutor general in Ukraine true?
YOVANOVITCH: No.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: In fact, didn't the corrupt prosecutor general later himself recant those allegations?
YOVANOVITCH: Yes.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: When these articles were first published, did the State Department issue a response?
YOVANOVITCH: As you said, there were a series of articles, so after the first article, which was an interview with Mr. Lutsenko and was only really about me, and allegations about me, the state department came out the following day with a very strong statement saying that, you know, these allegations were fabrications.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: So, the statement addressed the falsity of the allegations themselves?
YOVANOVITCH: Yes.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: It didn't say anything about your job performance in any way?
YOVANOVITCH: Honestly, I haven't looked at it in a very long time. I think generally probably laudatory. I can't recall.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: Did anyone in the State Department raise any concerns with you or express any belief in these allegations?
YOVANOVITCH: No. People thought it was ridiculous.
The Trump family and their Twitter accounts are ridiculous, that is for sure. Unfortunately, Donald Trump is in control of the executive branch of the government. But as ridiculous as many of us believe the president to be, he is the president and other countries see him as such.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: Now, after these false allegations were made against you, did you have any discussions with anyone in leadership in the State Department about a potential state of support from the department or the secretary himself?
YOVANOVITCH: Yes. After the tweets that you just showed us, and it seemed to me that if the president's son is saying things like this, it would be very hard to continue in my position and have authority in Ukraine unless the state department came out pretty strongly behind me. And so, you know, over the weekend of, like March 22nd, I think that's about the date, there was a lot of discussion on email among a number of people about what could be done. I and the under secretary for political affairs called me on Sunday. I said, you know, it's really important that the secretary himself come out and be supportive because otherwise it's hard for me to be the kind of representative you need here. And he said he would talk to the secretary. I mean, that's my recollection of the call. That may not be exactly how it's laid out but that was my recollection.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: This is David Hale, under secretary of political affairs, the number three person at the State Department?
YOVANOVITCH: Yes.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: Did he indicate to you that he supported such a statement of support for you?
YOVANOVITCH: I think he must have because I don't think he would have gone to the secretary if he didn't support it. I mean, he wouldn't bring a bad idea to the secretary of state.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: Your general understanding is that you did have the full support of the state department, is that right?
YOVANOVITCH: Yes.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: And, in fact, during your 33-year career as a foreign service officer, did you ever hear of any serious concerns about your job performance?
YOVANOVITCH: No.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: Was the statement of support ultimately issued for you?
YOVANOVITCH: No, it was not.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: Did you learn why not?
And this is where Trump’s vitriolic greedy and cruel little brain and his one-way street form of communication becomes a very real foreign policy issue.
YOVANOVITCH: Yeah -- yes. I was told that there was concern on the seventh floor that if a statement of support was issued, whether by the State Department or by the secretary personally, that it could be undermined.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: How could it be undermined?
YOVANOVITCH: That the president might issue a tweet contradicting that or something to that effect.
COUNSEL GOLDMAN: Let me see if I get this right. You are one of the most senior diplomats in the State Department. You've been there for 33 years. You've won numerous awards. You've been appointed as an ambassador three times by both Republican and Democratic presidents. And the state department would not issue a statement in support of you against false allegations because they were concerned about a tweet from the president of the United States?
YOVANOVITCH: That's my understanding.
And then, because irony seems to stick to corrupt incompetence like flies on shit, Trump—in real time—tweeted out attacks on Yovanovitch in his attempts at undermining her entire career. His tweet attacked her for her service in Somalia. Besides knowing that it is a country in Africa and that there are black people there, I doubt Donald Trump knows anything else about Somalia. Chairman Schiff broke in to read the tweet, and Marie Yovanovitch reacted silently with a face of true disappointment. To be clear, she didn’t seem disappointed in Donald Trump but the fact that a person like him is allowed to continue to disgrace our country so publicly, and the people working for our country.