Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, received a standing ovation on Friday at the conclusion of her more than five hours of testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Republicans and Democrats alike had praised Yovanovitch's distinguished service as a diplomat during the inquiry, although President Trump's allies had additionally sought to paint the hearing as part of their opponents' "Watergate fantasies."
Trump broke with his party to personally attack Yovanovitch on Twitter, despite the fact that time and time again the congresspeople in the room noted that the former ambassador was well-respected by her colleagues, many of whom appeared in the room in support of her. After the hearing, people could be heard shouting "Masha," Yovanovitch's nickname among her friends.
Yovanovitch was unceremoniously pulled from her post in Ukraine in May after repeated verbal attacks by Trump and his personal lawyer and fixer, Rudy Giuliani, amid an effort to push Ukraine to launch investigations Trump wanted. "What I'd like to say is, while I obviously don't dispute that the president has the right to withdraw an ambassador at any time for any reason ... what I do wonder is why it was necessary to smear my reputation also?" Yovanovitch said in the course of her questioning. Watch the applause below. Jeva Lange
Pythose on November 15th, 2019 at 23:24 UTC »
Today was surreal. GOP reps were leading their questions with praise of her duty to the country while trump was actively tweeting to intimidate and smear her. So glad Schiff read that tweet out loud as it happened. I think that really kind of screwed the R’s up for the remainder of the day. Whatever weak game plan they thought they had was deflated with that. They all seemed deflated today now that I think about it. Jordan tried his best to raise his voice and take over, but even his rants seemed ill prepared and ultimately nonsensical.
That tweet was a turning point and there’s nothing the republicans could have done to prepare for that.
never_grow_old on November 15th, 2019 at 23:10 UTC »
Trump could come forward at any minute and say I want to speak under oath and answer questions publicly too. But instead he attacks patriots like Yovanovitch, on twitter, from his phone.
Vertigo_Space69420 on November 15th, 2019 at 21:35 UTC »
The applause drowned out that republican trying to spew shit. Lol