And the wisest and strongest of Santa's elves? Former Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, patriot extraordinaire.
You can be sure Little Sister Resister was watching and listening to both days of hearings, as much as she was able, which was actually quite a bit!
On Wednesday, New Mexico-born Ambassador Bill Taylor and bow-tie-rockin' Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent testified together.
I became emotional listening to both of their opening statements. They truly are patriots who served our country for decades. Taylor has been in public service for 50 years, since he started at West Point, and George Kent for 27 years. Both served admirably under presidents of both political parties. They each laid out the facts and were not shy about characterizing the circumstances in moral and ethical terms. Hearing them talk, it is obvious that their loyalty, first and foremost, is to Country. There is no way of knowing what party they belong to, and it doesn't matter. There was absolutely no "us" vs. "them" in their testimony, and this fact alone brings great hope to our Nation. There are patriots out there who put country above all else, and they shall be our salvation.
Chairman Schiff's opening statement was a recitation of the facts as we know them. There wasn't much editorializing, and, like a good prosecutor, laid out the facts as we know them, facts to be illustrated in depth by the witnesses. Presidential Impeachment: Cliff Notes version.
Ranking committee member Rep. Devin Moo-nes was udderly idiotic. A cow farmer from Fresno, California, he's obviously well-versed in bullshit. He was off the rails from the get-go, snidely reciting every Repug conspiracy theory during his opening statement, whining about the 2016 election (will they please let it go?!), and generally throwing handfuls of shit on the wall to see what sticks. He said absolutely nothing in defense of the president* but instead brought up every and all talking point from the last 3 years about how everything Democrats do is bad, bad, bad. There was nothing of substance about the issue at hand. His first sentence was about the Russia investigation, and I thought HUH?! Did he walk into the wrong hearing? And what's this? Nudie pics of SCROTUS? **shudder** It's gonna take a while to scrub that image out of my head. And how utterly insulting to reduce these esteemed gentlemen to performers by saying, "Ambassador Taylor and Mr. Kent—I’d like to welcome you here, and congratulate you for passing the Democrats’ Star Chamber auditions held for the last six weeks in the basement of the Capitol. It seems you agreed, wittingly or unwittingly, to participate in a drama. But the main performance—the Russia hoax—has ended, and you’ve been cast in the low-rent Ukrainian sequel." How to describe this clown? Shit shoveler, I guess.
It's true that they can not impugn the facts nor the witnesses, so the GOP strategy is, once again, to put on a dog-and-pony show.
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| Drew Sheneman |
There wasn't anything really surprising from the nearly six hours of testimony. I thought the Dem counsel who helmed the 45-minute questioning session was quite effective in his inquiry, but the GOP counsel seemed unsure of himself and a bit bumbling. But yanno, I'm biased! The witnesses were somber, credible and compelling.
The loudest defense the GOP had was to characterize Kent and Taylor as having second- and third-hand information. I was struck by the bellicosity of the questioning by the GOP congressmen. They were caustic, sarcastic, and loud. The witnesses remained unfazed.
There was an awesome burn from Democrat Rep. Peter Welch (VT), who, after greasy Jim Jordan (R-OH) lamented that they wouldn't get to question "the guy who started it all," meaning the whistleblower, Rep. Welch retorted, ...well, just watch:
The biggest bit of news was the revelation that a member of Ambassador Taylor's staff, David Holmes, overheard 45 and Ambassador Gordon Sondland speaking on the telephone while at a restaurant the day after the fateful July 25 conversation with President Zelensky. In the phone call, the staff member reportedly overheard 45 asking about "the investigations."
Multiple problems here: how hard would it have been to wait for an official, secure telephone line at the embassy before conducting sensitive phone calls? Secondly. OK, Boomer. Everyone in the restaurant can hear ya talking on your cell phone. Seriously, no need to yell.
So, this individual – and it turns out there are two who overheard the call – was immediately called to testify, which he did in a Friday deposition behind closed doors. From the New York Times Impeachment Briefing:
Mr. Holmes said that on the call, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Sondland: “So, he’s gonna do the investigation?” Mr. Sondland replied, “He’s gonna do it.” After the call ended, Mr. Holmes asked Mr. Sondland if was true that the president did not care about Ukraine. The ambassador replied that Mr. Trump cared only about the “big stuff,” like investigations that Mr. Giuliani was pushing for, because they affected him personally.
As usual, Stephen Colbert brilliantly summarizes Wednesday's testimony:
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On Friday, we were treated to a cool, collected conversation with the unflappable Marie Yovanovitch. The smeared and ousted Ambassador to the Ukraine sat in front of the committee and America and quietly, but strongly, told a crystal-clear story about her battles against corruption, a fight that threatened not only corrupt forces in Ukraine, but corrupt individuals right here in the United States of America, at the highest – the very highest – level of government. She described the groundwork of corruption laid out by the president* and his minions: Rudy Giuliani, henchmen Igor and Lev, and the three amigos working the channel of shadow diplomacy. Their corrupt acts worked to smear her, intimidate her, and summarily remove her from her post so that they may more easily move about with their plan to recruit an unwitting President Zelensky to further SCROTUS's personal political goals.
It was angering to learn the width and depth of Cheeto Benito's smear campaign. It was a campaign that not only besmirched a fine, well-respected and effective diplomat, but a campaign that has potentially harmed United States' national security. She described the intimidation factor and morale-busting chill that has permeated the State Department, causing many career diplomats to question their roles and leave the service. The implications are frightening.
The smear campaign was designed to not only to damage Yovanovitch but to threaten her, and inconceivably, the thuggish intimidation continued in real time during her actual testimony! Just as the second hour of the hearing had begun, 45 had the audacity to tweet, "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."
Chairman Schiff gave her an opportunity to respond. What effect did his remarks have on her? "It’s very intimidating. I can’t speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating,” she said.
Leave it to the 45th president* of the United States to write his own articles of impeachment as the very impeachment testimony is happening. Chairman Schiff pointedly stated that “Some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously.” Go, Adam!
Even those at Faux News thought SCROTUS's behavior was abominable. A quote from Fox Business Network host Lisa Kennedy: "It makes him look like a big dumb baby."
As this, and as all of the shameful smears were happening earlier this year, Yovanovitch's boss, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, stayed silent. There was no act or even word of support for her.
I was listening to MSNBC in the car when the committee took a break. This was a powerful moment, spoken by an emotional Chuck Rosenberg, former chief of staff of the FBI.
Before Ambassador Yovanovitch testified, Devin Poo-nes in his opening statement included a reading of the *yawn* transcript from 45's first congratulatory call to President Zelensky. I'm not sure what it was meant to illustrate but...ZZZZzzzzz.
The GOP didn't make more of a defense on Friday than they did on Wednesday. It was more of the same from the congress members: conspiracy theories. Yovanovitch remained unflappable, even during the questioning of GOP counsel, Stephen Castor, which actually helped promote the truth telling. It goes to Yovanovitch's strength; there was no impugning the truth no matter who questioned her.
A nation was moved by her testimony. I couldn't have said it better than those at Faux News:
"That was a turning point in this hearing so far. She was already a sympathetic witness and the President’s tweet ripping her allowed Schiff to point it out real-time characterizing it as witness tampering or intimidation — adding an article of impeachment real-time." (Brett Baier)
"If you were not moved by the testimony of Marie Yovanovitch, you don't have a pulse... I think that the really dramatic moment is that this wasn't just testimony about the past, this played out in real time with the President attacking her... that does raise the possibility of witness intimidation and witness tampering as a new charge here." (Chris Wallace)
I'm sad that Yovanovitch was born in Canada and therefore ineligible to run for President herself. Marie Yavonovich is a goddam American hero.
There were more transcripts from closed-door hearings released on Friday, that of of former presidential adviser on Russia and Europe on the White House National Security Council Tim Morrison and Jennifer Williams, Vice President Mike Pence's special adviser on Europe and Russia. Both of these individuals had listened in on the call. You want first-hand witnesses, Republicans? Meet Mr. Morrison and Ms. Williams.
We'll hear from both of them in person next week, along with a few others. Patriot Lt. Col. Vindman will testify on Tuesday morning, along with Jennifer Williams. We'll hear from Kurt Volker and Tim Morrison on Tuesday afternoon.
I'm really looking forward to hearing from Ambassador Gordon Sondland on Wednesday morning. He was a crony of Don the Con, and has the most first-hand evidence of anyone. He's also at risk of incriminating himself, but if he tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, the nation will be better for it.
Wednesday afternoon we'll hear from Pentagon official Laura Cooper and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale. Finally, on Thursday we'll hear from Former NSC senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs Fiona Hill.
There may be more public hearings yet to come. I'd love to hear first-hand about the overheard phone call in the restaurant!
Call or write your representatives and tell them how you feel. They need to know.
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