WTF Just Happened Today

Friday, November 15, 2019

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine testified that Trump's comment to the Ukraine president – that she was "bad news" and is "going to go through some things" – "sounded like a threat." Marie Yovanovitch, testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, said she was "shocked, absolutely shocked, and devastated" when she read the rough transcript released by the White House of Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yovanovitch also testified that Trump and Rudy Giuliani ran "the smear campaign against" her in tandem with corrupt Ukrainians, which undermined U.S. national security and emboldened Russia. Yovanovitch said Giuliani's "campaign of disinformation" was influenced by "individuals with questionable motives," who believed their "political and financial ambitions would be stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine." Yovanovitch was recalled from her posting on April 24 – three days after Trump's first call with Zelensky – while in the middle of hosting an event honoring an anti-corruption activist in Ukraine. Yovanovitch also criticized Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the State Department's failed efforts to publicly support her after Trump removed her as ambassador. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News)

• Who is Marie Yovanovitch? The ousted ambassador to Ukraine recounted how she became the target of a smear campaign by President Trump’s personal lawyer and the right-wing media. (New York Times)

• Read: Adam Schiff's opening remarks

• Read: Devin Nunes' opening remarks

• READ: Marie Yovanovitch's opening remarks

2/ Trump attacked Yovanovitch on Twitter as she was testifying about how she felt threatened by his comments. Trump tweeted that "Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad," claiming that Zelensky had "spoke unfavorably about her." Trump also called it his "absolute right to appoint ambassadors," justifying his decision to recall Yovanovitch three months before the end of the normal three-year diplomatic tenure. When asked by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff to respond to Trump's tweets, Yovanovitch called it "very intimidating […] the effect is to be intimidating." Schiff agreed that "it's designed to intimidate" and that "we saw today witness intimidation in real time by the president of the United States." Schiff added: "Some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously." House Democrats, meanwhile, suggested that Trump's decision to attack Yovan...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.