Many in the nation’s capitol are anxious to see today’s main event, the testimony of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in front of Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) House Intel Committee.
Related: Trump on Dems: We ‘Did Nothing Wrong — They’re Doing Nothing’
Will she hold up under questioning with Democrat support — or will GOP members like Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) eviscerate her as he did the two previous Dem witnesses on Wednesday?
We’ll bring you ongoing coverage to keep you informed throughout the day.
Let’s roll.
Marie Yovanovitch and her Democratic handlers contend she was fired due to political machinations by President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
She will try to appear as a victim of such.
Yovanovitch is a career diplomat and has served in the State Department for over 30 years.
She will use that background to cast herself as an innocent civil servant targeted for an unfair dismissal.
Dems may play the feminist card as well and accuse the GOP and the president of gender bias against her — and may go as far as saying the president disdains her because she is an immigrant.
GOP members of the Intel Committee will portray her as a partisan player and point out discrepancies in her earlier statements to undermine her general credibility.
Related: Adam Schiff Had Fun Mugging for the Cameras
We can look deeper.
The Dems and the former ambassador claim that Rudy Giuliani was instrumental in getting her out of the way so he could exert pressure on the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden, son of the former vice president, and the Dem-admitted corrupt firm Burisma Holdings.
As before, all their evidence is hearsay and secondhand.
Marie Yovanovitch is Canadian-born. Her parents are Russian and German émigrés.
She is a Princeton graduate with a degree in history and Russian studies and speaks fluent Russian.
Yovanovitch has served extensively in Eastern Europe and other areas with duty in nations such as Russia, Armenia, and Somalia. She was appointed ambassador to Ukraine by then-President Barack Obama in 2016.
She was fired in May of 2019 by the Trump administration.
The GOP is ready for this day.
Said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) on Thursday night on “Hannity” about what the Democrats are planning for Friday’s hearing: “Here we have got the third witness now that’s coming in, Sean. And what I have found is none of those witnesses have ever met Donald Trump. And so when you have a real conversation with them, you start to say, Well, golly, you know, why are they actually the star witnesses? Now, [Friday], it’s even better than that the ambassador who is coming in wasn’t there during the phone call. Wasn’t there when the aid was suspended. Do you know where she was? She was at Georgetown.”
Related: Jeff Sessions: These Impeachment Hearings Are ‘a Show Trial’
“And so we’ve got Nancy Pelosi talking about bribery,” Meadows added. “The only bribery that’s going to take place is where she has to bribe the American people to believe the story that they’re spinning.”
Stay tuned to find out the news of the day on this and other topics.
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