What a week.
We’ll send a special edition of this newsletter Sunday if news warrants. Otherwise, we’ll publish as usual on Monday.
- The White House and State Department apparently told her not to testify, according to Democratic committee chairmen.
- She testified without a State Department lawyer and, according to White House talking points, was in jeopardy of accidentally revealing classified information.
- She said believed Trump removed her after pressure from Giuliani.
- She said she was told by the deputy secretary of state her removal was unusual.
- She had a stark warning about the state of US diplomacy.
- A senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Mike McKinley, resigned suddenly in part because the top ranks at the State Department were not defending Yovanovitch, a source told CNN.
Here’s what she told Congress
…unfounded and false claims…
“Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the President, I was nevertheless incredulous that the US government chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”
I do not know Mr. Giuliani’s motives for attacking me.
“With respect to Mayor Giuliani, I have had only minimal contacts with him — a total of three that I recall. None related to the events at issue. I do not know Mr. Giuliani’s motives for attacking me. But individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine.”
… come back to Washington from Ukraine on the next plane.
“…after being asked by the Department in early March to extend my tour until 2020, I was then abruptly told in late April to come back to Washington from Ukraine on the next plane.”
… this was not like other situations…
“I met with the Deputy Secretary of State, who informed me of the curtailment of my term. He said that the President had lost confidence in me and no longer wished me to serve as his ambassador. He added that there had been a concerted campaign against me, and that the Department had been under pressure from the President to remove me since the Summer of 2018. He also said that I had done nothing wrong and that this was not like other situations where he had recalled ambassadors for cause.”
…take action now to defend this great institution…
“Today, we see the State Department attacked and hollowed out from within. State Department leadership, with Congress, needs to take action now to defend this great institution, and its thousands of loyal and effective employees. We need to rebuild diplomacy as the first resort to advance America’s interests and the front line of America’s defense. I fear that not doing so will harm our nation’s interest, perhaps irreparably.”
New Timeline
Trump takes a loss in his other big fight with Congress
The Trump administration is keen on rewriting the rules of justice as they pertain to the President.
- The White House argued this week the impeachment inquiry was illegitimate even though the Constitution gives Democrats wide latitude on impeachment.
- The administration argued in court this week that Watergate-era decisions about executive privilege will be decided differently as it tried to keep Mueller investigation grand jury documents from Congress. That one drew an audible “wow” from the judge hearing the case.
- The entire Mueller report was written with Mueller’s understanding that the Department of Justice would never charge Trump with a crime, thanks to its own rules.
“The fact that the subpoena in this case seeks information that concerns the President of the United States adds a twist, but not a surprising one,” the majority wrote. There will certainly be an appeal.
Judge Neomi Rao wrote a dissent and previewed the fight that could be coming to a Supreme Court near you when she warned that Congress could become “a roving inquisition over a co-equal branch of government.”
The very fine Rubio line
Republicans continue to contort themselves during interactions with reporters as they try to avoid either condoning or condemning Trump’s behavior.
What else?
On the podcast
Next week
Here are the planned/possible witnesses scheduled to appear before Congress next week:
- October 14: Dr. Fiona Hill, Trump’s former Russia adviser
- October 15: George Kent, US State Department deputy assistant secretary
- October 17: Gordon Sondland, ambassador for the European Union
- October 17*: T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, US State Department counselor and confidant of Pompeo. (*May be rescheduled in light of Sondland testimony.)
The House committees have also requested to talk to top US diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor.
What are we doing here?
The President has invited foreign powers to interfere in the US presidential election.
Democrats want to impeach him for it.
It is a crossroads for the American system of government as the President tries to change what’s acceptable for US politicians. This newsletter will focus on this consequential moment in US history.
