It was abundantly clear on during the second day of the House Intelligence Committee’s public impeachment hearings that Democrats on the committee still have yet to produce a witness with anything any firsthand knowledge of what the committee is actually investigating.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, did not have any first hand knowledge of President Donald Trump’s conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
One may not agree with President Donald Trump’s approach to the Ukraine, Ambassador Yovanovitch is certainly free to express her opinion. (Side note: President Trump’s treatment of her on Twitter on Friday morning was abysmal, disgusting, indefensible, and unbecoming of the President of the United States.) One can disagree that she was fired.
None of these things are relevant. For starters, removing an ambassador is not an impeachable offense. Apparently everyone has forgotten that President Barack Obama fired all of the holdover ambassadors from the Bush Administration, as was within his power to do. Ambassador Yovanovitch was appointed by President Obama, President Trump was under no obligation to keep her. He could remove her for any reason regardless of how well you and I believe she functioned in that role. It was his prerogative, period.
You may disagree with it, but it is just not relevant to what the committee is investigating.
Here’s what you need to know about Ambassador Yovanovitch’s testimony:
She has no first-hand knowledge.
U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee asked Ambassador Yovanovitch questions pertaining to any potential first-hand knowledge about an alleged quid pro quo between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky. She confirmed that she didn’t have any information.
She had no information regarding the investigation at hand.
Answering the House Intelligence Committee Minority Caucus counsel’s questions, Ambassador Yovanovitch admits that she does not have any facts or information related to the committee’s investigation into President Trump.
She has no knowledge of criminal activity by President Trump.
Ambassador Yovanovitch testified that she was not aware of President Trump taking any bribe or participating in any criminal activity.
So while Ambassador Yovanovitch certainly has a distinguished record of service, and certainly wasn’t treated well by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, she wasn’t a witness to anything; at least not anything that is relevant to this impeachment inquiry.
There could be witnesses forthcoming with first-hand knowledge who will be the silver bullet needed to prove President Trump committed an impeachable offense, but we have yet to hear from that person or persons.
