Impeachment Day 2: Feelings, Intimidation, and Adam Schiff’s Sexism
Marie Yovanovitch was the star witness on the second day of impeachment hearings. I didn’t think it possible for the left to perform worse than the first day but they surprised me. They did! And let’s remind ourselves again what these hearings are about (according to the Democrats): impeaching Trump for Quid Pro Quo. No wait! Obstruction! No no that’s not it. Bribery! Yes that’s it! (At least for now).
Friday’s hearings addressed none of those.
First there was an obvious promoting of the intelligence and diplomatic community. In her opening remarks Yovanovitch highlighted her 30+ years of experience and then demonstrated the mindset of many of these folks:
“Our Ukraine policy has been thrown into disarray, and shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American Ambassador who does not give them what they want.”
As I said the other day, this is the REAL reason they oppose and hate Trump. How dare he think differently then they do!
The Democrats tried to make a case (at least emotionally) that it was wrong for Trump to remove her. Of course they totally ignore the fact they all Presidents do the same thing, including Obama (44 firings on his first day in office! Oh my!). It is the President’s prerogative to put whoever he wants in these positions. So in this the Democrats are just depending on the ignorance of their own constituents and the media (but I repeat myself).
Then it was on to the House of Representative Therapy Session. Literally. The Democrats spent most of the morning alternatively asking her how she felt and being sympathetic towards her. That stupid and mean old Trump fired her without any consideration to the emotionally devastating effect it would have on her. Waaaaaa. I thought a couple of them were going to cry. The questions were mostly in this form:
How do you feel?
How did that make you feel?
What were your feelings on that?
It was pathetic. Maybe they should get her a safe place with crayons and play dough. At one point I thought Alpert Morris was going to pop up from behind Adam Schiff and start singing “Feelings….whoa whoa whoa feelings”.
So you may be wondering, was there ANY substantive questions/discussion about Trump and QPQ/Bribery on the Ukrainian phone call? Why yes there was! But it only made a couple of cameo appearances.
Yovanovitch: There are a number of events you are investigating to which I cannot bring any first-hand knowledge:
President Trump’s July 25, 2019 call with President Zelenskiy;
The discussions surrounding that phone call; and
Any discussions surrounding the delay of security assistance to Ukraine in Summer 2019
You know. Just the stuff on the impeachment list.
Daniel Goldstein, lawyer for House Democrats: Were Trump’s dealings with Ukraine meant to advance his “personal and political interests rather than the national interest?
Yovanovitch: “Well, they certainly could.”
Wow that is so definite and devastating. Impeach!
Chris Stewart (R-UT): Do you have any information regarding the president of the United States accepting any bribes?
Yovanovitch: No.
Stewart: Do you any have information regarding any criminal activity that the president of the United States has been involved with at all?
Yovanovitch: No.
I am seeing a pattern here. So she was there for what purpose?
One of the major moments of the hearing was Schiff’s sexist and misogynistic attitude towards Elise Stefanik when she simply wanted to ask a question after Nunes had yielded his time to her.
Stefanik: Ambassador Yovanovitch I want to thank you for being here today…
Schiff: The gentleman will suspend. The gentleman will suspend.
Stefanik: What is the interruption for this time?
Schiff: The gentleman will suspend. You are not recognized.
Nunes: You’re gagging the lady from New York?
Stefanik: Ambassador Yovanovitch I want to thank you for being here today…
Schiff: The gentleman will suspend. You are not recognized.
Stefanik: This is the fifth time you’ve interrupted duly elected members of Congress.
Schiff: The gentleman will suspend.
Nunes: Mr. Chair, we control the time. It’s been customary in this Committee that whoever controls the time can yield to whoever they wish. It seems appropriate that we let Ms. Stefanik ask her question.
What is this, romper room? Apparently Schiff missed the class on “play nice with others.”
When Stefanik was finally allowed to ask questions later, she was ready. Her question about the Biden’s and Burisma was excellent.
Stefanik: This was in the form of practice questions and answers. This is your deposition. And you testified that in this particular practice Q & A with the Obama State Department, it was not just generally about Burisma and corruption, it was specifically about Hunter Biden and Burisma. Is that correct?
Yovanovitch: Yes it is.
Stefanik: And the exact quote from your testimony, Ambassador, is, ‘The way the question was phrased was what can you tell us about Hunter Biden, you know, being named to the board of Burisma.’ So for the millions of Americans watching, the State Department was so concerned about potential conflicts of interest from Hunter Biden’s role at Burisma that they rated themselves while prepping the Ambassador nominee before her confirmation. And yet our democratic colleagues and the chairman at this committee cried foul when we dare ask that same question that the Obama State Department was so concerned about. But we will continue asking it.
No wonder Schiff didn’t want her asking questions.
Note: in her opening statement Yovanovitch said : Although I have met former Vice President Biden several times over the course of our many years in government, neither he nor the previous Administration ever raised the issue of either Burisma or Hunter Biden with me. Yet she just told Stefanik that she had been aware of them. So she is lying.
One other significant moment occurred during the hearing and I believe it signals yet again a change in narrative for the Democrats. They have no choice because the bribery charge has failed spectacularly. The new narrative is “witness intimidation/tampering”. This came after Schiff read one of Trump’s tweets (below) and accused him of such:
Trump: 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. They call it “serving at the pleasure of the President.” The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First! With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O.
Someone play the violin. If anyone is guilty of witness tampering it is Schiff. He is the one who brought it up. And of course the robotic media is dutifully echoing it.
To close, Devin Nunes had a succinct but accurate summary of the hearing:
Not sure why Yovanovitch is even here today. This is the House Intelligence Committee, not the Human Resources subcommittee for employment disputes. She didn’t witness any of the events that are under discussion today.
So far not one witness has had first hand knowledge of the accusations against President Trump.
