Yovanovitch
© Reuters/Jonathan ErnstEx-Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch
Ex-ambassador Marie Yovanovitch feeling "threatened" by President Donald Trump and his tweet criticizing her "in real-time" during her testimony amount to new grounds for impeachment, Democrats and their media proxies claimed.

During Friday's impeachment hearing, Yovanovitch complained that she's been the victim of a "smear campaign" by the Trump administration, carried out particularly by the president's personal counsel Rudy Giuliani - and Trump himself.

The former ambassador recalled her reaction to the transcript of the phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a testimony that the New York Times called "powerful and personal."

Quoting a third-person account for some reason, Yovanovitch said that "a person who saw me actually reading the transcript said that the color drained from my face. I think I even had a physical reaction. I think, you know, even now, words kind of fail me," she went on.


House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-California) interrupted the questions from Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman to read a tweet Trump had posted "in real time" during her testimony and solicit Yovanovitch's reaction.

"Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad," the tweet began.

Yovanovitch said she felt "very intimidated" by what Trump had to say. Schiff applauded Yovanovitch's "courage" for testifying. In a huddle with reporters after the hearing, he later called Trump's tweeting "witness intimidation," deeming it "part of the pattern to obstruct justice."

The drama of it all proved just too much for the Democratic side of the aisle to handle.

"Witness intimidation is a federal crime. It is also an impeachable offense #AbuseOfPower. Consider yourself warned. No. One. Is. Above. The. Law" wrote Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York).

Many more vented their outrage at what they said was a "crime" or "felony" - which would surely see Trump toppled if everything else fails.


Meanwhile, Trump supporters scoffed that Yovanovitch's feelings were being used as evidence. Several pointed out that with her high-pitched voice and emotionally-charged suggestions of being traumatized, Yovanovitch sounded like Christine Blasey Ford's testimony in the Kavanaugh hearings.

Still lacking evidence against Trump for impeachment, the Democrats repeatedly condemned the "character assassination," "smear campaign," and "defamation" that Yovanovitch supposedly endured at the hands of the Trump administration - namely, the allegation from Ukrainian prosecutor Yury Lutsenko that she had handed him a "do not prosecute" list on their first meeting.

Republicans, on the other hand, mocked the proceedings, asked pointed questions, and challenged the legitimacy of the inquiry itself. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) asked whether Yovanovitch was aware of "any crime" the president had committed - to which the ex-ambassador answered "no" - while Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) ridiculed Schiff for blocking access to the mysterious whistleblower.

The Democrats continue their search for the grounds of impeachment - "in real time" - as they go along. Those grounds have shifted from the alleged quid pro quo in the Trump-Zelensky phone call, to alleged bribery during that same call, to "witness intimidation" that they claim happened during the hearing itself.