New York, Oct 12
Openly defying the White House, Marie Yovanovitch, the former American Ambassador to Ukraine, has testified before Congress in a closed door hearing. Blowing the lid over her sacking, she claimed that President Donald Trump had pushed for her removal despite State saying she had done nothing wrong. The question here is has the first domino fallen and will Ambassador Gordon Sondlands upcoming testimony result in further heartbreak for Trump?
All this despite the White House stating categorically that no one will comply with Congress subpoenas and depose. It must be mentioned that it depends on whose prism one is looking at the rapid developments in the impeachment inquiry. If the prism is left leaning media, then Trump is being vanquished but is you view it from the prism of his votary Fox News, then nothing is amiss and all is hunky dory for Trump. America clearly stands divided, a cleave running right through it as middle America comprising working class WASP more or less steadfast in their support for Trump.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on her searing indictment of Trump's foreign policy. She seemed to suggest that businesspeople who are allies of Rudy Giuliani, the President's personal attorney, may have orchestrated this campaign to get her out for their own private gain. Was she removed because she was standing in the way of some sort of quid pro quo deal that the White House was planning to execute? Did they see her as unwilling to play ball in what might have been a corrupt game? Those are the questions impeachment investigators want to answer.
The NYT added that she testified despite a White House declaration that there would be no more cooperation with Congress. She's acting in defiance of the White House. Her testimony today was a really damning indictment of how the Trump administration is conducting foreign policy. She warned against people who in search of personal gain or private influence undermined the work of American government officials and threatened the policy goals of the US. And on top of all that, she said the State Department is being hollowed out from within, because diplomats don't feel the government has their back.
It is a game of chess that is being played out in the Washington swamp, but two key witnesses testifying or agreeing to testify means that there is now an open conflagration between the Trump administration and its State Department underlings. This is not a good sign for an oblivious Trump who was readying to speak at the James E. Sudduth Coliseum in Lake Charles, Louisiana for another campaign speech. The next few days will be crucial for if more diplomats constricted by White House defy Trump and speak out against him, then the swamp may well claim a victim.
