Friday morning, during the second day of public impeachment hearings, Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch -- whom Donald Trump recalled after a concerted smear campaign by Rudy Giuliani and his associates -- testified in front of the Intelligence Committee.
About an hour into Yovanovitch's testimony, during which she expressed her feeling "threatened" by Donald Trump's comments to the Ukrainian President that she was "going through some things," Trump took to Twitter to try to counter her testimony, saying:
"Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad."
Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukr… https://t.co/N6KQO9jBWS— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1573830100.0
Chairman Adam Schiff read the tweet to Yovanovitch in real time and she responded:
"I don't think I have such powers, not in Mogadishu and Somalia and not in other places.""I actually think that where I've served over the years I and others have demonstrably made things better, you know, for the US as well as for the countries that I've served in."
You can watch her response below:
Marie Yovanovitch responds to Trump's tweet attacking her during her testimony: "I actually think that where I've s… https://t.co/gG82Hh5tWo— Axios (@Axios) 1573832456.0
Adam Schiff later called it "witness intimidation in real time by the President of the United States."
JUST IN: Rep. Adam Schiff on Pres. Trump's attack on Marie Yovanovitch during her testimony: "What we saw today: wi… https://t.co/BZFhR9qTag— ABC News (@ABC News) 1573834189.0
People felt she was quite impressive in the moment.
Ambassador #YovanovitchIsAPatriot. Marie Yovanovitch began today's #ImpeachmentHearing by recounting multiple time… https://t.co/cxvL7sQIsP— Grant Stern (@Grant Stern) 1573832008.0
@axios A very truthful and straightforward response to the trash tweets from POTUS, during her testimony. Trump see… https://t.co/NYEEEUq88R— Matt (@Matt) 1573834120.0
@axios @morningmika She is just a cut above anyone in Donald Trump’s life. He doesn’t and cannot recognise her wort… https://t.co/WR0aiHH1Z9— Patty Mac (@Patty Mac) 1573832835.0
Hillary Clinton weighed in on Twitter, echoing that yes, this was in fact witness intimidation by the President of the United States.
Witness intimidation is a crime, no matter who does it. Full stop.— Hillary Clinton (@Hillary Clinton) 1573835819.0
People joined in the chorus.
@HillaryClinton And it’s not the first time Trump intimidates witnesses. He must be held accountable. #ImpeachingHearings— David Weissman (@David Weissman) 1573835896.0
@HillaryClinton I think you might want to include Ambassador Yovanovitch in your sequel to Gutsy Women.— abbie (@abbie) 1573837430.0
@HillaryClinton To falsely malign, attack, and intimidate Amb. Yovanovitch while she testifies shows what a liar an… https://t.co/AohS7saR0w— Layla Fanucci (@Layla Fanucci) 1573839109.0
People are calling for Trump to be held accountable for actively berating a witness to his 66 million followers as she testified on national television.
Trump himself is clearly not satisfied with only one article of impeachment. His choice to publicly broadcast his… https://t.co/a39vzxsDgb— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1573840184.0
Well, with his tweet, Trump has succeeded in making this an even more incriminating hearing than it already was.— Jon Favreau (@Jon Favreau) 1573831635.0
Even former Whitewater Independent Counsel Ken Starr thinks Trump went too far with his witness intimidation today. https://t.co/GA2W8iusKa— Keith Boykin (@Keith Boykin) 1573838578.0
This Trump tweet is criminal witness intimidation. Glad @RepAdamSchiff called it out in real time. This vicious att… https://t.co/PAs0pBs5m8— Laurence Tribe (@Laurence Tribe) 1573834020.0
Trump later diverted to tweeting in defense of his former advisor, Roger Stone, who was convicted on Friday on seven criminal counts. One of them was for witness tampering.