Two important things have happened so far today, at noon Eastern, regarding the shady dealings of Donald Trump in his 2016 campaign for the U.S. presidency and his tenure as president so far. The House Intelligence Committee began its second day of open, televised hearings regarding its impeachment inquiry into President Trump and Roger Stone, a Trump associate who illegally tried to get Trump elected as president, was found guilty of all seven counts charged against him by the prosecution, including lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering.
First, Roger Stone is an outrageous guy who loves the Godfather film series about Mafia racketeering and has a huge tattoo on his back of President Richard Nixon, who had to resign his presidency when faced with certain impeachment and removal from office. Any American man who would make such a dishonored figure his hero, enough to put such a large tattoo of him on his back, is pretty kookie.
Second, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Louise (“Masha”) Yovanovitch, has for the first time testified publicly before Congress this morning, and it was for nearly four hours. She will return after the extended break in which Committee members must take time to vote.
Ms. Yovanovitch’s testimony seemed to me to be quite devastating to President Trump. He had fired her from her three-year position as the ambassador of Ukraine on May 20th this year without giving any substantial reason other than that he had lost confidence in her. Then, on July 25th Trump phoned new Ukraine President Zelensky and asked him for a “favor,” it being to get dirt on his political opponent former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. In this phone call he also mentioned Ms. Yovanovitch, an honorable, 33-year diplomat in U.S. foreign service, and called her “bad news.” His also said she was going to “go through some things.”
Yovanovitch was asked how that last remark made her feel when she first learned of it. She said it felt “intimidating” and “threatened.” When asked if she felt it indicated that her physical life was being threatened, she answered that she wasn’t sure but that it caused her to think of that.
Since soon after Donald Trump began to campaign for the U.S. presidency, I began to blog against his doing so. I have blogged now perhaps 150 times about my opposition to Donald Trump as the U.S. president. I believe Donald Trump is a pretty shady businessman who has probably broken many of our nation’s laws in his career. But that is not the main reason I have opposed Trump’s presidency. I have done so mostly for two reasons: he was never qualified to be president and he is a psychologically ill person by being, at the least, a classic narcissist who is a poor representative for our country and a danger to our democracy.
Former ambassador Yovanovitch came off in her testimony as being a very honorable person for whom every American should be proud of a person for her 33 years of service under sometimes very trying circumstances, including danger to her physical well being by serving in hostile places in the world as a U.S. representative.
The White House announced this morning that President Trump would not be watching on television Ms. Yovanovitch in her testimony. Nevertheless, after the proceedings were well under way, President Trump tweeted a very derogatory message directed against Ms. Yovanovitch that could be regarded as witness intimidation.
The way things are going so far with the Mueller report and now in these impeachment proceedings, it’s looking to me like Rudy Guiliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, and President Trump, who sometimes talks like a Mafia mobster, should not only go down politically but go to prison.
The impeachment proceedings have now been resumed this afternoon.
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