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leader and that I would be “going through some things.” So I was—it was—it was a terrible moment. 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.402

Ambassador Yovanovitch was also asked about her reaction to the President’s comment that she would “go through some things.” She acknowledged feeling threatened, stating: “It didn’t sound good. It sounded like a threat.”403

As Ambassador Yovanovitch was in the process of testifying before the Committee, President Trump tweeted an attack against her. He wrote:

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.404

During the hearing, Chairman Schiff asked Ambassador Yovanovitch for her reaction to the President’s attacks:

Q: Ambassador, you’ve shown the courage to come forward today and testify, notwithstanding the fact you were urged by the White House or State Department not to; notwithstanding the fact that, as you testified earlier, the President implicitly threatened you in that call record. And now, the President in real-time is attacking you. What effect do you think that has on other witnesses’ willingness to come forward and expose wrongdoing?

A: Well, it’s very intimidating.

Q: It’s designed to intimidate, is it not?

A: I—I—I mean, I can’t speak to what the President is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating.

Q: Well, I want to let you know, Ambassador, that some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously.405

In response to the President’s attacks, Rep. Liz Cheney, Chair of the House Republican Caucus, stated that the President “was wrong” and that Ambassador Yovanovitch “clearly is somebody who’s been a public servant to the United States for decades and I don’t think the President should have done that.”406 Rep. Francis Rooney, also a Republican, stated: “I don’t necessarily think it’s right to be harassing or beating up on our professional diplomatic service.”407

Even after these rebukes, the President continued to attack and threaten Ambassador Yovanovitch. For example, in an interview on November 22, President Trump stated: “This was not an angel, this woman, okay? And there are a lot of things that she did that I didn’t like. And we will talk about that at some time.”408

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