Thread by @mkraju

Second day of public impeachment hearings begins @ Longworth House Office Building instagram.com/p/B445E91APbj/…

Schiff: “Some have argued that a president has the ability to nominate or remove any ambassador. .. The question before us is not whether Donald Trump could recall an American ambassador with a stellar reputation for fighting corruption in Ukraine, but why would he want to?”

Schiff: Ousting Yovanovitch “set stage for an irregular channel that could pursue the two investigations that mattered so much to the President, the 2016 conspiracy theory, and most important, an investigation into the 2020 political opponent he apparently feared most, Joe Biden”

Nunes rails on the “day-long TV spectacles,” Democrats’ “Watergate fantasies” and “secret” depositions in the Capitol basement where Democrats acted like a “cult.” “Democrats have vowing to oust President Trump since the day he was elected,” Nunes said

Nunes now reading into the record the transcript of the first phone call between Trump and Zelensky that the WH just released

Schiff says he is “grateful” Trump released the first call record of his phone call with Zelensky - and calls on Trump to release the “thousands” of records that State Department and WH have blocked, including witness notes and call records

Keep track of all the players and key events of this saga here: cnn.com/interactive/20…

Yovanovitch notes she joined the Foreign Service during Reagan administration, served three GOP presidents and two Democratic presidents. And was appointed to be an ambassador twice by George W Bush and once by Barack Obama

Yovanovitch going through allegation against allegation against her - many pushed by Rudy Giuliani and his allies - and refuting each of them. “The Obama administration did not ask me to help the Clinton campaign or harm the Trump campaign.”

“I have always understood that I served at the pleasure of the President, I still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine US interests in this way,” Yovanovitch says, criticizing “shady interests” ousting an ambassador

Schiff walks Yovanovitch efforts to root out corruption in Ukraine - how Giuliani worked with questionable Ukrainians to mount a smear campaign against her that was amplified by Don Jr and Trump allies. She also testifies she was told to leave because of “concerns of my security”

“Did anyone at the State Department ever express concerns about your job performance?” staff counsel Dan Goldman asks. Yovanovitch: “No.”

The only reason offered for her ouster, she was told: “The president has lost confidence in you.” No reason was given why, Yovanovitch said.

“I was shocked, absolutely shocked and devastated,” Yovanovitch says of her reaction when she read the Trump-Zelensky call record where Trump called her “bad news” and that “she’s going to go through some things.” “It was a terrible moment.”

“It sounded like a threat,” Yovanovitch adds of Trump’s comments that she was “going to go through some things.”

Goldman now pointing out that Trump praised the corrupt former Ukrainian prosecutor who had helped Giuliani launch the smear campaign against Yovanovitch

Goldman now walking through the smear campaign, pointing to Trump tweets, Don Jr tweets and Hannity echoing what Yovanovitch testified are false attacks. “I was worried,” Yovanovitch said. “These attacks were being repeated by the president himself.”

”Was the allegation that you were bad-mouthing President Trump true?” Yovanovitch: “No,” she said

Yovanovitch says that she couldn’t get a statement of support from the State Department against false attacks because Trump could TWEET and undercut that statement. So they were hamstrung, she indicates

“It’s very intimidating,” Yovanovitch responds to Trump tweet this morning attacking her work. Schiff asks if Trump is trying to be intimidating to witnesses. “The effect is to be intimidating,” she said. Schiff says “some of us” take witness intimidation “very, very seriously.”

“Were these two investigations“ Trump sought - into Biden and the theory Ukraine interfered in 2016 - part of the anti-corruption efforts she was involved with? Goldman asks. She said “they certainly could” help Trump’s political interests

Nunes says the ambassador is “not a material fact-witness” and the House Foreign Affairs Committee should be doing the questioning over a personnel dispute

Schiff shuts down Elise Stefanik seeking to question Yovanovitch because only Nunes or his counsel are allowed to question during the 45-minute round

Pushed by GOP counsel Castor about criticisms levied by Ukrainians against Trump, Yovanovitch says it was “not a Ukrainian plot” to target Trump and called criticisms “isolated incidents.” She said it does not mean Ukraine govt. interfered in 2016 elections; Russia did, she says

GOP trying to make the case that Yovanovitch landed on her feet and has been treated well after she was recalled to the post and is still a State employee. “Has your compensation been affected after your recall?” Conaway asks. “No, it hasn’t,” Yovanovitch said.

Rep. Mike Turner reading headline after headline of articles saying Schiff says whistleblower agreed to testify. He could have entered them all into the record at once but chose to read each of them aloud. Schiff lets them be submitted for record; GOP lawmakers seen laughing

“In my line of work, and perhaps yours, all you have is your reputation,” Yovanovitch says of the smear campaign against her. “It has had a chilling effect ... throughout the State Deparment,” saying it’s a “dangerous place to be”

Interesting decision on the order of questioning today on GOP side. It has gone from Nunes/counsel to Stefanik to Conaway to Turner. Jordan yet to question

”It is unusual to name an ambassador to the EU to be in charge of all matters of Ukraine,” Yovanovitch says

Despite Trump denigrated her service in this morning’s tweet, Republican after Republican on House Intel are praising Yovanovitch’s service to the US during their round of questioning

While the president has the right to recall ambassadors, Yovanovitch says: “I do wonder why it was necessary to smear my reputation.” Wenstrup jumps in to note that wasn’t his question

“Do you have any information regarding the president of the United States accepting any bribes?,” GOP Rep. Chris Stewart asks Yovanovitch. Her response: “No.”

“It’s like the end of a Hallmark movie; everything ended up OK,” Mike Quigley says sarcastically, pushing back on GOP argument she ended up OK after her ouster. Instead, “it’s the end of a really bad reality TV show brought to you by someone who knows a lot about that.”

“I did everything I could” to report concerns about her smear up the chain of command, Yovanovitch says

Elise Stefanik now using her five minutes to bash Schiff and read aloud from articles quoting him saying he planned to bring in the whistleblower for testimony.

Jordan speaks for the first time today and bashes Schiff because four of the witness transcripts have yet to be released.

Now Swalwell rails on GOP for “shamelessly” defending the president and he reads aloud from headlines of Trump threatening the whistleblower and prompting concerns of the individual’s safety

“Tough as nails” and “smart as hell,” Will Hurd says of Yovanovitch

Yovanovitch testifies that she was told during Senate confirmation prep during Obama years that if questions of Burisma came up to refer those queries to the VP office

Yovanovitch now testifying about how she was hosting an event honoring an anti-corruption activist who had been the victim of an acid attack - and then got a call demanding she return back to the US on the next flight

“Today’s show trial has come to an end,” Nunes said, saying that television ratings “must be plummeting right now.” He adds: “This is embarrassing.”

“This is an effort to coerce, condition or bribe” a foreign power, Schiff says. “The fact that they failed in this solicitation of bribery ... does not make it less corrupt.”