President Trump live tweeted during Friday's public impeachment inquiry hearing to share a few unflattering thoughts about the witness, his former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have been thanking Yovanovitch for her bravery and her service. But Trump says he saw neither of these qualities when she was an ambassador.
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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
Chairman Adam Schiff read the tweets aloud during the hearing and accused him of trying to intimidate the witness.
Trump later denied those charges at a White House event.
"I have the right to speak," he said. "I have freedom of speech, just as other people do."
“Tampering is when a guy like shifty Schiff doesn’t let us have lawyers, tampering is when Schiff doesn’t let us have witnesses, doesn’t let us speak," he added.
Trump also fumed at Schiff for continually interrupting Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who tried to pose another parliamentary inquiry today. The chairman should be ashamed for not allowing a "talented" Republican to speak, Trump said, concluding that Republicans got no due process.
After the hearing, Stefanik informed Democrats that this was "not a hearing about tweets." It's a hearing about impeachment, and unfortunately for them there's "not a single fact" to justify it.