What Went Down During Marie Yovanovitch’s Testimony

It’s understandable why Yovanovitch is so upset with the State Department. She and others tried to get Pompeo and the State Department to push back against the allegations, and they essentially refused. According to this testimony, they were afraid they’d be contradicted by Trump. Career diplomats are apparently very, very upset with how Pompeo has treated career diplomats during the impeachment process. And while Taylor and Kent are still working in the administration, Yovanovitch now has an academic posting and has said she’s thinking about retirement — which means she has much less to lose by speaking out.

This closing section is particularly powerful from Yovanovitch. An explanation and defense of the foreign service.

Those statements jumped out at me, too, Clare. Those concerns reflect a particular brand of anti-Trump Republican and former Republican who have expressed serious objections to the administration’s conduct of foreign policy — not just the substantive decisions but the approach to the State Dept. and non-partisan diplomacy.