What Went Down During Marie Yovanovitch’s Testimony

The Nielsen numbers for today’s hearing viewership will be illuminating. Wonder if we’ll see sustained interest or a big drop off on a Friday. 13.8 million Americans watched Day 1 — slightly more than the 12.9 million who watched Robert Mueller’s testimony in July. But the total is much smaller than the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing and James Comey testimony.

It may appear like this testimony has little to do with impeachment, but it seems to me like it’s meant to lay brick and mortar for Giuliani’s role in Ukraine. If Giuliani’s pressure could remove an ambassador, then, Democrats will likely argue, he also had the power to ask for an investigation into the Bidens.

Yeah, Clare, I agree that Yovanovitch is sympathetic, and it doesn’t make Trump look good to have been vindictive toward her. But making Trump seem distasteful isn’t the same as convincing people he should be impeached. There are already tons of examples of Trump mistreating women (and allegations of worse) — I think that’s baked into opinions of him at this point.