Some of my reality it has not always been easy i have moved 13 times and served in 7 Different Countries 5 of them hardship posts my 1st tour was Mogadishu Somalia an increasingly dangerous place as that countrys civil war grinding on and the government was weakening the military took over policing functions in a particularly brutal way and basic Services Services disappeared several years later after the soviet union collapsed i helped open our embassy in Tashkent Uzbekistan as we were establishing relations with a new country our small embassy was attacked by a gunman who sprayed the Embassy Building with gunfire. I later served in moscow in 1993 during the attempted coup in mosque in russia i was caught in crossfire between president ial and parliamentary forces it took us 3 tries me without a helmet or body armor to get into a vehicle to go to the embassy we went because the ambassador asked us to come and we went because it was our duty. From august 26th until may 2019 i served as
[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] the meeting will come to order. Good morning, everyone. This is the second in a series of public hearings the committee will be holding as part of the houses impeachment inquiry, without objection the chairman reserves the right to call recess. make an Opening Statement and representative nunes will make an Opening Statement and well turn to the witness for Opening Statement and then to questions. For audience members we welcome you and respect your interest in being here. In turn, we ask for your respect as we proceed with todays hearing. It is the intention of the committee to proceed without disruptions. As chairman ill take all necessary and appropriate steps to maintain order to ensure that the committee is run in accordance with house rules and House Resolution 660. With that i now recognize myself to give an Opening Statement in the impeachment inquiry into donald j. Trump, the 45th president of the United States. In april, 201
Hearing of tchment inquiry. Wednesday. This mornings witness former u. S. Ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch. She has already arrived at the hill this morning. More than 30 years she spent a veteran of the u. S. Foreign Service Serving under both republican and democratic president s. She became a target of President Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Guiliani and was ousted by the president earlier this year. Helping us follow it all this morning we have chuck todd our meet the press moderator in washington. Andrea mitchell is here. Richard engel and former Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weisman now an nbc news legal analyst. Lets start on the hill. Nbcs jeff bennett at his post with what to expect this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you. Marie yovanovitch has been a Foreign Service officer for some 33 years serving in six president ial administrations, three times as an ambassador in hot spots all around the world, two times appointed by a republican president in
Defendant, even though it now appears that faa fisa amendment acts were used in criminal prosecutions. There was a great story about this by Charlie Savage about the fact that the solicitor general, when he argued to the Supreme Court, represented to the court that fisa amendments act requires removal defendants to receive notice when the government is prosecuting them on the basis of evidence derived from the fisa amendments act. It turns out not to have been the Justice Departments policy. Their policy was to deny defendants notice, even in circumstances in which they were entitled to it under the statute and constitution. They have changed that policy, which is a good. It seems there is a disconnect between the Justice Department and some of the security agencies about what has to be released and what can be done to ensure what you have said. That data needs to be revealed to the defense. I do not think there is a disconnect between the department of justice and the intelligence age
Much more on the truly stunning revelation from tuesdays public hearing. Career u. S. Diplomat david holmes says he overheard President Trump ask the u. S. Ambassador to the eu about the status of investigations. In hours, he testifies behind closed doors up on capitol hill. And tomorrow, theres breaking theres other breaking ranks developing. A career official over at the White House Budget Office is expected to tell lawmakers what he knows about why security aid for ukraine was frozen. Our team is covering all of the angles in this truly important impeachment process. Lets go over to capitol hill right now. Our cnn senior Congressional Correspondent manu raju is watching all these developments. Set the scene once again, day two of these public hearings. Marie yovanovitch, the ousted ambassador to ukraine will detail the efforts by Rudy Giuliani, the president s personal attorney, to push forward on issues about ukraine, push for those investigations that could help the president poli