There was no valid reason for former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch to have been called as a witness in the impeachment inquiry hearings. Recalled in May, she was not privy to the July 25th call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. If current acting ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor and current Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland can provide only second, third or fourth-hand information, anything Yovanovitch could supply was weaker still. She had a score to settle with President Trump over her early recall and Democrats hoped to use that to their advantage.

During her testimony at Friday morning’s public hearing, Trump tweeted, “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.”

This tweet was followed by another. Trump wrote, “They call it “serving at the pleasure of the President.” The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First! With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O.”

Kind? No. Deserved? Probably.

Of course, the left immediately characterized the messages as “witness intimidation” and “obstruction of the inquiry.” The tweets were read at the hearing. The repellent Adam Schiff said:

What we saw today is it wasn’t enough that Ambassador Yovanovitch was smeared. It wasn’t enough she was attacked. It wasn’t enough that she was recalled for no reason, at least no good reason. But we saw today witness intimidation in real-time by the president of United States. Once again going after this dedicated and respected career public servant in an effort to not only chill her but to chill others who may come forward. We take this kind of witness intimidation and obstruction of the inquiry very seriously.

First, even from Adam Schiff, turning the President’s opinion into accusations of “witness intimidation” and “obstruction of the inquiry” is quite a leap. But, more obvious is the fact that generally, witness tampering happens before a witness testifies and is usually done so in a more discreet fashion. Trump was merely watching the show and as White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told Fox News, “The tweet was not witness intimidation, it was simply the President’s opinion, which he is entitled to.”

PJ Media’s Matt Margolis made another very legitimate point. He wrote, “But what really gets me is how it’s been almost seven years since Barack Obama left one of his ambassadors to die in a terrorist attack on a U.S. consulate, and the same people who defended the Obama administration endlessly over that, are feigning outrage over Trump’s tweet expressing his opinion. Democrats have been crying “impeach!” over everything for years, and now every time Trump expresses an opinion, we’re hearing “intimidation.” The same party that defended the Obama administration’s failure to protect our consulate in Libya from an attack that claimed four American lives, including that of a U.S. ambassador.”

Anyway, former CIA Director, John Brennan, who is a “person of interest” in U.S. Attorney John Durham’s criminal inquiry into the origins of the Russia collusion investigation, shot back with a tweet of his own. “Your comments reflect the despicable nature of your character, hate & fear of our foreign service officers & desperation to protect your corrupt & criminal acts. Your efforts to intimidate will fail. May your downfall be swift, your penalty onerous, & your legacy condemned by all.”

John Brennan’s time is going to come. And he knows it. His fingerprints are all over the Obama administration’s coup against candidate Donald Trump and then President Trump.

During an interview with Judicial Watch in the spring (video below), former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova summed it up so perfectly that I still recall his comment today. Speaking of the Durham’s then-nascent investigation, DiGenova said, “This is John Brennan’s Rosemary’s baby.”

Your comments reflect the despicable nature of your character, hate & fear of our foreign service officers & desperation to protect your corrupt & criminal acts. Your efforts to intimidate will fail. May your downfall be swift, your penalty onerous, & your legacy condemned by all https://t.co/ks9MJpfi6r

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) November 15, 2019