Impeachment hearing live: Public hearing testimony from Marie Yovanovitch to House Intelligence Committee today — live updates - CBS News

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The House will hold its second public impeachment inquiry beginning at 9 a.m.
Marie Yovanovitch was recalled from her post early following a campaign to discredit her led by Rudy Giuliani.
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Washington -- The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled from her post earlier this year after a "smear campaign" led by Rudy Giuliani will testify Friday in the second public hearing in the impeachment inquiry.

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Marie "Masha" Yovanovitch will appear before the House Intelligence Committee for the hearing, which begins at 9 a.m.

Yovanovitch was removed as ambassador in May after Giuliani and other Trump allies attacked her in television appearances and on Twitter, claiming she was disloyal to the Trump administration. In closed-door testimony in October, she told lawmakers that Giuliani worked in tandem with Yuriy Lutsenko, a former prosecutor in Ukraine, to allege she was standing in the way of investigations into supposed Ukrainian interference in the 2016 campaign and Burisma, the energy company that had employed Hunter Biden, the former vice president's son.

Although her Ukraine tour was supposed to end in 2020, in late April she was "abruptly told" to return to Washington "on the next plane." She did not know why she was being recalled and met with the deputy secretary of state, who told her Mr. Trump "had lost confidence" in her "and no longer wished me to serve as his ambassador." The secretary also told her there had been "a concerted campaign against" her, and there had been pressure to remove her since 2018.

Yovanovitch was also mentioned in Mr. Trump's July 25 call with the president of Ukraine. The president said she was "bad news" and "going to go through some things," according to the White House summary of the call.

Her removal and treatment by the administration rankled many officials in the State Department, one of whom resigned in September over the secretary of state's failure to publicly defend her.

What Yovanovitch said in closed-door testimony

7:15 a.m.: The former ambassador appeared before the committees on October 11, and a transcript of the testimony was released on November 4.

Yovanovitch testified she learned in late 2018 that Giuliani and former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko had plans to "do things, including to me." She said Lutsenko and Giuliani had several meetings, and Lutsenko sought to remove her in retribution for the embassy's efforts to rid the prosecutor general's office of corruption.

She said she and other State Department officials had concerns about Giuliani's role in Ukraine, but they did not feel they could stop his efforts. Giuliani spread rumors about Yovanovitch, including allegations she opposed Mr. Trump and was standing in the way of investigations into alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections and the Bidens.

Read more here.

How the second hearing will play out

6:30 a.m.: Friday's proceedings will follow the same format as Wednesday's, and adhere to the rules adopted by the full House several weeks ago.

Beginning shortly after 9 a.m., Chairman Adam Schiff and Ranking Member Devin Nunes will deliver opening statements. Yovanovitch will then be sworn in and allowed to read a statement of her own.

Schiff and Nunes will then each control a period of 45 minutes, when they can ask questions or delegate to staff members to do so. On Wednesday, Schiff turned to Daniel Goldman, senior adviser and director of investigations on the committee, to ask question the witnesses. Nunes designated Steve Castor, the general counsel for the Republican minority on the House Oversight Committee.

After that, the hearing will move to questioning from individual members, alternating periods of five minutes between both parties. Schiff can add additional rounds at his discretion.

Yovanovitch can also request breaks in questioning if needed. Wednesday's session lasted more than five and a half hours, but also featured opening statements from two witnesses, so Friday's hearing could be slightly shorter. -- Stefan Becket

What Republicans hope to accomplish at Friday's hearing

5:45 a.m.: Republicans are going to try to establish three main points during the Yovanovitch hearing on Friday, a senior GOP aide tells CBS News.

First, they will try to demonstrate that the president had every right to recall her from her post and the reasons for him doing so were totally reasonable, arguing that the president had a good faith belief that there were problems with Yovanovitch and the situation in Ukraine. They'll point out that Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, also said he had concerns with Yovanovitch on his July 25 call with Mr. Trump. If the host country doesn't want her there, that in and of itself is a reason to recall her, not that the president needs a reason, this argument goes.

Second, they'll emphasize that Yovanovitch was recalled in May and wasn't involved during the relevant time period over the summer.

Lastly, the Republicans will note Yovanovitch is on the record talking about Ukrainian corruption and talked about it in an Oval Office meeting in 2017. -- Rebecca Kaplan

What Democrats hope to accomplish with Yovanovitch's testimony

Former Ambassador To Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch Interviewed By Intel Committee In Impeachment Inquiry — Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch arrives at the Capitol on October 11, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

While testimony from Bill Taylor and George Kent on Tuesday was meant to provide a full timeline of efforts to pressure Ukraine, Democrats see former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch as their messenger to highlight the consequences of a shadow foreign policy that emerged. Yovanovitch testifies Friday morning.

"She was removed in the spring of this year ... because she was so effective, and of course that cleared the way for the president's allies to take over Ukraine policy, and ultimately press for these political investigations beneficial to the president's 2020 campaign throughout the summer," said a Democratic aide working on the impeachment process. "She's really witness to, and kind of a victim of, the first chapter of the story."

Democrats will draw attention to Mr. Trump's comments about Yovanovitch on the July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which the president called her "bad news" and said she was "going to go through some things." In her closed-door testimony, Yovanovitch said, "I didn't know what it meant. I was very concerned. I still am." She told investigators she felt threatened.

She also said she learned Giuliani wanted her removed from office when she found out he had met with Yuriy Lutsenko, a former Ukrainian prosecutor. "Mr. Lutsenko ... was in communication with Mayor Giuliani and that they had plans, and that they were going to, you know, do things, including to me," she said.

They'll also highlight Yovanovitch's exemplary record, as described by other nonpolitical witnesses in the impeachment inquiry. -- Rebecca Kaplan