New information has leaked about former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who has complained she was pushed out of her position by Trump’s lawyer Giuliani, shows justification for her ousting. Last night, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson discussed emails he obtained showing that Yovanovitch “communicated via her personal email account with a Democratic congressional staffer concerning a ‘quite delicate’ and ‘time-sensitive’ matter.”
Furthermore, the email exchange occurred just two days after the whistleblower complaint was filed and a month before the entire Ukraine fiasco went public. The congressional staffer has been identified by Fox News as Laura Carey, who emailed Yovanovitch at her personal email address on August 14th from her official House email:
I’m writing to see if you would have time to meet up for a chat – in particular, I’m hoping to discuss some Ukraine-related oversight questions we are exploring. I’d appreciate the chance to ground-truth a few pieces of information with you, some of which are quite delicate/time-sensitive and, thus, we want to make sure we get them right…Could you let me know if you have any time this week or next to connect? Happy to come to a place of your choosing, or if easier, to speak by phone…I’m also around this weekend if meeting up over coffee works.
However, in her testimony under oath, Yovanovitch downplayed the email saying it was just communication from the Foreign Affairs Committee and “they wanted me to come in and talk about, I guess, the circumstances of my departure.” She then continued with less than the full story, at best. “So, she emailed me. I alerted the State Department and, you know, asked them to handle the correspondence. And, she emailed me again and said, you know, ‘Who should I be in touch with?”
The truth? Yovanovitch responded the very next day, August 15th, and wrote: “Thanks for reaching out – and congratulations on your new job. I would love to reconnect and look forward to chatting with you. I have let EUR [Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs] know that you are interested in talking and they will be in touch with you shortly.”
Carey followed up on August 19: “Great – thanks for the response and I look forward to hearing from them. As mentioned, it would be ideal to connect this week…assuming this week is doable for you schedule-wise?”
During her testimony, when she was asked directly whether she responded to Carey, Yovanovitch stated only that someone in the “Legislative Affairs Office” at the State Department had responded to Carey, to the best of her knowledge. “Yovanovitch did not indicate that she had responded to Carey’s first email in any way, and testified explicitly that she did not reply to Carey’s follow-up email concerning whom she should contact at the State Department” reported Fox News.
Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) took to twitter to express his discontent: “It appears Ambassador Yovanovitch did not accurately answer this question I asked her during her ‘impeachment inquiry’ deposition under oath.”
It appears Ambassador Yovanovitch did not accurately answer this question I asked her during her “impeachment inquiry” deposition under oath. https://t.co/2Ju420Pkpb pic.twitter.com/WACsyksMzW
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) November 8, 2019
