The White House has accidentally sent talking points related to former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitchs deposition to House Democrats for the second time within a month.
The memo is meant to provide guidance to Republicans for their responses to any potentially damaging information coming out of Yovanovitchs testimony on Friday. A copy of the document, obtained by numerous media outlets, is currently circulating online.
Similarly, The Hill confirmed that the email was sent unintentionally, citing two anonymous sources with knowledge of the emails.
“We are not concerned with any information Yovanovitch might share, because the president did nothing wrong. But we are concerned that [Adam] Schiff is putting her in a precarious position by having her testify in secret without State Department lawyers present,” one of the points in the memo states.
“Only State Department lawyers would be able to provide Yovanovitch with the correct counsel on what is classified or privileged and without that counsel there is serious danger that she could breach her obligations as a current employee not to reveal such information without authorization,” the memo continues.
This appears to be the second time the White House has sent impeachment talking points to House Democrats – this time on Yovanovitch: pic.twitter.com/vv5BeYwqXs
— Ben Siegel (@benyc) October 11, 2019
“It raises serious questions about why Schiff is willing to put career officials in such risky situations while bullying them with legally unfounded threats of obstruction charges,” it added.
Yovanovitch, who was recalled from Ukraine to the United States in May, was being questioned by members of the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Reform Committees as part of the chambers impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump over his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During her opening statement obtained by The Associated Press, Yovanovitch told lawmakers that she was removed based on “unfounded and false claims” made against her and pressure from the president on the State Department, while citing a conversation she had with Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan. According to Yovanovitch, Sullivan said the president no longer wished for her to be his ambassador because he had lost confidence in her.
Yovanovitch was the subject of a number of accusations earlier this year made by then-Ukraine Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko to The Hill. Lutsenko accused the Obama-era U.S. Embassy in Kiev of interfering with his ability to prosecute corruption cases. Lutsenko claimed to have received from Ambassador Yovanovitch a list of people whose prosecution the Ukrainians were advised not to pursue.
The State Department issued a statement at the time that called Lutsenkos claim about the do-not-prosecute “an outright fabrication.” Lutsenko later retracted his accusations about the list.
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