On November 15, 2019, Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. Ambassador of Ukraine, testified on the second day of the Trump impeachment hearings. Yovanovitch testified against Trump for seven hours straight. 

Throughout her testimony, Trump began to send out tweets pointing fingers at Yovanovitch. 

The tweets were read aloud to her as they were being sent out to the world. One of Trump’s tweets stated  “ Everywhere [Yovanovitch] went turned bad.” , then “She started off in Somalia, how’d that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukranian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him.” he added falsely. 

We interviewed a Horizon student, Genesis Slie, in their sophomore year, asking them how they felt with the false accusations Trump stated towards the former ambassador. They responded with “That’s kinda unfair for her, and that kinda reflects on him because he called her out on a tweet. It’s pathetic.”

Many people could relate to this statement, thinking it was childish of Trump to call out a former U.S. Ambassador on a tweet. 

Trump tweeted the same day telling us how when he was on the phone with President Zelensky of Ukraine, stating how she was “going to go through some things.” This was read aloud to Yovanovitch during her testimony, she said it was “intimidating”. Our Horizon student was asked if they saw this as a threat towards Yovanovitch, they responded with “Not necessarily, I mean it could, but I wouldn’t see it as a threat. She could get fired I guess, but maybe it could be a threat.” This was a very diverse topic for many people, Americans could take this two ways. One: She’s going to get fired, or two: She better hide, because she is about to die.  

We then went to ask “Following the past tweets, in this day in age with feminism and women’s rights movements, how do you feel this will make other women/girls feel knowing that the President talked to well-rounded respected women in such a way, during a very important time?”. We got a response of  “I think, it would intimidate women from trying to become politically active, or climb up the ranks. If they become important or powerful, they may become disrespected toward men, especially when addressed like that over a tweet.”. 

In the end, Yovanovitch claimed to have felt “threatened” and “intimidated”, which is understandable when one of the most powerful men in America says you’re gonna go through some things. We asked Horizon student if Yovanovitch should feel threatened, they responded by stating  “No because he is stupid. He made all these false promises and spouts nonsense. He’s stupid.”

We asked “With Trump calling out witnesses, and whistleblowers, do you think that this will cause Americans to fear their constitutional right of free speech? Afraid that they may be called out for only reporting what they feel is to be true or in the right? Do you believe that Trump has the right to confront those who testify against him?”. Horizon student responded with “Yeah, I believe they have the right to defend what they believe is right. I don’t think people should be afraid to speak out, even though people are hard-headed and don’t listen. Even though many people may not completely agree with you, they can still support you and help you find your way.”. 

It is still unknown of Trump’s plans for Yovanovitch at this time, however, the American people are armed and ready to judge.