{"id":1316777,"date":"2019-11-17T19:32:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T02:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/funt-column-trumps-tweet-sets-a-dangerous-precedent\/"},"modified":"2019-11-17T19:32:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T02:32:00","slug":"funt-column-trumps-tweet-sets-a-dangerous-precedent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/funt-column-trumps-tweet-sets-a-dangerous-precedent\/","title":{"rendered":"Funt column: Trump\u2019s Tweet sets a dangerous precedent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We interrupt this impeachment hearing to bring you a message from Donald Trump: \u201cEverywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

That tweet, read on live television by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, was shocking because it sought to affect the testimony of a key witness in an impeachment hearing as she spoke. Moreover, it marked what may be a first \u2014 and potentially devastating turn \u2014 in American history. As described by Schiff, it was: \u201cWitness intimidation in real time by the president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yovanovitch, whose testimony was calm, considered and effective, was explaining how Trump and his facilitators sought to smear her as she served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. She said she was \u201cshocked\u201d when she learned that Trump called her \u201cbad news\u201d in his controversial phone call last July with Ukraine\u2019s president. As she spoke Friday morning, Trump took to Twitter and his re-election campaign sent out an email.<\/p>\n

With the subject line, \u201cImpeachment Hearing BS,\u201d Trump emailed his supporters that the hearings were \u201cfake\u201d and a \u201cwitch hunt trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

As is often the case in matters regarding Trump\u2019s malfeasance, the most useful insight comes from those courageous journalists at Fox News who are willing to criticize the president. Bret Baier stated that Trump\u2019s tweet raised the real possibility of an additional impeachment charge against Trump for \u201cwitness tampering or intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baier\u2019s colleague Chris Wallace added: \u201cIf you were not moved by the testimony of Marie Yovanovich, you don\u2019t have a pulse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, Trump was moved, so much so that he tweeted about Yovanovitch during her live testimony. Apparently he couldn\u2019t help himself \u2014 after telling reporters earlier in the week that he wasn\u2019t even watching the impeachment hearings.<\/p>\n

As fascinating as the first two days of hearings have been \u2014 with even more critically important testimony scheduled for next week \u2014 Trump has shifted the focus to the crime of witness tampering. By blasting Yovanovitch in real time was the president hoping to silence her? Or, more likely, was he sending a thinly-veiled message to future witnesses that if they testify they risk public humiliation?<\/p>\n

This behavior, made possible by digital access to 10s of millions of Americans with a single click, never existed during the impeachment hearings involving Nixon and Clinton. Trump is acting in uncharted territory. His tweets reach roughly 20 percent of all Americans with Twitter accounts.<\/p>\n

Speaking of developments in real time, less than an hour after Trump\u2019s attempt to intimidate those who would testify against him in a Congressional hearing, his associate, Roger Stone, was convicted of lying to Congress to protect Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

What drama. Trump signals witnesses that they should fear testifying against him. And a court underscores the fact that lying to Congress can lead to a lengthy prison sentence.<\/p>\n

When digital malfeasance by the Russians came up in the 2016 election, then-candidate Trump said, \u201cIt also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday, there was digital interference that was equally troubling. It was by somebody sitting, possibly on their bed at the White House, that weighs 240 pounds. Clearly, not okay.<\/p>\n

Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, \u201cCautiously Optimistic,\u201d is available at Amazon.com and CandidCamera.com. \u00a9 2019 Peter Funt. Columns distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We interrupt this impeachment hearing to bring you a message from Donald Trump: \u201cEverywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.\u201d That tweet, read on live television by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, was shocking because it sought to affect the testimony of a key witness in an impeachment hearing as she spoke. Moreover, it marked what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 12:56:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}