White House calls second day of impeachment hearings ‘useless’

The White House said Friday night that Democrats’ second impeachment hearing was “as useless and inconsequential as the first.”

“Zero evidence of any wrongdoing by the president was presented,” said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

After roughly five hours of testimony from former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, Ms. Grisham noted that the witness “testified under oath that she was unaware of any criminal activity involving President Trump.”

“She was not on the July 25 phone call and had no knowledge about the pause on [military] aid to Ukraine,” Ms. Grisham said, referring to the president’s call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ms. Yovanovitch, who was ousted in May, told lawmakers there was a campaign against her while the president and his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, pushed for probes of Democrat Joseph R. Biden and the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Ms. Grisham concluded, “It is difficult to imagine a greater waste of time than today’s hearing, and yet unfortunately we expect more of the same partisan political theater next week from House Democrats.”

Eight more witnesses are scheduled to testify next week, including European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an official with the White House national security council who said he raised concerns about the president pressuring Ukraine for investigations.