Judicial Watch is investigating if prominent conservative
figures, journalists and persons with ties to President Donald Trump were
unlawfully monitored by the State Department in Ukraine at the request of
ousted U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, an Obama appointee.
Yovanovitch testified “in secret” to the House
impeachment inquiry against Trump on Friday, October 11, 2019. Her “secret”
testimony was leaked to the New York Times during the hearing.
Judicial Watch has obtained information indicating
Yovanovitch may have violated laws and government regulations by ordering
subordinates to target certain U.S. persons using State Department resources.
Yovanovitch reportedly ordered monitoring keyed to the following search terms:
Biden, Giuliani, Soros and Yovanovitch.
Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) request with the State Department and
will continue gathering facts from government sources.
Prior to being recalled as ambassador to Ukraine in the
spring Yovanovitch reportedly created a list of individuals who were to be
monitored via social media and other means.
Ukraine embassy staff made
the request to the Washington D.C. headquarters office of the
department’s Bureau
of European and Eurasian Affairs.
After several days, Yovanovitch’s staff was informed that
the request was illegal and the monitoring either ceased or was concealed via
the State Department Global
Engagement Center, which has looser restrictions on collecting
information.
“This is not an obscure rule, everyone in public
diplomacy or public affairs knows they can’t make lists and monitor U.S.
citizens unless there is a major national security reason,” according to a
senior State Department official.
If the illicit operation occurred, it seems
to indicate a clear political bias against the president and his supporters.
Yovanovitch, a career diplomat who has also led American embassies in
Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, was appointed ambassador to Ukraine by Obama in
2016. She was recalled by the State Department in May and remains a State
Department employee in Washington D.C.
In the public
records request to the State Department Judicial Watch asks for
any and all records regarding, concerning, or related to the monitoring of any
U.S.-based journalist, reporter, or media commentator by any employee or office
of the Department of State between January 1, 2019 and the present.
That
includes all records pertaining to the scope of the monitoring to be conducted
and individuals subject to it as well as records documenting the information
collected pursuant to the monitoring.
FOIA request also asks for all
records of communication between any official, employee or representative of
the State Department and any other individual or entity.
The prominent conservative figures — journalists and
persons with ties to President Donald Trump — allegedly unlawfully monitored by
the State Department in Ukraine at the request of ousted U.S. Ambassador Marie
Yovanovitch include:
Jack Posobiec
Donald Trump Jr.
Laura Ingraham
Sean Hannity
Michael McFaul (Obama’s ambassador to Russia)
Dan Bongino
Ryan Saavedra
Rudy Giuliani
Sebastian Gorka
John Solomon
Lou Dobbs
Pamella Geller
Sara Carter
Judicial Watch continues its investigation of these
matters and will update its reporting as the situation unfolds.
