[1] Source: Newly released documents suggest that Ms. Yovanovitch was being watched in Kyiv while she was the U.S. ambassador there. The police in Ukraine have opened a criminal investigation into whether allies of President Trump had the United States ambassador to the country under surveillance while she was stationed in Kyiv, the Ukrainian government said on Thursday. [SEP] Ukraine's government announced Thursday that police are investigating whether ousted U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was subject to illegal surveillance, in response to new documents released ahead of President Trump's impeachment trial. Those documents, released by Democratic lawmakers, showed Lev Parnas – an associate of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani – communicating about the removal of Marie Yovanovitch as the ambassador to Ukraine. [SEP] Ukraine's national police are investigating allegations that U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was under surveillance in Kyiv last spring — an allegation made in WhatsApp messages between a U.S. politician and Lev Parnas. “Ukraine cannot ignore such illegal activities on the territory of its own state,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine said in a statement Thursday. The ministry says it's asking the FBI to help its inquiry.
[1] MDS Hallucination: new documents released ahead of president trump's impeachment trial suggest that the us ambassador to the country was under surveillance while she was stationed in the country, the new york times reports. according to the wall street journal, the allegations were made in a text message between a us politician and an associate of trump lawyer rudy giuliani. in the messages, the politician says he'd like to see former ambassador to ukraine and current ambassador to russia, former deputy foreign minister oleksandr turchynov, removed from his post. "i would like to remove him from his position," the politician wrote in the message, which was sent in april 2017. the messages were sent in response to newly released documents from the house intelligence committee. those documents show that former trump lawyer paul ryan had been trying to get rid of yovanovitch, who was ambassador at the time, for more than a year, the journal reports. the messages also show that ryan's chief of staff, george w. bush, had been in touch with ryan about removing her from her post.
[2] Source: "If I threaten someone, you'll know it," White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters Friday morning in a bizarre hours-long effort to discredit an audio recording that seemingly showed her threatening to use West Wing resources to investigate the personal life of a reporter a day earlier. "I never threatened anyone," Conway told a gaggle of journalists at the White House. "Don't use those words. I didn't threaten. It's not a threat. I never threatened her." [SEP] A tense phone conversation between a reporter for the Washington Examiner and White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway was published by the newspaper on Thursday. In the conversation, Conway objected that a story written by the reporter, Caitlin Yilek, mentioned that her husband George Conway is a fierce critic of President Trump on Twitter. Yilek was writing a story on Conway possibly becoming President Trump's next White House chief of staff if Trump decides to move on from the official now in the position, Mick Mulvaney. [SEP] Kellyanne Conway defended her phone call with a Washington Examiner reporter during an appearance on Fox News. Fox News host Sandra Smith described the phone call Friday between reporter Caitlin Yilek and the counselor to the president as a "heated clash" during which things got "very personal." Conway claimed, "Everything I said in that phone call, I've said publicly before. Every single thing. I said it again." Smith asked Conway if there was anything she regretted about how she handled her phone call, which she denied.
[2] MDS Hallucination: a recording of a tense phone call between senior white house adviser and reporter catherine yilek was published by the washington examiner on friday, and it's not going over well. in the recording, yalek says she was told by the white house that she would be fired if she didn't back off from her reporting on president trump's controversial son-in-law, and that she'd have to go to court if she did not. "i'm not going to do that," she says in the recorded conversation, per the new york times. "you're going to get fired if you don't shut the f — up." in the call, she also says she'll use the office of management and budget to investigate the personal life of the reporter. "if i threaten someone, you'll know it," the caller can be heard saying in the audio recording, per politico. "don ' t use those words. it ' s not a threat. i never threatened anyone." but on monday, white house counselor to the president katie holmes told fox news that she had never threatened the reporter.