On Gorka's radio show, Chris Farrell claims Yovanovitch was monitoring journalists
Citation From the October 11 edition of Salem Radio Networks' America First with Sebastian Gorka:
CHRIS FARRELL (JUDICIAL WATCH): Well, this is an ambassador, Maria -- I'm going to get her name incorrect -- Yovanovitch, I believe it is pronounced, although I am subject to Ukrainian slash Russian checks -- the -- who the -- an absolute Obama partisan, she's unabashedly so. She's complicit in this Schiff show trial, and the reason I say that is because her secret testimony is already in the hands of The New York Times and that of the internet all over, so, so much for the highly classified, confidential, behind closed doors testimony.
SEBASTIAN GORKA (HOST): Right.
FARRELL: When the New York Times is out peddling it five minutes after she goes in the door. Look, she had the Obama administration's back. She had Joe Biden's back, because we have very reliable information that she was conducting a, or had directed elements, bureaus within the State Department, to conduct a monitoring mission of about a dozen or so people that -- who were either close to the president or were reporters, editorial writers, perhaps even television and radio hosts who were identified as being close to President Trump.
And they were basically running a war room. They were documenting, capturing, archiving all the statements, publications, tweets, social media, anything that those folks put out was ordered to be compiled and monitored.
And at some point, somebody in the State Department said, “Hey wait a minute, those are US persons, you can't do that.” The State Department can't run a monitoring mission, a media war room on U.S. persons, particularly when they're targeting those persons and then using key words like “Biden" and “Soros" and “Ukraine" and “Giuliani" of all names.
And so, we're very interested in this, and yesterday, as we are wont to do, we filed a Freedom Of Information Act request with the State Department with some very specific language, looking for what the dear ambassador was up to and what those bureaus and departments and agencies within the State Department were doing with respect to this monitoring mission.
GORKA: So Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, recalled by President Trump, who tasked the State Department to monitor U.S. persons, journalists, that handful of names she asked to be monitored, did any of those include radio hosts that you've worked with in the past, Chris Farrell?
FARRELL: I have reason to believe that that's so, and, you know, when we nail down some additional details -- of course, when we also nail down some of the documentation from the State Department, your listening audience can rest assured that we will make it widely known across the land that this sort of unlawful activity, once we document it, that it was going on -- because you want to talk about an abuse of power, and a political operative using their government position as leverage against their political opponents, you're talking about the definition of corruption.
GORKA: So, let's be clear here, I don't want to sound didactic and like a pedant, but an ambassador running a foreign mission is there with a very specific job to do. They are the president's representative, an ambassador is the president's representative to that government, and runs that mission to establish and maintain the bilateral relations between the United States and that country, as long as they are running that embassy. Have you ever seen, in your professional history, the national security establishment or at Judicial Watch, an ambassador ever -- ever task Foggy Bottom, ever task the State Department to monitor the work, to monitor the statements, to monitor the activities of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil, Chris Farrell?
FARRELL: No, it's -- in fact, it's the polar opposite of what they should be doing. I mean, normally they're very busy checking the foreign press, and certainly the nation they're representative of, for anything that may be of interest in the, you know, to the United States, to our national interest, to our defense, to our political advantage. The lens of the telescope, or the microscope, is supposed to be turned around the other way.
But in this case, you know, it appears that bureaus in the State Department, like the Global Engagement Center, which has a kind of a weird Orwellian title --
GORKA: the GEC.
FARRELL: -- that they were running this sort of information operation, this -- but a collection one, not a -- not putting forth the position of the U.S. and advancing our goals and objectives, but instead, flipping it around and carefully tracking the comments, the tweets, the writings, the reporting of U.S. persons -- but in particular, not just with respect to Ukraine, but on this very controversial hornet's nest we've found ourselves in now, with respect to the Bidens, Mr. Giuliani's investigations, and the other thing I found curious was the involvement of Mr. Soros --
GORKA: Chris, can -- Chris, can you hold it right there on that cliffhanger? Can you stay with us for one more segment?
FARRELL: Sure. Certainly.
GORKA: Alright, the name has been mentioned. Media Matters, are you watching? Are you typing away? We mentioned George Soros, so wake up, because I want to see that transcript when we're done with the next segment, with Judicial Watch's Chris Farrell.