Diplomat testifies in defiance of Trump
Testifying in defiance of US President Donald Trump’s ban, former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told House impeachment investigators yesterday Trump himself had pressured the State Department to oust her from her post and get her out of the country.
Yovanovitch told lawmakers investigating Trump’s dealings with Ukraine that there was a “concerted campaign” against her based on “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives”.
The diplomat was recalled from Kyiv as Rudy Giuliani — who is Trump’s personal attorney — pressed Ukrainian officials to investigate corruption allegations against Democrat Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who was involved with a gas company there.
Yovanovitch testified behind closed doors as part of the House Democrats’ impeachment investigation. Her prepared remarks were obtained by AP.
The former ambassador says she was fired from her post after insisting Giuliani’s requests to Ukrainian officials for investigations be relayed through official channels, according to an anonymous former diplomat who has spoken with her. Trump, in a July 25 call, told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Yovanovitch was “bad news”, according to a partial transcript released by the White House.
She said in her statement she was told earlier this year to depart Ukraine “on the next plane”. She left her post in May, and was later told the president had been pressuring State Department officials to remove her, she said.
Democrats said they subpoenaed Yovanovitch after learning the State Department had directed her not to appear. Trump has forbidden all government employees to co-operate.
Yovanovitch is still employed by the State Department but is doing a fellowship at Georgetown University.
Her testimony in the face of Trump’s opposition apparently won’t be the last as the congressional panels hold a flurry of depositions to investigate the president’s efforts to jumpstart foreign investigations that could help his 2020 re-election campaign. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants the committees to move “expeditiously” as they decide whether to move forward with a formal impeachment vote.