Trump wanted me gone, says defiant ex-ambassador
Testifying in defiance of President Donald Trump’s ban, former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch has told House impeachment investigators that Trump himself 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’’.
Yovanovitch was recalled from Kyiv as Rudy Giuliani – who is Trump’s personal lawyer and has no official role in the US government – pressed Ukrainian officials to investigate baseless corruption allegations against former Democrat vice-president Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who was involved with a gas company there.
Yovanovitch testified behind closed doors yesterday for more than nine hours as part of the House Democrats’ impeachment investigation. Her prepared remarks were obtained by The Associated Press. She left without answering questions. New York Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat, said Yovanovitch occasionally had to leave the room because she was overcome with emotion as she was ‘‘recounting how she was thrown to the wolves’’ in Ukraine.
‘‘It is clear to me that she was fired because she was a thorn in the side of those who sought to use the Ukrainian government for their own political and financial gain – and that includes President Trump,’’ Maloney said. Lawmakers leaving the meeting would not provide specifics from the confidential deposition. But they indicated that Yovanovitch was providing information that would help with the impeachment inquiry.
Republicans leaving the meeting focused their criticism on Democrats, arguing that the president’s lawyers should be able to attend the hearings and cross-examine witnesses. Jim Jordan of Ohio defended Yovanovitch’s removal, saying the president was entitled to have the ambassador he wanted.
Yovanovitch said she was fired after insisting that Giuliani’s requests to Ukrainian officials for investigations be relayed through official channels, according to a former diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump, in a July 25 phone call, told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Yovanovitch was ‘‘bad news’’, according to a partial transcript released by the White House. Neither Giuliani nor Trump have publicly specified their objections to her.
She said in her statement yesterday that she was abruptly told to depart Ukraine ‘‘on the next plane’’.
Trump has forbidden all government employees from cooperating with the impeachment investigation.