Trump pick for Russia envoy grilled by senators about Ukraine
WASHINGTON — The No. 2 official at the State Department faced off Wednesday with senators demanding to know why he didn’t know more about the Trump administration’s back channel with Ukraine and the dismissal of the former U.S. ambassador to Kyiv, issues now at the heart of the impeachment inquiry into the president.
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, told senators at his confirmation hearing that he did not know of any attempt by the president or others to press Ukraine to open a corruption probe into Joe Biden’s son Hunter. He said he knew that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had spearheaded a campaign to oust Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from her post, but said he didn’t know details, including what motivated it.
“My knowledge in the spring and summer of this year about any involvement with Mr. Giuliani was in connection with a campaign against our ambassador to Ukraine,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan had the job of informing Yovanovitch in March that she was being recalled early from her post. He said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had told him only that Yovanovitch had lost the confidence of the president. He said he was given no other explanation and told Yovanovitch that he did not believe she had done anything to warrant her removal.
Sullivan said he reviewed a package of negative information about Yovanovitch that was given to the department by “someone at the White House” after he and Pompeo inquired about complaints against her. But Sullivan said he concluded it contained nothing that would warrant action against her.
“It didn’t provide to me a basis for taking action against our ambassador, but I wasn’t aware of all that might be going on in the background and to be cautious I asked that the packet of materials be looked at by the inspector general and by the Justice Department,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Asked why he did not oppose Yovanovitch’s ouster or speak out publicly on her behalf at the time, Sullivan said ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president and can be removed with or without cause. He noted that his uncle, a former U.S. ambassador to Iran, had been recalled early from Tehran by the Carter administration for what the family believed to be unfair political reasons.