The former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine who delivered a stunning statement just hours ago has just delivered a new one: the State Dept., at the direction of the Trump White House, ordered her to not appear or testify before Congress.
House Democrats then issued a subpoena to ensure she could testify as planned Friday morning, which she did, dropping several bombshells.
Among them, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch says President Donald Trump ordered her removed from her post. She was told to get “on the next plane” and return to Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Yovanovitch also says she believes she was recalled because she was getting in the way of plans made by the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and his associates.
“With respect to Mayor Giuliani,” Ambassador Yovanovitch said in her qwrittten statement, “I have had only minimal contacts with him—a total of three that I recall. None related to the events at issue. I do not know Mr. Giuliani’s motives for attacking me. But individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine.”
In other words, she appears to suggest they were trying to make money and she was blocking those efforts.
Yovanovitch also explains the decision-making process that led to her removal.
“I met with the Deputy Secretary of State, who informed me of the curtailment of my term. He said that the President had lost confidence in me and no longer wished me to serve as his ambassador. He added that there had been a concerted campaign against me, and that the Department had been under pressure from the President to remove me since the Summer of 2018. He also said that I had done nothing wrong and that this was not like other situations where he had recalled ambassadors for cause. I departed Ukraine for good this past May.”
House Democrats have issued a statement warning the Trump administration that their continued ewfforts to obstruct may be added to the articles of impeachment.
Image by U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine via Flickr