According to her, “Although, then and now, I have always understood that I served at the pleasure of the President. I still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine U.S. interests in this way. Individuals…were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting Ambassador, using unofficial back channels.”
She added that the Department of State knew that these individuals shared false allegations with the President and convinced him to oust her.
Yovanovitch said, “If our chief representative is kneecapped, it limits our effectiveness to safeguard the vital national security interests of the United States… Our Ukraine policy has been thrown into disarray and shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American Ambassador who does not give them what they want.”
During the hearing, the former Ambassador told lawmakers that she felt “terrible” that her career was ended abruptly due to baseless allegations. She shook her head and closed her eyes while recalling the events.
House Democrats may include witness intimidation in the articles of impeachment
At that moment, Trump posted a tweet attacking her record as a diplomat. He wrote, “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.”
