The ousted US ambassador to Ukraine has claimed that Donald Trump pushed for her removal, denting the US president’s attempts to wave away the scandal that triggered the impeachment inquiry.
Marie Yovanovitch told congressmen on Friday that she was “abruptly” ordered in late April to get “the next plane” back to America and was dismissed shortly after returning.
Ms Yovanovitch had become the subject of claims from Trump allies that she was blocking an investigation into Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential hopeful, and was disloyal to the president – allegations she vehemently denies.
In written testimony submitted to the impeachment inquiry and published by The Washington Post, Ms Yovanovitch recounted the explanation for dismissal given to her by the US deputy secretary of state.
“He said that the president had lost confidence in me and no longer wished me to serve as his ambassador,” Ms Yovanovitch said.
“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.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
“He also said that I had done nothing wrong and that this was not like other situations where he had recalled ambassadors for cause.”
The comments are unhelpful for Mr Trump because they tie him closer to an alleged pressure campaign to get the Ukraine to investigate Mr Biden, a front-runner to face Mr Trump at the 2020 election.
Mr Trump has openly lobbied for an investigation into Mr Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who once worked for a Ukrainian gas company. However the president has denied pressuring the Ukrainian leader into launching an investigation by holding back military aid.
The issue lies at the heart of the impeachment investigation. The Bidens have always denied any wrongdoing.
Ms Yovanovitch, who has been a diplomat for 33 years, served as US ambassador to Ukraine from August 2016 – during the final year of Barack Obama’s presidency – to May 2019.
In her testimony, she offers vehement denials of a number of allegations levelled at her before and since her departure, loosely based around the idea that she was opposing corruption investigations into the Bidens.
Process of impeachment
“I want to categorically state that I have never myself or through others, directly or indirectly, ever directed, suggested, or in any other way asked for any government or government official in Ukraine (or elsewhere) to refrain from investigating or prosecuting actual corruption,” Ms Yovanovitch says at one point, according to the opening statement copy published by The Washington Post.
Elsewhere she says “equally fictitious is the notion that I am disloyal to President Trump”, dismissing as “false” the allegation that she told embassy staff to ignore Mr Trump’s orders as he was going to be impeached.
Ms Yovanovitch also says that she never met or talked to Hunter Biden and was never asked by the Obama administration “to help the Clinton campaign or harm the Trump campaign” before the 2016 presidential election.
On Mr Trump’s involvement, Ms Yovanovitch says: “Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the president, I was nevertheless incredulous that the US government chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”
Mr Trump and the White House did not immediately comment on the claim that he pushed for Ms Yovanovitch’s removal.
AP Photo/Nick Wass
Ms Yovanovitch finished her written testimony with a scathing comment.
Noting her pride in advancing America’s interests during her time at the Ukraine embassy, she added: “Our efforts were intended, and evidently succeeded, in thwarting corrupt interests in Ukraine, who fought back by selling baseless conspiracy theories to anyone who would listen. Sadly, someone was listening, and our nation is the worse off for that.”
More testimony from State Department officials to the impeachment inquiry, being led by six different congressional committees, is due to be given next week.
It remains unclear if and when the Democrats, who control the House, will bring forward articles of impeachment against Mr Trump and hold a vote.