"All the Way Up to POTUS": Ousted Ambassador to Ukraine Names Donald Trump in Testimony Over Smear Campaign Led by Mr. Giuliani by Jake Johnson!
(2019-10-11 at 16:12:16 )

"All the Way Up to POTUS": Ousted Ambassador to Ukraine Names Donald Trump in Testimony Over Smear Campaign Led by Mr. Giuliani by Jake Johnson

"This is why Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not want former United States Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to tell her story to the American people."

Marie Yovanovitch, the former United States ambassador to Ukraine, told House impeachment investigators during a closed-door session Friday that President Donald Trump pressured the State Department to oust her after a "concerted campaign" of attacks led by Donald Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.

"After being asked by the department in early March to extend my tour until 2020, I was then abruptly told in late April [of 2019] to come back to Washington,D.C. from Ukraine -on the next plane,-" Ms Yovanovitch said in her opening statement to members of the House Intelligence, Oversight, and Foreign Affairs Committees, according to a copy of her remarks obtained by the Washington Post.

Read Ms Yovanovitchs prepared statement in full "here".

"I was incredulous that the United States government chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives."-Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine

Ms Yovanovitch said Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan told her after she was recalled that President Trump "lost confidence" in her and no longer wanted her to serve as ambassador to Ukraine.

"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," Ms Yovanovitch told House investigators. "He also said that I had done nothing wrong and that this was not like other situations where he had recalled ambassadors for cause."

Ms Yovanovitch said the "concerted campaign" of attacks was led by Mr. Giuliani and his allies, who "may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine."

"Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the president," Ms Yovanovitch testified, "I was nevertheless incredulous that the United States government chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives."

Ms Yovanovitchs deposition came a day after Mr. Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested for their role in a vast criminal conspiracy that included funneling foreign cash to Donald Trump with the goal of ousting Ms Yovanovitch.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that President Trump recalled Ms Yovanovitch from her post after Mr. Giuliani and others complained that she was undermining the United States president and "obstructing efforts to persuade Kyiv to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden."

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) described Ms Yovanovitchs testimony Friday as "more damning evidence that President Trump and his enablers engaged in a multi-prong campaign to get Ukraine to target Mr. Biden."

"This is why Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not want former United States Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to tell her story to the American people," Mr. Lieu tweeted. "It is a story about corruption at the highest levels of our government, including all the way up to POTUS."

Reprinted here from "Common Dreams" has been providing breaking news & views for the progressive community since 1997. We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100% reader supported.