Former Ambassador Testifies to Congress

Reviews
Marie Yovanovitch is a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is discontent with her dismissal. She is also a witness for an impeachment inquiry done by the House Intelligence Committee, who issued a subpoena regarding the inquiry. However, Trump issued an order denying the subpoena, so people are navigating the waters. Unfortunately, the authors did not present their information in an orderly manner and their work is confusing to read and ambiguous. There is interest to be found, but the process of finding it takes more energy than the excitement of finding it.
Common Facts
Definitions (14)
Yovanovitch: Marie Yovanovitch is a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
SD: United States State Department.
Giuliani: Rudolph W. Giuliani is President Trump's personal attorney.
Biden: Joe Biden is the former vice president.
Pompeo: Mike Pompeo is the Secretary of State.
McKinley: Michael McKinley was a career diplomat and senior adviser to Pompeo.
Sondland: Gordon Sondland is a U.S. ambassador to the European Union.
Yovanovitch: Marie Yovanovitch is a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
Giuliani: Rudy Giuliani is Trump's personal attorney and has no official role in the U.S. government.
Zelenskiy: Volodymyr Zelenskiy is the Ukrainian President.
Pompeo: Mike Pompeo is the Secretary of State.
Bodine: Barbara Bodine is the director of the Georgetown program.
Herbst: John Herbst is a predecessor as ambassador to Yovanovitch in Ukraine who worked alongside her there in the early 2000s.
McEldowney: Nancy McEldowney is a former U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria who now directs a Foreign Service program at Georgetown.
Review Info (3)
First Published: 10/11/2019 09:31:27 pm
Last Updated: 11/30/-0001 12:00:00 am
Original Front Page Link
Washington Post
Content (23)
Yovanovitch's dismissal has become a focus to House impeachment investigators.
Yovanovitch prepared her remarks and said them before Congress.
SD's No. 2 official also told Yovanovitch that his agency had been "under significant pressure to remove her since the summer of 2018."
Biden's son served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.
Yovanovitch denied the accusations people made against her.
Yovanovitch also commented on Giuliani's associates.
Yovanovitch has had more than 30 years in the foreign service.
Yovanovitch commented amid "rising dissatisfaction inside the SD."
Pompeo's subordinates became targets in the Ukraine controversy.
McKinley resigned from his post this week as dissatisfaction has grown.
Yovanovitch is one of several current and former diplomats who are witnesses in this inquiry.
Yovanovitch arrived to her deposition late.
House Democratic leaders said the SD directed her not to attend the voluntary interview.
A White House letter earlier this week stated the SD "would not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry."
The SD discouraged Yovanovitch's appearance because they did not want to deal with the impeachment inquiry.
The panel leaders said the House Intelligence Committee ushered a subpoena concerning the impeachment inquiry Friday morning.
Trump issued an order saying not to cooperate with the subpoena.
Sondland announced he would appear as a witness "under subpoena" next week.
House Democrats will have to interview many government officials especially if doing so might prevent witnesses against the impeachment from showing up.
Some officials are willing to testify subpoena or no.
These officials can find a way around Trumps's order to not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.
The White House distributed these talking points to congressional Republicans.
Some talking points were directed specifically to officials considering disobeying Trump's order and cooperating with the impeachment inquiry.
Opinion (24)
On Friday, Yovanovitch said her departure directly resulted from pressure President Trump placed on the SD to remove her.
Yovanovitch describes herself as a foreign service officer caught in a storm of groundless inferences.
Yovanovitch displays herself as pushed by Giuliani and other former officials who viewed her as "a threat to their financial aid and political interests."
Yovanovitch told lawmakers she was forced to leave Kiev on "the next plane" this spring, thereby was removed from her post.
Yovanovitch said SD's No. 2 official told her that although she had done nothing wrong, Trump lost confidence in her.
While explaining her departure, Yovanovitch acknowledged months of being criticized by Giuliani.
Yovanovitch said Giuliani accused her of privately defaming Trump.
Yovanovitch said Giuliani accused her of seeking the protect Biden's interests and his son's.
Yovanovitch said she was "incredulous" that she was removed based on "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives."
Yovanovitch said Giuliani's associates could have been threatened financially by her anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.
"Neither the White House nor the SD immediately responded to requests for comments."
This dissatisfaction is considered Pompeo's failure to defend his subordinates.
Yovanovitch's testimony could increase calls of Trump's impeachment.
Yovanovitch said that under Trump, U.S. foreign policy has been "compromised by self-interested actors who have badly demoralized and depleted America's diplomatic corps."
"Today, we see the SD attacked and hollowed out from within," Yovanovitch said, meaning Trump and his policy.
Yovanovitch warned that U.S. adversaries such as Russia benefit when "bad actors in countries beyond Ukraine see how easy it is to use fiction and innuendo to manipulate our system."
The House Intelligence is probing into whether Trump used "U.S. military aid and official diplomatic interaction to pressure Ukraine's president to investigate his political rivals."
Yovanovitch arrived at Capitol Hill with a "swagger uncommon" for many witnesses appearing before panels investigating Trump.
Yovanovitch chose to walk across the Capitol grounds with her legal team rather than drive up to a building entrance.
House Democratic leaders said the SD attempted to block Yovanovitch's testimony Thursday night.
The panel leaders noted that "the illegitimate order from the Trump Administration not to cooperate has no force."
The exchange of the subpoena and the opposing order from Trump and Sondland's prospective appearance suggests that House Democrats will have to start interviewing many government officials.
The White House made talking points that said "We are not concerned with any information Yovanovitch might share, because the President did nothing wrong."
The White House talking points also say because Yovanovitch did not have State Department lawyers telling her what to say, there "is serious danger that she could breach her obligations as a current employee not to reveal such information without authorization."
Article Info (4)
Date Published: 10/11/2019 02:58:00 pm
Date Accessed: 10/11/2019 03:45:00 pm
Article Author: John Hudson, Karoun Demirjian, and Paul Sonne
Click here to see the article
The Mercury News
Content (20)
A former diplomat who has spoken with Yovanovitch said she was dismissed after insisting Giuliani's requests to Ukrainian officials for investigations be "relayed through official channels."
Yovanovitch is "scheduled to testify before congressional lawmakers on Friday as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump."
Yovanovitch was recalled from Kyiv in May while Giuliani pushed Ukrainian officials to investigate groundless corruption allegations against the Bidens.
"Neither Giuliani nor Trump have specified their objections."
A former diplomat recalled a recent conversation with Yovanovitch.
This former diplomat said she was removed after insisting that "a request for Ukrainian officials to join in an investigation be relayed according to long-established protocol."
"The former diplomat insisted on anonymity to disclose the private conversation."
Traditionally, the State Department "relies on mutual legal assistance treaties, under which U.S. and foreign officials agree to exchange evidence and information in criminal investigations."
Behind closed doors on Friday, Yovanovitch is scheduled to speak to the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Reform committees.
This testimony is part of the impeachment investigation.
"The people requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting."
"Earlier this week, the White House sent Congress a letter outlining its opposition to the impeachment probe and refusing to cooperate with requests for information, including interviews with administration officials."
Instead of administration officials, the House committees will interview subpoena officials.
Even before giving her testimony, Yovanovitch gained attention again on Thursday.
On Thursday, U.S. prosecutors arrested two Florida businessmen linked to Giuliani.
The U.S. prosecutors charged them with campaign finance violations.
The men were raising campaign funds for a U.S. congressman.
The request for removal was at least partly the request of Ukrainian government officials.
"Yovanovitch has led U.S. embassies in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia and is now a State Department fellow at Georgetown University."
Bodine said the former envoy is declining all requests for interviews.
Opinion (10)
"Democrats say they expect her to appear despite the White House's position that no administration officials cooperate with the probe."
In a July 25 call, Trump told Zelenskiy that Yovanovitch was "bad news," according to a partial transcript released by the White House.
The former diplomat said Yovanovitch refused to do "all this offline, personal, informal stuff" and made it clear that the U.S. government had a formal system to request foreign governments' help with investigations.
"Despite Trump's assertion that his administration will not cooperate, three people familiar with the deposition said that Yovanovitch is expected to appear."
Thursday, 10 Democratic senators sent a letter to Pompeo, demanding an explanation for Yovanovitch's removal before the end of her three-year assignment.
They said that Yovanovitch's early recall questions whether Pompeo puts the personal interests of the President above the Department's career personnel or U.S. foreign policy.
An indictment filed in the case alleged that the men asked him for help in removing Yovanovitch.
Former colleagues of Yovanovich say Trump allies' characterizations of her when politically motivated are mistaken.
Herbst said that she is “a top-notch diplomat, careful, meticulous, whip smart,” and unlikely to have badmouthed Trump, either to Ukrainian officials or her colleagues.
McEldowney said that Yovanovitch always knew that the role of diplomat “wasn’t about her” but about “serving American national interests and supporting the people around her."
Article Info (4)
Date Published: 10/10/2019 06:17:00 pm
Date Accessed: 10/11/2019 05:34:00 pm
Article Author: Adam Geller and Mary Clare Jalonick
Click here to see the article