Impeachment News Update: Ousted Ambassador To Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch Defies Trump, Testifies US Foreign Policy Imperiled

Ousted U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch defied White House objections and appeared before House impeachment investigators Friday, testifying her dismissal was based on unfounded allegations by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Yovanovitch said in prepared remarks she was incredulous her superiors acted on “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.” She said Giuliani’s associates likely believed their financial interests could be threatened by her efforts.

“Contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine,” she said.

The testimony came just a day after two Giuliani Soviet-born associates appeared in court on charges of illegally funneling a campaign contribution to a Trump super-PAC. They were arrested at Dulles International Airport as they prepared to board a plane to Frankfurt, Germany, on one-way tickets.

Earlier this week, Trump sent a letter to House investigators saying his administration would not cooperate in the impeachment inquiry.

Yovanovitch, a 33-year veteran of the foreign service, testified behind closed doors. She said she was removed from her post even though she had done “nothing wrong” and was told Trump had pushed for her removal.

She criticized Trump’s foreign policy, warning private interests had taken precedence over diplomats’ judgment. She said the State Department has been hollowed out from within.

Yovanovitch remains on the State Department payroll and her defiance of the administration position could lead to her dismissal.

The impeachment inquiry was prompted by the administration’s handling of a whistleblower complaint that was not turned over to Congress in a timely manner. That complaint concerned a July 25 phone call Trump made to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump asked Zelensky to do him a favor by investigating former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Gordon D. Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European, also is expected to comply with a House subpoena and testify next week.

“Ambassador Sondland has at all times acted with integrity and in the interests of the United States,” his lawyers said in a statement Friday. “He has no agenda apart from answering the Committees’ questions fully and truthfully.”

Sondland and Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, discussed in text messages efforts to introduce Giuliani to Ukraine officials and efforts to get an investigation into Biden going.