Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Warns Her Dismissal Causes Morale at State Dept. to Plunge
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2019) Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich told a House of Representatives impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump that morale at the State Department continues to suffer due to being recalled from her position.
"It has had a chilling effect not only in Embassy Kiev, but throughout the State Department because people don't know whether their efforts to pursue our stated policy are going to be supported and that is a dangerous place to be," Yovanovich said on Friday.
Yovanovich was recalled in May following a campaign to discredit her performance by Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was investigating allegations that Ukraine had meddled in the 2016 presidential election to support Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Prior to her dismissal, Yovanovich said she had reported the Giuliani-led effort to her superiors in Washington and sought public support since her authority as ambassador was being undermined - support that the State Department was unable to provide.
"I was told that there that was a concern on the seventh floor that if a statement of support was issued whether by the state department or by the secretary personally that it could be undermined," Yovanovich said.
The former ambassador added that she was told: "The president might issue a tweet contradicting that or something to that effect."
Democrats claim Trump may have committed an impeachable offense by withholding nearly $400 million in US military aid to Ukraine with the aid conditioned on Ukraine investigating possible corruption bby former Vice President Joe Biden, a Trump political rival, and his son Hunter.
Trump asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to look into the Bidens during a July 25 phone conversation, but Republicans counter that Zelenskyy never launched an investigation and Ukraine eventually received the aid.
Yovanovich acknowledged that Hunter Biden's appointment to the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company Burisma when Joe Biden served as US vice president created the appearance of a conflict of interest.
During preparation for Senate confirmation hearings for her appointment to a three-year term as ambassador in 2016, Yovanovich said she had been advised to refer any questions about Hunter Biden to the vice president.