Trump’s impeachment: the former US ambassador to Ukraine testified

Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch said she learned about the attempt by President Rudi Giuliani’s personal lawyer to discredit her at the end of 2018.

In the United States, the transcripts of the testimony of the US ex-ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and former senior adviser to Secretary of State Michael Mackinley were released, RBC reports on November 4.

Previously, only the opening speeches of those who testified before Congress were published in the media, and their answers to questions remained in the background.

So the former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, said that she had learned about the attempt by President Rudi Giuliani’s personal lawyer to discredit her at the end of 2018 from unnamed “Ukrainian officials.” She remembered only one name – Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who spoke to her about his concern about Ukraine’s possible involvement in United States politics.

Jovanovic also reported on Giuliani’s attempt to circumvent the ban on issuing a U.S. visa to former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, and U.S. ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, whom the diplomat had asked for advice, told her to write more positive tweets about Trump.

In turn, Michael McKinley expressed concern about the participation of US diplomatic missions in the collection of “negative political information for domestic purposes.” After the transcript of the telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky was unveiled on September 25, McKinley repeatedly called on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to publicly support Jovanovic, but he did not respond to his appeal.

Recall, White House officials refused to testify at the expense of Trump’s impeachment.