Testimony in the impeachment investigation of Donald Trump began on Wednesday November 13 with two witnesses, Ambassador William Taylor Jr., the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, and the senior State Department official in charge of Ukraine, George P. Kent. Today we will here the testimony of former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie L. Yovanovitch. She has served in the foreign service for 32 years. Trump abruptly recalled Ms. Yovanovich from her post in May. She was the focus of targeted attacks from the president’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who pushed for her removal.
How and why Ms. Yovanovitch was removed from her job has emerged as a major focus of the impeachment inquiry – as investigators have explored whether the president did so because she was viewed as an impediment to Mr. Giuliani implementing a shadow Ukraine foreign policy that would have benefited Mr. Trump politically.