State Department reportedly feared Trump would 'undermine' effort to support ex-Ukraine ambassador
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch just wanted a statement of support from the State Department in the face of an alleged smear campaign against her orchestrated by President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. But she never got one.
During her testimony in the House impeachment inquiry, a transcript of which was published Monday, Yovanovitch told lawmakers that was because the State Department was afraid such a statement would be "undermined" — by President Trump himself.
Marie Yovanovitch said she was told the State Department couldn’t issue a statement in support of her because “there was concern that the rug would be pulled out from underneath the State Dept.”
By whom? “The president.”https://t.co/smJpiNsI17 pic.twitter.com/08UuDOyM6L— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) November 4, 2019
Yovanovitch said it wasn't made clear how Trump would go about that, but she reasoned the concern was that he would tweet something to that effect.
Omg…she was told the reason they didn’t issue a statement was because it could be undermined by…a Trump tweet. pic.twitter.com/rTPyVXhOlz
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) November 4, 2019
Former top State Department aide Michael McKinley, whose testimony was also released Monday, said he tried, to no avail, persuading Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to back Yovanovitch up, echoing reports that acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker tried to release a statement of support on his own, but was rebuffed.
Amb. McKinley says Sec. of State POMPEO was not responsive when he reached out at least THREE times urging him to defend Amb. Yovanovitch from political attacks.
The third time he spoke with Pompeo was the day he resigned over the matter pic.twitter.com/HkKFvWJ2TO— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) November 4, 2019