Former Ukraine Ambassador Says She Was Told To 'Watch Her Back' [View all]

[demmiblue]

Congressional investigators released the first transcripts of closed-door testimonies from individuals at the center of the Ukraine affair that has landed the president in an impeachment inquiry.

The transcripts are of the hours-long depositions of former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and Michael McKinley, a former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Yovanovitch, who has decades of diplomatic experience, was recalled as ambassador, and Trump referred to her as "the woman" and "bad news" in his phone call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Yovanovitch said, per the transcript of her deposition, that the first she heard that Giuliani was targeting her was from Ukrainian officials. She also noted that Ukrainian officials told her she should "watch her back," because now-arrested Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman wanted a different ambassador in the post.

"I guess for— because they wanted to have business dealings in Ukraine, or additional business dealings," Yovanovitch told House Intelligence Committee members, which includes Republicans. "I didn't understand that, because nobody at the embassy had ever met those two individuals. And, you know, one of the biggest jobs of an American ambassador of the U.S. Embassy is to promote U.S. business. So, of course, if legitimate business comes to us, you know, that's what we do, we promote U.S. business."

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776092575/congress-releases-first-transcripts-from-closed-door-trump-impeachment-depositio?utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=npr