The woman, bad news
President Donald Trump ordered the removal of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from her post in Ukraine following complaints by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Trump’s personal lawyer gets to decide who is ambassador to Ukraine. Interesting.
Yovanovitch, who was recalled months earlier than expected in May 2019, was accused by Giuliani without evidence of trying to undermine the President and blocking efforts to investigate Democrats like former Vice President Joe Biden. According to the Wall Street Journal, a person familiar with the matter said that State Department officials were told that her removal was “a priority” for Trump.
Because Trump doesn’t think about “is she a good diplomat” or “is she well qualified” or “are US interests in safe hands with her.” All he thinks about is whether she’s doing what he wants for his reasons.
Asked on Thursday morning why Yovanovitch was recalled, Trump said, “I don’t know if I recalled her or somebody recalled her, but I heard very, very bad things about her for a very long period of time — not good.”
No he didn’t; he just made that up. He casually trashed her professional reputation because Giuliani told him she wasn’t anti-Biden enough or some such shit.
The US President had also disparaged the former ambassador to Ukraine in his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news and the people she was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad news so I just want to let you know that,” Trump said, according to a White House transcript.
Even though not a word of it is true.
Yovanovitch, a career member of the foreign service and who has served in ambassadorships under three presidents, was sworn in as ambassador to Ukraine in August 2016. Former officials who worked with her praised her experience and ability and the diplomatic community has rallied to support her.
Hillary Clinton did so on Maddow yesterday.
