Trump impeachment: Full testimony of sacked Ukraine ambassador president called ‘bad news’ released

Marie Yovanovitch concerns revealed, as four key witnesses refuse to testify at impeachment hearings

The former US ambassador to Ukraine arriving to give evidence to the committees leading the impeachment inquiry (Getty)

The full testimony of the former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, has been released by the committees leading the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.

Ms Yovanovitch – who was allegedly forced out of her post by the US president – gave evidence behind closed doors to members of three influential house committees in October.

She had served as the US ambassador in Kiev since August 2016 when she was abruptly recalled in May, allegedly after failing to cooperate with Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and other allies of the president in their efforts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, one of the frontrunners to be the Democratic candidate for president next year.

Mr Trump had referred to her in the 25 July phone call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, which prompted a whistleblower complaint from an intelligence official and led to the current impeachment inquiry.

In the phone call Mr Trump referred to her as “the woman”, called her “bad news” and warned: “Well, she’s going to go through some things.”

Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said he was releasing her full testimony and that of another US ambassador, Michael McKinley, who also served as a senior advisor to Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state.

The committees, including the Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees, also released key excerpts from the testimony of both Ms Yovanovitch and Mr McKinley.

Mr Trump is accused of misusing his office by pressuring the Ukrainian president to dig up or fabricate political dirt on Mr Biden and his son Hunter in return for releasing vital military aid.

He has angrily denied any wrongdoing, insisting that his phone call to Mr Zelensky was “perfect”.

The release of the transcripts came hours after no fewer than four officials refused to testify at the impeachment hearings. They included John Eisenberg and Michael Ellis, legal advisors to the National Security Council, who were expected to be questioned about alleged efforts to hide details of the 25 July phone call by allowing them to be moved to a top secret server.

Mr Schiff said that the refusal to testify would be considered in a possible article of impeachment concerning obstruction of justice.

The transcript records Ms Yovanovitch’s reaction to Mr Trump calling her “bad news” in his phone call to Mr Zelensky.

She told the hearing: “Again, I hate to be repetitive, but I was shocked. I mean, I was very surprised that President Trump would – first of all, that I would feature repeatedly in a presidential phone call, but secondly, that the president would speak about me or any ambassador in that way to a foreign counterpart.”

Asked what she thought about Mr Trump’s comments that “she’s going to go through some things”, she said: “I didn’t know what it meant. I was very concerned. I still am.”

Ms Yovanovtich also testified that the Ukrainian interior minister, Arsen Avakov, had told her that he was “very concerned” about Mr Giuliani’s actions and that she needed to “watch her back”.

She said she was told that two of Mr Giuliani’s associates – Florida businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman – wanted her to be replaced in order to further their own business interests.

Mr Parnas and Mr Fruman, who have been photographed with Mr Trump and his son Don Jr, were arrested at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October with one-way tickets to Vienna. They have been charged with campaign finance violations.

Ms Yovanovitch claimed that a Trump ally – Gordon Sondland, US ambassador to the EU – advised her to tweet praise of the president when she was concerned that false rumours were damaging her reputation.

Mr McKinley, also a career civil servant, told the hearings that he resigned his post over concerns that the White House was using ambassadors to advance political objectives.

He told the hearing: “Frankly, to see the emerging information on the engagement of our missions to procure negative political information for domestic purposes, combined with the failure I saw in the building to provide support for our professional cadre in a particularly trying time, I think the combination was a pretty good reason to decide enough, that I had – I had no longer a useful role to play.”

Mr Schiff said that the full transcripts of the evidence given by two other key players – Mr Sondland and Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine – would be released on Tuesday.