Iran Press/America: 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, as reported by Wall Street Journal.
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. A familiar person with the matter at the Department of State said the removal of the former ambassador was of priority to Trump.
Yovanovitch is expected to attend the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees as part of the Ukraine investigation next Friday.
Commenting on the dismissal of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, Donald 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."
Giuliani has also stated that Yovanovitch was removed because she was part of the efforts against the President. However, both Trump and Giuliani stated that the diplomat's dismissal is not related to the Biden issue.
In support of the ambassador, the American Academy of Diplomacy stated that Trump's comments in his call with Ukrainian president Zelensky were "deeply troubling."
Meanwhile, text messages between US diplomats and a senior Ukrainian aide which were released by the House Intelligence Committee, show how Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani was closely connected with US policy on Ukraine and involved in setting up the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky in which Trump urged an investigation into Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
On the morning of the call, in an exchange with a key adviser to the Ukrainian President, then-US Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker made clear that it was important to the White House that Zelensky convince Trump that an investigation into the 2016 election would happen.
Volker informed by the White House that Ukrainian President would convince Trump regarding the 2016 election investigation, said via text to the Ukranian adviser that he will fix a date for a visit to Washington. A CNN source has stated that the Ukrainian government wrote a statement for public release committing to pursue an investigation into corruption. It is said by New York Times sources that, the aforementioned statement was drafted this summer by Volker and US Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland.
According to the Times, Ukraine was to investigate an energy company that employed former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. And also Ukraine was to investigate what Trump has perceived as Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US election in favor of Hillary Clinton. These efforts were due to the fact that a new team in Ukraine with Zelensky was committed to cleaning up corruption, and most important of all to please Trump and his team, particularly Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. 101/211/219
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