Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman and Trump';s Ukranian "plumbers" team didn't just get rid of US Ambassador Marie Yovanovich as envoy to Ukraine, they ran her out of the State Department and out of foreign service entirely to boot.
The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who accused the Trump administration of a "smear" campaign against her has retired from the foreign service, NPR has learned.
The career diplomat was abruptly forced out of her post in Ukraine amid accusations of disloyalty in a scheme allegedly involving President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and two of Giuliani's associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were arrested and charged with campaign finance violations in October.
After her recall in May, Yovanovitch remained on the State Department payroll, teaching at Georgetown University. But sources tell NPR that she has officially left the department.
Yovanovitch had served presidents of both parties during a 33-year career in the foreign service, which included posts in some of the world's most challenging countries.
Her ouster has become a key topic in the president's impeachment and Senate trial. In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee's impeachment inquiry in November, Yovanovitch accused Giuliani of leading an "irregular channel" of diplomacy between the U.S. and Ukraine that was driven by the business interests of private individuals.
"These events should concern everyone in this room," Yovanovitch said. "Shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want."
She added that in the days leading up to her removal, she was told to "watch my back"
In excerpts from the now-infamous July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president called Yovanovitch "bad news."
"She's going to go through some things," Trump added in the call.
Yovanovitch testified that the State Department said she was being recalled over concerns about her security.
A federal indictment, unsealed in October, alleges that Giuliani associates Parnas and Fruman met with a congressman with the aim of removing Yovanovitch from her post. According to the documents, the two committed to raising $20,000 for the unnamed congressman.
In an interview earlier this month, Parnas said Trump pushed to fire Yovanovitch four or five times. Parnas also handed over text messages to Congress suggesting that Robert Hyde, a retired Marine running for Congress as a Republican in Connecticut, had the ambassador under surveillance in Kyiv.
The State Department says it is investigating the possible surveillance of Yovanovitch.
A 30-plus year career evaporated due to the shady cartoon villainy of Rudy and his goons, all working for the most corrupt man on earth in Donald Trump. Marie Yovanovich came forward and put her reputation and career on the line to save this country and to tell the truth, and she paid dearly for it.
The truth about Trump will continue to leak out between now and November. Whether or not it's enough to break his hold on the country is up to us.
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