Ex-Ukraine envoy says she was fired on 'unfounded' and 'false' grounds after standing up to Trump and Giuliani

Scott J. Applewhite/AP

• Marie Yovanovitch, the US's former ambassador to Ukraine, testified to Congress that she was removed from her position based on "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives," The New York Times reported.
• A whistleblower complaint filed against President Donald Trump said Yovanovitch was removed after she criticized the former Ukrainian prosecutor general's "poor record on fighting corruption."
• Yovanovitch's criticism was at odds with Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who both praised the prosecutor for spreading rumors about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
• "I do not know Mr. Giuliani's motives for attacking me," Yovanovitch testified. But people associated with Giuliani "may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine."
• Yovanovitch's testimony will likely infuriate the White House and the State Department, both of which have sought to restrict government officials from cooperating with Congress' impeachment inquiry.
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President Donald Trump's former ambassador to Ukraine testified to Congress on Friday that she was removed from her position based on "false claims by people with clearly questionable motives," The New York Times reported.

Marie Yovanovitch told congressional investigators she was "incredulous" that she was recalled because of "unfounded" claims, the report said. In the testimony closed to the public, Yovanovitch also said she was told by a top State Department official that the president had pushed for her removal despite the fact that the State Department believed she had "done nothing wrong."

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