Recording reveals Trump ordered Ukraine ambassador’s dismissal

A new recording has revealed that President Donald Trump ordered his associates to “get rid of” the US ambassador to Ukraine after he was told she kept criticizing the American head of state.

The recording, published by the ABC News on Saturday, captures a meeting in April 2018 between Trump and a group of donors, including Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas — the two associates of his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who in recent weeks have emerged as central figures in the impeachment inquiry and in a pressure campaign on Ukraine.

In the recording, Parnas can be heard telling Trump that the US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, had been disparaging the president and that he should "get rid" of her.

"She's basically walking around telling everybody, 'Wait, he's going to get impeached, just wait,'" Parnas said in the recording.

"Get rid of her," the US president responded. "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out."

Yovanovitch was not immediately removed from her post, but later she became a frequent target of criticism among Trump’s allies accusing the diplomat of disloyalty. Yovanovitch was ultimately recalled on the White House’s orders last spring.

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The ambassador’s recall has become a key episode in the pressure campaign against Ukraine, for which Trump is now on trial in the Senate following the House's vote to impeach him.

During her testimony before House impeachment investigators, Yovanovitch denied speaking disparagingly of the US president but told lawmakers she felt threatened by Trump. Yovanovitch also testified in the House impeachment hearings that she was the victim of a “smear campaign.”

Congressional Democrats are seeking Trump’s removal from office on the grounds that he abused his power by pressing Ukraine to investigate his potential election challenger Joe Biden as well as is son, who had served as a director for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

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Parnas and Fruman worked closely with Giuliani in seeking information and making contacts in Ukraine in support of the effort, starting months after the April 2018 meeting.

The recording contradicted Trump’s repeated claims that he did not know the two men.

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