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Fired US ambassador to Ukraine slams US diplomacy as 'amoral'

Saturday, 15 February 2020 9:25 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 15 February 2020 9:38 AM ]

Former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch

The former US ambassador to Ukraine who was fired by President Donald Trump and testified in Congress during Trump’s impeachment probe has criticized US foreign policy as "amoral" and based on threats.

Marie Yovanovitch, who was removed from her post in May over the Ukraine scandal, spoke at Georgetown University in Washington on Wednesday.

Yovanovitch also criticized the US State Department leadership, without naming Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for failing to resist pressure from Trump who has "apparently hijacked our Ukraine policy.”

"Right now, the State Department is in trouble," she said. "Senior leaders lack policy vision, moral clarity and leadership skills."

"To be blunt, an amoral, 'keep-em-guessin' foreign policy that substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust cannot work over the long haul," Yovanovitch said.

Trump abruptly recalled Yovanovitch following claims by Trump surrogates that she was undermining the Republican president's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival, former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

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In October, Yovanovitch testified to Congress that she was recalled due to "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”

The diplomatic veteran, 61, said she was the target of a smear campaign devised in part by Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Democrats in the House of Representatives launched an impeachment probe against Trump in September after an anonymous intelligence community whistleblower accused the president of pressing Ukraine's president to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who served as a director of a Ukrainian natural gas company.

The House impeached Trump in December, charging him with abusing power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, and then obstructing their inquiry. The Republican-majority Senate acquitted Trump this month.

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