The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified Friday about President Donald Trump firing her amid an alleged “smear campaign.” Firing politically-appointed ambassadors appointed by former presidents is commonplace.
Former President Barack Obama notified all of President George W. Bush’s politically-appointed ambassadors in 2008 that they must vacate their positions, The Washington Post previously reported. Yovanovitch, who was part of the Foreign Service, testified Friday that the Trump administration, including the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, “kneecapped” her. She said State Department leaders did not support her after being recalled in May.
“Political ambassadors sometimes are permitted to stay on briefly during a new administration, but the sweeping nature of the directive suggests that Obama has little interest in retaining any of Bush’s ambassadorial appointees,” WaPo’s 2008 article about Obama’s decision to fire all political ambassadors reads.
Yovanovitch was appointed by Obama in 2016. Newly elected presidents typically re-vamp the positions with their own choices once taking office. Yovanovitch stayed on for three years after Trump took office, but has testified that senior officials “declined to acknowledge” the “smear campaign” against her leading up to...
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