On a list of names for “who could give the most enlightening testimony on the Trump/Ukraine scandal” a few names seem vital. There’s Ambassador William Taylor, who texted his insistence that withholding military aid for a political favor was “crazy.” And there’s former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who went from “brilliant” to “dumb” in Donald Trump’s opinion after he refused to play along with a hostage swap to rescue one of Rudy Giuliani’s clients. But near the top of any list has to be former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch.
And Friday Ambassador Yovanovitch will sit down as the next official witness to appear before the impeachment inquiry. The closed door hearing is expected to start on Friday morning despite a letter from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arguing that State Department employees could not be called to testify. Yovanovitch isn’t just a peripheral player in Trump’s efforts to smear Biden and prop up a massive conspiracy theory about the 2016 election—she’s absolutely central. Every corrupt player in the game, from Rudy Giuliani’s just jailed money-funneling pals to Trump himself viewed Yovanovitch as a roadblock to their scheme.
Trump mentioned Yovanovitch directly in his phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "The former ambassador from the United States, the woman,” said Trump. “Was bad news and the people she was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad news, so I just want to let you know that.” Yovanovitch should still have been the current ambassador at that point, but in May, Pompeo sent her a letter announcing that she was leaving Ukraine months ahead of schedule—just at the time that Giuliani was ramping up his offensive on Biden and The New York Times was repeating Giuliani’s tangled lies about the situation in Ukraine.
Also in his call to Zelensky, Trump seemed to hint that he had more punishment in mind for Ambassador Yovanovitch. “She's “going to go through some things," said Trump. And today, Yovanovitch really is going to go through something—an opportunity to explain what was happening as Trump, Giuliani, his indicted helpers, and dozens of others jockeyed to extort an ally in exchange for a political favor.
Yovanovitch took over the top position in Ukraine in 2016 after previously serving as Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Ambassador to Armenia. From all accounts, she hit the ground running and was directly focused on actually rooting out corruption. She publicly criticized officials who refused to investigate corruption cases and pushed officials in Kyiv to crack down on the worst offenders.
Her early removal came after Guiliani went to Trump to explain that she would not play along with efforts to create a scandal where none existed. She was removed from her position “because she was part of the efforts against the president,” said Guiliani. The “packet of propaganda” which Giuliani sent to the State Department, and which the State Department inspector general turned over to Congress last week, contained additional allegations against Yovanovitch.
As with other closed door hearings conducted as part of the impeachment inquiry, the contents of the hearing are not technically classified. However, the discussion may touch on diplomatic, military, or legal matters that are protected in some way. In any case, expect to hear more of what Ambassador Yovanovitch had to say before the end of day.