During Wednesday’s impeachment hearings, Democratic Rep. André Carson of Indiana wanted to highlight some of the power struggle machinations behind-the-scenes that led to Donald Trump recalling former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich. He first wanted to make sure the record showed that State Department officials wanted Yovanovich to remain in her position, at least through the end of this year.
REP. ANDRÉ CARSON: Before all of this happened, you and your superiors at the State Department asked the ambassador to extend her time in the Ukraine, correct, sir?
GEORGE KENT: That is correct.
REP. CARSON: Did you support her extension?
KENT: I asked her to extend until the end of this year—to get through the election cycle in Ukraine—and Under Secretary Hale, in March, asked her to stay until 2020.
Rep. Carson also wanted to highlight who, precisely, didn’t want Yovanovich to remain in her position as ambassador to Ukraine.
REP. CARSON: Now, some in the Ukraine probably disliked her efforts to help Ukraine root out corruption, is that correct?
KENT: As I mentioned in my testimony, you can't promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing-off corrupt people.
That response received a smile from Carson and light laughs from the audience.
REP. CARSON: Fair enough. Now, some of those people helped Giuliani smear her, did they not?
KENT: They did.
Watch Mr. Kent’s face (video below) when he responds that corrupt people were the root of Giuliani’s smear campaign. He is clearly not a fan.
REP. CARSON: Ultimately that smear campaign pushed President Trump to remove her, correct?
KENT: I cannot judge that. What I can say is that Rudy Giuliani's campaign was ubiquitous in 2019 on Fox News on the internet and Twittersphere.
Finally, Rep. Carson wants to remind the American public that there is nothing normal about this.
REP. CARSON: So Ambassador Taylor and Mr. Kent, in all of your combined decades at the State Department, have you ever before seen an instance where an ambassador was forced out by the president following a smear campaign of misinformation orchestrated by the president's allies.
KENT: I have not.
AMBASSADOR WILLIAM TAYLOR: Nor I.
REP. CARSON: Mr. Chairman, I yield back.