The transcript of House impeachment inquiry testimony by former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch underlines just what a clown car of corruption the Trump administration is, at least in its dealings with Ukraine. Rudy Giuliani was everywhere, sometimes on behalf of indicted businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had typically Trumpian advice for Yovanovitch. And somehow Sean Hannity was involved. All in the service of taking down a career diplomat.
Yovanovitch said she was warned by Ukrainian officials in late 2018 that Giuliani and Yuriy Lutsenko, the former prosecutor general of Ukraine, “had plans, and that they were going to, you know, do things, including to me.” Lutsenko, she was told “was looking to hurt me in the U.S.”—and it seems that he used Giuliani very effectively to do so. Yovanovitch was also warned by a “senior Ukrainian official” who “was very concerned, and told me I really needed to watch my back” because Parnas and Fruman wanted a different ambassador and were working with Giuliani and Lutsenko to make that happen.
When consular staff turned Lutsenko down for a visa to visit the U.S.—a standard move given his corruption—Giuliani called the White House and State Department officials to complain about Yovanovitch and to try to get Lutsenko the visa, claiming that “Mr. Shokin was coming to meet him and provide information about corruption at the embassy, including my corruption.”
As Yovanovitch weathered these and other attacks, she “was told there was caution about any kind of a statement [of support from the State Department], because it could be undermined.” Undermined by whom? The president.
The State Department also looked to Fox News host Sean Hannity for his input. “The secretary or perhaps somebody around him was going to place a call to Mr. Hannity on Fox News to say, ‘You know, what is going on? I mean, do you have proof of these kinds of allegations or not? And if you have proof, you know, tell me, and if not, stop.”
Sondland, meanwhile, offered her advice about how to strengthen her position: “he said, you know, you need to go big or go home. You need to, you know, tweet out there that you support the president, and that all these are lies and everything else. And, you know, so, you know, I mean, obviously, that was advice. It was advice that I did not see how I could implement in my role as an ambassador, and as a foreign service officer.” Because foreign service officers are not there to support the president as an individual. They’re there to do the work of the United States.
The cast of characters involved in dragging Yovanovitch down is mind-blowing—Giuliani, Parnas, Fruman, Lutsenko, Sean freaking Hannity—as is the timidity of the State Department in defending its longtime employee because Trump was too likely buying into the attacks on her. And there are serious whiffs here of Giuliani being manipulated by Lutsenko and Parnas and Fruman to serve their interests, and in turn manipulating Trump based on his eagerness to recruit foreign assistance in winning in 2020. Every time House investigators look at something new it seems like more corruption comes into view, and there’s no sign they’re reaching the end.