Yovanovitch: It’s been a ‘very, very difficult time’

Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch said that it has been a difficult time for her personally amid attacks on her reputation throughout the impeachment inquiry process.

“It’s been a difficult time. I mean, I’m a private person. I don’t want to put all that out there, but it’s been a very, very difficult time because the president does have the right to have his own or her own ambassador in every country in the world,” she said while testifying before Congress on Friday. 

Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) then asked whether the president has “the right to actually malign peoples’ character,” saying that she believes it would be against decorum to do so. 

“There’s a question as to why the kind of campaign to get me out of Ukraine happened, because all the president has to do is say he wants a different ambassador and in my line of work … all we have is our reputation and so this has been a very painful period,” Yovanovitch replied. 

In emotional moment, ex-Amb. Marie Yovanovitch calls campaign to remove her “a very painful period.”

“How has it affected your family?” Rep. Sewell asks.

“I really don’t want to get into that,” she says, “but thank you for asking.” https://t.co/vLrXmbIBrY #ImpeachmentHearings pic.twitter.com/rYGVQSKKuS

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 15, 2019

Yovanovitch also said on Friday that a campaign spearheaded by President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and others was to blame for what she described as false attacks that led to her dismissal earlier this year. 

She particularly referenced columns in The Hill written by former conservative opinion contributor John Solomon.