Ousted Ukraine envoy expected to testify in impeachment probe despite White House vow

Source: Washington Post




Congressional investigators expect that Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, will appear as planned for a Friday deposition in the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry, despite the White House’s emphatic pledge not to cooperate with Democrats’ efforts to investigate President Trump, according to congressional officials involved with the process.

Yovanovitch and her lawyer are “on board,” according to a senior congressional aide, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations. State Department officials would not address questions about the matter, and efforts to contact Yovanovitch on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

White House lawyer Pat Cipollone issued a letter to Democrats on Tuesday outlining the Trump administration’s objections to the impeachment inquiry, calling it unconstitutional and vowing to reject congressional requests to cooperate.

It is unclear whether the State Department will expressly forbid Yovanovitch from testifying, as it did in with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland earlier this week — in the overnight hours before he was due to speak with the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ousted-ukraine-envoy-expected-to-testify-in-impeachment-probe-despite-white-house-vow-not-to-cooperate-congressional-aides-say/2019/10/09/c46aebe8-eabc-11e9-85c0-85a098e47b37_story.html