Ukrainian henchmen's financial ambitions may have been 'stymied' by US anti-corruption policy: Ousted ambassador

Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former American ambassador to Ukraine who was ousted from her position earlier this year, told members of Congress on Friday that she believed there could have been a connection between her firing and the the personal financial interests of associates of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

During her testimony, Yovanovitch described how pressure from both Giuliani and President Donald Trump led to her premature departure from her role as ambassador to Ukraine, and she said she suspected there were nefarious reasons for her removal.

"I do not know Mr. Giuliani’s motives for attacking me," she said, per Washington Post reporter Rachael Bade. "But individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine."

Giuliani, in tandem with now-indicted henchmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, aggressively pressured Ukraine's government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden after Yovanovitch's departure earlier this year. Their efforts culminated in the now-infamous July 25th phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to work with Giuliani to dig up dirt on Biden.

While Giuliani and his associates were trying to get Ukraine to help with their anti-Biden efforts, Trump himself ordered a freeze on military aid to Ukraine, which has prompted accusations that the president was trying to extort an American ally for his personal political benefit.