It’s frankly no secret that Donald Trump is obsessed with what he perceives as “loyalty” from the people he surrounds himself with. Even still now, more than a year after his humiliating White House loss, he still demands the staunchest of allegiance and devotion from his circle and apparently even forces Republican candidates who are looking for his “coveted” endorsement in their upcoming races to go through an insane, secretive process to even be considered.
But whatever he puts his people through now, frankly pales in comparison to what he put legitimate, professional government officials through when he actually possessed all the powers that the United States presidency had to offer.
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch — who is now down in history as one of the witnesses who testified against Trump during his first impeachment and was in her government position between 2016 and 2016, when Donald made his infamous, “perfect” extortion call to Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelenskyy in an attempt to gain dirt on his then political opponent Joe Biden — is now reportedly publishing a memoir. And in it, she tells of one of the horrifying loyalty pledges she was pressured to complete under Trump’s administration.
In an excerpt from Yovanovitch’s forthcoming book, Lessons From The Edge, published by Business Insider, the former US Ambassador to Ukraine describes the brutal inner turmoil she went through as Trump’s inner circle launched their heinous smear campaign against her following the impeachment trial, towards the end of her time in her ambassadorship. As we’re all painfully aware, Yovanovitch became the target of Trump and his circle’s ire and scorn because she pushed back against their efforts to extort Ukrainian leadership out of political dirt on Joe Biden by withholding congressionally-approved aid to the country.
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At that point, Yovanovitch writes that she was under intense, extreme pressure by Trump’s people to physically record a statement in which she pledged her complete and undying loyalty to then-President Donald Trump. The former ambassador said this demand was just too much.
“When I tried the loyalty pledge on for size, I couldn’t make it fit — not if I wanted to keep my integrity intact,” she revealed. “Even worse, I thought such a statement was demeaning — and wrong.”
Ultimately, following the highly-publicized impeachment trials that resulted in Donald Trump’s first official impeachment in the House, (he would go on to receive a second before his presidency was officially over, the second being for incitement of insurrection in connection to his role in the Capitol attack) Yovanovitch was recalled from Ukraine and fired from her position by Donald Trump in 2019.
Read the full report on the excerpt from Yovanovitch’s upcoming book from Business Insider here.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
