Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch (Front) arrives to testify before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., the United States, on Nov. 15, 2019. Yovanovitch on Friday testified to the House Intelligence Committee in an ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

 

The former US ambassador who was a key figure in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial criticized US foreign policy on Wednesday as "amoral" and based on threats.

Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump abruptly recalled in May from her post as US ambassador to Ukraine, spoke at Washington's Georgetown University where she received a prize from the school's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. 

"Right now, the State Department is in trouble," she said. "Senior leaders lack policy vision, moral clarity and leadership skills.

"To be blunt, an amoral, 'keep-em-guessin' foreign policy that substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust cannot work over the long haul."

Trump last year disparaged Yovanovitch in a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which was the center of his impeachment for abuse of power.

The House of Representatives impeached him for pressuring Ukraine to announce investigations, including into his political opponent Joe Biden.

In October Yovanovitch testified to Congress that she was recalled due to "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives."

The 33-year diplomatic veteran said she was subjected to a smear campaign orchestrated in part by Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

She also leveled criticism at State Department leadership, and by extension Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for failing to push back against forces that "apparently hijacked our Ukraine policy," or to support her in the face of "dangerously wrong" attacks.