Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch accidentally admitted that Vladimir Putin would never have invaded Ukraine if President Trump had been reelected.
In an interview with PBS‘ Margaret Hoover, Yovanovitch – a seething anti-Trump impeachment witness – was asked about her previous comments that the Ukraine war never would have happened under Trump.
“I’ve heard that you have also suggested that Putin might not have gone to war if Trump was still in office,” said Hoover.
To which Yovanovitch replied: “Trump was very dismissive of NATO – I mean, dismissive, it’s obviously a diplomatic word – very critical of NATO, critical of our allies,” adding “And his close associates, including John Bolton, have said that if he had won a second term, he would have pulled us out of NATO. I mean, why go to war with Vladimir Putin if the United States is going to present kind of the corpse of NATO on a silver platter? You don’t need to do that.”
Hoover then asked: “I mean, how do you think the invasion would have been different if Trump had remained as president?”
To which the former Ambassador replied: “I think that Trump would have provided Putin with enough of what he wanted that perhaps he wouldn’t have invaded.”
Marie Yovanovitch — the former US Ambassador to Ukraine under Trump who testified against him in the 2019 impeachment, and was lauded as a hero — suggests that if Trump were in office, he’d have averted the war diplomatically. But she thinks this would’ve been a terrible thing pic.twitter.com/1Q4qp5cNOA
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) April 23, 2022
As she dug herself deeper, Yovanovitch said when asked what Ukraine would have looked like if Russia had never invaded: “We are now getting into… this is why diplomats are told never to answer hypothetical questions…” before adding “So we’re getting into areas of– you know, I mean, it’s a hypothetical question, right? I don’t know what Trump would have done, and I don’t know what Putin would have done. But I can’t see Trump, President Trump standing up for Ukraine the way President Biden is right now.”
Just amazing.
h/t Summit News
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