later retracted the claim.46 Mr. Solomon’s work also included false allegations that Ambassador Yovanovitch had “made disparaging statements about President Trump.”47 Ambassador Yovanovitch called this allegation “fictitious,” and the State Department issued a statement describing the allegations as a “fabrication.”48
The Committees uncovered evidence of close ties and frequent contacts between Mr. Solomon and Mr. Parnas, who was assisting Mr. Giuliani in connection with his representation of the President. Phone records show that in the 48 hours before publication of The Hill opinion piece, Mr. Parnas spoke with Mr. Solomon at least six times.49 In addition, The Hill piece cited a letter dated May 9, 2018, from Representative Pete Sessions (R-Texas) to Secretary Pompeo, in which Rep. Sessions accused Ambassador Yovanovitch of speaking “privately and repeatedly about her disdain for the current administration.”50 A federal criminal indictment alleges that in or about May 2018, Mr. Parnas sought a congressman’s assistance to remove Ambassador Yovanovitch, at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials.51
On March 20, 2019, the day The Hill opinion piece was published, Mr. Parnas again spoke with Mr. Solomon for 11 minutes.52 Shortly after that phone call, President Trump promoted Mr. Solomon’s article in a tweet.53
Following President Trump’s tweet, the public attacks against Ambassador Yovanovitch were further amplified on social media and were merged with the conspiracy theories regarding both Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and the Bidens. On March 22, 2019, Mr. Giuliani tweeted: “Hillary, Kerry, and Biden people colluding with Ukrainian operatives to make money and affect 2016 election.” He also gave an interview to Fox News in which he raised Hunter Biden and called for an investigation.54 Then, on March 24, Donald Trump Jr. called Ambassador Yovanovitch a “joker” on Twitter and called for her removal.55
This campaign reverberated in Ukraine. Mr. Kent testified that “starting in mid-March” Mr. Giuliani was “almost unmissable” during this “campaign of slander” against Ambassador Yovanovitch.56 According to Mr. Kent, Mr. Lutsenko’s press spokeswoman retweeted Donald Trump, Jr.’s tweet attacking the Ambassador.57
Concerns About President Trump Kept State Department from Issuing Statement of Support
At the end of March, as this smear campaign intensified, Ambassador Yovanovitch sent Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale an email identifying her concerns with the false allegations about her and asking for a strong statement of support from the State Department. She explained that, otherwise, “it makes it hard to be a credible ambassador in a country.”58 Ambassador Hale had been briefed on the smears in a series of emails from Mr. Kent.59 Ambassador Hale agreed that the allegations were without merit.60
Ambassador Yovanovitch was told that State Department officials were concerned that if they issued a public statement supporting her, “it could be undermined” by “[t]he President.”61 Ambassador Hale explained that a statement of support “would only fuel further negative reaction” and that “it might even provoke a public reaction from the President himself about the
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