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Tipsheet

Meadows: Obama Fired Every Politically-Appointed Ambassador When He Won Election

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testified before an impeachment hearing on Friday. Questions from House Democrats focused on the ambassador's removal by President Trump from her post earlier this year. The impeachment hearing was supposed to be about Trump's July 25th phone call to Ukraine President Zelensky, but since Yovanovitch didn't know anything about that phone call, House Democrats focused on her thoughts and feelings instead. 

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But even Yovanovitch admitted during the hearing that she served at the pleasure of the president.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) tweeted after the hearing, reminding Washington Democrats and pundits that President Obama fired every Bush-appointed ambassador after he was elected president in 2008. Rep. Meadows linked to an article in The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler heralding Obama's decision to clear out Bush-appointed ambassadors. 

(Via The Washington Post)

The clean slate will open up prime opportunities for the president-elect to reward political supporters with posts in London, Paris, Tokyo and the like. The notice to diplomatic posts was issued this week.

Political ambassadors sometimes are permitted to stay on briefly during a new administration, but the sweeping nature of the directive suggests that Obama has little interest in retaining any of Bush's ambassadorial appointees.

Most ambassadors, of course, are foreign service officers, but often the posts involving the most important bilateral relations (such as with Great Britain, Japan and India) or desirable locales (such as the Bahamas) are given to close friends and well-heeled contributors of the president.

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 But, of course, when Trump recalls an ambassador, Democrats think it's evidence of a conspiracy. 

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