Former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was “an Obama person” who refused to hang President Trump’s portrait in the U.S. Embassy after he won the election, Mr. Trump said Friday.

“She wouldn’t hang my picture in the embassy,” the president said of Ms. Yovanovitch, a key witness against him in the House impeachment hearings. “She wouldn’t defend me. This was an Obama person, didn’t want to hang my picture in the embassy. This was not an angel, this woman.”

The president removed Ms. Yovanovitch as ambassador last spring as his personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, pressed Ukrainian officials to investigate meddling in the 2016 election and Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden.

Mr. Trump said on “Fox & Friends” that presidents can appoint new ambassadors at any time.

“I have the right to change the ambassador,” he said. “This was not a baby that we’re dealing with.”

Mr. Trump also said Ukrainian officials had been rooting for Hillary Clinton against him in 2016.

“Ukraine hated me. They wanted Hillary Clinton,” he said. “When I won, all of a sudden they were being so nice because we’re like a gravy train for them. They were totally in favor of Hillary Clinton.”

Mr. Trump said Mr. Giuliani “is a very legendary figure in our country.”

“This kind of crap [surveillance of his 2016 campaign] wouldn’t have happened in the Justice Department if Rudy Giuliani were the attorney general,” the president said. “He’s a great person. He’s like an iconic figure in our country.”

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