Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, has announced her retirement from the State Department.

She was suddenly removed from her post in May 2019 and was previously a key witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Yovanovitch, 61, was called to testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee on November 16 as part of the second televised impeachment hearing.

Yovanovitch became embroiled in a federal investigation after it was revealed Trump withheld military aid money from Ukraine in an attempt to start a probe into presidential hopeful, Joe Biden.

This revelation would later lead to Trump being impeached by The House on two articles, including abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

In Trump's phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July 2019, he referred to Yovanovitch as a 'bad ambassador' who was going to 'go through some things.'

Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch (pictured) announced her retirement from the State

'It was great that you were the first one who told me she was a bad ambassador because I agree with you 100 percent,' Zelensky goes on. 'Her attitude towards me was far from the best as she admired the previous president and she was on his side.'

'She would not accept me as the new president well enough,' Zelensky added.

Trump responded, 'Well, she's going to go through some things.'

One month earlier, Trump abruptly recalled Yovanovitch from her position as ambassador to Ukraine after the president reportedly lost confidence in her abilities.

An audio recording captured from a April 2018 fundraiser dinner at the Trump International Hotel reportedly shows Trump calling for Yovanovitch's dismissal

President Donald Trump (pictured) abruptly removed Yovanovitch from her position in May 2019, but an audio recording from April 2018 is said to show him calling for her dismissal

However, an audio recording captured from a April 2018 fundraiser dinner at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. is said to show Trump calling for Yovanovitch's dismissal nearly a year earlier.

'Get rid of her!' is what a voice that appears to be the president is heard saying on an audio recording.

'Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.'

The fundraising event included attendees Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman- two Ukrainian men who have ties to Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani was reportedly being probed by federal prosecutors for illegal lobbying and campaign finance violation after Fruman and Parnas were indicted.

He is also a central figure in the impeachment ordeal as Gordon Sondland said Giuliani acted as a middleman for Trump and Ukrainian officials.

Sondland said Trump would not discuss with Ukraine until they talked to Giuliani about investigating Biden.

Rudy Giuliani was being investigated by the federal government for possible illegal lobbying and campaign finance violations

Lev Parnas (left) and Igor Fruman (right) have been indicted by U.S. federal investigators for a $325,000 donation that allegedly went to a group supporting Trump's reelection

Fruman and Parnas were picked up for violating campaign finance laws related to a $325,000 donation that went towards a group supporting President Donald Trump's reelection in 2020.

During Yovanovitch testimony, Trump publicly lashed out against her on Twitter and suggested everywhere she went 'turned bad.'

'Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad,' Trump wrote on the social media platform while Yovanovitch sat at the witness table on Capitol Hill.

'She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President's absolute right to appoint ambassadors,' he added.

Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, was one of Yovanovitch's postings early in her career but she was a young State Department staffer at the time and not at ambassador level.

President Trump tweeted during Friday's hearing bashing Yovanovitch, saying everywhere she 'went turned bad'. The tweet gave the hearing a moment of high drama as Schiff interrupted questioning from the Democrats' own counsel to ask Yovanovitch to respond to the tweet in real time

Trump then argued that he had done more for Ukraine then Barack Obama.

'They call it 'serving at the pleasure of the President.' The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First! With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O,' Trump wrote.

In response, Yovanovitch said the president was crediting her with too much power.

'I don't think I have such powers not in Mogadishu and Somalia and not in other places. I actually think that where I've served over the years I and others have demonstrably made things better,' she said.

During Trump's twitter go, Yovanovitch said she felt threatened and was shocked by the Commander-in Chief's remarks about her on the July phone call and on social media.

Rep. Adam Schiff, who is one of the Democratic leaders of the impeachment inquiry, asked Yovanovitch if the president's actions would dissuade other potential witnesses from taking the stand.

'Ambassador, you've shown the courage to come forward today and testify. Notwithstanding the fact that you were urged by the White House or State Department not to, notwithstanding the fact that as you testified earlier the president implicitly threatened you in that call record, and now the president in real time is attacking you, what effect do you think that has on other witnesses willingness to come forward and expose wrongdoing in,' Schiff asked her.

Yovanovitch admitted to the House Intelligence Committee that Trump's July remarks about her and his tweets were 'intimidating'

Yovanovitch admitted: 'It's very intimidating.'

'It's designed to intimidate, is it not?,' Schiff said.

'I mean, I can't speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is trying to be intimidating,' she replied.

Schiff said Trump's tweet on Yovanovitch was part of a 'pattern' of obstruction of justice, which is an impeachable offense.

In strong language, the chairman called it an 'incriminating pattern of conduct' on the president's part.

'This is not something that we view in isolation, this is part of a pattern of the president of the United States,' he told reporters after the hearing was over.

'And it's also part of a pattern to obstruct the investigation. It was also a part, frankly, of the pattern to obstruct justice. So we need to view the President's actions today, as part of a broader and incriminating pattern of conduct,' he added.

The White House fired back at claims Trump's tweets were witness intimidation, saying the entire inquiry was a 'charade.'

'The tweet was not witness intimidation, it was simply the President's opinion, which he is entitled to,' White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

'This is not a trial, it is a partisan political process—or to put it more accurately, a totally illegitimate, charade stacked against the President. There is less due process in this hearing than any such event in the history of our country. It's a true disgrace,' she added.

Daniel Goldman, the Democrats' Counsel on the Intelligence panel, followed Schiff's line of questioning and asked if she felt threatened.

She said: 'I did. I didn't know exactly. It's not a very precise phrase, but I think - it didn't feel like I was - I really don't know how to answer the question any further except to say that it kind felt like a vague threat and so I wondered what had that meant. It was a concern to me.'

Yovanovitch did concede that the last few months had been a 'difficult time' for her, echoing Trump's comments.

'I mean, I'm a private person. I don't want to put all that out there, but it's been a very, very difficult time because the president does have the right to have his own or her own ambassador in every country in the world,' she said.

Yovanovitch also mentioned the advice EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland gave her as she feared losing her job.

Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch arrived Friday to Capitol Hill in the second public impeachment hearing by the House Intelligence Committee

Sondland would eventually turn on the Trump administration and testify against the President before Congress.

'Well, he suggested that I needed to go big or go home and he said that the best thing to do would be to, you know, send out a tweet, praise the president, that sort of thing,' she said.

'My reaction was that I'm sure he meant well, but it was not advice that I could really follow. It felt partisan. It felt political and that was not something that I thought was in keeping with my role as ambassador as a foreign service officer,' she added.

Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley asked her of Sondland: 'Did he give you suggestions what to say to the president of the United States? Or just say something nice about him?'

'Just praise him,' Yovanovitch replied.

Sondland later said before Congress that the president directed him to work with Giuliani on Ukraine.

During his testimony he affirmed that Trump allegedly refused to meet with the Ukrainian president until they spoke to Giuliani about investigating into the Bidens.

Sondland said in a statement: 'Based on the President's direction, we were faced with a choice: We could abandon the goal of a White House meeting for President Zelensky, which we all believed was crucial to strengthening U.S.-Ukrainian ties and furthering long-held U.S. foreign policy goals in the region.'

'Or we could do as President Trump directed and talk to Mr. Giuliani to address the President's concerns.'

Yovanovitch recalled how she first learned of Trump's comments with Zelensky when she read the bombshell transcript in September, which is when the White House released it.

'A person who saw me actually reading the transcript said that the color drained from my face,' she said, chocking up a bit when describing her reaction.

She continued to say she was shocked that she was the topic of discussion between two world leaders.

'I mean, shocked, appalled, devastated that the president of the United States would talk about any ambassador like that to a foreign head of state, and it was me,' she said.

Yovanovitch was given a standing ovation by members of the audience at the end of Friday's hearing by members of the audience

At the end of her testimony, Yovanovitch was given a standing ovation by members of the audience.

Republicans seemingly backed up Trump in their post hearing press conference.

'I don't know it was an attack on the witness,' added in Rep. Mark Meadows, who is one of the president's strongest allies on Capitol Hill. He called it a 'characterization of her resume.'

'We're not here to talk about tweets,' Rep. Elise Stefanik said. 'We're here to talk about impeachment.'

One month after Yovanovitch's testimony, Trump would be impeached by a Democratic controlled Congress on two articles of impeachment.

The House voted 230 to 197 to charge him with abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

While three Democrats voted against the impeachment, Republicans voted as a unified bloc against the accusations.

READ THE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST DONALD TRUMP In 1,414 words, the articles of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives Wednesday lay out two charges against President Donald Trump. Article I: Abuse of Power Using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States Presidential election. Accused: Donald Trump has two articles of impeachment against him He did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage. President Trump also sought to pressure the Government of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official United States Government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations. President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit. In so doing, President Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the United States democratic process.' Article II: Obstruction of Congress As part of this impeachment inquiry, the Committees undertaking the investigation served subpoenas seeking documents and testimony deemed vital to the inquiry from various Executive Branch agencies and offices, and current and former officials. In response, without lawful cause or excuse, President Trump directed Executive Branch agencies, offices, and officials not to comply with those subpoenas. President Trump thus interposed the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives, and assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the 'sole Power of Impeachment' vested by the Constitution in the House of Representatives. In the history of the Republic, no President has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and impede so comprehensively the ability of the House of Representatives to investigate 'high Crimes and Misdemeanors.'' This abuse of office served to cover up the President's own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment -- and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested solely in the House of Representatives. Advertisement

After Trump's impeachment, the decision on whether to remove him from office went to the Senate, sparking the Senate impeachment trial.

It is expected for Trump to be acquitted and remain in office as the Senate is controlled by Republicans who have not wavered on their support.

It was revealed on Friday that the Senate will not call additional witnesses before the vote.

It has become the first Senate trial in history that has voted against calling additional witnesses before the formal vote.

This is blow to Democrats who hoped to call Former National Security Advisor John Bolton to testify as his upcoming book reportedly affirms suspicions regarding Trump's Ukraine scandal.

In his book, according to The New York Times, Bolton claims the president said he was freezing U.S. aid to Ukraine until that country agreed to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump has denied the charge.

Senators are expected to begin drafting a proposal that would see the country to a final outcome on the month's long investigations.

The proposal – which Democrats were still considering – will 'glide us into a conclusion,' Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana told reporters in the Capitol. He said the Senate would vote on a resolution Friday night, with senators speeches likely on Tuesday and a final vote on the impeachment articles Wednesday.

He said the Senate would likely be back in session at 11 am on Monday.