Marie Yovanovitch Marie YovanovitchGrand jury adds additional counts against Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and and Igor Fruman Strzok: Trump behaving like an authoritarian Powell backs Biden at convention as Democrats rip Trump on security MORE, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, on Friday told Congress that she lost her job due to “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”

Yovanovitch, who is providing closed-door testimony as part of the House impeachment inquiry, was dismissed as envoy to Ukraine in May.

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She said in her opening statement that President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE pressured the State Department to remove her although her superiors believed she had "done nothing wrong."

"Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the President, I was nevertheless incredulous that the U.S. government chose to remove an Ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives," she told lawmakers.

Read Yovanovitch's full opening statement below, as first obtained by The Washington Post: