Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, a key witness in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, has signed a book deal.
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt confirmed that it acquired the rights to Yovanovitch’s as-yet-untitled memoir.
The book will follow her career as a foreign service officer in Mogadishu, Somalia; Kyiv, Ukraine; and eventually Washington, “where, to her dismay, she found a political system beset by many of the same challenges she had spent her career combating overseas,” the publisher said in a statement.
“Yovanovitch’s book will deliver pointed reflections on the issues confronting America today, and thoughts on how we can shore up our democracy.”
The company didn’t disclose the terms of the contract, but two people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press that the agreement is worth seven figures. The release is expected in spring 2021, months after the elections in November.
Yovanovitch is represented by the Javelin literary agency, which counts former FBI Director James Comey and former national security adviser John Bolton among its clients.
“Ambassador Yovanovitch has had a 30-year career of public service in many locations, with many lessons to be drawn. This is about much more than just the recent controversy,” said Houghton Mifflin Senior Vice President and Publisher Bruce Nichols, in response to a question about why her book wasn’t coming out this year.
Trump removed Yovanovitch from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine in 2019. Upon her return to Washington, she was given a post of her choice by the State Department with no negative impact on compensation.
Yovanovitch testified in the impeachment inquiry about the events surrounding her return to Washington. She didn’t provide any first-hand testimony related to the core allegations brought by House Democrats, who accused Trump of abusing his power and obstructing Congress. The Senate acquitted Trump of both charges on Feb. 5.
The Democrats alleged that by removing Yovanovitch, Trump paved the way for carrying out the alleged scheme of pressuring Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The allegations are drawn from a July 25, 2019, call between Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump asked Zelensky to “look into” the firing of Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin.
Two weeks before he was forced to submit his resignation, Shokin’s office secured a court order to seize the assets of Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company. At the time, Hunter Biden held a paid position on Burisma’s board of directors. Joe Biden has more than once publicly bragged about personally forcing Shokin’s ouster by withholding $1 billion in loan guarantees from Ukraine while he was vice president.
Yovanovitch’s name came up during the call between Trump and Zelensky with both leaders expressing their negative views of her. Trump said Yovanovitch “was bad news and the people she was dealing with in Ukraine were bad news.”
