Amid allegations of surveillance of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is calling for "an immediate briefing" from State Department officials.
"I demand an immediate briefing and accounting by you and all relevant officials about what the department knew about any of these efforts to track Amb. Yovanovitch's whereabouts while she served in Kyiv, including embassy officials and the Regional Security Officer at post; what steps the Department took at the time to ensure her safety; and the steps it has taken since then to ensure her safety and the safety of all U.S. personnel stationed in Kyiv," Sen. Bob Menendez, R-N.J., wrote in a letter to Assistant Secretary of State Michael Evanoff.
The reports of alleged surveillance of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who testified in the House impeachment inquiry, surfaced from the documents released by Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas.
Giuliani had sought to remove Yovanovitch for her not being supportive of President Donald Trump, and Parnas documents suggest she was spied on before her removal.
"These disturbing messages indicate that Amb. Yovanovitch's movements may have been closely tracked, for at a minimum, over a series of days in late March 2019," Menendez's letter read.
"Notably, this was the same time frame that a packet of disinformation, the contents of which smeared Amb. Yovanovitch, made its way into the hands of senior officials at the State Department, including the Secretary, and as a series of articles were published that made false attacks against her."
Menendez also claimed a "disturbing" lack transparency from the State Department, alleging two other requests for information have also been ignored.