FORMER US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told House of Representatives investigators on Monday of a chilling campaign led by Donald Trump to get her sacked, saying she had been warned to “watch her back.”

Ms Yovanovitch was recalled from Kiev before the July 25 phone call between Mr Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that is at the centre of the impeachment inquiry against the US president.

Her testimony was released on Monday as the public started to hear the details of the closed-door investigations into Mr Trump’s alleged misconduct in office.

It is alleged by a whistleblower that Mr Trump used the call to press Mr Zelensky to open corruption investigations targeting former US vice-president and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who both have links to Ukraine.

The incumbent is accused of abusing his power to boost his 2020 election campaign.

On seeing the transcript of the call, Ms Yovanovitch said she was “surprised and dismayed” to hear that Mr Trump had described her as “bad news.

“I was shocked,” she said, to see “that the president would speak about me or any ambassador in that way to a foreign counterpart.”

Mr Trump was dismissive when questioned about the former ambassador as he set off on the campaign trail yesterday, saying: “I’m sure she’s a very fine woman. I just don’t know much about her.”

But Ms Yovanovitch said she had been told by Ukrainian officials last year that Mr Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was in touch with Ukraine’s former top prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko “and that they had plans, and that they were going to, you know, do things, including to me.”

She said she was told Mr Lutsenko “was looking to hurt me in the US.”

Four officials defied subpoenas to testify yesterday on orders from the White House, which is refusing to participate in the proceedings.