前国家安全委员会和国务院官员塔拉·桑恩申(Tara Sonenshine)周四警告称，唐纳德·特朗普总统对乌克兰的行动“对美国国家安全构成了毁灭性的打击”。

　　桑恩施是在1997年发表这番言论的美国有线电视新闻网采访评论众议院对特朗普弹劾调查的最新进展。周三，美国驻乌克兰代理大使比尔·泰勒和负责欧洲和欧亚事务的副助理国务卿乔治·肯特首次公开调查之前作证公开听证会上的国会调查员。泰勒在证词中强调，特朗普利用“不正常”的外交渠道——包括他的私人律师鲁迪·朱利安尼和美国驻欧盟大使戈登·桑德兰——迫使乌克兰调查他的政治对手。

　　“采取既定的程序，包括我们的安全，我们的安全，打电话，在开放的线路上交谈，这不是你如何保护一个国家和它的人民，”她说。桑恩施还警告称，特朗普政府领导下的国务院“士气低落到了危险的地步”，称乌克兰丑闻爆发后，外交官们“战战兢兢”。

　　对特朗普的弹劾调查围绕着他向乌克兰领导人施压，要求他们对其国内政治对手展开调查。总统希望乌克兰总统沃洛季米尔·泽兰斯基公开宣布，乌克兰将对针对民主党总统候选人乔·拜登的未经证实的指控展开调查，并对民主党与乌克兰人合作干涉2016年选举的被揭穿的阴谋论展开调查。

　　许多前国务院官员非常关键特朗普政府所谓的对职业外交官的漠视，其中许多人在共和党和民主党政府任职多年。

　　“国务院士气空前低落，”莫莉·蒙哥马利，副总统迈克·彭斯的前特别顾问，曾在外交部工作，本周早些时候告诉美国有线电视新闻网。她指责特朗普的前任国务卿雷克斯·蒂勒森和现任国务卿麦克·庞贝，称他们的员工“参与了出于政治动机的骚扰、报复和虐待行为”。

TRUMP TOOK 'A WRECKING BALL TO AMERICAN NATIONAL SECURITY' WITH UKRAINE SCANDAL, EX-NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL OFFICIAL WARNS

　　Tara Sonenshine, a former National Security Council and State Department official, warned on Thursday that President Donald Trump has taken "a wrecking ball to American national security" with his actions toward Ukraine.

　　Sonenshine made the remarks in an interview with CNN, commenting on the latest developments in the impeachment inquiry taking place in the House of Representatives against Trump. The inquiry went public for the first time on Wednesday, with acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent testifying before congressional investigators in open hearings. Taylor highlighted in his testimony that Trump used an "irregular" diplomatic channel – which involved his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland – to push Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

　　"Taking established procedures, that involved our security our safety, getting on phone calls, talking on open lines, this is not how you secure a nation and its people," she said. Sonenshine also warned that "morale is dangerously low" at the State Department under Trump's administration, saying that diplomats are "shaking in their boots" in the wake of the Ukraine scandal.

　　The impeachment inquiry against Trump centers around his efforts to pressure Ukrainian leaders to launch investigations against his domestic political rivals. The president wanted Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly announce that his country would open probes into unsubstantiated claims against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, as well as into a debunked conspiracy theory that Democrats worked with Ukrainians to interfere in the 2016 election.

　　Numerous former State Department officials have been highly critical of the Trump administration's alleged disregard for career diplomats, many whom have served for years under Republican and Democratic administrations.

　　"Morale is at a historic low at the State Department," Molly Montgomery, a former special adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who previously worked in the Foreign Service, told CNN earlier this week. She blamed Trump's former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as well as the current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that their staff "have engaged in politically motivated harassment and retaliation and abusive behavior."