President Donald Trump on Friday announced his intention to nominate Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan as his new ambassador to Russia, NBC News reported.
Sullivan would take on the role during fraught time in the U.S.-Russia relationship. Russia is known to have interfered in the 2016 election, and many experts believe it will try to do so again during the 2020 campaign.
Sullivan's name came up earlier Friday during the private testimony of Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who told House impeachment investigators that Trump had personally pressured the State Department to remove her.
Yovanovitch said that after she was abruptly recalled from her post in the spring, Sullivan told her that the president had lost confidence in her, according to her prepared remarks.
If confirmed, Sullivan would succeed Jon Huntsman, who submitted his resignation to Trump in August.
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