In 2019, Burns wrote a scathing critique of what he called the Trump administration’s ‘diplomatic malpractice,’ saying it had badly mistreated Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador in Ukraine whose removal from her post became a central topic in the president’s impeachment and Senate trial. ‘I’ve never seen an attack on diplomacy as damaging, to both the State Department as an institution and our international influence, as the one now underway.'” NPR: Longtime Diplomat William Burns Is Biden’s Pick To Lead CIA.