Donald Trump has defended himself after audio leaked Friday of him ordering the firing of then-Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

The recording, now in the hands of Congress and federal prosecutors, was made during a fundraiser dinner on April 30, 2018 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. that included Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman – the two indicted goon sidekicks of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

“Get rid of her!” is what a voice that appears to be the president is heard saying on an audio recording reviewed by ABC News. “Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.”

“I am not a fan of that ambassador,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News defending his actions on Friday. “She wouldn’t put my picture up, she was an Obama appointee I believe.”

“I make no bones about it,” he continued. “I have every right, I want ambassadors that are chosen by me. I have a right to hire and fire ambassadors.”

Yovanovitch’s attorneys have already denied that she did not put his picture up. Trump’s administration was very slow in getting those portraits sent out.

Yovanovitch was a career diplomat who had been appointed an ambassador by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Asked if the order to fire Yovanovitch was directed at Parnas, a fixer who arranged interviews in Ukraine for Giuliani as he pursued his freelance investigation into alleged corruption, Trump demurred.

“I would probably say it was Rudy there or somebody,” Trump responded when asked whom the order was directed at. Giuliani has no position in the federal government and is Trump’s personal attorney. it was unknown until now that he was at the dinner.

Trump has repeatedly claimed not to know Parnas, who has produced picture after picture of them together in multiple locations, including the White House, Mar-a-Lago and the Trump hotel D.C.

“He’s somebody that I guess, based on pictures that I see, goes to fundraisers,” Trump commented in the Friday interview, with Raymond Arroyo. The interview ran on Fox News, where Arroyo is a contributor, but he is also an anchor on the conservative Catholic EWTN channel, which was founded by TV nun Mother Angelica.

Last week Trump denied knowing Parnas 14 times in one White House question and answer session, then he denied it again on Wednesday, this time saying: “I don’t know him, other than he’s sort of like a groupie.”

Parnas’ attorney confirmed on Friday night that he had located the recording and passed it to the House Intelligence Committee. The recording reported by ABC News suggests that Parnas and Fruman were very much in Trump’s inner circle.

Democrats seized on the recording as further evidence of Trump’s involvement.

“If this is additional evidence of his involvement in that effort to smear her, it would certainly corroborate much of what we´ve heard, but I´m not in a position yet to analyze that, not having looked at it,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, one of the House impeachment managers.

Parnas and Fruman are heard on the recording telling Trump that Yovanovitch is bad-mouthing him. Federal prosecutors have the recording and ABC News said it appeared to have been made by Fruman, and also featured a short video with Don Jr., the president’s oldest son in it.

On it, Parnas appears to say: “The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She’s still left over from the Clinton administration.”

He also says: “She’s basically walking around telling everybody ‘Wait, he’s gonna get impeached, just wait,'” he said.

That was when Trump said to get rid of her, the tape said.

WATCH:

“She wouldn’t put my picture up, she was an Obama appointee I believe” pic.twitter.com/g1Vna2x02u

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) January 25, 2020