George P. Kent

Kent graduated from high school in 1985 at Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, South Carolina.{{Cite web|url=https://www.postandcourier.com/news/key-trump-ukraine-impeachment-witness-george-kent-has-charleston-roots/article_e8d58660-06f9-11ea-af79-17f586d5b32e.html|title=Key Trump Ukraine impeachment witness George Kent has Charleston roots|last=Kropf|first=Schuyler|date=November 14, 2019|website=The Post and Courier|language=en|access-date=November 14, 2019}} He graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in Russian History & Literature from Harvard University. He then earned a Master of Arts from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1992. Kent later graduated with a Master of Science in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces of the National Defense University in 2012.{{Cite web|url=http://www.usubc.org/site/recent-news/usubc-members-welcomed-george-kent--new-das--eur-in-washington|title=USUBC Members welcomed George Kent, new Deputy Assistant Secretary, Europe, U.S. State Department, in Washington, D.C|date=September 10, 2018|website=U.S.–Ukraine Business Council|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215032439/http://www.usubc.org/site/recent-news/usubc-members-welcomed-george-kent--new-das--eur-in-washington|archive-date=February 15, 2019|access-date=October 15, 2019}}

Kent has been a member of the United States Foreign Service since 1992.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/15/politics/who-is-george-kent/index.html|title=Another career diplomat caught in the Ukraine scandal speaking to impeachment probe Tuesday|last=Hansler|first=Jennifer|date=October 15, 2019|website=CNN|access-date=October 15, 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-state-department-official-expected-to-face-questions-about-ukraine-and-giuliani/2019/10/14/8ba23d18-eeca-11e9-b2da-606ba1ef30e3_story.html|title=State Department official to face questions about Ukraine and Giuliani|last=Bade|first=Rachael|date=October 15, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=October 15, 2019}} He speaks Ukrainian, Russian, and Thai, as well as some Polish, German, and Italian. He has worked as a U.S. Foreign Service officer in Ukraine, Poland, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

From 1995 to 1997, he was posted in Warsaw, Poland, as an economics officer dealing with trade, environmental, and counter-narcotics issues.

Kent was later assigned to serve as deputy political counselor in Kyiv, Ukraine, from 2004 to 2007, which included the time period of the Orange Revolution. From 2012 to 2014, Kent served as director of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. He served as a senior anti-corruption coordinator in the European bureau in 2014–2015, and as deputy chief of mission in Kyiv from 2015 to 2018.

On September 4, 2018, he was appointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and held this position until September 3, 2021.

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?466134-1/impeachment-hearing-william-taylor-george-kent Testimony of Kent and Ambassador William Taylor before the House Intelligence Committee, November 13, 2019], C-SPAN}}

On October 15, 2019, Kent gave a deposition in the House impeachment inquiry of President Trump, serving as a key witness on whether Rudy Giuliani used a campaign of disinformation to undermine the former ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-state-department-official-expected-to-face-questions-about-ukraine-and-giuliani/2019/10/14/8ba23d18-eeca-11e9-b2da-606ba1ef30e3_story.html |title=White House directed 'three amigos' to run Ukraine policy, senior State department official tells House investigators |last1=Kane|first1=Paul|last2=Demirjian|first2=Karoun|date=October 15, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en|access-date=October 16, 2019|last3=Bade|first3=Rachael}} Kent's warnings regarding the disinformation campaign are documented in State Department emails submitted to Congress by the organization's inspector general. Kent protested a "fake news smear" directed at Ambassador Yovanovitch by media commentators supportive of President Trump. He also criticized the Ukrainian prosecutor undermining Yovanovitch, calling the disinformation "complete poppycock."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/us/politics/impeachment-george-kent-state.html |title=Senior State Dept. Ukraine Expert Says White House Sidelined Him |last1=Fandos|first1=Nicholas |last2=Vogel|first2=Kenneth P. |last3=Shear|first3=Michael D. |date=October 15, 2019 |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 16, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} On November 13, 2019, along with Ambassador Bill Taylor, Kent gave public testimony to the House Intelligence Committee during the first public hearing.{{cite web|title=State Department official describes Giuliani's 'campaign of lies' in Ukraine|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/politics/george-kent-transcript-released/index.html|last1=Herb|first1=Jeremy|last2=Cohen|first2=Marshall|publisher=CNN|date=November 13, 2019|accessdate=November 13, 2019}}

While serving as interim Charge d'affaires at the Embassy of the United States, Kyiv during the summer of 2021, Kent embarked on a press tour of local Ukrainian media. In one interview, Kent opined that the differences between Russia and Ukraine are distilled in the paintings of Ilya Repin. Burlaki, per Kent, shows the "servile and slavish character of the people" in the country, however Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks illustrates the "dignity and imbued liberty of Ukraine."{{Cite web|url=https://novyny.live/politics/glava-posolstva-ssha-v-ukraine-potrolil-putina-iz-za-skandalnoi-stati-i-protsitiroval-kuchmu-6036.html|title = Джордж Кент прокоментував скандальну статтю Володимира Путіна|date = July 16, 2021}}

On September 2, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Kent serve as the next ambassador to Estonia.{{cite web |title=President Biden Announces Key Nominees |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/02/president-biden-announces-key-nominees-30/ |website=The White House |access-date=10 September 2022 |date=2 September 2022}} His nomination was sent to the Senate on September 8, 2022.{{cite web |title=Nominations Sent to the Senate |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/08/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-81/ |website=The White House |access-date=10 September 2022 |date=8 September 2022}} On November 29, 2022, hearings on his nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On December 7, 2022, the committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate. On December 13, 2022, his nomination was confirmed in the Senate by voice vote.{{cite web |title=PN2592 - Nomination of George P. Kent for Department of State, 117th Congress (2021-2022) |url=https://www.congress.gov/nomination/117th-congress/2592 |website=www.congress.gov |access-date=10 September 2022 |date=8 September 2022}} Kent presented his credentials to Estonian President Alar Karis on February 21, 2023.{{cite web | title=Ambassador George P. Kent | website=U.S. Embassy in Estonia | date=2023-04-12 | url=https://ee.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/our-ambassador/ | access-date=2023-04-29}}

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