Trump’s former Russia aide plans to warn lawmakers to “not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests.”
President Donald Trump’s former top Russia aide sparred with Republican lawmakers on Thursday, accusing them of emboldening Moscow by pushing a “fictional narrative” that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
In her opening statement before House impeachment investigators, Fiona Hill said lawmakers were weaponizing “falsehoods” that advance Russian interests and distract from its aggression in eastern Europe and around the world.
“I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine — not Russia — attacked us in 2016,” Hill told the House Intelligence Committee in its seventh public impeachment hearing.
“These fictions are harmful even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes,” added Hill, a longtime Russia hawk.
Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, pushed back against Hill’s characterization, pointing to the committee’s GOP-led report last year concluding that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Separately, Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have amplified unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Hillary Clinton.
“In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests,” Hill added.
GOP lawmakers have sought to legitimize Trump’s skepticism of Ukraine by casting the country’s government as “out to get” Trump during the 2016 campaign.
Nunes has sought to depose Alexandra Chalupa, a former Democratic National Committee official whom Nunes has accused of colluding with Ukraine to undermine Trump in 2016. Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has rebuffed the request.
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In her opening statement before House impeachment investigators, obtained by POLITICO, Fiona Hill plans to go after Republican lawmakers for pushing a “fictional narrative” about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 presidential election https://t.co/vV0V2kvZT8
— POLITICO (@politico) November 21, 2019
“I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine — not Russia — attacked us in 2016,” Fiona Hill said in today's impeachment hearing.
Watch her full opening remarks👇https://t.co/07Szi3fLYV pic.twitter.com/iWbWj81rRA
— POLITICO (@politico) November 21, 2019
NEW: Fiona Hill is *not* going to take kindly to any suggestion Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. From her opening statement: pic.twitter.com/xdCginXB1q
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 21, 2019
Schiff asks Fiona Hill: “Why are the Russians pushing the narrative that it was Ukraine?”
Hill says Russia wants to “delegitimize” the U.S. presidency.
“This is exactly what the Russian government was hoping for … pit one party against the other.”
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) November 21, 2019
Fiona Hill: "[Rudy Giuliani] was clearly pushing forward issues and ideas that would probably come back to haunt us and in fact, I think that's where we are today." pic.twitter.com/NBN6HnJjn5
— The Hill (@thehill) November 21, 2019
Fiona Hill: "It was very apparent to me that that was what Rudy Giuliani intended, yes. Intended to convey that Burisma was linked to the Bidens. And he said this publicly repeatedly." pic.twitter.com/Kt05mLBem8
— The Hill (@thehill) November 21, 2019
Fiona Hill: "The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today. Our nation is being torn apart, truth is questioned, our highly professional and expert career foreign service is being undermined." https://t.co/6UTU82lSSy pic.twitter.com/H31Jt0VxLL
— The Hill (@thehill) November 21, 2019
Read Hill opening statement by kballuck1 on Scribd
This is such a key piece of testimony. The president was sending a team on a personal political errand. This was destined to blow up. It was contrary to the national interest and the way a superpower conducts international diplomacy. https://t.co/FYtuSjYi7M
— David French (@DavidAFrench) November 21, 2019
And there it is…https://t.co/hkE83Vw9u9
— John Schindler (@20committee) November 21, 2019
Be more specific, John.
Your Ukrainian sources were Ukrainian sources allied with the Russians. https://t.co/vTHLFZXDbs
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 23, 2019
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