Impeachment inquiry: Donald Trump’s ex-Russia adviser Fiona Hill scolds Republicans for spreading Ukraine ‘falsehoods’
- Discredited conspiracy theory suggests that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in 2016 presidential election
- Hill called it ‘fictional narrative perpetuated and propagated by Russian security services’
US President Donald Trump’s former Russia adviser Fiona Hill urged lawmakers in the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry on Thursday not to promote “politically driven falsehoods” that cast doubt on Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election.
Hill spoke on the final day of scheduled public testimony before the House Intelligence Committee probing whether Trump asked Ukraine to investigate a political rival in return for a White House meeting or the release of US security aid.
If the committee calls no further witnesses, Hill’s request may set the stage for the Democratic-led House’s wider consideration of whether to draft formal charges known as articles of impeachment against the Republican president.
In her testimony, Hill said some members of the panel appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against the United States during the 2016 presidential race, and that perhaps Ukraine did.
“This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves,” said Hill, who until July served as the director for European and Russian affairs at the White House National Security Council.
“In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests,” she said during the hearing, which ended after more than five hours of testimony.