USA: Ex-White House aide slams 'fictional narrative' of Ukraine meddling in 2016 election

M/S Counsellor for Political Affairs at US embassy in Ukraine David Holmes arriving, US House Intelligence Committee, Washington DC
W/S Holmes entering
W/S Panel
W/S Russian Affairs White House National Security Council (NSC) Fiona Hill entering
W/S Hearing
M/S Holmes and Hill
SOT, Adam Schiff, US House Intelligence Committee Chairperson: "The president abused his power and invited foreign interference in our elections. If he sought to condition, coerce, extort or bribe a vulnerable ally into conducting investigations to aid an election campaign and did so by withholding official pacts, a White House meeting or hundreds of millions of dollars of needed military aid, it will be for us to decide whether those acts are compatible with the office of the presidency."
W/S Panel; press
M/S Holmes
SOT, Devin Nunes, US House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member: "Ladies and Gentlemen, at last the Democrats once again scramble their kangaroo court rules. Today's hearing marks the merciful end of this spectacle and the impeachment committee, formerly known as Intelligence. Whether the Democrats reaped the political benefit they want from this impeachment remains to be seen, but the damage they have done to this country will be long lasting."
W/S Holmes and Hill standing up
M/S Holmes and Hill swearing in to testify
M/S Holmes and Hill sitting down
SOT, David Holmes, Counsellor for Political Affairs at US embassy in Ukraine: "I heard Ambassador Sondland greet the president and explain that he was calling from Kiev. I heard President Trump then clarify that Ambassador Sondland was in Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland replied, yes, he was in Ukraine, and went on to state that President Zelensky 'loves your ass.' I then heard President Trump ask, 'So, he is going to do the investigation?' Ambassador Sondland replied that 'he is going to do it,' adding that President Zelensky will do 'anything you ask him to.'"
W/S Panel
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SOT, Fiona Hill, former senior director for European and Russian Affairs on National Security Council (NSC): "Some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves. The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is a public conclusion of our intelligence agencies."
M/S Panel; press
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SCRIPT
Former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill and political counselor at the US embassy in Ukraine David Holmes testified before the House Intelligence Committee as part of public impeachment hearings in Washington DC on Thursday.
Hill slammed the advancement of what she described as a "fictional narrative" that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 presidential election. "Some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative," stated Hill.
In his testimony, Holmes claimed that he had overheard the conversation between Trump and US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland on July 26, the day after Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He said, "I heard President Trump ask, 'So, he is going to do the investigation?' Ambassador Sondland replied that 'he is going to do it,' adding that President Zelensky will do 'anything you ask him to.'"
The inquiry is investigating whether Trump put pressure on Ukraine to launch investigations into his Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter for his political gain.
If found guilty in a majority vote in the House of Representatives, Trump will face an impeachment trial in the Senate. A two-thirds majority would then be required to remove the president from office.