Fiona Hill, formerly the top White House official handling Russia policy, is set to needle congressional Republicans in her impeachment testimony.
In her opening statement, obtained by The Daily Beast, Hill will criticize unnamed members for pushing the allegations that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 U.S. elections. Only Republicans have pushed that notion.
“Based on questions and statements I have heard, 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,” her statement says. “This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.”
ADVERTISEMENT
She continued that Russian intelligence services are now preparing to meddle in the 2020 campaign, and that the U.S. is “running out of time to stop them.”
“In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests,” the statement says.
She also pointed to Russian interference as a major contributor to the crisis now facing U.S.-Ukraine relations: “U.S. support for Ukraine—which continues to face armed Russian aggression—has been politicized,” the statement says.
She called the allegations against Kyiv “an alternate narrative,” and said she would refuse to participate in efforts to legitimize it.
Hill’s statement also has a line that appears directed at her former National Security Council colleagues John Bolton and Charlie Kupperman. Anyone with information that Congress believes is relevant, she said, has “a legal and moral obligation to provide it.”
Her statement is a strong invective against Republicans—especially notable coming from a former member of the Trump administration.
