Fiona Hill, who served as Trump's top Russia adviser until she left the administration this summer, will also warn the House Intelligence Committee as part of the impeachment inquiry that the Kremlin is prepared to strike again in 2020 and remains a serious threat to American democracy that the United States must seek to combat, the source said.
"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," Hill is expected to say based on a copy of her prepared remarks. "This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves."
In her brief opening statement, Hill will offer a strong pushback to the claims peddled by Trump, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and some congressional Republicans that Ukraine may have interfered in the 2016 elections to help Hillary Clinton.
The remarks also offer a more subtle jab at some of Hill's former colleagues who have refused to do what she is doing: appearing before the impeachment committees and detailing her experience.
"I believe that those who have information that the Congress deems relevant have a legal and moral obligation to provide it," she says in her opening statement. Former national security adviser John Bolton, Hill's former boss, is among those who've refused to cooperate with impeachment investigators' request to testify.
Multiple witnesses have said that the moving forward on the 2016 election interference investigation -- along with a probe into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter -- amounted to conditions placed on the country before roughly $400 million in military aid for the country was released and a key meeting in Washington between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could take place.
Both Giuliani and Trump have urged the Ukrainian government to announce probes into any role the country may have had in the 2016 elections, something Trump brought up himself in his now-infamous July phone call with Zelensky.
But Hill in her testimony will argue that such a theory amounts to a fictional narrative at a time when the US should be focused on the real threat: Russia, which she warns could once again seek to interfere in the 2020 elections while the US is focused on Ukraine.
"It is a fiction that the Ukrainian Government was launching an effort to upend our election, upend our election to mess with our Democratic system," she said in her deposition last month. "Because if you're also trying to peddle an alternative variation of whether the Ukrainians subverted our election, I don't want to be a part of that, and I will not be part of it."
Hill added: "We should all be greatly concerned about what the Russians intend to do in 2020."
A descendant from generations of coal miners from the United Kingdom, Hill will testify Thursday about her family's immigrant roots and why she dedicated her career to work on foreign policy, serving under both Democratic and Republican presidents. She will say she believes it's her patriotic duty to answer all questions from the committee about the events that she witnessed, the source said.
Holmes' closed-door testimony provided some of the most colorful episodes of the impeachment inquiry — as well as direct evidence that Trump was inquiring about Ukraine opening investigations with Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, when he overheard Sondland's call with Trump the day after the President's July call.
Democrats have repeatedly cited Holmes' testimony that Sondland told him Trump "did not give a s--t" about Ukraine, and only cared about "big stuff" that benefits him like the investigation of the Bidens. Sondland on Wednesday did not dispute that he would have said Trump didn't care about Ukraine, but he did disputing bringing up the Bidens.
Hill's testimony provides key details about what went on inside the White House on July 10, when US officials met with a Ukrainian delegation and Sondland raised the prospect of Ukraine opening investigations. Hill testified last month behind closed doors that Bolton abruptly shut down the meeting, and then told Hill to follow Sondland when he convened a side conversation with the Ukrainians. She testified that Sondland told the Ukrainians that he had an agreement with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for a White House meeting if the Ukrainians went forward with the investigations.
Hill previously testified that Bolton said he was not going to be part of "whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up on this," in what was the first indication from the House impeachment inquiry depositions that Mulvaney was involved with the push for investigations.
Hill said that she reported her concerns after the July 10 meeting to National Security Council attorney John Eisenberg, one of several officials to report concerns to Eisenberg over Ukraine.
In her deposition, Hill also said she was "extremely concerned that whatever it was that Mr. Giuliani was doing might not be legal," pointing to his work with two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Both were indicted last month on campaign finance charges.
This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.
CNN's Kevin Liptak and Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.
Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top adviser on Russia, and David Holmes, an embassy official in Kyiv, will testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee.CreditCredit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times
Fiona Hill will urge Republicans to abandon ‘fictional’ story about Ukraine meddling in 2016 election.
Fiona Hill, the former top Russia expert on the National Security Council, will criticize Republicans on Thursday for propagating what she calls a “fictional narrative” that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 elections, according to a copy of her opening statement for the impeachment hearing.
The impeachment inquiry centers on the accusation that President Trump withheld a White House visit for Ukraine’s president and security aid for the country as leverage to push the government to announce investigations into his political rivals and to validate the claim that Ukraine conspired to helpDemocrats in the 2016 election.
Ms. Hill calls the claim a fake story invented by Russian intelligence services to destabilize the United States and deflect attention from their own culpability.
“In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests,” Ms. Hill plans to say, according to her testimony. “These fictions are harmful even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes.”
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Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee during a hearing on Wednesday.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
In her opening statement, Ms. Hill will urge the committee to focus on Mr. Trump’s actions instead of the conspiracy theories put forth by Republicans.
“If the president, or anyone else, impedes or subverts the national security of the United States in order to further domestic political or personal interests, that is more than worthy of your attention,” Ms. Hill plans to say, according to her testimony. “But we must not let domestic politics stop us from defending ourselves against the foreign powers who truly wish us harm.”
Ms. Hill is also expected to testify Thursday morning about the reaction of her boss, John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, to the pressure campaign on Ukraine led in part by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer. She has saidin past, closed-door testimony that Mr. Bolton considered Mr. Giuliani a “hand grenade” that would eventually blow everyone up.
In her opening statement, Ms. Hill takes a veiled swipe at Mr. Bolton’s refusal to testify in the impeachment inquiry, saying that she plans to answer questions about “what I saw, what I did, what I knew, and what I know” about the Ukraine situation before she left the National Security Council last summer.
“I believe that those who have information that the Congress deems relevant have a legal and moral obligation to provide it,” she plans to say in a likely reference to Mr. Bolton.
President Trump lashes out ahead of impeachment hearing.
Before the day’s hearing began, the president posted a string of angry tweets about Democrats and the impeachment investigation.
The Democrats leading the impeachment investigation are “human scum,” he said.
The public hearings over the last week are “the most unfair hearings in American History.” And, “never in my wildest dreams” did he think his name would be linked to the “ugly word, Impeachment!”
Mr. Trump also revived his complaints about the special counsel investigation into whether his campaign or aides were involved in Russia’s election interference.
Hill can detail how Bolton saw Giuliani as a ‘hand grenade’ meddling in Ukraine policy.
In previous closed-door testimony, Ms. Hill described in detail a July 10 White House meeting during which Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, told Mr. Bolton that he was working with Mr. Giuliani to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats in exchange for a White House meeting for the country’s new president.
Mr. Bolton was so disturbed that he abruptly ended the meeting and instructed Ms. Hill to tell the National Security Council’s top lawyer about what Mr. Sondland, Mr. Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, were up to, Ms. Hill has testified. Mr. Bolton told Ms. Hill that he was not “part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.”
Later, Ms. Hill said that Mr. Bolton told her that “Giuliani’s a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.”
Ms. Hill left the White House before the July 25 call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. But Democrats believe her account could be crucial in helping to establish that top White House officials like Mr. Bolton felt the pressure campaign was inappropriate, and that Mr. Mulvaney was deeply involved in it.
Mr. Sondland said in Wednesday’s hearing that Ms. Hill’s account of the July 10 meeting did not “square with my own.”
Hill has said that Sondland bragged that Trump put him in charge of Ukraine policy.
Democrats are looking to Ms. Hill to corroborate Wednesday’s testimony by Mr. Sondland that he pressured Ukraine to announce investigations at Mr. Trump’s direction.
“We followed the president’s orders,” Mr. Sondland told lawmakers, testifying that it was well understood at the White House and throughout the Trump administration that a White House meeting for Mr. Zelensky was contingent on whether he agreed to announce investigations into Mr. Trump’s political rivals.
Mr. Sondland also said he came to conclude that a package of military aid for Ukraine was linked to the investigations. But Republicans seized on Mr. Sondland’s assertion that he was never explicitly told that by Mr. Trump or anyone else.
Ms. Hill told lawmakers in her previous testimony that when she confronted Mr. Sondland, whose official portfolio did not include Ukraine, about his authority over issues related to the country, he told her that his power came directly from Mr. Trump.
She said she asked Mr. Sondland “who has said you’re in charge of Ukraine, Gordon?” according to the transcript of her testimony released by the House Intelligence Committee. “And he said, the president. Well, that shut me up, because you can’t really argue with that.”
An embassy official who overheard a Trump-Sondland phone call is expected to recount a memorable conversation.
William B. Taylor Jr., the top diplomat in Ukraine, testified last week that he had only recently become aware of a cellphone call between Mr. Trump and Mr. Sondland overheard by one of his aides. On Thursday, that aide, David Holmes, who works in the United States Embassy in Kyiv, will testify in a public session.
In closed-door testimony, Mr. Holmes told lawmakers that he overheard Mr. Trump, who was speaking loudly, asking Mr. Sondland whether Mr. Zelensky was “going to do the investigation.” Mr. Sondland, a wealthy hotelier and political donor turned ambassador, told Mr. Trump that Mr. Zelensky “loves your ass,” and would conduct the investigation and do “anything you ask him to,” according to Mr. Holmes’s statement.
In Mr. Holmes’s account, Mr. Sondland later told him that Mr. Trump cared only about “big stuff that benefits the president” like the “Biden investigation” into the son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Sondland largely confirmed that account on Wednesday but said he did not recall specifically mentioning Mr. Biden.
Democrats believe the conversation helps establish that the president was preoccupied with persuading Ukraine to publicly commit to investigations that benefited him politically. They want Mr. Holmes to describe the scene in detail.
Before then, catch up on some important background on the impeachment inquiry.
Mr. Trump repeatedly pressured Mr. Zelensky to investigate people and issues of political concern to Mr. Trump, including the former vice president. Here’s a timeline of events since January.
A C.I.A. officer who was once detailed to the White House filed a whistle-blower complaint on Mr. Trump’s interactions with Mr. Zelensky. Read the complaint.
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transcript
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transcript
Who Are the Main Characters in the Whistle-Blower’s Complaint?
President Trump’s personal lawyer. The prosecutor general of Ukraine. Joe Biden’s son. These are just some of the names mentioned in the whistle-blower’s complaint. What were their roles? We break it down.
Congressman: “Sir, let me repeat my question: Did you ever speak to the president about this complaint?” Congress is investigating allegations that President Trump pushed a foreign government to dig up dirt on his Democratic rivals. “It’s just a Democrat witch hunt. Here we go again.” At the heart of an impeachment inquiry is a nine-page whistle-blower complaint that names over two dozen people. Not counting the president himself, these are the people that appear the most: First, Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani. According to documents and interviews, Giuliani has been involved in shadowy diplomacy on behalf of the president’s interests. He encouraged Ukrainian officials to investigate the Biden family’s activities in the country, plus other avenues that could benefit Trump like whether the Ukrainians intentionally helped the Democrats during the 2016 election. It was an agenda he also pushed on TV. “So you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden.” “Of course I did!” A person Giuliani worked with, Yuriy Lutsenko, Ukraine’s former prosecutor general. He pushed for investigations that would also benefit Giuliani and Trump. Lutsenko also discussed conspiracy theories about the Bidens in the U.S. media. But he later walked back his allegations, saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens. This is where Hunter Biden comes in, the former vice president’s son. He served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company run by this guy, who’s had some issues with the law. While Biden was in office, he along with others, called for the dismissal of Lutsenko’s predecessor, a prosecutor named Viktor Shokin, whose office was overseeing investigations into the company that Hunter Biden was involved with. Shokin was later voted out by the Ukrainian government. Lutsenko replaced him, but was widely criticized for corruption himself. When a new president took office in May, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky said that he’d replace Lutsenko. Giuliani and Trump? Not happy. They viewed Lutsenko as their ally. During a July 25 call between Trump and the new Ukrainian president, Trump defended him, saying, “I heard you had a prosecutor who is very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair.” In that phone call, Trump also allegedly asked his counterpart to continue the investigation into Joe Biden, who is his main rival in the 2020 election. Zelensky has publicly denied feeling pressured by Trump. “In other words, no pressure.” And then finally, Attorney General William Barr, who also came up in the July 25 call. In the reconstructed transcript, Trump repeatedly suggested that Zelensky’s administration could work with Barr and Giuliani to investigate the Bidens and other matters of political interest to Trump. Since the whistle-blower complaint was made public, Democrats have criticized Barr for dismissing allegations that Trump had violated campaign finance laws during his call with Zelensky and not passing along the complaint to Congress. House Democrats have now subpoenaed several people mentioned in the complaint, as an impeachment inquiry into the president’s conduct continues.
President Trump’s personal lawyer. The prosecutor general of Ukraine. Joe Biden’s son. These are just some of the names mentioned in the whistle-blower’s complaint. What were their roles? We break it down.CreditCredit...Illustration by The New York Times
House committees have issued subpoenas to the White House, the Defense Department, the budget office and other agencies for documents related to the impeachment investigation. Here’s the evidence that has been collected so far.
Read about the Democrats’ rules to govern impeachment proceedings.
Prince Andrew didn’t step down from royal duties — he was fired by his mom, Queen Elizabeth II, according to reports in the UK.
“The Queen summoned the Duke to Buckingham Palace to tell him her decision,” one of Andrew’s friends told The Sun of the Duke of York’s downfall that royal experts have called “monumental.”
“It was a devastating moment for both of them. His reputation is in tatters,” the source said, referring to the overwhelming backlash to his BBC interview discussing his ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“It is unlikely he will ever perform royal duties again. He is disgraced,” the source told the paper.
The Queen, 93, made her decision to fire her “favorite son” Wednesday after heavy pressure from her other eldest son, Prince Charles, who also had crisis talks with his scandal-hit brother, several UK papers stated.
“Charles was very involved in the decision as heir to the throne,” a senior Palace source told The Sun of the royal currently in New Zealand.
“He knew action had to be taken. The Duke knew he couldn’t fight any more. His royal career is over.”
The source also admitted that the Queen was “privately very disappointed” with Andrew, according to The Sun.
Prince Andrew on ThursdayPA Images via Getty Images
“She has spent her whole life protecting the monarchy and in just one week her son’s actions threatened to tear it apart,” the source said.
“Something had to be done to draw a line under all of this.”
Andrew will no longer receive his $323,000 Sovereign Grant allowance but will still receive his income from the Queen’s private funds, the paper noted.
However, sources stressed that Andrew “remains a member of the Royal Family” even though he will not carry out public duties.
“He will still appear during Trooping the Color and on the balcony at major events,” a source told the paper.
Royal biographer Robert Lacey told The Times of London that it was a “monumental” moment in royal history.
“Nothing like this has happened in the Queen’s long reign,” he said.
Prince Andrew poses with Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts, wearing pink, and Epstein’s alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, wearing white.MediaPunch / BACKGRID
Royal author Penny Junor also believes the Queen must be “horrified.”
“This is absolutely unprecedented that a fairly senior member of the Royal Family should be forced to retire from public life,” she told The Sun.
Fiona Hill, President Trump's former top adviser on Russia and Europe will testify to the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
The basics: Who, what, when and how to watch.
Who: Ms. Hill and Mr. Holmes will testify during a morning session. There is no afternoon session scheduled.
What: The House Intelligence Committee, led by its chairman, Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, will continue to examine the case for impeaching Mr. Trump. The Republican minority, led by Representative Devin Nunes of California, will again work to poke holes in testimony implicating the president.
When and Where: The morning proceedings start at 9 Eastern in the House Ways and Means Committee chambers. It will most likely last until the afternoon.
How to Watch: The New York Times will stream the testimony live, and a team of reporters in Washington will provide real-time context and analysis of the events on Capitol Hill. Follow along at nytimes.com, starting a few minutes before 9.
Hill can detail how Bolton saw Giuliani as a ‘hand grenade’ meddling in Ukraine policy.
Fiona Hill, the former senior expert on Russia and Europe at the National Security Council who is testifying in the impeachment inquiry on Thursday, has told House investigators that John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, was alarmed about a pressure campaign on Ukraine that was being led by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer.
In previous closed-door testimony, Ms. Hill described in detail a July 10 White House meeting during which Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, told Mr. Bolton that he was working with Mr. Giuliani to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats in exchange for a White House meeting for the country’s new president.
Mr. Bolton was so disturbed that he abruptly ended the meeting and instructed Ms. Hill to tell the National Security Council’s top lawyer about what Mr. Sondland, Mr. Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, were up to, Ms. Hill has testified. Mr. Bolton told Ms. Hill that he was not “part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.”
Later, Ms. Hill said that Mr. Bolton told her that “Giuliani’s a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.”
Ms. Hill left the White House before the July 25 call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. But Democrats believe her account could be crucial in helping to establish that top White House officials like Mr. Bolton felt the pressure campaign was inappropriate, and that Mr. Mulvaney was deeply involved in it.
Mr. Sondland said in Wednesday’s hearing that Ms. Hill’s account of the July 10 meeting did not “square with my own.”
An embassy official who overheard a Trump-Sondland phone call is expected to recount a memorable conversation.
William B. Taylor Jr., the top diplomat in Ukraine, testified last week that he had only recently become aware of a cellphone call between Mr. Trump and Mr. Sondland overheard by one of his aides. On Thursday, that aide, David Holmes, who works in the United States Embassy in Kyiv, will testify in a public session.
In closed-door testimony, Mr. Holmes told lawmakers that he overheard Mr. Trump, who was speaking loudly, asking Mr. Sondland whether Mr. Zelensky was “going to do the investigation.” Mr. Sondland, a wealthy hotelier and political donor turned ambassador, told Mr. Trump that Mr. Zelensky “loves your ass,” and would conduct the investigation and do “anything you ask him to,” according to Mr. Holmes’s statement.
In Mr. Holmes’s account, Mr. Sondland later told him that Mr. Trump cared only about “big stuff that benefits the president” like the “Biden investigation” into the son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Sondland largely confirmed that account on Wednesday but said he did not recall specifically mentioning Mr. Biden.
Democrats believe the conversation helps establish that the president was preoccupied with persuading Ukraine to publicly commit to investigations that benefited him politically. They want Mr. Holmes to describe the scene in detail.
Before then, catch up on some important background on the impeachment inquiry.
Mr. Trump repeatedly pressured Mr. Zelensky to investigate people and issues of political concern to Mr. Trump, including the former vice president. Here’s a timeline of events since January.
A C.I.A. officer who was once detailed to the White House filed a whistle-blower complaint on Mr. Trump’s interactions with Mr. Zelensky. Read the complaint.
Video
transcript
0:00/3:08
-3:08
transcript
Who Are the Main Characters in the Whistle-Blower’s Complaint?
President Trump’s personal lawyer. The prosecutor general of Ukraine. Joe Biden’s son. These are just some of the names mentioned in the whistle-blower’s complaint. What were their roles? We break it down.
Congressman: “Sir, let me repeat my question: Did you ever speak to the president about this complaint?” Congress is investigating allegations that President Trump pushed a foreign government to dig up dirt on his Democratic rivals. “It’s just a Democrat witch hunt. Here we go again.” At the heart of an impeachment inquiry is a nine-page whistle-blower complaint that names over two dozen people. Not counting the president himself, these are the people that appear the most: First, Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani. According to documents and interviews, Giuliani has been involved in shadowy diplomacy on behalf of the president’s interests. He encouraged Ukrainian officials to investigate the Biden family’s activities in the country, plus other avenues that could benefit Trump like whether the Ukrainians intentionally helped the Democrats during the 2016 election. It was an agenda he also pushed on TV. “So you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden.” “Of course I did!” A person Giuliani worked with, Yuriy Lutsenko, Ukraine’s former prosecutor general. He pushed for investigations that would also benefit Giuliani and Trump. Lutsenko also discussed conspiracy theories about the Bidens in the U.S. media. But he later walked back his allegations, saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens. This is where Hunter Biden comes in, the former vice president’s son. He served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company run by this guy, who’s had some issues with the law. While Biden was in office, he along with others, called for the dismissal of Lutsenko’s predecessor, a prosecutor named Viktor Shokin, whose office was overseeing investigations into the company that Hunter Biden was involved with. Shokin was later voted out by the Ukrainian government. Lutsenko replaced him, but was widely criticized for corruption himself. When a new president took office in May, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky said that he’d replace Lutsenko. Giuliani and Trump? Not happy. They viewed Lutsenko as their ally. During a July 25 call between Trump and the new Ukrainian president, Trump defended him, saying, “I heard you had a prosecutor who is very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair.” In that phone call, Trump also allegedly asked his counterpart to continue the investigation into Joe Biden, who is his main rival in the 2020 election. Zelensky has publicly denied feeling pressured by Trump. “In other words, no pressure.” And then finally, Attorney General William Barr, who also came up in the July 25 call. In the reconstructed transcript, Trump repeatedly suggested that Zelensky’s administration could work with Barr and Giuliani to investigate the Bidens and other matters of political interest to Trump. Since the whistle-blower complaint was made public, Democrats have criticized Barr for dismissing allegations that Trump had violated campaign finance laws during his call with Zelensky and not passing along the complaint to Congress. House Democrats have now subpoenaed several people mentioned in the complaint, as an impeachment inquiry into the president’s conduct continues.
President Trump’s personal lawyer. The prosecutor general of Ukraine. Joe Biden’s son. These are just some of the names mentioned in the whistle-blower’s complaint. What were their roles? We break it down.CreditCredit...Illustration by The New York Times
House committees have issued subpoenas to the White House, the Defense Department, the budget office and other agencies for documents related to the impeachment investigation. Here’s the evidence that has been collected so far.
Read about the Democrats’ rules to govern impeachment proceedings.
