Trump inquiry hears from ‘thorough’ witness
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s former Russia adviser testified for more than nine hours yesterday behind closed doors, the latest witness summoned in the impeachment inquiry against the US president over his request Ukraine investigate a political rival.
The Democrats’ rapidly progressing inquiry could prompt the House of Representatives to approve articles of impeachment — formal charges — leading to a trial in the Senate on whether to remove Trump from office.
Fiona Hill, former senior director for European and Russian Affairs on Trump’s National Security Council, recounted a July 10 meeting in Washington she attended with senior Ukrainian and US officials, including US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, according to a person familiar with her testimony.
Hill said Sondland raised the matter of investigations, which she and others took as a reference to a probe into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Alarmed at what she heard, Hill said she left the meeting and was advised to see National Security Council lawyer John Eisenberg, the person said.
Hill said Sondland appeared to be coordinating with Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, the person said.
The meeting happened about two weeks before a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate allegations against the Bidens, the call at the centre of the investigations.
Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin told reporters Hill, who spoke to the House Intelligence Committee and two other panels, ‘‘was a remarkably thorough and authoritative witness’’ who recalled ‘‘particular events and particular meetings’’.