Former Trump aide calls Ukraine meddling theory fiction; Trump would welcome Senate trial
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s former Russia adviser urged lawmakers in the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry yesterday not to promote “politically driven falsehoods” that cast doubt on Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Fiona Hill spoke on the last day of public testimony scheduled before the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee probing whether Trump improperly asked Ukraine to launch investigations that would benefit him politically in return for a White House meeting or the release of U.S. security aid.
Democrats argued that seven public hearings over the past two weeks had buttressed their case that Republican Trump acted improperly in asking Ukraine for investigations of Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, and of whether Ukraine meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.
Republicans denied wrongdoing by Trump, questioned the credibility of a career diplomat who said he overheard Trump asking if Ukraine would carry out investigations and argued that Democrats aimed to thwart the will of the people by ousting the president.
If the Democratic-led House voted charges, formally called articles of impeachment, against Trump, the matter would go to the Republicanled
Senate, where the White House said the president would welcome a trial on whether to remove him from office.
“President Trump wants to have a trial in the Senate because it’s clearly the only chamber where he can expect fairness and receive due process under the Constitution,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement on Thursday night.
“We would expect to finally hear from witnesses who actually witnessed, and possibly participated in corruption - like Adam Schiff, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the socalled Whistleblower, to name a few,” Gidley said.
Gidley was referring to Democrat Adam Schiff, who is leading the impeachment inquiry as chairman of the House intelligence panel, as well as to an intelligence community whistleblower whose complaint helped trigger the investigation.
Trump has accused Biden of corruption without offering evidence. Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has denied any wrongdoing. A spokesman for Schiff declined comment.
It was unclear if the House panel would conduct further hearings.
In her testimony, Hill said some members of the panel appeared to believe that Russia and its security services did not meddle in the 2016 presidential race to support Trump, 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 served until July 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.
In a July 25 call at the heart of the inquiry, Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Biden, ; his son Hunter, who had served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma; and whether Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election.
The inquiry is also examining whether Trump’s temporary freeze of $391 million in congressionally approved security aid to help Kiev fight Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, was intended to pressure Zelenskiy to conduct the probes.
Democrats say Trump’s dealings with Ukraine amount to an abuse of power to pressure a vulnerable U.S. ally to dig up dirt on a domestic political rival.