Impeachment Update: Fiona Hill's Testimony Strengthens Impeachment Case
In her Congressional testimony yesterday, Fiona Hill, Trump's former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia, bolstered the case for the President's impeachment.
Washington Post: "Fiona Hill, the White House’s former top Russia adviser, told impeachment investigators on Monday that Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, ran a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine that circumvented U.S. officials and career diplomats in order to personally benefit President Trump, according to people familiar with her testimony."
Hill testified that former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, was so concerned by Giuliani's plot to pressure Ukraine to investigate Donald Trump’s political rivals that he directed Hill to alert National Security Council lawyers.
New York Times: "The aide, Fiona Hill, testified that Mr. Bolton told her to notify the chief lawyer for the National Security Council about a rogue effort by Mr. Sondland, Mr. Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, according to the people familiar with the testimony."
“I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up,” Mr. Bolton, a Yale-trained lawyer, told Ms. Hill to tell White House lawyers, according to two people at the deposition. (Another person in the room initially said Mr. Bolton referred to Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Mulvaney, but two others said he cited Mr. Sondland.)"
Gordon Sondland is a former Trump donor, later named US ambassador to the European Union. He is scheduled to testify in the impeachment inquiry on Thursday.
Ms. Hill also related to investigators that John Bolton had earlier concerns about Giuliani's work for the President.
The Guardian: "She [Hill] said that Bolton had told her on an earlier occasion: “Giuliani’s a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.”
President Trump may not want to cooperate with the House investigation, but some administration officials and career diplomats don't seem as reluctant. In the coming days the House will hear from from Ambassador William Taylor, who questioned whether the Trump administration was withholding aid in exchange for Ukraine launching investigations into Joe Biden and his son Hunter. They will also question Michael McKinley, who resigned last week as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
By: Don Lam & Curated Content
Photo Credit: Kuhlmann / MSC
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