WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, November 21, 2019

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1/ The former White House adviser on Russia opened her testimony before the impeachment inquiry by accusing Republican lawmakers of weaponizing "falsehoods" with the "fictional narrative" that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Fiona Hill called Rep. Devin Nunes attempts to sow doubt that Russia interfered in the election a myth "perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services." She added that it's "beyond dispute" that "Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions" in 2016. Hill and foreign service officer David Holmes appeared together as public impeachment witnesses, testifying about efforts by Gordon Sondland and Rudy Giuliani to convince Ukraine's president to announce investigations that would benefit Trump politically around the time Trump froze security aid to Ukraine. Hill testified that she warned Sondland at the time that his efforts in Ukraine on behalf of Trump would "blow up." She added: "And here we are." (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)

• MORE:

• Hill said Sondland was "involved in a domestic political errand" and that he was "carrying out what he thought he had been instructed to carry out." (New York Times)

• Holmes testified that Russian intelligence was trying to "drive a wedge" between the U.S. and Ukraine to give the Kremlin more influence in the region. Hill added that Russia's interest "is to delegitimize the president," and that Russia's goal in 2016 was to put the next president – Trump or Clinton – "under a cloud."

• Holmes explained that he was able to overhear Trump ask Gordon Sondland about getting Ukraine to launch an investigation, because Trump's voice was "quite loud" and "quite distinctive." Holmes said that when Trump came on the line, Sondland "sort of winced" and "held the phone away from his ear." (CNBC)

• READ: Fiona Hill's opening statement

• READ: David Holmes' opening statement

• READ: Adam Schiff's opening statement

• READ: Devin Nune...

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