WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (KUNA) -- Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council (NSC) official, on Thursday rebutted as "fictional narrative" the Republican lawmakers' claim that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 US presidential elections.
Hill, who served as President Donald Trump's top advisor on Russia until last summer, appeared alongside David Holmes - the counselor for political affairs at the US Embassy in Ukraine, at the last public hearing by the House Intelligence Committee in the impeachment probe into Trump.
"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," she said.
"This is a fictional narrative that is being perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves," she testified.
In his testimony, Holmes who overheard a call between Trump and US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said, "While Ambassador Sondland's phone was not on speakerphone, I could hear the president's voice through the ear piece of the phone.
"The president's voice was loud and recognizable. I then heard President Trump ask, so he's going to do the investigation? "Ambassador Sondland replied that he's going to do it, adding that President Zelensky (of Ukraine) will do anything you ask him to do," he revealed.
For his part, Chair of the Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff said, "In conditioning a meeting with Zelensky and then military aid on securing an investigation of his rival, Trump put his personal and political interest above the United States." Schiff was referring to former vice president and potential presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Devin Nunes, a ranking Republican member of the Intelligence Committee, said, "Throughout these bizarre hearings, the Democrats have struggled to make the case that President Trump committed some impeachable offense on this phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky.
"President Zelensky has repeatedly said there was nothing wrong with the conversation," Nunes maintained.
On her part, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "The evidence is clear that the president -- the president -- has used his office for his own personal gain." She added that she does not know if the impeachment hearing leads to the need for additional testimony.
In response, Trump said. "I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life.
"My hearing is, and has been, great. Never have I been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I've even tried, but to no avail. Try it live," he added in a tweet.
On a similar note, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham cast doubts on Hill's testimony and the credibility of Democratic-led impeachment inquiry.
"As has been the case throughout the Democrats' impeachment sham, today's witnesses rely heavily on their own presumptions, assumptions and opinions," she said.
"These two witnesses, just like the rest, have no personal or direct knowledge regarding why U.S. aid was temporarily withheld.
"The Democrats' are clearly being motivated by a sick hatred for President Trump," Grisham added. (end) asj.gb