Fiona Hill slams Republican lawmakers who've promoted 'politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests'

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Former White House national security aide Fiona Hill testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 21, 2019.

• Fiona Hill, the former director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council, warned Republican lawmakers to abandon the unfounded theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US election.
• "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 Thursday's impeachment hearings. 
• Hill, who was the top Russia expert on the National Security Council until July, stressed the ongoing negative impacts of Russia's successful interference in the 2016 presidential election.
• Follow along with our live coverage of the hearings here.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Fiona Hill, the former director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council, warned Republican lawmakers during Thursday's impeachment hearings not to promote the unfounded theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US presidential election. 

Hill spent time during both her prepared opening statement and in answering questions on Thursday arguing that the conspiracy about Ukraine is a Russian talking point and hurts US interests. 

"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 her public testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

Hill pushed back on Republicans on the Committee, some of whom - much like President Donald Trump - have expressed skepticism about the US intelligence community's determination that Russia interfered in the US election. 

"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. 

Hill, who was the top Russia expert on the National Security Council until July, stressed the ongoing negative impacts of Russia's successful interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a US adversary, and that Ukraine - not Russia - attacked us in 2016," Hill said. "These fictions are harmful even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes."

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