Excerpts: Former top White House official Fiona Hill's opening statement: "...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. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves." (Updated)

(Commentary, including reposted material. Temporarily posted.)

(11/20/19 source article link. Subscription may be required:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/21/us/politics/fiona-hill-opening-statement-ukraine.html)

↓11/20/19 update/insert: .."A domestic political 'errand'...":




YT video link. No copyright claimed or assumed.

ALSO: "Hill says she's had to block Twitter attacks"

(Quick comment:) It wasn't politically 'expedient', but Hillary was -- at least in too many cases -- correct about her (2016) "deplorables" remark...

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(Continuing:)

Additional excerpts from today's opening statement (Emphasis added:)

"The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence agencies, confirmed in bipartisan Congressional reports. It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified.

The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today. Our nation is being torn apart. Truth is questioned. Our highly professional and expert career foreign service is being undermined.

U.S. support for Ukraine—which continues to face armed Russian aggression—has been politicized.

The Russian government’s goal is to weaken our country—to diminish America’s global role and to neutralize a perceived U.S. threat to Russian interests...."

(Also, emphasis added:)

"...I do not think long-term conflict with Russia is either desirable or inevitable. I continue to believe that we need to seek ways of stabilizing our relationship with Moscow even as we counter their efforts to harm us. Right now, Russia’s security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election. We are running out of time to stop them. In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests."

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YT video link. No copyright claimed or assumed.