Yesterdays daily beast story reporting the indicted ukrainian love parness has been working with the Ranking Member devin nunez on mr nunez as overseas investigations i am not aware of mr chairman i asked unanimous consent to put into the record the daily beast story harness helped rep devan nunezs investigations from yesterday 1st 2 paragraphs reading left parness and indicted associate Rudy Giuliani helped arrange meetings and calls in europe for rep devan unos in 2018 harnesses lawyer ed mcmahon told the daily beast noone has a derek harvey participated in the meetings the lawyer said which were arranged to help nunezs investigative work mcmahon didnt specify what those investigations entailed objection mr chairman you have been falsely accused throughout these proceedings by the Ranking Member as being a quote unquote fact witness. Now if this story is correct the Ranking Member may have actually been projecting and in fact he have meant he may be the fact witness if he is working with indicted individuals around our investigation and i want to go to what this is really all about 1st its your credibility mr holmes and can you tell us and confirm that in 2014 you received the william rivkin constructive dissent award from the Obama Administration state Department Yesterday and that was for dissent that you brought up against an Administration Policies that right thats right congratulations and thank you for speaking up in the way that you did but what were really here about is what youre working on and ukraine i want you to take a look at the picture who do you see in the foreground of that photo presents a lens here thats a photograph and may 2019 or newly elected president zelinsky visited the little Hans Christian and Eastern Ukraine it was his 1st visit to the frontlines of dumb boss as president and you just tell tax paying americans why its so important that our hard earned tax paying dollars help president selenski in the men standing beside him fight against russia and this hot war absolutely certain. President s alinsky was elected an overwhelming majority. To defend ukraine interests this is a time when ukrainians are defending their sovereignty and territorial integrity on ukrainian soil from russian backed. Soldiers who are attacking them and they said 14000 ukrainian lives lost in this war so far as i mentioned a few this week already and this is a hot war this is not a frozen conflict people are shooting each other and dying injured every single week. And despite the ongoing war they are still trying to pursue peace president s even right now is trying to pursue a summit meeting with president putin in order to try to bring this war to a conclusion so that they can move on with all of the difficult things they need to do in terms of building the economy and reforming the judiciary and what not and i want to add one other thing if i may. Mr turner had suggested earlier that. Somehow embarrass president s alinsky i havent the deepest respect for president s alinsky this is a guy this is a guy of jewish background from and soviet industrial suburb in southern ukraine who made himself one of most popular dinners in the country and somehow got elected president and hes not going to miss that opportunity this is a ukrainian patriot this is a tough guy and frankly he was stood a lot of pressure for a very long time. And he didnt give that interview i have a deepest respect for him ukrainian people also have the deepest respect for him theyve chosen him to help deliver the full measure of promise of their revolution of dignity and i think all our respect thank you mr chairman i ask unanimous consent to enter the may 27th photograph depicted on the screen into the record without objection mr heard. Thank you dr hill mr holmes for years years of service to this country and i appreciate you being here today throughout this process i have said that i want to learn the facts so we can get to the truth so why are we here because of 2 things that occurred during the president s july 25th phone call with ukrainian president on the use of the phrase do us a favor though in reference to the 26000 president ial election and the mention of the word biden i believe both statements were inappropriate misguided Foreign Policy and its certainly not how the executive current or in the future should handle such a call over the course of these hearings the American People have warned about a series of events that in my view have undermined our National Security and undercut ukraine a key partner on the front lines against russian aggression. Weve heard of u. S. Officials carrying uncoordinated confusing and conflicting messages that created doubt and uncertainty and key at a time when a new Reformist Administration has just taken office and was ready to fight corruption and work with us to advance other u. S. Objectives i disagree with this sort of bungling Foreign Policy through these hearings money my colleagues have unwittingly undermined Ukrainian Government by suggesting that it is subservient to the United States and without the United States they wouldnt be able to function ukrainians have you stayed in mr holmes is in a hot war with russia and they are holding their own we could benefit from the experience of the ukrainians not the other way around while i thought the Intelligence Committee would actually be engaged in oversight of the intelligence and National Security communities unfortunately we are not we are here and talking about one of the most serious constitutional duties we have as members of congress the impeachment and removal of the present the United States over the past only weeks weve learned a few things the officials on july 25th call have many different opinions on whether the call was concerning or not and just because Vice President biden is running for president does not mean that corruption related to barisan ukraines largest Natural Gas Company and americans ties to it or not concerning this also a lot we do not know if not heard from Rudy Giuliani havent heard from him by then id like to know more about both of their activities why they talk to him and to whom despite promises from chairmanship we have also not heard from the whistleblower something that can occur in a close setting without violating his or her and then maybe we need to understand the motivations and level of coordination that happened prior to his or her submission of the complaint for the past few weeks and even today its been reiterated 2017 the trumpet ministration made the decision to provide lethal defense of a to ukraine after the Obama Administration refused to do so. Ukraine is receiving all the Security Assistance as directed by Congress President selenski has undertaken significant any corruption efforts including eliminating the parliamentary immunity from prosecution and again mr holmes you mention this today under president selenski leadership we have finally seen some progress this fall towards ending the Russian Occupation of Eastern Ukraine so where does this leave us and Impeachable Offense should be compelling overwhelmingly clear and unambiguous and its not something to be rushed or taken lightly i have not heard evidence proving the president committed bribery or extortion i also reject the notion that hold in his view means supporting all the Foreign Policy choices we have been hearing about over these last few weeks to paraphrase 10 morrison testimony this week every day the National Conversation on ukraine is focused on impeachment not the conflict in the don boss not the illegal occupation of crimea not the need for reforms in ukraines government economy its a day where we are not focused on our shared National Security interests with kieve i hope that we wont let this very partisan process keep us from a green on how a free and prosperous ukraine is important to the security of ukrainian people the United States of america and the rest of the world mr chairman before i yield back my time right to make a statement for the record that has this committee been given proper notice as required by house rule 11 class 2 g. 3 a business meeting was to follow last nights hearing and had mr conaways point of order been a probably recognize i would have been voted no on the committees 1st motion to table during last nights impromptu meeting and i yield back the balance of my castro thank you chairman thank you both you for your testimony today i 1st want to say because i think it should go on mention. That a characterization just a few minutes ago by one of my republican colleagues of this proceeding i think was vile. Irresponsible and dangerous and i want to from i want to remind us why were here because somebody in government a whistleblower felt that it was important enough to get other people in governments attention that the president may have committed a wrong act we have now heard and seen substantial evidence that the president in fact tried to trade a political favor for official Government Resources the most damning words come from no one else but the president himself on that phone call with the ukrainian president where he asked for a favor he mentions investigations he mentions abidance and very slow however as mr holmes assessed it by mr holmes also overheard the president speaking to his handpicked embassador ambassador. About investigations mr holmes has also said that in the office everybody knew or many people knew at least that there was an investor the president wanted investigation of the bidens in addition although Mick Mulvaney and Rudy Giuliani have not come before this committee make moving in Rudy Giuliani has spoken publicly on the issue investigations make veiny the president s chief of staff the person who usually works with the president the most day in and day out when in front of the White House Press corps and basically admitted that an investigation had something to do with holding up the aide and that this an admitted that this book this process was politicized Rudy Giuliani the president s personal lawyer also essentially admitted that these investigations were addition he said that he thinks he did nothing wrong because he was working at the direction of the president. So we have seen substantial evidence and heard substantial evidence of wrongdoing by the pres of the United States and this congress will have to continue to take up this very important issue to the American People my concern today is also i feel as though the cancer of wrongdoing may have spread beyond the president and into others of the executive branch and i want to ask you a few questions about that before i do i like chairman to enter 2 articles into the record if i could one of them is headline after boost from perry backers got huge gas deal in ukraine the other one is titled wall street journal federal prosecutors probe giulianis links to 2 Ukrainian Energy projects mr holmes a new edition thank you chairman you indicated that secretary perry went when he was the ukraine had private meetings with ukrainians before he had those private meetings in a meeting with others including yourself i believe he had presented a list of american advisors for the Ukraine Energy sector do you know who was on that list. Sir i didnt see the names on the list myself you know if Alex Crown Bergen Michael blazer were on that list i have since heard that michael blazers on the list was it what is before it as secretary perry did this we also heard in testimony before that ambassador saad lun also had a private meeting with somebody how unusual was it before these guys showed up for folks diplomats so to speak or u. S. Government officials to have private meetings where they insist that nobody else be in the room. Very rare almost never ok and i want to ask you also. About the precedent that we set both of you i know youre here is fact we desist but youre also Public Servants for this country the precedent that this congress would set putting aside donald trump for a 2nd if the Congress Allows a president of the United States now or later to ask a Foreign Government head of state to investigate a political rival what precedent does that set for american diplomacy for the safety of americans overseas and for the future of our country thats a very bad precedent very bad present president and Going Forward if that were ever the case i would raise objections thank you both. The strength of the chair want to return the favor and recognize my colleague my colleague congressman conaway. I wish every. Dr phil its i dont think its a lot of questions that what a putins primary objectives within the United States is to so as to foment unrest with our nation to cause us to have. Lost news confidence in our elections the results of elections those kind of things there is tension though and conducting our business is the way we should and of thought you know playing into putins hands as an example. Well i disagree with what were doing here today its under our constitution and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe they are functioning under the constitution these hearings this issue has very divisive within our country and is continuing to push that way i think that plays into putins hands inadvertently maybe nothing we could do about that. But there are certain things we can do as individuals that it wouldnt play into his hands and one of them would be that the loser in the 2060 election has for 3 years continued to argue that because she won the popular vote as she and her friends one of oputa voters somehow the election was inappropriate and that we shouldnt trust it that the Electoral College victory which was resoundingly shouldnt be trusted does that help putin. Play into the narrative that he would like for us to do that there are elect their elections are somehow rigged and should be trusted yes it does so the r t putins would you agree with me the r. T. Is putins Propaganda Machine here in the United States i would agree with you yes so is it appropriate for the r. T. To be used to affect Public Policy in our nation is example theres been a long series of advertisements are programs on r t going against fracking that is saying thats bad and trying to affect Public PolicyUnited States is that appropriate use or is that should be should americans be paying attention to that. And the tend. To be paying attention that and other outlets they use to propagate this kind of information absolutely i wasnt quite sure what you meant to suggest that the danger in fracking is or trying to version issue the nation if we did away with fracking United States would not be a position today to dominate through a production within the world and would play into strengthening putins hands with respect to that is correct and actually id like to point out that in 2011 for 2000 havent actually sat next of lodging me a putin conference in which he made precisely that point it was the 1st time that he had actually done so to a group of american journalists and experts who were brought to something called the volatile Discussion Club so he started in 2000 of making it very clear that he saw american fracking as a great threat to russian interests who were all struck by how much he stressed this issue and its since 2011 and since that particular juncture that putin has made a big deal of this show they said that americans Pay Attention or to be in or mis guided by whatever propaganda is going its not the best interest mr holmes. In your role your privilege to an awful lot of stuff. Official things and things that are best kept between you and the official folks that you deal with is there an expectation among the principals that you represent that you will exercise some discretion and what you share with others about what goes on yes or no. In your public in your testimony or deposition you made the right way of course off we had a hard time pinning down the number of people that you actually had this conversation with about the conversation that you overheard now our ambassador had no expectation of privacy you know blustering around doing what hes done but we couldnt figure out how many people you actually shared that information with and and i would argue that the information is on flattering to the president unflattering to the game better. And that your discretion is to you know at odds here i mean your testimony or the deposition said you share that with folks who you thought would find it find it interesting well id argue that a bit of the back row would find it interesting but i dont know that thats necessarily a crowd tanso on a go forward basis can you articulate that in the future when youre privileged to search circumstances that it would be embarrassing to the principle that if its official that you share that ambassador thats fine but the folks outside the Embassy Embassy or folks here within them to see the dont have a need to know that you would regale them with your recounting of those instances. Sir i think is going to show discretion by having that conversation oh no dont you mind your well thats that im so mustnt westies acting lighting is the best maybe im going to dance only really is one of us mr owens let me clarify the question mr hall mr wasnt skivvies best to answer your question sir is my question youre exactly right and i get to clarify my question to get the answer and im hopeful i get a few more seconds because of the interruption from the chair of his patience is growing thin i was working hard not to irritate him again but i failed again the question is of you mr holmes your discretion Gordon Holmes did not have i mean suddenly did not expect of privacy got death but youre going to be in rooms for lock youve been a room 17 years with him where people trust that when whatever went on that room and left that you kept to do official channels that you didnt share all that information with the folks im just asking you to to to argue for your book on your own behalf that interesting is not some sort of criterion that you would use and where the when you share information from buffer meetings simple straightforward question sir i shared the information i need to share with the right people who needed to know it i did not share any information that people didnt need to know. But you did use the word interesting was going to happen to your time you know but i really was interesting zur and i would also hate to think that that what i brought before this this process i should have done that ive come here because he was subpoenaed me to share what i know and ive done that i was you were cut off when you were talking about this to silence and discretion to do want to finish that answer i think the shermanesque patently unfair in this kind of way as you bring this entire is not fair investigation where this kind of way to interrupt the witnesses you as you have done repel pictures here certainly willing to appear in a under much 5 minutes that you have youre the only person thats nice has there not a limited time you have absolutely no right to time the only one that is abuse that power and you continue to do not know a general sees we allow the witnesses to answer the question even if those asking the question dont want to hear the answer mr heck you are at a cloudy as well mr holmes much as today i made about the use of both regular and irregular Foreign Service or diplomatic channels my reading of history is that american president s have on occasion used your regular channels would you generally agree yes or and my reading of history is that generally speaking however those original or channels have either been closely coordinated with the regular ones or at least in furtherance of american Foreign Policy and our National Security interest would you agree thats right sir and do you believe sir that mr giulianis efforts were closely coordinated with the regular channels such as the ambassador to the ukraine no they werent and were they in furtherance of the american Foreign Policy as you understood it no sir mr holmes if left unchecked do you think that russia would either by means of force or other moly malign means subjugate ukraine attempted render it a client state if not occupy it. Absolutely sir its been said that without Ukraine Russia is just a country but with it its an empire. You know i feel like ive been treated to a gatling gun fire of meth propagation over the last couple of weeks and it reminds me of that old. Expression about the big lie if you tell it often enough and keep repeating it people will come to believe it and i think weve been subjected to some of that. Heres a sample the president didnt solicit Campaign Assistance from ukraine in a clear violation of federal law as he did. The president didnt withhold vital military assistance in further is further in Service Objective to tain that Campaign Assistance as he did. Giuliani was acting not just on his own kind of as a rogue. No it wasnt that all this is business as usual this happens all the time and stems from a principled interest no it isnt and no it wasnt and that its ok to attack patriotic diplomats and Public Service if a stand in your way and have you have the courage to speak up and no it isnt those are just some of the big lies but heres the big truth the president did it he did it. We all just came from the floor. And its a majestic chamber and in the front of the chamber there are only 2 portraits on the left looking for is my favorite president George Washington and on the right is the marquis de lafayette who came to this country to help us stand up our fledgling democracy so heres another big truth. Without his help we probably never would have gotten off the ground and that assistance from many other countries who are helping us to create something that had never been created before it was an audacious idea this notion of a democracy of Self Governance of freedoms such as speech and press and religion and expression and assembly and most of all that it would be rooted in the premise of the rule of law not monarchs not military strongman but the rule of law. Others helped us to get here and we wouldnt be here without them and i frankly feel like were almost in a little bit of a pay it forward moment so in the president did it. It put at risk the security of ukraine a strategic ally. And a nascent democracy with their masses yearning to breathe free to 6 years ago this day when their government said were not going to sign that memorandum of agreement with European Union rose up and took to the streets because they wanted frankly what we have and when the president did it he put our own National Security at risk but what he did most importantly was put at risk that idea that makes us exceptional because i do believe america is truly exceptional we are a country rooted in something that nobody has ever tried before rule of law he put that at risk when he did what he did the president did. And the only question that remains is what will we do. Or youll back its true mr jordan thank you mr chairman dr hill during. Your deposition i ask you was Christopher Steeles dossier a rabbit hole do you remember you remember the answer you gave to i guess i thought it was about this ho yeah and you also said a couple pages later in the deposition or in the transcript that i have here of your deposition that you thought he got played is that fair that is famous. I was struck by a number things you said your statement or things i thought were right on the target and 11 was on page 7 you said this president putin and the Russian Security services weaponize our own Political Opposition Research and that is exactly what happened in 2016 exactly what happened you called it you knew it you saw it the d. N. C. Hired perkins kui who hired fusion g. P. S. Who hired chris for steele who talked to russians who gave him a bunch of dirt bunch of National Enquirer garbages that he compiled in a dot ca and our f. B. I. Used it they used it as part of their investigation that they opened in july of 2016 where they spied on 2 american citizens associated with the president ial campaign my guess is thats probably never happened in American History and exactly what dr phil talked about is what happened in 2016 exactly what she talked about it for 10 months jim comey and his team did an investigation and after 10 months they had nothing. Because we deposed mr comey and he told us after 10 months we didnt have a thing that didnt matter it didnt matter we got them all investigation 32000000. 10 lawyers 40 f. B. I. Agents 500 search warrants 2800 subpoenas and they came back this spring and what they tell us no collusion no conspiracy no coordination but the guys on the other side dont care they dont care theyre doing what dr phil said a number porton things in her Opening Statement theyre doing exactly what dr hill talked about the impact of a successful 2016 rushing campaign remains evident today our nation is being torn apart torn apart ive never seen it this divided and its not healthy it is not healthy for our culture our country not healthy part nation but thats what these guys are doing no conspiracy no coordination no no collusion they dont care now this this whole impeachment thing as the witness said yesterday when the said yesterday without an announcement from zelinsky about an investigation they were going to get a call with the present they were going to get a meeting with the president they were going to get aid from the United States guess what ukraine they got the call they got the meeting and they got the money and there was never an announcement of any type of investigation this is why they dont care theyre going to move forward theres going to be some kind of report theyre going to send some i thought i assume something to the Judiciary Committee and the process is going to go forward and theyll be a trial in the senate all based on some anonymous whistleblower who came forward with no firsthand knowledge whos biased against the president who worked with joe biden now all this now all of this this is. Dr hill is right she said she said it weve got to stop this but theyre not going to theyre doing it all 11 and a half months before the next election and i think maybe the most telling thing is what the speaker of the house said sunday speaker of the house said sunday this is scary speaker of the house said sunday National Sunday morning t. V. Show she said the president is an impostor a guy that 63000000 people voted for who won the Electoral College landslide the speaker of the house of representatives called the president a United States an imposter sad it is sad what the country is going through i wish it would stop but unfortunately i dont think it is mr chairman i yield back mr welch. I want to use my time to speak directly to my colleagues and to the American People todays witnesses and the ones weve been privileged to have before the committee over the last 2 weeks have provided Invaluable Service to our country not just in all your careers but in having the courage and the patriotism to share your facts with the American People and you do so at considerable risk to yourselves but youve clearly step forward for the simple fact you believe that your duty. In all your testimony reaffirms a very central fact President Trump conditioned our Foreign Policy and National Security im getting a valuable political benefit from ukraine he wanted ukraines new president to create ethical questions about joe biden by publicly announcing investigations and to pressure president s olinsky to take that action that would benefit his personal political interests he withheld vital military aid to ukraine and refused to meet the president s linsky in the oval office and as we heard from mr holmes and dr hill today that meeting was extraordinarily important to ukraine and extraordinarily important in sending a message to russia about iran missed it on yielding support the witnesses have made it absolutely clear what the president did and its equally clear that President Trump has launched a cover up and descend from ation campaign to hide this abuse of power from the American People thats why the administration refuses to provide documents to this committee and its why the white house has taken the unprecedented position that senior officials could ignore congressional subpoenas and refuse to testify thats why acting chief of staff no veiny secretary of state pompei o and others have not testified now the president and even some members of this committee are pretending this is normal it is not it must never be. No other president has betrayed his office like this by putting his own small political interests above our National Interest in our National Security. And i asked some of our witnesses what would happen in any American City or town if the mayor stopped funding the Police Department and tell the chief of police launched an investigation into the mares political rival or a governor or a member of congress did that and the answer was clear it would be wrong it would be illegal it wouldnt be tolerate it would violate the most basic trust we have in Public Officials if it happened with a military commander a Court Martial would follow if it happened with a corporation a c. E. O. Would be fired we all know this kind of conduct is rock but the president continues to say it isnt he says is perfect and he do it again tomorrow the same rules apply to mayors governors members of congress c. E. O. s and everyone else in america they apply to the president to whether youre republican or democrat you like m. S. N. B. C. Or fox i think every american believes in one of our nations founding principles no person is above the law not even the president. In july 24th director mueller testified about russian state sponsored systematic interference in our 2016 election expressed apprehension this could become the new normal the day after and july 25th President Trump spoke to president s alinsky and asked a favor that favor with the ukraine interfere in our 2020 alexion if we allow this to stand to become the new normal it will be the standard for all future president s in good conscience none of us can do that. This conduct corrupt democracy it corrupts how our country conducts Foreign Policy it threatens our National Security in the security of all americans and it is in my view a clear betrayal of the president s oath of office i yield back. This maloney. 2 quick housekeeping matters ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an a. B. C. News story this ones for my friend mr stewart entitled 70 percent of americans say trumps actions tied to ukraine were wrong dated november 18th 2900 objection also ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a new yorker story entitled the invention of the Conspiracy Theory. On biden and ukraine how a conservative Dark Money Group that targeted Hillary Clinton 26000 spread the discredited story that may lead to Donald Trumps impeachment jane mayer october 4th 2019 that objection. Good afternoon thanks for being here dr hill 1st of all i thought that was some epic mansplaining that you were forced to endure by my colleague mr turner and i want you know some of us think it was inappropriate but i appreciate i appreciate your forbearance. I missed some im fascinated by this meeting 2 meetings really on july 10th. You have the meeting in mr boltons office. Someone says this thing about investigations bolton and the meeting photo is a follow on meeting in the ward room and you get there a little late and even man is talking to sunlight and theyre already going at it about sawn lins desire to assert that the meeting is going to happen if theres these investigations that sum and substance whats going on. And what i want to understand is is this isnt a policy disagreement right. No thats not thats correct the source of your concern is not a policy discriminants not purely a procedural disagreement either right about how im our excuse me im sorry yes its not correct its not its neither policy nor is it procedure thats bothering you or for that matter. The National Security adviser mr bolton right and so i send you down there to see how the meetings going correct and in fact he instructed to go to the lawyer ever been instructed to go report something to the n. S. C. Lawyer before that was the 1st time ive self instructed a couple of times for that was the 1st time i have been instructed to go and why did he send you to report this to the lawyer well he clearly wanted to have himself on the record as not being pos of what was basically an agreement to have a meeting in return for investigations and he wanted to make sure that i and colonel than men were also not part of this is well because remember there is a color a to this about not getting involved in domestic politics yes i understand and you of course did you concur with this concern that mr ball in hand i did because july 10th is really the 1st time that it crystallized for me that there was basically a different channel going on here and i think it was policy channel on a domestic policy channel and way not enough of the channel right if you described it as a political errand and you were doing National Security policy is how you distinguish those 2 channels and fair right and so is it fair to say that you felt it was improper what was occurring by mr silane in order it was improper it was inappropriate and we said thus in the time in real time and and and heres my point if it was improper and and you went so far as to report this to the lawyers. What was the nature of your disagreement with mr solomon who has come here and said he had no idea that barrys moment bidens until i think much much later than july 10th and of course we know that he and basher vulgar had a blizzard of interactions with mr giuliani there were many statements proposed statements for the ukrainian president this went on all summer and yet how is it that you had this disagreement in front of the ukrainians would send him out in the hallway at some point did he ask you know im just talking about an investigation of corruption generally what you get so worried about he didnt put it in that in that way and i think you know from look listening to him and his depositions and you know what ive read of what he posed and he made it very clear that he was surprised that we had some kind of objection you may remember in his deposition and when he was here he actually didnt remember the meeting in the same way but i thought you said it was even the obvious to you excuse me it was obvious to me correct i thought it was obvious to you the 1st moment binds yes it was and you actually is treated that is a pretty easy thing to understand fact mr morrison figured out with a single Google Search but is it credible to you that mr solomon was completely in the dark about this all summer i mean you had an argument about it didnt he say what im going to tell me at all that he was oblivious to im sorry couldnt hear your answer it is not credible to me that he was oblivious he did not say biden Somebody Just said he said 2016 and i took it to mean the elections as well as. I want to thank you both for your appearance today. Is that means. Thank you so much dr hill and mr holmes for your service i have no doubt after today that we are a better nation because of it we all know by now that in july of this year President Trump sent an order to the office of management and budget that congressionally approved military aid to ukraine be put on hole both of you have expressed that ukraine is the front the 1st line of defense against russian aggression and expansion into europe that russias priority is to undermine the United States is that right dr hill thats correct would you agree with that mr holmes yes dr hill in your professional opinion is in the National Security interest of the United States to support ukraine with the much talked about military aid yes mr holmes yes weve already said it several times today and youve already testified that ukraine is in war right now with russia isnt it true mr holmes that even though the Security Assistance was eventually delivered to ukraine the fact that it was delayed to a country that is actively in war a signal to russia that perhaps the bond between ukraine and the United States was weakening absolutely absolutely and even the appearance. That the u. S. Ukraine ban is shaky couldnt boldin russia to act in an even more aggressive way thats correct you also testified that it was and i quote the unanimous view of the ukraine policy community that the aid should be released because support in ukraine is in our National Security interest dr hill why do you believe that the entire ukraine policy community were unanimously in agreement well weve had this experience before and i just want you to indulge me for a moment in 2008 russia also attacked the country of georgia i was the National Intelligence officer at that particular juncture and we had warned in multiple documents to the highest levels of government that we believe that there was a real risk of a conflict between ukraine sorry georgia russia and in fact we also believed at that point that russia might attack ukraine this was in 2000 when both georgia and ukraine sought a membership action plan in nato and russia threatened them openly that if they proceeded with their requests for nato membership that they would be consequences. In the wake of the attack on georgia president putin made it clear to the president of georgia Mikheil Saakashvili at the time and this was related to me at the highest levels of the georgian government that putin and said directly to saakashvili your western allies your western partners promised a great deal they didnt deliver i threatened i delivered we had made all kinds of promises to georgia and ukraine in that timeframe and we didnt come through so putin is always looking out to see if there is any hint that we will not follow through on promises that we have made because he will always follow through on its threats as indeed he also muttley did he threatened ukraine in 2008 and it wasnt until 2014 when ukraine try to con kluge an Association Agreement with the European Union that he struck but he had been threatening this for the whole period since 2000 thank you so much dr hill and mr holmes what kind of mess is that it potentially send to other allies of the United States when military holes for assistance or imposed with absolutely no explanation what kind of message does it center l. As in terms of the good faith and Good Relationship with the u. S. Calls into question the extent to which they can count on us. Policies change but u. S. Interests dont at least not for those true Public Servants who are committed and dedicated to protecting our nation thank you both for being 2 of them. This question i think. Good afternoon thank you so much for coming in and thank you for your service on dr hill you stated in your deposition youve been accused of being a mall for george soros in the white house correct. Thats correct. You said in your deposition specifically. A conspiracy was launched against you by a convicted felon roger stone on the show in 4 wars by alex jones right i dont think it was a convicted felon at the time that he launched this so i didnt use those exact words but i wasnt doing drugs just on alex jones on info was in 2017 and in fact just more recently the fall mr stone was. His trial they were us again reprise ing the same info was video and adding embellishments and they said ill quote what they said about you we here at info wars this is roger stone speaking 1st identified fiona hill the globalist leftist george soros insider who had infiltrated mcmasters staff he said that on may 31st 2017 i presume youre not a globalist leftist soros insider correct i think my coalmining family very surprised to hear all of these things about me i would agree leftist perhaps not so much but the left in europe is a bit different from the left here lets put it that way i agree. Interestingly you stated in your deposition that a similar Conspiracy Theory and actually been launched against maria von of it. And you said specifically when i saw this happening to him bastard yvonne of each again i was furious because this is again just this whipping up of what is frankly an antisemitic Conspiracy Theory about george soros to basically target nonpartisan career officials isnt that what you said i did. And im sure youve been watching with concern whats happened to other nonpartizan career officials weve had alex Lieutenant Colonel alex van men and american immigrant questioned for his. Criticism of the president in a very unfair way you know basically question his loyalty to the country i believe that hes also of ukrainian jewish descent would you say that these different theories these conspiracy theories that have been targeting you spawn in part by folks like. Mr stone as well as. Fueled by Rudy Giuliani and others. Basically have attended antisemitism to them at least well so now when they involve george soros they do i just like to point out that in the early 1900 hundreds of the Czarist Secret Police produced something called the protocols of the elders of zion which actually you can sum up 10 on the internets and you can buy its actually sometimes in bookshops inversion and elsewhere this is the longest running until trope that we have in history. On that show up against mr Soros George Soros was also created for political purposes and this is the new protocols of the elders of zion and actually intended to write something about this before i was actually invited to come into the Administration Im sorry an absolute outrage im sorry youve been kind of wrapped up in these a crackpot conspiracy theories let me turn to Rudy Giuliani you became increasingly concerned about Rudy Giulianis increase you know increasing role in ukraine between january and march of 2900 correct correct and i know you served in the bush and the Obama Administrations i presume that george bushs personal lawyer and president obamas personal lawyers were never you know directing or heavily influence in ukraine policy im not even sure i know who they were. So them says no and the the concern for having someone like Rudy Giuliani having such a Strong Influence on american Foreign Policy is that you know basically that policy may be operating not in the best interest of america but perhaps in the best interests of Rudy Giuliani or his clients or Business Associates right i think thats correct and thats us as i said in my deposition october 14th that funky thats what i thought it was at the very beginning when i 1st had mr giuliani making these stay and some of those associates included indicted folks eager froome in love parness is now right correct we have an interesting character in chicago whos now been indicted his name is mr furr tosh and mr furr tash has been indicted for federal bribery charges another associate of giuliani right i do know mr fetish thats correct i know of him from my work thats correct and the question that were all asking is whether american Foreign Policy in ukraine is potentially being run in their interests and not our own it certainly appears that it is being used that theres a subversion of american Foreign Policy to push these peoples personal interests thank you so much. A concludes the member questioning will now go to closing statements of mr nunez you have any closing remarks. As you have stressed in these hearings that the whistleblower complaint was merely a pretext for Donald Trumps political opponents to do what theyve been trying to do since he was elected oust the president from office brief time line will illustrate the wide range of extraordinary taxes that ministration has faced this started in june of 2016 when donald trump was just a candidate behalf of the Democratic National committee in the Hillary Clinton campaign g. P. S. Hires christopher still to write the still dossiers collection of false allegations attributed to russian sources claiming that donald trump is a russian agent. Forward to january 6th 2017 f. B. I. Director james comey briefs president elect trump on the still dossier the briefing is leaked to c. N. N. And soon afterwards buzz feed publishes the dossier january 20th on President Trumps Inauguration Day the Washington Post runs a story headlined quote the campaign to impeach donald trump has begun january 30th 10 days later but was so low as current lawyer tweets hash tag who has started 1st of many steps hash tag rebellion hash tag impeachment will follow immediately march 22nd democrats on this Committee Also declare on national t. V. That they have more than circumstantial evidence that the Truck Campaign colluded with russia july 12th an article of impeachment is filed against President Trump in the house of representatives november 15th democrats file additional articles of impeachment against President Trump as you see this was just in President Trumps 1st year in office he was subject subjected to a coordinated smear operation designed to falsely portray him as a russian agent as well as attempts to impeach him this all occurred before his now infamous call with president linsky in 2018 the attacks continued often from executive Branch Officials charged with implementing policies on february 2nd 2018 Intelligence Committee republicans release a memo revealing that the f. B. I. Used fabrications still dossier to get a warrant to spy on a Truck Campaign associate september 5th the New York Times prints a column by an anonymous trumpet ministration official. Explains that he and other senior officials are quote working diligently from within to frustrate parts of trumps agenda on december 7th james comey admits to Congress Still dossier was unverified before and after the f. B. I. Used it to get a warrant to spy on Trump Campaign associate the russian hoax continued to be the main focus of attacks going into 2001000 but when that entire operation collapsed a new impeachment pretext had to be found may 4th 2019 on National Television a democratic congressman proclaims im concerned that if we dont impeach this president he will get reelected unquote july 24th of this year special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies to congress about his report which debunked the Conspiracy Theory that the Truck Campaign associates conspired with russia to hack the 2016 election july 25th just the very next day a new anti trump operation begins a someone listens to the president s phone call with the ukrainian president selenski and leaks the contents to the socalled whistleblower september 13th democrats on this committee take the extraordinary step of issuing a pressure release related to the whistleblowers complaint october 2nd its revealed that democratic staff on this committee had contact with the whistleblower before he submitted his complaint to the Inspector General contradicting democrat denials that such contact had occurred october 31st i will lean probably the most appropriate day. Democrats in the house of representatives vote to open an official impeachment inquiry against president trial what do you see in this room over the past 2 weeks is a show trial the plan result of 3 years of political operations and dirty tricks and pains waged against this president and like any good show trial the verdict was decided before the trial ever began after all after denouncing the president for years as a russian agent and a threat to democracy how could the democrats not impeach him if they dont have to move they dont move to overthrow him it would indicate that they dont really believe their own dire warnings about the threat he poses the democrats only needed a pretext when their russian cas and investigations failed to do the job they moved to plan b. Ukraine hoax the spectacle with its secret depositions and mid hearing press conferences is not meant to discover the facts it was designed to produce a specific storyline to be pushed forward by the democrats and their supporters in the media ladies and gentlemen as we approach thanksgiving Speaker Pelosi has just made clear just today u. S. M. C. A. Free trade deal with canada mexico will boost our economy will be signed this year so i hope the shift will clarify how much longer we will waste on this effort and what other vital legislation hes willing to sacrifice for this impeachment crusade will there be even more secret depositions accompanied by the usual flood of democratic leaks where we have more public hearings with democrat witnesses but not ours minority are in the dark about what this committee will be doing when we return and so is america. James madison warned us about the danger posed by the tyranny of the majority to avoid that threat our founders created a Constitutional Republic but is there a better example of the tyranny of majority than the way this impeachment process has been run in the house of representatives a process that is grossly unfair can only stem from a cynical majority is willing to break long established precedents trample on legitimate minority concerns and impose their absolute will on this body through sheer force of numbers exploiting the Intelligence Committee as a venue for impeachment has been one of the grossest abuses in a process filled with cynical manipulations large and small but this farce will soon move to the Judiciary Committee or impeachment rightfully belongs i wish my republican colleagues well in fighting this travesty in defending the idea which at one time received bipartisan support not long ago the American Peoples vote actually means something. Thank you gentleman. First of all i want to thank you both for your testimony thank you for your long years of service to the country youre not democratic witnesses or republican witnesses your nonpartisan witnesses and you have stuck to the facts and that is as it should be but 1st i want to make a couple observations about the hearing today and dr hill you were criticized several times by my colleagues for your Opening Statement im glad you didnt back down from it. Youre much more diplomatic than i am i have to say. Anyone watching these proceedings anyone reading the deposition transcript would have the same impression that you evidently had from hearing my colleagues talk about the russia hoax that the whole idea that russia had gotten involved in the 2016 election was a hoax put out by the democrats and of course theyre not alone in pushing out this idea as trumpeted by no one other than the president of the United States who almost on a daily basis at times would comment and tweet and propagate the idea that russias interference in our election was a hoax and of course we all remember that debacle in helsinki when the president stood next to Vladimir Putin and questioned his own intelligence agencies i wish i had heard just some of the righteous indignation we heard in the committee today when the president question that fundamental conclusion of our intelligence agencies but of course they were silent when the president said that theyll show indignation today but they will cower when they hear the president questioning the very conclusions that our Intelligence Community has reached but we saw Something Interesting also today my colleagues sought to use you dr hill to