Biggest Takeaways from Newly-Released Testimony of Lt. Col Alexander Vindman and Fiona Hill

The House Intelligence Committee today released public testimony from two of President Donald Trump’s top foreign policy advisers in the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

The testimony for both Fiona Hill and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman contains a number of damaging details about Trump’s allies actions in Ukraine – particularly about the role of Rudy Giuliani.

The Intel Committee also released its key findings for both Hill and Vindman’s testimonies.

1. Hill believed Giuliani had a personal financial interest related to his actions in Ukraine. 

“I will be quite frank in saying that most of the people who I spoke to thought it was related to personal business on his part,” she told the committee.

2. Hill didn’t see a point in speaking with Giuliani because she thought he was crazy based on his various cable news hits.

“Look, I’m not a psychologist or anything, but based on my assessment of what Mr. Giuliani was saying on television, it was all over the place…I didn’t see the point in having a conversation with him,” she said.

3. Vindman told the committee there was no basis to the conspiracy theory pushed by Giuliani about Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election and Giuliani’s push to remove the ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

“I am unaware of any factual basis for the accusations against Ambassador Yovanovitch, and I am, frankly, unaware of any authoritative basis for Ukrainian interference in 2016 elections, based on my knowledge,” he told the committee.

4. Vindman told the committee that Mick Mulvaney’s office ordered a hold on military aid to Ukraine to ensure assistance was “aligned with administration priorities.”

“… I, frankly, probably had some idea before that because of my contacts, interactions throughout the interagency. So I probably had some sense, but it became crystal clear when OMB staffers reported that the hold came from the Chief of Staff’s Office,” Vindman said. “Eventually it became the—what I was told is to ensure that the assistance aligned with administration priorities was what was the reason.”

BONUS: Adam Schiff told Vindman he was “deeply dismayed” by a “vicious personal attack” against Vindman on Fox News.

Schiff was likely referring to Laura Ingraham and John Yoo openly questioning whether Vindman was a spy because he immigrated from Ukraine when he was a young child.

“I do want to say also, Colonel, how deeply dismayed I was with the vicious personal attack on you on Fox last night, and I hope it will be condemned by all Americans. We are very grateful for your service. You represent what’s best about this country,” Schiff told Vindman