Democrats on Capitol Hill are demanding President Trump’s former Russia adviser hand over documents regarding the presidents phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and “meetings relating to foreign assistance of any kind.”
Fiona Hill resigned just days before Trump’s July phone call with Zelensky that paved the way for House Democrats to launch their impeachment inquiry. She is set to appear before Congress on Monday and is expected to discuss the concerns she has raised over longtime diplomat Marie Yovanovitch’s exit from the Trump administration during her testimony.
Yovanovitch’s removal as the ambassador of Ukraine has become as a key topic in the inquiry. She testified last week that she was ousted after a “concerted campaign” from Trump to have her removed.
In addition to addressing her concerns about Yovanovitch, Hill is also expected to speak about how she believes the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland were operating a Ukraine policy outside of the National Security Council.
“She will certainly explain that the channel that was apparently open by Ambassador Sondland and Rudy Giuliani, these were things that were going on outside the purview of the National Security Council,” Angela Stent, the director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University, said.
Among items of interest to the Democrats, as outlined in their document request to Hill, are the president’s communications with Ukraine, efforts to conceal his calls with foreign leaders, Giuliani’s attempts to convince Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, and “meetings relating to foreign assistance of any kind,” among others.
The Democrats’ demands add further fire to calls to get the bottom of whether or not the president committed an impeachable offense in his dealings with Ukraine, including whether he pressured the country to investigate Biden in exchange for military aid or a meeting with him.
