Trump's former Russia aide met with White House lawyer over Giuliani

President Donald Trump’s former top Russia aide Fiona Hill told House impeachment investigators on Monday that she had at least two meetings with a National Security Council lawyer about Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to convince Ukrainian officials to investigate the president’s political rivals, according to a person who was in the room for the testimony.

Hill told lawmakers and aides that then-national security adviser John Bolton, after learning of Giuliani’s efforts, told her to speak with lawyer John Eisenberg, the person said. Hill testified that she met with Eisenberg briefly on July 10, the same day she attended a meeting with Ukrainian officials at the White House. Hill said she had a longer meeting with Eisenberg on July 11, the person added.

Hill also told House impeachment investigators that Bolton told her, “I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up,” referring to the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, whom Hill believed was involved in the discussions about Ukraine. Hill also said Bolton described Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, as “a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.”

The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about Hill’s testimony, said Hill became passionate more than once about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. She expressed concern that the United States was not doing enough to combat Russia’s aggression, and that it was opening the door for other countries to do the same, the person said.

Hill’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York Times first reported Bolton’s comments, as relayed by Hill, but the details of her two meetings with Eisenberg were not previously known.

Hill’s testimony came as Democrats accelerate efforts to unearth the facts of Giuliani’s shadow diplomacy with top Ukrainian officials.

After nearly 10 hours behind closed doors, Democrats said Hill’s testimony before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees was critical to their understanding of the extent to which Giuliani bypassed official U.S. government channels by pressuring Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s possible opponent in the 2020 presidential election.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Oversight Committee who attended a portion of Hill’s deposition, said Hill’s testimony painted a more “comprehensive” picture of Giuliani’s under-the-radar efforts.

“You had two parallel tracks. There was official U.S. foreign policy, and then there was the shadow foreign policy being run by Giuliani, which had all kinds of illegitimate purposes,” Raskin told reporters.

Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Calif.), an Oversight member, told POLITICO that Hill was “very credible,” adding that she recalled details of meetings and other events during her tenure at the White House “with such specificity.”

Democrats vehemently defended their secrecy of the evidence-gathering process, which has been taking place exclusively behind closed doors. Republicans, meanwhile, renewed their attacks over the impeachment procedures, accusing Democrats of keeping witness transcripts under lock and key and depriving the public of an opportunity to hear the evidence.

Ahead of Hill’s testimony, Republican lawmakers echoed their long-standing criticisms of the impeachment process that Democrats have established, saying Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is running a “kangaroo court” that lacks transparency. Democrats have maintained that the depositions must be conducted in private in order to preserve the integrity of the evidence gathered during the course of the investigation.

“They are darn lucky these weren’t public,” quipped Washington Rep. Denny Heck, who was among just a handful of Democrats who attended Hill’s deposition.

It was unclear if the White House sought to block Hill from testifying, as it has for other former officials who have been summoned before the House this year. But Hill’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, said she was served with a subpoena — a possible indication that she, like other congressional witnesses, sought a subpoena to testify over potential concerns from the White House.

An official working on the impeachment inquiry said Hill was subpoenaed “in light of attempts by the White House and the administration to direct witnesses not to cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry and efforts by the White House to limit any testimony that does occur.” The official added that Hill complied with the subpoena and answered questions from lawmakers and aides of both parties.

According to a White House readout of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump asked his counterpart to link up with Giuliani and investigate Biden. The request, which came amid a holdup of congressionally authorized military aid to Ukraine, is now at the center of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Hill concluded her government work just days before Trump’s phone call with Zelensky.

Hill worked on the National Security Council overseeing U.S. policy toward Russia and is a longtime critic of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, in stark contrast to a president who has openly challenged the intelligence community’s conclusion that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election to boost Trump. A fluent Russian speaker, Hill helped engineer the administration’s harsh response to a Russian chemical attack in the U.K., among other internal efforts to promote a more skeptical approach to Moscow.

Later Monday, an official working on the impeachment inquiry said Michael McKinley, who resigned last week as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s top adviser, will testify behind closed doors on Wednesday. McKinley’s testimony comes as the State Department is mired in the controversy over efforts by Trump and his associates to pressure Ukrainian leaders to investigate the president’s political rivals, and the extent to which State Department officials facilitated those efforts.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper, meanwhile, is expected to appear for a deposition on Friday. Cooper oversees Russia- and Ukraine-related issues at the Pentagon.

Hill’s appearance kicked off another busy week for House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, is set to testify on Thursday, and the week is riddled with deadlines for document requests and subpoenas to government agencies and officials — an indication of Democrats’ breakneck pace as they build a case against Trump.

The State Department initially blocked Sondland from appearing before the House’s impeachment investigators last week, but after receiving a subpoena, Sondland’s attorney says his client will appear before the three committees spearheading the probe on Thursday.

Text messages provided to the committees by Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations, showed that Sondland was deeply involved in talks surrounding Trump’s desire for Ukrainian officials to probe Biden and to assist the Justice Department in its investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation — a top target of Trump and his allies.

Unlike Hill, Sondland is a political appointee who donated to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and his inaugural committee. The Washington Post reported that Sondland was expected to tell Congress that Trump himself dictated one of the text messages to his fellow diplomats in which he stated that there was no “quid pro quo” with Ukraine involving military aid.