Republicans are warming to a Ukraine election meddling narrative as they mount a defense for Trump against the fast-moving impeachment proceedings.
WASHINGTON – Former White House Russia adviser Fiona Hill warned House lawmakers last month not to buy into the"fictional narrative" that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Sunday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told NBC's"Meet the Press" that he believed there was"considerable evidence" that"Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election." Story continuesSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Fox News on Thursday that he will be in"total coordination" with the White House on the strategy for a trial and said he sees"no chance" the president would be removed.Democrats have accused Trump of withholding a meeting and military aid from Ukraine to pressure Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce investigations that would further his political interests.
Raising 'questions' about Ukraine Several Republican senators have echoed Trump in saying someone should look into claims that Kyiv interfered in the 2016 election, but most have not gone as far as the president and Giuliani in alleging a widespread effort to intervene. Instead, many GOP senators have couched their comments by saying they have"questions" about Ukraine's actions.
Defying intelligence: Despite Fiona Hill warning, Sen. John Kennedy says Ukraine may be behind 2016 DNC hack "It also exemplifies the intellectually dishonest knots that Republicans are having to tie themselves into in order to defend the president," she said. The Ukraine meddling narrative Trump has raised as early as 2017 has been spread on right-wing websites and promoted by Giuliani.
But Trump has floated the possibility that Ukraine was behind the hack and framed Russia. He has also claimed – falsely – that CrowdStrike is owned by a wealthy Ukrainian who sought to cover up the crime by refusing to hand over a physical server to the FBI in its own investigation into the DNC hack. Trump has suggested that server is being concealed in Ukraine. “And I still want to see that server. You know, the FBI has never gotten that server. That’s a big part of this whole thing.
During the forensic investigation, CrowdStrike used a process called"imaging," which includes creating a"byte-for-byte copy of the hard drives," according to a company statement. Investigators also made copies of the hard drive's memory, capturing evidence that could be lost in a reboot while also monitoring the network's traffic.
Manafort is now in prison for concealing millions of dollars he earned from a once-secret lobbying deal he had with Ukraine’s former pro-Russia president. “If I asked a question, they would provide guidance, or if there was someone I needed to follow up with,” Chalupa told Politico. “There were no documents given, nothing like that.”
But several Republican senators have reinforced the theory of Ukrainian interference by suggesting there are"unanswered questions" about Kyiv's actions that deserve to be investigated.
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