Trump Ally, GOP Senator Goes Against Him: Debunks Claims On Russia, Ukraine

"Was the Kremlin's interference in our 2016 election a hoax?"

Ukraine, which depends on USA army help to battle Russian-backed separatists, has dismissed any suggestion of United States election interference.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., pressed Hale on the latter point, because it is a key argument made by President Donald Trump and his supporters to explain why the administration withheld military aid amid the president's requests the country investigate its part in the US election. Second, because Fiona Hill, a former member of the White House National Security Council, and a Russian Federation authority, was clear about what House Republicans were already doing.

"It doesn't mean that Russian Federation didn't, but I think North Korea did", he said.

"Do you have any reason to disagree with Dr. Hill?"

Some Republicans on the House intelligence committee are championing a discredited conspiracy theory (also embraced by Trump) that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.

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Despite privately expressing skepticism regarding the claims, a growing number of Republicans in Congress have made the strategic decision to publicly back the claim, believing it to be the most "politically expedient" Trump defense against impeachment, according to the Washington Examiner.

"It does not serve our interests", Hale said.

Witnesses within the impeachment inquiry have testified that Giuliani ran a parallel diplomatic monitor with Ukraine in coordination with Trump, bypassing common channels.

While U.S. intelligence services have repeatedly pointed to Russian Federation as the entity behind the DNC hack, some Republicans and Trump media allies have pushed unvetted claims about Ukraine also being involved in an attempt to justify the president's delay of $400 in military aid to the country.

"I saw no evidence from our intelligence community, nor from the representatives today from the Department of State, that there is any evidence of any kind that suggests that Ukraine interfered in our elections", Romney, R-Utah, told reporters.

USA intelligence concluded that Russian Federation manipulated social media among other actions in hopes of supporting Trump in 2016, although a probe by former Federal Bureau of Investigation chief Robert Mueller found no evidence that the Trump campaign was colluding with Moscow.