UNCLASS ] FIED I

5 PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE,

6 j oi nt wi th the
7 COMMITTEE ON OVERS]GHT AND REFORM

8 and the
9 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFA]RS,

l0 U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

1l WASHINGTON, D.C.

t2

l3

t4

15 DEPOSIT]ON OF: F]ONA HILL

16

t7

l8
19

20 l'londay, 0ctober L4, 2019

21 Washi ngton, D. C.

22

23

24 in the above matter was held in Room

The deposition
25 HVC-304, Capi toI Vi si tor Center , commenci ng at 9: 55 a. m.

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 UNCLASS I FIED 2

I Present: Representat'ives Schi f f , Carson, Swatwell, and

2 H eck
j Also Present: Representatives Raski n, Rouda, Rooney,
4 Jordan, Zeldi n, Perry, and Gaetz.
5

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25

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 UNCLASS I EIED J

I Appearances:

4 FoT the PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON ]NTELL]GENCE:

10

ll
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22 FoT the COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM:

23

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 UNCLASS I FIED 4

J For the COMMITTEE 0N F0REIGN AFFAIRS:

4

10 For FIONA HILL

ll
t2 SAMUEL S. UNGAR

l3 LEE WOLOSKY

t4 BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER LLP

l5 L40L New York Avenue, NW

t6 Washington, D.C.2005
t7

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 UNCLASS I FIED 5

I THE CHAIRMAN: The committee will come to order.

2 Good morning, Dr. Hi11, and welcome to the House
J Permanent Setect Committee on Intetligence, wh'ich, along with
4 the Foreign Affairs and 0versight Committees, is conducting
5 this investigation as part of the offjc'ial impeachment
6 inquiry of the House of Representatives. Today's deposition
7 is being conducted as part of that inquiry.
8 In light of attempts by the White House administration
9 to direct witnesses not to cooperate with the inquiry, the
10 committee had no choice but to compel your appearance today.
ll We thank you for complying with the duly authorized

t2 congressional subpoena.
l3 Dr. Hill has served with distinction in and out of
t4 government, including as National Intelligence 0ffjcer for
l5 Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, as a
t6 seni or f ellow
th the Brooki ngs Insti tut'ion, and, most
wi

t7 recently, as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior

l8 Director for Europe and Russia on the National Security
t9 Counci 1 staff.
20 In her most recent work at the White House, Dr. Hill
2t held a unique position at the top of the executive branch's
22 policymaking process, in which she would have had access to
23 and been i nvolved i n key po1 i cy di scussi ons , meeti ngs , and
24 decisions on Ukraine that relate directly to areas under
25 j nvesti gati on by the commi ttees.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 6

t your posi t'ion, Dr. Hi 11, only a f ew

Although you lef
2 days before the Presjdent's July 25th, 2019, call wi th
J Ukrai ni an President Zelensky, we look forward to heari ng your
4 test'imony today about the range of issues and jnteractions we
5 are investigating that occurred in the leadup to the
6 July 25th ca11, as well as your expert assessment of the
7 ev'idence we have uncovered s'ince you left the White House.
8 This includes the July 25 call record itself as well as
9 the documentary record that has come to 11ght about efforts
l0 after the caIl to get the Ukrainians to announce publicly
l1 'investi gati ons i nto the two areas Presi dent Trump asked

t2 President Zelensky to pursue, the Bidens and Burisma, and the

13 conspiracy about Ukraine's purported jnterference in the 2016
t4 U. S. electi ons.

15 I turn to committee counsel to begin the

Before
t6 deposition, I invite the Ranking Member Nunes or, in his
t7 absence, one of the Republican members present to make any
l8 opening remarks. I will recognize one of the GOP members.
l9 MR. J0RDAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
20 Dr. Hi11, I want to thank you also for appearing today.
2t My understanding is you were coming voluntarily until about

22 an hour ago when the chairman issued to you a subpoena.

23 THE CHAIRMAN: Excuse me, could we suspend?
24 Do we have any members here that are not members of the

25 three committees authorized to be present?

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 UNCLASS ] FIED 7

1 Mr. Gaetz, you're not permitted to be in the room.

2 MR. GAETZ: I am on the J udi ci ary Commi ttee .

J THE CHAIRMAN: Judiciary Committee is not a part of th'is

4 hearing.
5 MR. GAETZ: I thought the Judi ci ary Commi ttee had

6 juri sd'ict"ion over impeachment.

7 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, you're not permitted to be in
8 the room. PIease 1eave.
9 MR. JORDAN: Mr . Chai rman , real1y?
10 THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, rea11y.
1l l'4R. GAETZ : to i nclude Members of Congress
You ' re goi ng

t2 on committees that have roles of impeachment

l3 THE CHAIRMAN: 14r. Gaetz, take your statement to the

t4 press. They do you no good here. So, please, absent

15 yourself.
t6 t4R. GAETZ: You're going to have someone remove me f rom
t7 the heari ng?
l8 THE CHAIRI"IAN: You' re goi ng to remove yourself ,

t9 l"1r . Gaetz .

20 MR. JORDAN: 14r. Gaetz is going to stay and listen to

2t the testi mony.

22 THE CHAIRI4AN: Mr. Gaetz, you're goi ng to leave the

ZJ room.

24 I think I have a right to be

MR. GAETZ: No, is there
25 a rule you can cite as to why I am not

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 8

I THE CHAIRMAN: You're not a member of this committee.

2 Thjs is conducted in closed sessjon. You're not permitted to
J be here.
4 t"lR. GAETZ: I'm on the Judjciary Committee.

5 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, please absent yourself from

6 the ttee. I t' s the rul i ng of the chai r you ' re not
commi

7 permitted to be here. PIease leave the committee.

8 MR. JORDAN: Mr. Chairman, I think in the 20 hours of

9 testimony we've heard in the two previous intervjews, there

l0 have been a grand total of L2 Members of Congress present. I
ll don't think it's going to hurt to have a L3th Member actually
12 hear something that, in my judgment, all 435 Members of
13 Congress should be entitled to hear.
t4 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, you're not a member of the

l5 three desi gnated ttees that are parti ci pati ng i n thi s

commi

t6 'intervi ew. You ' re not permi tted to be here . That i s the
t7 ruling of the chair, and you are required to 1eave.
18 MR. GAETZ: Do you have a rule that you're able to cite
l9 for that?
20 THE CHAIRMAN: I
citing the House rules and the
am

2t deposition rules. You are not permitted to be here.

22 MR. GAETZ : Whi ch rule?

23 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, you are simply delayi ng the

24 procedures 'in violation of the rules. Please absent
25 yourself.

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 UNCLASS I EIE D 9

I MR. GAETZ : Whi ch rule?

2 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, why don't you take your
a
J spectacle outsjde? Th'is is not how we conduct ourselves in
4 thi s commi ttee.
5 I've seen how you've conducted yourself in
MR. GAETZ:

6 this committee, and I'd like to be here to observe.

7 THE CHAIRMAN: We'11 wai t unti 1 l"lr. Gaetz leaves bef ore

8 we begin. I do want to say that thjs dilatory tactic will

9 come out of the minority's time for questioning.
t0 HR. GAETZ: Th'is isn't dilatory. You can begin any tjme
ll you 1 i ke.
l2 THE CHAIRMAN: We' re goi ng to begi n the c1ock. Thi s

13 wilt come out of the minority's tjme for questions.

t4 MR. J0RDAN: Wel1, I had a statement I wanted to get to
t5 when you interrupted me.

t6 THE CHAIRMAN: We're not back on the record.

t7

l8

19

20

2l

22

23

24

25

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I E] ED 10

[].0:43 a .m. l

2 Okay. Let's go back on the record.

THE CHAIRI"IAN:

J MR. BITAR: Hi. As the general counsel of the House

4 Intelligence Comm'ittee, I'fi relaying the v'iew of the
5 Parliamentarian, wh'ich was just relayed over the phone, to
6 both Members and staff of the minority comm'ittees as well as
7. the maj or i ty .

8 The Parliamentarian made clear that the House deposition

9 regulations and the language used therein has always been

l0 construed as meaning members of the committees undertaking

ll the joint investigation and not members of other committees
t2 who may w'ish to attend f or other reasons, and, theref ore,
l3 they are not allowed to participate 'in the deposition jtself
t4 or be present.
15 Thank you.
16 MR. J0RDAN: Chairman, could I just add one thing?
l1 THE CHAIRMAN: YCS.

IB I'4R. J0RDAN: The Parf iamentarian was also clear that

t9 there is no precedent, no basis for docking anyone's time,
20 that this was a legitimate question and not dilatory in any
2t sense.
22 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Jordan, you have an opening
23 statement?
24 MR. J0RDAN: I do.

25 0n September 241h, Speaker Pelosi unilaterally

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 UNCLASS I FIED 11

I announced - -
2 THE CHAiRMAN: The record should reflect that Mr. Gaetz
J has left the room.
4 MR. JORDAN: Yes.

5 0n September 24th, Speaker Pelosi unilaterally announced

6 that the House was beginning a so-ca11ed impeachment inquiry.

7 0n October 2nd, Speaker Pelosi promised that the so-ca11ed
8 impeachment inquiry would treat the President with fairness.
9 However, Speaker Pelosj , Chai rman Schi ff, and Democrats
10 are not living up to that basic promise. Instead, Democrats
ll are conducting a rushed, closed-door, and unprecedented
12 impeachment inquiry. Democrats are ignoring 45 years of
l3 bipartjsan procedures, procedures that provided elements of
r4 f undamental f a'i rness and due process.
l5 In past inquiries, the majority and the
impeachment
t6 minority had coequal subpoena authority and the right to
l7 requi re a commi ttee vote on at1 subpoenas. The Presi dent's
l8 counsel had a right to attend all depositions and hearings
l9 inctuding those held in executive session. The President's
20 counsel had a right to cross-examine witnesses and a right to
2t propose wi tnesses.
22 The President's counsel also had the right to present
23 evidence, object to the admission of evidence, and to review
24 all evidence presented, both favorable and unfavorable.
25 Speaker Pelosi and Chaj rman Schi ff's so-called impeachment

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 12

i nqui ry has none of these guarantees of fundamental fai rness

2 and due process.
J Most disappointing, Democrats are conducting this
4 impeachment inquiry behind closed doors. This seems to be
5 nothing more than hiding thjs work from the American people
6 and, frankly, as we just saw, hiding it from other Members of
7 the Un'ited States Congress. If Democrats intend to undo the
8 will of the American people just before the next election,
9 they should at least do so transparently and be willing to be

l0 accountable f or the'i r acti ons .

ll And, fi na11y, Dr. Hi 11, we've been advi sed by the State
12 Department that communications between heads of state are
l3 classified, and I think it's important that we keep that in
t4 m'ind as we proceed through today' s i ntervi ew.
l5 With that, I yield back.
t6 THE CHAIRMAN: 14r. Goldman.

t7 MR. GOLDMAN: Thank you , Mr . Chai rman.

18 This is a deposition of Dr. Fiona Hill conducted by the

l9 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence pursuant to
20 the 'impeachment inquiry announced by the Speaker of the House

2t on September 24th.
22 Dr. Hi11, if you could please state your fu11 name and

23 spell your last name for the record.

24 DR. HILL: 1t's Fiona Hi11. Last name is H-i-1-1.
25 MR. GOLDMAN: Along with other proceedings in

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED t3

I furtherance of the inquiry, this deposition is part of a

2 joint investigation 1ed by the Intelligence Committee in

3 coordi nat'ion wi th the Commi ttees on Forei gn Af f a j rs and
4 Oversight and Reform.
5 In the room today are majority and minority staff from
6 both the Foreign Affajrs Committees and the Oversight
7 Commi ttees, as well as maj ori ty and mi nori ty staff from

8 HPSCI. Just so the record js clear, equal numbers of staff

9 from both the majority and minority have been and are
l0 permi tted to be here. Thi s i s a staff- led deposi tion, but
11 l'lembers, of course, f rom the three commi ttees may ask
t2 questions during thei r allotted tjme.
l3 My name is DanieI Goldman. I'm the djrector of
r4 investigations for the HPSCI majority staff, and I want to
l5 thank you very much for coming in today for thjs deposition.
t6 I would like to do brief introductions, and I understand
t7 that the w1 tness would also j ust 1i ke f or everybody around
t8 the table to introduce him or herself so that the witness
19 knows who everybody is. 5o, to my right js Daniel Nob1e, who
20 is the senior investigative counsel for HPSCI. Mr. Noble and
21 I wjll be conducting most of the interview for the majority.
22 And then, if we could just continue down the room next
23 to Mr. Noble, that would be great.
24

25 MR. HECKr I'm Denny Heck. I represent the 10th

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 UNCLASS I FIED 14

I District of Washington State.

2

J MR. RASKIN: Congressman Jamie Raskin from Maryland's

4 Eighth Distrjct.
5 MR. R0UDA: Congressman Hartey Rouda from 0range County,
6 Cali forni a.
7 MR. R00NEY: Franci s Rooney from southwest Florida,
8 Forei gn Af f a'i rs Commi ttee.
9

l0
11 MR. PERRY: Scott Perry, Pennsylvan'ia's L0th District.
12 MR. ZELDIN: Lee Zeldi n, New York- L.
l3 MR. J ORDAN : Jim Jordan, 0hio.
14

l5

t6 MR. CASTOR: Steve Castor with the Republican staff of

t7 the Oversi ght Commi ttee.
t8

t9

20 MR. WOL0SKY: I 'm Lee Wolosky , counsel to Dr . Hi 11 .

2l MR. UNGAR: I'm Sam Ungar, also counsel for Dr. Hi11.
22 DR. HI LL: Thank you .

23 MR. GOLDMAN: Dr. Hj ll, thi s deposi tion wi 11 be

24 conducted enti rely at the unctassi fj ed leve1 . However, the
25 depos j t'ion i s bei ng conducted 'in HPSCI's secure spaces and i n

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED l5

I the presence of staff who all have approprjate security

2 clearance. It 'i s the commi ttee's expectation that nei ther

J questions asked of the witness nor answers by the witness or

4 the witness' counsel will require discussjon of any
5 information that is currently or at any point could be
6 properly classj fied under Executive 0rder 13526.
7 Moreover, E0 13526 states that, quote, in no case shall
8 information be classified, continued to be maintained as
9 classj fied, or fai t to be declassi f ied, unquote, for the
t0 purpose of conceafing any violations of 1aw or preventing
ll embarrassment of any person or entity.
t2 Now, I understand that, Dr. Hi11, you had classificatjon
l3 authorization in your prev'ious job. You were the classifying
t4 authority. So we expect you to fully understand the
l5 d'istinction here between the classified and unclass'ified, and
l6 we will be relying on you in part to'indicate whether any
l7 questions that are asked may call for answers that are
18 classified.
t9 If that js the case, we would ask that you please inform
20 us of that before answering the questions so that we can
2l adjust accordingly. Part of the reason for that is our
22 understanding is that your attorneys do not have appropriate
23 securi ty clearances
24 DR. HI LL : Ri ght .

25 MR. GOLDMAN: -- and so we'11 want to make sure that we

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED l6

1 preserve all classi fi ed i nformati on i n our nati onal securi ty

2 i nterests.

J Today's deposi ti on 'is not bei ng taken 'in executi ve

4 session, but because of the sensi tive and confidenti a1 nature

5 of of the topics and materials that will be discussed,
some

6 access to the transcript of the deposition will be fimited to

7 the three committees in attendance. You and your attorney
8 wi11 have an opportunity to review the transcript at a later
9 date.
l0 Before we begin, I'd like to go over a couple of ground
ll rules for this deposition. We will be following the House
t2 regulations for depositions. As you know by now, we have
l3 previously provided your counsel with a copy of the
14 regulations, and we have copies here as well if you or your
15 counsel would like to review them at any time.
l6 The way this deposition will proceed js as follows: The
t7 majority will be given L hour to ask questions, and then the
l8 mj nori ty wi 11 be given L hour to ask questions, and,

t9 thereafter, we w'i11 alternate back and forth between majority

20 and mi nori ty i n 45-mi nute rounds unti 1 the questi oni ng i s
2l complete. We will take periodic breaks, but'if you or your
22 counsel need any break at any time, just 1et us know.
Z) As we just understood, you do have counsel here, who
24 just introduced themselves. And so we want to make it clear
25 that, under the House deposit'ion rules, counsel other than

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 UNCLASS I FIED t7

I your own counsel, including counsel for government agencies,

2 may not attend. 5o it is our understanding that the only
a
J counsel here today representing you is your personal counsel.
4 There is a stenographer taking down everything that js
5 said here today. For the record to be clear, we would ask
6 that you please wait unti1 questions are finished before you
7 answer, and we will do the same when you answer. The

8 stenographer cannot record nonverbal answers, such as shaking

9 your head or saying "uh-huh, " so 'it js important that you

l0 answer each question with an audible, verbal answer.

11 We ask that you give complete replies to the questions

t2 based on your best recollection. If a question is unclear or

l3 you are uncertain in your response, please don't hesjtate to
14 let us know and ask that the question be rephrased or asked
15 again. If you do not know the answer to a question or cannot
t6 remember, simply say so.
l7 You may onty refuse to answer a question to preserve a

l8 privilege that is recognized by the committee. If you refuse

l9 to answer a question on the basjs of privilege, staff may
20 either proceed with the deposition or seek a ruling from the
2t chairman on the objection 'in person or by telephone during
22 the deposition at a tjme of the majority staff's choosing.
23 If the chair overrules any such objection, you are required
24 to answer the question.
25 And, fina1ly, you are reminded that it is unlawful to

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 UNCLASS I FIED l8

I deliberately provide false informatjon to Members of Congress

2 or staff. It is imperatjve that you not only answer our
J questions truthfully but that you give fu11 and complete
4 answerS to all questions asked of you. Omissions may also be
5 considered to be false statements.
6 Now, as thi s deposi ti on i s under oath, Dr. Hi 11 , would

7 you please stand and raise your to be Sworn? Do

right hand

8 you answer or affirm that the testimony you are about to give
9 us is the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
l0 DR. HI LL: I do.
ll MR. GOLDI"IAN : Thank you . Let the record ref lect that

12 the wi tness has been sworn.

13 Dr. Fli 11 , i f you choose, now i s your t'ime to make any

t4 openi ng remarks.

l5 DR. HI LL: I don ' t have any openi ngs remarks . I 'm j ust

t6 here to answer everyone's questions.

t7 MR. GOLDi"IAN: And, Mr. Wolosky ' do you have anythi ng

18 that you would like to address before we begin?
t9 MR. WOLOSKY: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Goldman.

20 I would like to enter into the record a letter of

2l today,s date, 0ctober L4, 2019, from Michael Purpura of the
22 whi te House Counsel's off i ce governi ng the subj ects or

23 addressing the subjects of execut'ive privilege and

24 classification, along with a letter from me to Mr. Purpura
25 dated 0ctober L3, 2019.

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 UNCLASS I FIED 19

I I'd like to make it clear that Dr. Hill is testifying

2 today subject to the contents of these letters or of the
3 White House Counsel's 0ffice's letter, also pursuant to the
4 subpoena she recejved today, and pursuant to any rulings that
5 are made by the chair during the pendency of these
6 proceedi ngs .

7 THE CHAIRI"IAN: Those letters wi 11 be admi tted i nto the

8 r eco rd

9 lThe information follows:l

l0

1l ******** INSERT L_L **x*****

12

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t4

l5

t6

t7

l8

t9

20

21

22

23

24

25

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 20

THE CHAIRMAN: In 11ght of the Wh'i te House counsel

2 letter introduced by the witness' counSel, 1et me State at

J the outset of today's testimony that thjs testimony should
4 proceed without any interference or delay.
5 Dr. Hi 11, you are compelled to testi fy at thi s

6 deposition by a subpoena that the Permanent Select Committee

7 on Intelligence issued to you today, 0ctober 14, 2019. You
8 are required to provide fu11, truthful, and accurate
9 testimony i n connection wi th the commi ttee's joi nt
l0 investigation, which is undertaken aS part of the House of
ll Representatives' impeachment inquiry.
t2 Your counsel has provided a letter sent to your counsel
l3 this morning from the White House stating that the
t4 information that you may be asked to testify about today
l5 could be covered by a privilege. Under the House deposition
t6 ru1eS, aS the cha'i r, I have the authori ty to rule on any such
t7 objection, but no such objection wj11 be in order or should
18 be necessary.
t9 As you know, only the President may assert executive
20 privilege, and the Presjdent usually does so jn writing with
2l specificity along with an opinion from the Justice
22 Department. The President has not communicated any such

23 assertion to the committee with respect to the information

24 requested.
25 The Presjdent has also spoken extensively publicly about

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 UNCLASS I F]ED 2t

1 the matters under investigation here, and he has declassified

2 and publicly released a summary of his call with the
J Ukrai ni an Presi dent. The adm'ini strat'ion also declassi f i ed
4 the wh'istleblower complaint and a range of accompanying
5 materials that address the range of issues under discussion
6 today .

7 The President's actjons have opened the door to further

8 investigative actions and taking of testimony on these
9 subj ects. The Presi dent has wai ved hi s abi 1 i ty to block
l0 others from making statements about the same matters that
l1 contrad'ict hi s own statements or expose hi s wrongdoi ng.

t2 Regarding any claim of deliberative process privilege as

l3 an element of executive privi lege, thi s j s not a privi Iege
t4 recogni zed by the Congress. Furthermore, the j nformation you

l5 have been asked to provide is critical to the committee's

l6 investigation and the House's impeachment inqui ry.
t7 We must obtain your answers here because Congress has a

l8 const"itutional duty to expose wrongdoing jn the executive and

t9 to act as a check and balance to the power of the executive,

20 especially when there is significant evidence that the
21 Pres'ident is abusing his executive power for his own personal
22 gain. The committees cannot accept any effort to interfere
23 with these proceedings. We therefore expect you do answer
24 all questions during the deposi tion.
25 With that, I will yield back to Mr. GoIdman.

UNCLASS ]FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 22

I MR. GOLDMANI: Thank You .

2 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

J a Dr. Hi11, could you please explain for everyone in

4 the room What your role was on the National Security Council?
5 A Yes. I was the senjor director who was overseeing
6 all of the interactions across the interagency pertaining to
7 Europe, our European a11ies, including also the European
8 Union and NATO, and also including Russia, Turkey, and the
9 ect at hand, Ukrai ne.
subj

l0 a When did you join the NSC?

ll A I formally started on April 3rd of 201.7.
t2 Technically, it was April L, but it was a weekend.
l3 a And when did You dePart the NSC?

t4 A i departed the NSC physically on July 19th of thjs

15 year, 2019. I handed over my duties on July 15th to my
t6 SucceSSor, Tim Morrison, and I handed in my badge technically
t7 on September 3rd of 2019. But I was actually on vacation, a
l8 paid vacation from the NSC, from basically July 19 all the
t9 way through untjl handing jn my badge again. My last payday
20 was August 30th of 2019. And I gi ve thi s deta'iled answer
2l because I know that there's been Some confusion as to when I
22 was physically there or what my actual tenure was.
23 a July L9th until September 3rd, what was
And from
24 your acceSS to email and other communications within the NSC?
25 A I had some limited access to unclassified email on

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 UNCLASS I FIED 23

I my iPhone, and that would have be under agreement with

2 Ambassador Bolton and with other NSC staff. Because of the
J short handover to Tim Morrison, there were concerns that
4 emails would come into me directly because I'd been there
5 si nce the begi nni ng essentj a1ly of the admi ni stration, and
6 they wanted to make sure that if I was the only person
7 getting an email, that it wasn't lost and could be forwarded
8 on.

9 a 0kay. And prior to joining the NSC, can you just

l0 give us a brjef overview of your professional experience.
ll A I have been working on issues related to Russia
t2 since I was an undergraduate at university back in the 1980s.
13 And, actua11y, I fjrst started in a professional way working
t4 on Russi a- related i ssues, i ncludi ng actually wi th my counsel,
15 Lee Wolosky, in the early 1990s when we were both research
l6 assi stants at the Kennedy School
t7 at Harvard working on technical assistance projects.
l8 After I completed my Ph.D. at Harvard and fjnished
19 worki ng wi th , I then worked for the
20 Eurasi a Foundation. I was the di rector of strategic planni ng
21 for the Eurasia Foundation, which was a congressionally
22 funded technjcal assistance foundation. I became an adjunct
L) fel1ow at the Brookings Institutjon jn 2000, and I became a
24 fu11-time employee of the Brookings Inst'itution around 2002,
25 2003.

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 UNCLASS I FIED 24

I I then, f rom the beg'inni ng of 2005 through to

2 November 2009, at the end of the Bush administration and the

J first year of the 0bama administration, was the national

4 intelligence officer for Russ'ia and Euras'ia at the National
5 intelligence CounciI.
6 I then returned to Brookings in the end of
7 November 2009, and for the next 7 years, I was the director

8 of the Center on the U.S. and Europe at the Brookings

9 Institution before I joined the admjnistration.
l0 a You mentioned that you were responsible for
ll overseeing the interagency process as it relates to your
t2 portfolio. Focusing on Ukraine, what does that mean?
l3 A That means bringing together interagency meetings,
t4 State Department, Pentagon, every other department for
l5 discussions of U.S. Government policy. It also means
l6 meeti ng, where appropri ate, wi th offi ci als, meeti ng
Ukrai ni an

t7 with analysts from our intelligence services to get updates

l8 on a regular basis on developments in Ukraine, and also
t9 preparing, of course, memoranda and any policy documents
20 necessary for the President or the National Security Advisor
2l or other senior members of staff who may be having
22 i nteracti ons perti nent to po1 i cy.

23 a All right. We are going to get into many of the

24 details during your tjme with the NSC, but I would like to
25 spend this fjrst hour trying to hit on some top-1ine issues

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 25

I and get an understanding more broadly about what was going on

2 with Ukraine while you were there.

J And, I guess, the first question, and thjs is perhaps a
4 f i ttle d'i ff i cu1t, but can you descrj be, generally speaki ng,
5 what the official U.S. policy was related to Ukraine and what
6 the focus of official U.S. policy was in relation to Ukraine?
7 A I think the policy towards Ukraine was going
8 through a period of evolutjon jn the time that I was in the
9 administration. lv'lany of you, being long-serving Members of
l0 Congress, and the staff, will of course recall that, you
ll know, a 1ot of focus was put onto Ukraine after the
t2 annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.
l3 And then, of course, there was the outbreak of the war
t4 in Donbas, the downing of MH-17, and decisions made by
l5 members of this body to impose sanctions on Russia in

16 response to those acts that were conducted, those acts of

t7 aggression against Ukraine.
18 So, when I cameinto the administration there was a
19 great deal of debate. This is, of course, you know, the
20 beginning of 20L7. We've had essentially 2-ptus years of
2t efforts to deter Russ'ia from taking further aggressive acts
22 agai nst Ukrai ne. The warin Donbas i s st j 11 conti nui ng.
23 There' s a quest'ion about what role the Uni ted States
24 should play in the resolution of that conflict, because at
25 that juncture jt was the French and the Germans in the course

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 26

I of the Mjnsk group, the grouping set up by the French and the
2 Germans, along with Ukra'in'ians and technically also the

J Russ'ians, to try to find a resolution to the war in the

4 Donbas.

5 The United statesdidn't actually have a role in this.

6 So we were in the process of deliberating then what role the
7 United States should play, how we would work together wi th
8 the French and the Germans to try to seek a resolution of the
9 conflict in Donbas, how We should conduct ourselves in terms
10 of assistance to Ukraine; should there be the provision of
1l lethal weaponry, meaning, of course, defensive weaponry; how
t2 would we be able to help Ukraine over the longer term thjs
l3 i s a bi g debate wi th the Pentagon to rebui 1d i ts ml1i tary
14 forces that had been decimated not just by the war with
15 Russia but by the annexat'ion of Crimea because the Russians,
l6 of course, se'ized the ma j or ports and the whole enti re
t7 Ukrainian Black Sea f1eet, and, of course, it also devastated
18 thei r command and control.
t9 We were also concerned about domestic politics in

20 Ukraine. I mean, this has been a longstanding concern

2l through multiple administrations. And when I was in the DNI,
22 I mean, I felt in many respects that I was reprieving, you
23 know, many of the analytical concerns that I'd had when I was
24 nat'ional jntelligence officer for Russia and Ukraine.
25 We were worried about the stability of the Ukrajnian

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 27

1 Government,the role of oligarchs in the Ukrainian

2 Government. It was a very weak Presidency. There was, of
J
a
courSe, a great deal of corruption. Thjs has been standard
4 across most of the republics in the former Soviet Union in
5 thei r i ndependence.
6 Many of them had had weak 1ocal governance in the Soviet

7 structure. And when they became i ndependent enti ties, they

8 weren't particularly well set up to be i ndependent countries,
9 and there was a great deal of efforts by private interests
l0 to, you know, pick away at the structures of government.
1l That happened in Russia as wel1.
t2 And we were also trying to figure out indeed how we
l3 would work with our European al1ies on a much broader set of
t4 projects related to Ukra'ine's long-term sustainability. So
l5 j t wasn ' t j ust tackl i ng corrupti on or hetpi ng the Ukrai nj ans

t6 buitd a more viable, sustainable state apparatus and

t7 institutions, but also how we would tackle some key problems
18 for them beyond the restorati on of thei r mi 1 i tary capabi I i ty,
19 including their dependency on Russia for energy supplies as

20 well as acting as the main conduit or transit for energy

2t supplies from Russia, exports of Russjan energy through
22 Ukraine to the rest of EuroPe.
23 So we were also starting to work on a more comprehensive
24 approach to Russia's energy. I mean, you're all very much
25 familiar with the debates about Nord Stream 2. I was there

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS ] F]ED 28

I in the Bush administration for Nord Stream L when we were

2 also tryi ng to block the expansjon of pi peli nes from Russi a.
J I mean, we tried again also under Reagan in the Soviet
4 period. I mean, thjs is a longstanding U.S. policy to find
5 ways of diversi fyi ng European energy suppli es.
6 And so we were starting to look at how we could try to
7 wean Ukrajne off the dependence on Russian energy and try to
8 find other energy suppliers, be it U.S. LNG or other oi1 and
9 gas supplies, coa1, including from Pennsylvania and, you

l0 know, other U.S. States.

ll So we were, you know, as I 'm t ry'i ng to poi nt out here ,

t2 having a wide-ranging set of discussions about Ukraine all

13 against the backdrop, obviously, of a debate about how
t4 effective the sanctions were being on Russia's own behavior
l5 and, you know, Rt,lssi a's own att j tudes towards Ukra j ne.
t6 MR. W0L0SKY: Mr. Goldman, can I just interject that the

t7 witness js obviously testifying to U.5. deliberative

l8 processes relating to the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. I
t9 actually don't think that this is covered by the letter from
20 the White House Counsel's Office, but I would appreciate
2t guidance and a ruling from the chair on testimony such as the
22 type that she is offering.
23 THE CHAIRI.{AN: I thank the counsel f or rai si ng the
24 issue, and I'm prepared to rule on it now.
25 Dr. Hj 11, you are compelled to testi fy at thi s

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS IF]ED 29

deposition by subpoena that was issued to you by the House

2 Intelligence Committee on 0ctober L4,2019. Your counsel has

J raised a potential objection on behalf of the White House

4 stating that informatjon that you are providing could be

5 covered by privilege. Under the House deposition ru1es, as

6 the chair, I have the authority to rule on that potential
7 objection.
8 As you know, only the President may assert executive
9 privilege, and he usually does so jn writing w'ith specificity
t0 along with an opinion from the Justice Department. The
ll President and Department of Justice have not specifically
t2 invoked executive privilege with respect to the jnformation
l3 requested.
t4 The President has also spoken extensively about the
l5 matters under investigation here, and he has dectassified and

r6 publicly released a summary of his call with the Ukrainian

t7 Pres'i dent. The admi ni strati on also declassi f i ed the
l8 whistleblower complaint and a range of accompanying materials
l9 that addressed the range of issues under discussion today.
20 The President's actions have further opened the door to
2t further investigative act'ions and taking of testimony on
22 these subj ects . The Presi dent has wai ved hi s abi 1 i ty to
L) block others from making statements about the same matters

24 that contradict his own statements or expose h'is wrongdoing.

25 The privitege cannot be used to conceal misconduct during

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 30

1 in particular during an impeachment inquiry.

2 To the extent that the White House may be asserti ng a

J deliberatjve process privilege aS an element of executive

4 pri vi lege , thi s 'i s not a pri vi lege recogni zed by the
5 CongresS. Furthermore, the information the witness has been
6 asked to provide'is critical to the committee's
7 i nvesti gati on.

8 We must obtain your answers here because Congress has a

9 constitutjonal duty to expose wrongdoing in the executive and

l0 act as a check and balance to the power of the executive,
ll especially when there is significant evidence that the
t2 Presjdent is abusing his executive power for his own personal
l3 gain. Therefore, I am overruling any potential aSsertion of
t4 privilege, and I 'instruct the witneSs to anSWer all queStions
l5 du r i ng the depos i t i on today .

t6 MR. ZELDIN: Mr. respectfully, i f the wi tness

Chai rman,

t7 i s about to g'ive an answer and i s unsure of whether or not

l8 her anSWer may violate a privilege, is the witness permitted

t9 to consult with the executive branch for advice on that
20 question of whether or not that content is privileged?
2t THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Zeldin, the White House had the
22 opportunity, in correspondence w'ith the witness prior to the
23 testimony today, to rai se any speci fic obj ection to any
24 specific question. They chose not to do so. And, therefore,
25 we will go forward as the chair has ru1ed.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 31

1 MR. ZELDIN: That's not what the question well'

2 respectfully, Mr . Chai r , the questi on i s, i f the wi tness'
a
J understanding of what js privileged comes up and the witness
4 js unsure asto whether or not her answer js going to violate
5 somethi ng that's pri vi leged, wi 11 the wi tness be permi tted to

6 get advice before being forced to provide information that

7 may be pri vi leged?
8 THE CHAIRMAN: No, counsel. The counsel for the witness
9 has already been in communication with the Whjte House, has
10 already received whatever guidance the White House was
1l willing to give. The chair has made a ruling on the question
t2 of privilege; none applies here. We will not be asking the
13 witness about extraneous conversations with the President
t4 about other matters. 0ur focus today will be on Ukraine, and

l5 the chai r has ruIed.

t6 Mr. Goldman.

t7 MR. JORDAN: l.4r. Chairman, if I cou1d, just one quick

l8 f o11owup. So, 'if Dr. H'i11 gets a quest jon and she believes
19 it does violate what she has communicated the
20 communi cati ons her and her counsel have had w'ith the
2l executive branch and she chooses not to anSWer that question,
22 are you then going to overrule it?
,tJ THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Jordan, as the witness counsel has

24 already made c1ear, the witness' counsel has raised the

25 concerns that were expressed to the wi tness through

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] F]ED 32

I correspondence with the White House. It's appropriate that

2 the counsel do so, and they have done so, and I have ruled on
) that potential objection. That is the process that we will
4 use today.
5 MR. J0RDAN: Ijust underscore, Mr. Chairman
would
6 then we can get back to Mr. Goldman's question I would
7 just underscore this is why executive agency counsel
8 should be here. This is why I have never -- this is
9 now I've never been in these kind of proceedings where
10 agency counsel wasn't permi tted to be present. We wouldn't
1l have these concerns if they were here.
t2 THE CHAIRMAN: Actua11y, Mr. Jordan, you were present at
13 a deposition conducted by Chairman Issa without the preSence
t4 of agency counsel, and you were perfectly copacetic with it
l5 at that time, so your statement is not accurate. But,
l6 nonetheless , the cha'i r has ruled and we wi 11 go f orward.
t7 14r. Goldman.
l8 BY t'{R. GOLDMAN :

t9 a Dr. Hi 11, ultimately toward by the end of your

20 tenure at the NSC, had the United States agreed to provide
2l lethal mi 1i tary assi stance to Ukra'ine to wi thstand the
22 aggression from Russia in the eastern area of Ukraine?
23 A That's correct.
24 a And what anticorruption efforts did the U. S.
25 promote within Ukraine during the time that you were there?

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED JJ

I A WelI, the time that I was there has also spanned

2 what was a period jn Ukraine itself of a transition in its
J own government. I mean, we'11 all reca1l that Ukraine has
4 gone through quite a period of upheaval.
5 The i ndependence movements back i n the 1990s, 1980s,
6 1990s, then 'in a period of turmoi 1 and changes of government,
7 and then the events that were sparked off by Ukraine's
8 deci s'ion to try to 3 oi n the European Uni on, at least to f orm

9 an assoc'iation agreement with the European Union, that

l0 precipitated Russ'ia's decision to annex Crimea because of the
lt revolt in Ukraine that led to a change in government.
t2 So there was a focus, as I said before, on trying to
13 fjnd a way of getting the Ukrajnian Government to stabilize
t4 and sustainable. And we were also in the period in the last
l5 year or so of preparation for Ukrainian Presidential
t6 electj ons , whi ch made i t qui te compl j cated i n tryi ng to work
t7 with the incumbent government and all of the'ir instjtutions
l8 and then look'ing f orward to what mi ght be a change of
19 government in Ukrajne.
20 So what we were trying to do was work wjth the
2t institutions that were there already in p1ace, from the
22 prosecutor's office to the Ukrainjan Parliament, the Rada, to
23 government officials who these sets of issues came into their
24 purview, and the main locus of that activity was through our
25 embassy in Kyiv and also through the State Department.

UNCLASS ] F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 34

I a Now

z A I should also point out, of course, that we have

J posted to the Embassy 'in Ukrai ne, j ust as i s the case i n most
4 embassi es , representati ves of all the U. S. Government

5 departments and agencies that would be jnvolved in these

6 kinds of issues, so from the DOJ, FBI, and many others.
7 a But certainly eliminating corruption in Ukraine was
8 one of, i f the central, goals of U. S. foreign policy?
9 A That's right, as it has been with many other former
10 Sov'iet states where the corruption pervades through anything
l1 from the police force to getting into schools, getting
t2 medical treatment, you know, all different 1eve1s of the
l3 public sector.
t4 a Are you f ami 1i ar w'ith the Intelli gence Communi ty's
l5 aSsessment of whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election?
t6 A I am.

t7 a And are you familiar with an indictment that the

l8 Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed jn connection to Russian

l9 i nterf erence 'i n the 2C)16 electi on?
20 A Yes, I am.

2t a Do you have any reasonto doubt ei ther the facts

22 alleged 'in the i ndi ctment or the Intell i gence Communi ty' s
23 assessment that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election?
24 A i do not.
25 a And do ycu have any reason to beljeve that Ukraine

UNCLASS I FTED
 UNCLASS I FIED 35

I did interfere in the 2015 election?

2 A I do not. We're talking about the Ukrainjan
J Government here when you say Ukraine, correct?
4 a Yes.

5 A Yes, I do not.
6 a Okay. I'm goi ng to swi tch gears for a mjnute,
7 Dr. Hi11. When did you first become aware of the jnterest in
8 Ukrai ne of Rudy Gi u1 i ani ?
9 A It would have been sometime between July I'm
l0 sorry January 2019 and March 2019. And I first became
l1 aware of it partly through articles in the newspaper that I
12 see some of our Members of Congress reading, The Hi11, by
l3 John Solomon, and also because of Mr. Giuliani's statements
t4 on televi s'ion.
l5 a Part of your duties and responsibilities is to keep

t6 track of matters in the public, right, and jn the media

17 related to the areas that you were covering. Is that
l8 accu rate?

t9 A Not entirely. I mean, my job was to, you know,

20 keep track of what our foreign counterparts were doing. I
21 have to, you know, confess right upfront that it's incredibly
22 difficult to keep up with what everybody else is doing as
23 we11.

24 And I would often rely on members of our i nternal NSC

25 press corps, other colleagues, our di rectors, and other

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 36

I peopte to flag anything for me that they thought that I

2 should be paying attention to. I had every morning an intel
^J brief, and i t didn't, you know, basically always pertai n to
4 domestic related i ssues, of course.
5 But we do get as much, of course I think most of you
6 who have served in government know this compilations of
7 c1i ppi ngs that the Wh'ite House Si t Room deems to be of
8 relevance or of i nterest. And some of those would be
9 forwarded onto us if they had subject-related interest. So
l0 that was how I fjrst became aware that there was Some deeper
ll interest on the part of Mr. Giuliani.
t2 a And what did you understand that interest to have
13 been when you initially learned about it?
l4 A To be honest, i had a hard time figuring out quite
15 what j t was about because there were references to George
l6 Soros; there were references to 2015; and then there were all
t7 kinds of references to when I first read the article in

l8 The Hi11, which I think was in late March of 2019, it was

t9 referring to do-not-prosecute lists and statements from the
20 Ukrai nj an prosecutor , Mr. Lutsenko, none of whi ch I'd ever
2t heard of anything about before.
22 a And at this point, what was your impression of the
23 Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko?
24 A I hadn't really formed much of a personal opinion
25 of him, but certainly from the information that I had, not

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 5t

I just from our embassy but from also colleagues at the State
2 Department and others across the analytical community, there
3 were clearty some problems with this gentleman jn the way
4 that he was conducting his work.
5 a And around thi s time, what d'id you understand the
6 relationship between Rudy Gjuliani and the President of the
7 United States to be?
8 A Beyond the official role of Mr. Giuljani as the
9 private attorney, I had no other sense whatsoever of what h'is
l0 role might be.
ll a Okay. Did you ever meet or communjcate with Rudy
t2 Gi u1 i ani di rectly on matters relati ng to Ukrai ne?

t3 A I did not. I've never actually met him.

t4 a Now, after you first learned about Mr. Giuliani's
l5 interest in March, what did you understand to be the
t6 development of his interest in Ukraine after March?
t7 A We1l, he seemed to develop a very strong interest
l8 in Ukrajne in that timeframe. And I was trying, you know, to
19 the best of my t'imited ability, to figure out what that
20 interest might be. And I made a couple of inquiries to
2t people to ask what they knew about hi s acti vi ti es, and I w1l1
22 be quite frank in saying that most of the people who I spoke
23 to thought i t was related to personal busi ness on h'is part.
24 a And who did you injtially speak to about
25 Mr. Giuliani?

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS]FIED 38

I A I asked several of my colleagues who were, you

2 know, familiar with his work in New York. I asked other

J of the references were obviousty to

because some
4 energy related issues. I talked to some of my colleagues
5 across the NSC who work in our energy directorate.
6 And I tried to read as much as I possibly could in the
7 press to figure out what was going on because, at this point,
8 jt started to have an impact obviously on our own work
9 because of the constant references by people to hi s
l0 statements, especially on FOX News.

ll a Can you explain what impact it had on the official

t2 U.S. policy and your role in making that?
l3 A Giuliani was asserting quite frequently
Because Mr.
14 on television in public appearances that he had been given
l5 some authority over matters related to Ukraine, and 1f that

16 was the case, we hadn't been informed about that. But he was
t7 making a lot of public statements and, you know, obviously
18 making a 1ot of assertions, including about our ambassador to
t9 Ukrai ne, Masha Yovanovi tch.
20 O Di d you try to determ'ine whether l4r . Gi u1i ani was
2t accurate and he had been g'iven anyportfolio over Ukraine?
22 A I asked my, you know, direct superior Ambassador
23 Bolton if he was aware of Mr. Giuliani being given some
24 direct taskings related to Ukraine, and he was not aware of
25 thi s.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 39

I a Did you speak to anyone else about this?

2 A People 'in the State Department aIso.
a
J a All right. And what was their response?
4 A Everyone was completely unaware of any djrect
5 official role that Mr. Giuliani had been given on the Ukraine
6 account. And, at that partjcular juncture, no one that I had
7 been in contact wjth had actually spoken to him.
8 a And what particular juncture are you referring to?
9 A You asked me about the early stages, so around
l0 March, Apri 1 of 2019.
ll a To your knowledge, was Mr. G'iulian'i ever a
t2 government employee?
l3 A Not that I know of, no.

t4 a Do you know whether he held a security clearance?

15 A I don't know.

t6 a Now, you said that, initjally, you were led to

t7 believe that hjs jnterest was based on his personal financial
l8 interest. Did you come to understand that that interest of
l9 his evolved over time?
20 A If we're talkjng at later stages, I mean, it
21 depends on how you want to go through this, you know,
22 chronologically or, you know, what I started to know before i
L) 1eft. How would you like to approach this?
24 a I'm asking after March, Apri l, up unti 1 you 1eft,
25 just broadly speaking, what did you come to understand his

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]E D 40

I interests to encompass?
2 A Well, there was a period before the ousting of our
J Ambassador , and there was a peri od af ter thi s . So,
'in the
4 period up until the ouster -- and I'm using this, I think'
5 very clearly, I think, for all of us who were working on the
6 Ukraine account, the dismissal of Ambassador Yovanovitch waS

7 a real turning point for us.

8 Because all 0f the information that I had seen in the

9 press, be i t on The Hj 11 , John Solomon's arti cles , on

10 Mr. Giuliani's whirlwind, on or the newspaper
FOX News

ll articles I looked at, material that was you know, I asked

l2 to collect together and, You know,
l3 information that I got from other colleagues who were
t4 tracking this as well seemed to point towards a mixture of
l5 some business associates of Mr. Giuliani. I was told the

t6 names of the two gentlemen who happen to have just been

l7 jndicted. I had not previously come across them at all.

18 There was also an American businessman in Florida who
l9 WaS associated with them whose name was also mentioned to me,

20 Harry Sargeant. I dj dn' t fi nd any further i nformati on out

2l about him. I mean, and my job was to track what was going on
22 with Ukraine, not to start looking, you know, at what
,t .) domestic actors were about.
24 I just want to make it very clear that at no tjme did I
25 try to go beyond the confines of my job. I was just trying

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 41

I to understand what was going on so that I could then factor

2 that in into any interactions that we were having with
J Ukrai ni an offi ci a1s and across the board across the
4 i nteragency.

5 I told that these gentlemen, Mr. Parnas, Mr. Fruman,

was
6 and Mr. Sargeant had at1 been jn business with Mr. Giuljani,
7 and that the impression that a number of Ukrainian officials
8 and others had had was that they were interested in seeking
9 busi ness deals i n Ukrai ne.
l0 a did the removal of
Now why Ambassador Yovanovitch

t1 mark a turning point for you?

t2 A Because there was no bas'is f or her removal . The

l3 accusations against her had no merit whatsoever. This was a

14 mi shmashof conspi racy theori es that, agai n, I 've told you, I

15 believe firmly to be baseless, an idea of an association
t6 between her and George Soros.
t7 I had had accusations sjmilar to this being made against

l8 me as we11. My entire first year of my tenure at the

19 Nati onal Securi ty Counci 1 was fi 11ed wi th hateful calls ,

20 conspiracy theories, whjch has started again, frankly, as

2t j t 's been announced that I 've been gi vi ng thi s deposi ti on ,

22 accusing me of being a Soros mole in the White House, of

23 colluding with all k'inds of enemies of the President, and,
24 you know, of various improprieties.
25 And it seems to be extraordinarily easy, as Ambassador

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASSIFIED 42

I Yovanovitch pointed out in her opening test'imony, for people

2 to make baseless claims about people and then to seek their
J di sm'issa1 .

4 so I'd experienced exactly the same treatment that she

5 had in the whole fjrst year of my tenure at the National
6 Security Council, which is a period in which Lieutenant
7 General Mcflaster and many other members of staff Were
8 targeted as we11, and many people were hounded out of the
9 Nat'iona1 Security Council because they became frightened
l0 about thej r own securi tY.
ll I recejved, I just have to te11 you, death threats,
t2 ca1ls at my home. My neighbors reported somebody coming and
13 hammering on my door. MY picked up a phone call
t4 to have someone call me obscenities to I I very

l5 nervous about me testifying today as a result of that.

t6 Now, I'm not easily intimjdated, but that made me mad.
t7 And when I saw this happening to Ambassador Yovanovitch
l8 agai n, I was furi ous, because thi s i s, agai n, j ust thi s

19 whipping up of what is frankly an ant'i -semitjc conspiracy

20 theory about George Soros to basically target nonpartisan
2t career officials, and also some political appointees as we11,
22 because I j ust want to say thi s: Thi s i s not i ndi scrimi nate
23 in its attacks.
24 And so it was obvious to u5, and I mean all of my team,
25 everybody at the State Department that I spoke to including

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 43

I at the higher 1eve1s, inside the NSC at the high leve1s as

2 we1l, that she'd been subject to a pretty ruthless, nasty
3 defamatjon to basically remove her from p1ace.
4 And the most obvious explanation at that point, it has
5 to be said, seemed to be busjness dealings of individuals who
6 wanted to improve their investment positions insjde of
7 Ukra'ine itself , and also to deflect away from the findings of
8 not just the Mueller report on Russian jnterference but
9 what's also been confirmed by your own Senate report, and

l0 what I know myself to be true as a former intelligence

ll analyst and somebody who has been working on Russia for more

12 than 30 years.
fact that Ambassador Yovanovitch
So the was

l3 removed as a result of this was, I have to say, pretty

t4 di spi ri ti ng.

l5 a Who did you understand was responsible for her

l6 removal ?

t7 A I understood this to be the result of the campaign

l8 that ['4r ani had set 'in moti on i n con j uncti on wi th
. G j uIi

t9 people who were wri ti ng articles and, you know, pubf ications
20 that I would have expected better of, and also, you know,
2l just the constant drumbeat of these accusations that he was
22 maki ng on the televi sion.
Z) a result of that, he had created an atmosphere 'in
And as
24 whi ch she was under great suspi ci on , and j t was obv'ious that

25 she would lose the confidence of senior people because these

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 44

I accusations Seem to stick to people even when they're proved

2 not to be true.
5 a did you understand that the State
We11,
4 Department well, let me take a step back. Who ultimately
5 made the decision to remove her?
6 A I assumed, and I was to1d, that i t was at the top
7 levels of the State Department because they felt that her

8 position was no longer tenable.

9 a Did you understand whether the President of the

l0 United States had a role in this at all?

ll A I was not 1ed to believe that. I did not hear
t2 that, and I was not told that. But it was clear that her
l3 position had become untenable by the nature of these
14 accusations against her. And there are many other
l5 djstinguished public servants who we read about in the paper
t6 every single day who have resigned or get pushed out because
t7 accusations are made agai nst them that make 'it i ncredi b1y
l8 di ffi cult for them to do thei r jobs.
l9 a Were you aware, by the end of April when Ambassador

20 Yovanovitch was removed, that the President himself had

2t retweeted Some of John Solomon's articles in The Hill related

22 to thi s?
L) A I think I had seen those tweets. I'd obviously
24 seen those tweets.
25 a And since you were working in the White House, what

UNCLASS I EIED I
 UNCLASS I EIED 45

I did you understand at that po'int, in Apri1, the Pres jdent's

2 vi ew of Ambassador Yovanovi tch to be, 'if you knew?
J A Basi ca1ly yeah.

4 MR. W0LOSKY: Let me just caution you not to speculate

5 about things that you don't know.

6 DR. HILL: Yeah. I was just going to say that I could

7 only form a judgment as everybody else could from the tweets.
8 I was not able to form any other judgment. i did not hear at
9 any juncture the President say anything about Ambassador
l0 Yovanovi tch.
ll BY MR. GOLDMAN:

t2 a And did you discuss Ambassador Yovanovitch with

l3 Ambassador Bolton?

l4 A I did.
l5 a And what was his reaction to this?
16 A Hjs reaction was pained. And he basically said
t7 in fact, he directly sajd: Rudy Giuljani is a hand grenade
l8 that is going to blow everybody up.
t9 He made it clear that he didn't feel that there was

20 anything that he could personally do about thjs.

2l I met with Ambassador Yovanovitch and Assistant
22 Secretary Phi1 Reeker on l4ay Lst when she was recalled to
23 Washington, D.C., to hear from her and to hear from Acting
24 Assi stant Secretary Phj f Reeker what they thought had
25 happened.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 46

I Because this had a rea1ly devastating effect on the

2 morale of all of the teams that I work wjth across the
J i nteragency because everybody knows Ambassador Yovanovi tch to
4 be the best of the best in terms of a nonpartisan career

5 offic'ia1.
6 And as a woman, and, you know, I don't see always a lot
7 of prominent women in these positions, she l^,as the highest
8 ranking woman diplomat. I
And have worked with her across

9 all of my careelin government when I was at the

both in
10 DNI and also jn the think tank world as a professional who
ll works on this region when she'd been Ambassador in Armenia
12 and also in Kyrgyzstan.
l3 And I only have a professional relarionship with her. I

t4 don't see myself as a personal friend of hers. But I just

l5 see her as epitomi zing what United States diplomacy should
16 be.

t7 a During that meeting that you had on May Lst' did

l8 she relay to you what the reasoning for her removal was aS

l9 she understood i t?
20 A She relayed basically the same things that
to me

2t she wrote in her testimony, and that has been made public.
22 And she was deeply disappointed and very upset. She also

23 made it clear that she wasn't going to grandstand and that

24 she appreciated that the State Department were trying to help

25 her.

UNCLASS I FIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 47

I It was obvious that this left a 1ot of her

had
2 colleagues at high 1eve1s feeling extremely upset. It
J certai n1y seemed that Deputy SuIl i van, Assi stant Secretary
4 Reeker, and other offici als i n the State Department's highest
5 leve1s were trying to do their best to make sure that she,
6 you know, kept her reputation and was also given at least a
7 position in the interim that would be worthy of the kind of
8 person that she is. She's, remember, also been commandant of
9 the National Defense Universi ty. I mean, thi s i s rea1ly one
l0 of our most di sti ngui shed di plomats.
ll a Did she indicate to you that Deputy Secretary
t2 Sullivan had told her that this order had come from the
13 President at that point?
t4 A She did not say that to me, but she did say that he
l5 had said to her that there was no cause for her dismissal and
t6 that he was deeply regretful of i t. She was bei ng very
t7 discreet.
l8 a it was your understanding that no one at the
And
t9 senior 1eve1s at the State Department had any'issues with her
20 qualifications or her competence?
21 A That was my understanding, and the same with all of
22 her colleagues across the diplomat'ic corps, the ambassadorial
23 corps, and certainly wjthin the National Security Council.
24 a And did you understand whether Secretary Pompeo had

25 any concerns about her work product or competency?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 48

A I never heard anythi ng to i ndi cate that.

2

l0
ll
12

l3

t4

l5

t6

t7

l8

t9

20

21

22

23

24

25

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 49

I [1L:33 a.m.]
2 BY I,IR. GOLDMAN:

J a And you said a second ago or a few minutes ago that

4 you never heard anything directly from the President related
5 to
6 A I did not.
7 O Ambassador Yovanovi tch.

8 Just broadly speaking, we're not going to get right now

9 into the communicatjons, but how frequently did you speak to
l0 the President about any matters under your portfolio?
ll A 0n1y in the context of larger meetings,
t2 particularly around visits. it changed over time. In the
13 first year of our of the Presidency under General
t4 14cMaster, he had a very different style, and he would bring
15 many of us into meetings.
16 That was different under Ambassador Bolton, but I think
t7 that that's also quite typical of the approach of different
l8 Nati onal Securi ty Advi sors , so I don't read anythi ng i nto
l9 that. People have a different approach. And, as you know,
20 there's been a big debate since the beginning of the National
2t Security Council when it was fjrst set up, you know, around
22 the t'ime of , you know, World War II and the Cold War, about
ZJ what the right size, what the composition should be, and what
24 the approach should be, both of the National Security Advisor
25 and the staff.

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 50

I a t relates di rectly to Ukra'ine, how many

Now, so as i
2 conversations did you have with were you present for where
J the Presi dent was di scussi ng Ukrai ne, Ukrai ni an po1 i cy , or
4 othe rwi se?

5 MR. W0LOSKY: I think it's fine to answer the question

6 of how many, generalty speaking, times you were in

7 di scussi ons wi th the Pres'ident. I mean , i f there are f urther
8 questions about the content of those discussions
9 MR. GOLDMAN:I'm asking because she indicated that she
10 didn't hear anyth'ing about Ambassador Yovanovitch directly
l1 from the President, so I'm trying just to understand how
t2 frequently she would have been in a posit'ion to discuss these
13 matte rs .

t4 DR. just also to be c1ear, Ukraine was

HILL: I mean,
l5 not a top policy item in a lot of this period. And my
t6 portfolio covered all of Europe. 1t covered Turkey, which,
t7 you know, obviously, there was a great deal of activity, and
l8 Russi a.

19 So really only ever in the context of when there

it was
20 would be an official meeting with the Ukrainjan President.
2t And jn the tjme that I was there, there were not a great deal
22 of meetings with the Ukrainian leadership. There was
L) Poroshenko at one of the U.N. General Assemblies.
24 So the meetings were only very much in the context of
25 bri ef preparatory di scussi ons for a meeti ng and thi s i s

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 51

I obviously covered by executive privilege with heads of

2 S tate .

J MR. GOLDMAN: So you sa'id that Ambassador Yovanovitch's

4 removal was a turning point. How djd things change after
5 that?
6 THE CHAIRMAN: to that, if I coutd just
Before we go
7 ask, Dr. Hi11, you ment'ioned that the decision to remove the
8 Ambassador, as far as you knew, took place at the top of the
9 State Department. By that, do you mean Secretary Pompeo or
l0 someone else?

ll DR. HILL: This would be a presumption so

l2 MR. WOLOSKY: If you don't know the answer, don't
l3 speculate. Just state what you know.
t4 THE CHAIRMAN: Ambassador Yovanovitch related seeking
15 support, a statement of support from the Secretary of State.
16 That was not forthcoming. Do you have any personal knowledge
t7 of those ci rcumstances?
l8 HILL: I do not. I did take part in basically
DR.
t9 reviewing statements of support for Ambassador Yovanovitch
20 from the State Department, but thjs was done at the working
21 leve1. I mean, there were many announcements trying to
22 refute some of bas'ica11y the baseless accusations against
23 Ambassador Yovanovjtch in the period of March and April.
24 And I j ust want to say agai n that I met wi th her on l'lay
25 l-st, when she had been unexpectedly summoned back to

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 52

I Washington, D.C. It took all of us by surprise because, to

2 be frank, I thought that those accusations about her would be
J dismissed because they were c1ear1y, in some cases, just
4 absu rd .

5 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

6 a just going back to after her removal, how did

So
7 you said it was a turning point. How so?
8 A We11, it was a shock, to be frank, to all of the
9 team. a key person, as I
Ambassador Yovanovitch had been

10 mentioned before. Many of the interagency-approved policies

l1 that we were implementing were carried out primarily by the
t2 Embassy in Kyiv, and we had just then lost the leadership.
l3 There was also a changeover in the Embassy at that
t4 point, as the inevitably, as you get into the
l5 spring-Summer period, as new staff are going to be brought on
l6 board at the Embassy. And so there was a bit of a kind of a
t7 loss of djrection for a Period.
18 Now, we had, of course, the ongoing efforts of
t9 Ambassador Kurt Volker as the U.S. Envoy for Ukraine. But at

20 this particular juncture, Ambassador Volker's main job had

2l been to meet with the Russians aS well as the other members
22 of the Normandy format Minsk group, the French and the
23 Germans, under the European leadership.
24 But the Russians at thjs particular juncture were not
25 really pi cki ng up on the 'idea of havi ng f urther meeti ngs.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 53

I They were stonewalling because they themselves didn't want to

2 make very clearly any steps in determining the future of
J their own Ukraine policy until they found out who they were

4 goi ng to be deal i ng wi th i n the Ukrai ni an Presi denti a1

5 electi on.
6 of course, the election in April of
Now, we'd had,
7 Zelensky, but at this point, we were also waiting to see what
8 would happen 'i n the Ukrai ni an Parf i amentary electi ons, the
9 Rada, to see whether Zelensky would be able to have a

t0 workable maj or i ty .

u You might also reca11 in November of 2018, there was the

t2 incident "in the Kerch Strait, where the Russians seized Naval
l3 vessels of the Ukrainian Navy that were trying to enter
t4 through international waters of the Kerch Strait 'into the Sea
l5 of Azov and then detained their sailors after, in fact,
t6 firing on the two Ukrainian ships and injuring at least one,
t7 but maybe more of the sai 1ors. And they'd taken the sa'i1ors
l8 to Moscow. They were effectively becoming prisoners of war.
l9 And we'd been focused in thjs period on trying to push
20 the Russians to release the Ukrainian sailors, and we had
21 pu11ed down meetings, bi lateral meetings wi th President
22 Puti n thi s was actually the Presi dent's deci si on to do
23 so in response to the Russjans' refusal to release the
24 Ukrai ni ans.
25 And so, you know, there were many issues that we were

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 54

sti11 trying to at this period, and we had to figure out

push
2 how we were goi ng to do th1s. So there was a peri od of
J uncertai nty as to how we were go'ing to be conduct'ing our
4 Ukraine policy.
5 a And that's from the offj ci a1 Uni ted States
6 posi ti on, you mean?
7 A Correct.
8 a Giuliani's ef forts f rom af ter --
Now, how d'id Rudy
9 from May through the summer impact the official U.S. foreign
l0 policy?
ll A Well, we heard that he was planning on visiting
t2 Ukraine, and we djdn't know why, you know, for what purpose
l3 and what was his intent. And, you know, I heard about that
t4 on the news and read about that in the paper. I mean,
l5 subsequently that meeting was pu11ed down.
t6 But th'is was then i n the period where Ambassador Volker
t7 told us that he was planning on meeting with Mr. Gjuliani to
l8 try to see i f he could resolve whatever i ssues there may be
t9 there. You've had Ambassador Volker come and talk on his own
20 terms and to answer your questions, and I'm sure he'5 told
2l you what he told us.
22 But this is also in the period where, rather
23 unexpectedly, our Ambassador to the EU, Ambassador Sondland
24 informed us, but just informed us without, again, us being
25 given any specific directive, that he had been assigned to be

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 55

I in charge, at least in interim fashion, of the Ukraine

2 portfolio.
J a And around when was that?
4 A That was i n the May-J une timeframe.
5 a And who did you understand ass'igned Ambassador
6 Sondland to do that?
7 A At first, nobody. And jt was only 1ater, very late
8 June, when Ambassador Sondland told me again that he was in
9 charge of Ukraine. And I asked, we11, on whose authority?
l0 And he said, the President.
ll a At this point now, Mr. Giulian'i had indicated he
12 was going to speak to Ukrainian officials, and then he
l3 decided not to go. Now, into the June timeframe into July,
t4 did you understand what he was advocating about -- in Ukraine
15 and what his interests were?
l6 A In thi s period i n l4ay, I had a request f rom a
t7 former U. S. Government offici a1 to meet wi th me. Thi s was
18 Amos Hochstein, the former U.S. Envoy for Energy, who I'd

t9 previ ously worked wi th j n dj fferent capacj ti es.

20 l'lr. Hochstei n had been appoi nted to the board of Naf togaz,
2t the main Ukrainian-U.S gas and oil company. He had
22 actually been appoi nted duri ng thj s admi ni strati on , i n
23 conjunction with d'iscussions wjth the Department of Energy.
24 So I just want to make clear that although Amos
25 Hochstein had been the U.S. Energy Envoy under President

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 56

I Obama, he was somebody who was well-respected by the

2 Department of Energy, and he had very close ties with
J Secretary Perry's staff and also with people who served on

4 the National Security Council who worked on energy issues.

5 So they were very comfortable with him taking on thjs ro1e.

6 And he'd been in the posit'ion for several months,

7 perhaps even a year at thjs juncture when he came in to talk
8 with me, which was towards the end of May. And he came in to
9 express Some seriouS concernS that he had. In the course of
l0 his time on the board of Naftogaz, which he actually said had
1l actually not been a parti cularly up1 i fti ng experi ence, i t had
t2 come to his attention that there was a lot of preSsure being

l3 put on the officials of Naftogaz, who had also reached out to

14 talk to me and my colleagues at the National Security
15 Council, to have other board members put in place and this
t6 seemed to be at the d'irect'ion of G'iu1i ani , and that they were
t7 also being pushed more generatly in the Ukrainian energy
l8 sector to open up investigations into corruption in the
t9 energy sector that seemed to go beyond what I had assumed was
20 the thrust of our push on corruption, wh'ich was related to
2t people trying to siphon off assets of Naftogaz or to use that
22 improperly, which had been done at many tjmes in the past,
23 and, 'in f act, would i nclude the energy company Buri sma that
24 everyone has been very concerned about.
25 I, to be honest, had forgotten the name of Burisma. It

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 57

1 had been a long time since that name had surfaced. It had

2 been on my radar screen sometjme previously, and I asked Amos

3 to remind me of the Burisma issue. And he reminded me that

4 this was the company that Hunter Biden had been affjliated
5 with.
6 at that juncture, it became clear, from Amos'
So,
7 concerns that he was flagging for me he also said that a
8 number of Ukrain'ian officials had come to him very concerned
9 that they were getting pressure from Giuliani and Giuljanj
l0 associates and he also mentioned the names of Mr. Parnas
l1 and Fruman to basically start to open up investigations
t2 and also to change the composition of the Naftogaz board.
l3 a 5o did you come to understand that Mr. Giuliani
l4 perhaps , at a m'ini mum, was advocati ng f or an i nvesti gati on

l5 i nto Buri sma?

l6 A It was to be a package of
part of what seemed

t7 issues that he was pushing for, including what seemed to be

l8 the business interests of his own associates.

t9 a And when the way Mr. Hochstein explained it to
20 you, did you understand what Rudy Gjuliani's jnterest in an

2t i nvesti gati on i nto Buri sma was?

22 A Not enti re1y,I d'id not at that j uncture.
23 a At a later point, did you come to understand what
24 i t was?

25 A 0n1y, frankly, since I've left the administration.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 58

I a And what is that?

2 A It's only based on and, again, this is what I've
J been reading in the papers. My jaw dropped when I saw the
4 indictments of these two gentlemen, of Fruman and Parnas. So
5 i t becomes clear that they were certai nly up to no good. But

6 that was what I was already hearing.

7 And I was also told by Amos and other colleagues that
8 they had some linkages, so I also want to, you know, get you
9 to step back at thi s period. Th j s i s, you know, l'4arch,
l0 Apri1, into May, where we were having a standoff over
ll Venezuela. And the Russ'ians at this particular juncture were
t2 signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some
l3 Very strange SWap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukra'ine.
t4 In other words, if We were going to exert some semblance

l5 of the l4onroe Doctrine of, yotl know, Russia keeping out of

t6 our backyard, because this js after the Russians had sent in
t7 these hundred operatives eSSentially to, you know, baSically
18 secure the Venezuelan Government and, you know, to preempt
t9 what they were obviously taking to be some kind of U.S.
20 military act'ion, they were basically signaling: You know,
2t you have your Monroe doctrine. You want us out of your
22 backyard. We11, you know, we have our own version of this.
23 You' re i n our backyard i n Ukrai ne. And we were ge'-ti ng that
24 sent to us, you know, kind of informally through channels.
25 It was in the Russian press, various commentators.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 59

1 And I was asked to go out to Russi a 'in thi s timef rame to

2 basically tetl the Russians to knock this off. I was given a
J special assignment by the National Security Council with the
4 agreement with the State Department to get the Russians to
5 back off.
6 So, in the course of my discussions with my colleagues
7 , I also found out that there
8 were Ukra'ini an energy i nterests that had been i n the mi x i n
9 Venezuelan energy sectors as well as the names again of
l0 Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman, and this gentleman Harry Sargeant
ll came up. And my colleagues
t2 said these guys were notorious in Florida and that they were

l3 bad news.
l4 a And you understood that they were working with Rudy

l5 Gi u1 i ani at that poi nt?

16 A I did at th'is point.
17 a You mentioned Ambassador Sond1and, who I thjnk in
l8 June told you that he had been assigned by the President to
t9 cover Ukraine. You said that was somewhat of an unusual
20 development. What did you mean by that?
2t A WeI1, it was very unusual because we were given no
22 i nstructi ons. There wasn't a di recti ve. Ambassador Bolton
23 didn't this. Nobody at the State Department
know about
24 seemed to know about this either. I went to consult several
25 times wi th seni or State Department offi ci als to ask them i f

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 60

1 they knew if this was the case.

2 a And what did they saY?
3 A They said they had no no directive, no

4 i nformati on to suggest thj s.

5 a And who did You sPeak to about this?
6 A I to Under Secretary Hale. I spoke to
spoke
7 Assistant Secretary Reeker. And I did have a phone call at
8 one point with Ulrich Brechbuhl, the counsel to Secretary
9 Pompeo.

10 But I also have to say that Ambassador Sondland had

ll asserted and, again, I mean asserted by telling me that he

t2 had a very large remit for his understanding of Ambassador to

l3 the European Un'ion. He ref erred to a letter outl i ni ng hi s
t4 authorities and his responsibjlities given to him by the
l5 State Department, which is, frankly, the regular State
l6 Department letter to Ambassadors when they, you know,
t7 get remit as the plenipotentjaries and the representatives of
18 the Presi dent.
t9 In all cases, you know, they have qu'ite extensi ve
20 responsj bi 1 i ti es and authori ti es anyway . But sai d that he
2l had been again, this is what he said to us, and I can only
22 te11 you what Ambassador Sondland said to me, that the
23 Presjdent had given him broad authority on a1t things related
24 to Europe, that he was the President's point man on Europe.
25 So this meant that anything that was related to the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIE D 6l

I European Union cou1d, in hjs view, fall within his purview.

2 And I was constantly going back to State Department and to
J the Deputy Assistant Secretaries and Acting Assistant
4 Secretary to try to clari f y th'is. And, agai n, i n each case,

5 they had no knowledge of these responsibilities that had been

6 accorded to Ambassador Sondland in h'is rendition of these

7 i ssues.

8 And so I was spending an inordinate amount of time

9 trying to coordinate in some fashion wjth Ambassador Sondland

l0 on a whole range of issues related to visits by heads of
ll states, meetings. And Ambassador Sondland would frequently
t2 give people my personal ce11 phone to call up and demand
l3 meeti ngs wi th Ambassador BoIton or wlth me.
t4 We all ki nds of offi ci als from Europe, parti cularty
had
15 when I *rt the president jn office of the European
l6 Unjon, 1itera1ly appearing at the gates of the White House,
t7 calling on our personal phones, which are actually in lock
l8 boxes, so it was kind of d'if f icult to get hold of them. I'd
19 fjnd endless messages from irate I officials who'd
20 been told that they were supposed to meet wi th me by
2l Ambassador Sondland.
22 I mean, some of it was comical, but it was also, for me
23 and for others, deeply concerning. And I actually went to
24 our Intelligence Bureau and asked to have
25 I sit down with him and explain that this was a

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 62

I counterintelligence risk, particularly giving out our

2 personal phone numbers. And also just, I mean' basically
a
J going beyond the larger remit because he should have been

4 havi ng bri efi ngs. If , i ndeed, he had been gi ven these

5 assi gnments, he should have been havi ng appropri ate bri efi ngs

6 for all of these meetings.

7 And as far as I could understand, the briefings that he
8 was getting so he was often meeting with people he had no
9 information about. It's like basically driving along with no
l0 guardrai 1s and no GPS on an unfami 1i ar terri tory. He was
ll meeting with, for exampl", I officjals that we had
12 derogatory information on that he shouldn't have been meeting
l3 with, or he was, you know, giving out his phone number and
t4 texting to, you know, regional offic'ia1s, for exampte, the
l5 Prime Mjnister of f wno he met at a meeting in

16 Brussels. A11 of those communications coutd have been

17 exfi ltrated by the Russi ans very easi 1y.
18 So I'11 just say right upf ront we had a lot of concerns,
t9 but I expressed these openly to Ambassador Sondland. 5o I'm
20 not tetling you anything that I didn't say to him.
2t a Dld there come a time when you had a meeting at the
22 White House with Ukrainjan officials in early Ju1y, where
23 Ambassador Sondland was also present?
24 A Yes, that i s correct.
25 a Do you recall what daY that was?

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 63

A That was July 10th. So this was essentia1ly the

2 week before I was due to wrap up and hand off.
J a And who was present for that meeting?
4 A This was a meeting by, at this point, the appointee
5 for President Zelensky to be his National Security Advisor,
6 Oleksandr Danylyuk, and his personal adviser, a gentleman who
7 has been named in the press, Andrey Yermak, with Ambassador
8 Bolton. Secretary Perry waS also i n attendance. Yermak had
9 an assi stant. Ambassador Sondland. There was our Ukra'i ne
t0 director, Ambassador Volker, and myself and our senior
1l director for energy affairs, We11s Griffith.
t2 And there may have also been the room got a bit
l3 crowded and, I had to sit on the back sofa. I think there
t4 mi ght have also been one of Secretary Perry's aides w'ith him

l5 jn that meeting. And then there were other officials who

16 Were also there in attendance, but not in Ambassador Bolton's
t7 office, who were wajting out in one of the anterooms.
l8 a And what was the ostensible purpose of the meeting?
19 A It was twofold. Danylyuk, who was the designated
20 National Security Advisor, was trying to seek assistance in
2l what he wanted to do with a revamp of the Ukrainjan National
22 Securi ty Counci 1 , whi ch , frankly, could do wi th j t. And so
23 he was wanting to ask Ambassador Bolton for hjs assistance
24 and recommendations on, you know, what they could do to sort
25 of streamline the national security apparatus, and would the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 64

I U.S. be willing to help with technical assistance. I mean,

2 again, this would be something that would normally be done

J through the State Department. It's not something that the
4 National Security Council deals with. But I think they were
5 trying to get Ambassador Bolton's imprimatur, because he is
6 the National Securi ty Advj sor, and support for thi s.
7 And also Ambassador Bolton has, you know, deep knowledge
8 of many issues, and Mr. Danylyuk was hoping to get, you know,
9 some of his advice just in the general perspective of

10 nati onal securi ty i ssues.

ll And then there was also that the Ukrainians were very
l2 anxjous to set up a meeting, a first meeting between
13 President Zelensky and our President.
t4 a And there had already been a written invitation to
l5 that effect by that point from the Vnlhite House, right?
l6 A It wasn't an i nvi tation. It was basically a
t7 general, you know, we look forward to seeing you kind of
l8 open-ended invitation at the end of a congratulatory letter
l9 that was sent to President Zelensky after his election in
20 Apri 1.
2t a But you understood that the Ukrainians wanted
22 President Zelensky to make a White House visjt?
23 A Correct.
24 a Why is that?
25 A Every single leader, with very few exceptions,

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 65

I who's either come into office or in office some period

been
2 wants to have a meeting with the President at the White
3 House. At1 of my interactions with Ambassadors or officials
4 f rom other countries inev'i tably came to, "When can we have a
5 White House meeting, and if we can't meet with the Presjdent,
6 when can we meet with the Vice President?"
7 And people, you know, in these circumstances were not
8 sati sfied wi th perhaps a pu11-asjde at a larger event like
9 the G-20 or the U.N. GA. They wanted to have a White House
l0 meeti ng, i f at all possi ble.
ll a Djd anything happen in that meeting that was out of
12 the ordi nary?
r3 A Yes. At one point during
that meeting, Ambassador
t4 Bolton was, you know, basically trying very hard not to
l5 commit to a meeting, because, you know and, again, these
t6 meet i ngs have to be we1 1 - prepa red . They ' re not j ust

t7 something that you say, yes, we're going to have a meeting

l8 without there being a clear understanding of what the content
t9 of that meeting is going to be.
20 And that i s a perpetual problem for us, that many not
2t all leaders but some, you know, want to rea1ly just have a
22 photo opportuni ty often for thei r own purposes. I mean,
23 legitimacy and legitimization of them as a new leader is
24 obvi ously very i mportant. That ' s not j ust an i nconsequenti al
25 i ssue.

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 66

I But sometimes you know, the previous Presjdent

2 Poroshenko very much wanted a White House meeting in the
J runup to his election, to use that for hjs
because he wanted
4 election campaign. We've had, you know, a1l kinds of leaders
5 or people who are running for reelection actually try to
6 ambush the Pres i dent .

7 We had for election in one country that I

one candidate
8 won't state who showed up at tne ! State Fai r and worked
9 the rope 1i ne to get a pi cture w'ith the Presi dent and then
l0 put it up on the website of his campaign, claiming that he'd
ll had a personal meetingwith the President. we|1, you know,
t2 it was against a backdrop, So you couldn't See the cows in
l3 the background , you know, the f a rm enti ty , but we a1I
ol-

t4 thought it was quite hysterical that they go to those lengths

l5 to work the rope line I to get a picture.
t6 But this shows the importance that Ieaders put on
t7 meeting with our President, and having a White House meeting
l8 is obviously the most important of all. And Ambassador
l9 Bolton is always -- was alwayS very cautious and alwayS very
20 much, yog know, by the book and was not going to certainly
2t commjt to a meeting right there and then, certainly not one
22 where i t wasn't i t was unclear what the content of the
23 meeting would be about, what kind of issues that we would
24 di scuss that would be pertai ni ng to Ukrai ni an-U. S. relati ons.
25 And secretary Perry had been talking in this context

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 67

I about the importance of reforming the energy structures in

2 Ukrajne in a very general sense and talking about how
a
J important that was for Ukra'inian national security and that,
4 as well as reforming their natjonal security structures, they
5 also have to, you know, rea11y pay attention to the'i r
6 AchilIes heel, at1 the places that Russja had leverage, the
7 mi 1i tary sector, whi ch Ambassador Bolton had also been

8 talk'ing about, and then the energy sector, which was rea11y
9 in some considerabte disarray.
l0 Then Ambassador Sondland blurted out: Wel1, we have an
ll agreement with the Chief of Staff for a meeting if these
t2 'investigations jn the energy sector start.
l3 ffened. He said
And Ambassador Bolton immedi ately sti
t4 words to the effect I can't say word for word what he said
t5 because I was behind them sitting on the sofa with our Senior
l6 Djrector of Energy, and we all kind of looked up and thought
l7 that was somewhat oOd. And Ambassador Bolton immediately
l8 stjffened and ended the meeting.
19 a Right then, he just ended the meeting?
20 A Yeah. He said: We11, it was very nice to see you.
2t You know, I can't di scuss a meeti ng at thi s time. We'11
22 clearly work on this. And, you know, kjnd of it was rea1ly
23 nice to see you.
24 So i t was very abrupt. I mean, he looked at the clock
25 as if he had, you know, suddenly another meeting and his time

UNCLASSIEIED
 UNCLASS ] F]ED 68

was up, but it was obvious he ended the meeting.

2 a And djd you have a conversation with Ambassador

J BoIton after this meeting?

4 A I did.
5 a Descri be that.
6 A Ambassador Sondland said as he was leaving
7 again, I was back to the back of Ambassador Bolton's
8 office. And Ambassador Sondland said to Ambassador Volker
9 and also Secretary Perry and the other people who were with
10 hjm, including the Ukrainians, to come down to there's a
ll room in the White House, the Ward Room, to basically talk
t2 about next steps. And that's also unusual. I mean, he meant
l3 to talk to the Ukrainians about next steps about the meeting.
t4 And Ambassador --
15 a te House meeti ng?
The Whi
16 A The Wh1 te House meeti ng. And Ambassador Bolton
t7 pu11ed me back aS I was walking out afterwards and said: Go

l8 down to the Ward Room right now and find out what they're
l9 talking about and come back and talk to me.
20 So i did go down. And I came 'in as there was obviously
2t a discussion underway. And there was a very large group of
22 people in the room. They were the aides to the Ukrainian
23 officials, Mr. Yermak and Mr. Danylyuk. There were a couple,
24 at least two State Department aides who had come over with
25 Ambassador Sondland. There was Ambassador Volker's aide, and

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 UNCLASS I FIED 69

I there were a couple of other people. I weren't sure who they

2 were, whether they'd been part of Secretary Perry's team.

J But as I was comingin, Secretary Perry was leaving to go off

4 to another engagement. So I thjnk that one person there was
5 probably one of his team, but I'm not sure for certain,
6 because I didn't recognize the person. And there was also
7 our di rector f or Ukra'ini an af f ai rs .

8 And Ambassador SondIand, in front of the Ukrainians, as

9 I came in, was talking about how he had an agreement wjth
l0 Chief of Staff l'lulvaney for a meeting w'ith the Ukrajnians if
l1 they were going to go forward wjth investigations. And my
t2 di rector f or Ukra'ine was looki ng completely alarmed. And I
13 came in again as this discussion was underway. Mr. Danylyuk
t4 looked very alarmed as we1l. He didn't look like he knew
15 what was going on. That wasn't the case with Yermak.
t6 And I immediately said to Ambassador Sondland: Look, we
t7 can't di scuss the meeti ng here wi th our Ukrai ni an colleagues.
l8 Ambassador Bolton sent me down to ask you know, kind of to
19 make sure that you understand that we'11 be talking about the
20 meeting. We'11 obviously be looking into this, but that we
2t can't make any commi tments at thi s parti cular j uncture
22 because a lot of things will have to be worked through in
Z) terms of the timing and the substance.
24 And Ambassador Sondland cut me off, and he said: We
25 have an agreement that they'11 have a meeting.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 70

I And I said: Look, we cannot discuss this in front of

2 our colleagues. You know, we have to talk about, you know,
J the detai 1s of thi s.
4 And he said: OkaY, okaY, I get it.
5 And he asked the Ukrainians to basically leave the room.
6 So they bas i ca1 ly moved out i nto the cor r i dor
.

7 And I said: Look, I don't know what's going on here,

8 but Ambassador Bolton wants to make it very clear that we
9 have to talk about, you know, how are we going to set up this
l0 meeting. It has to go through proper procedures.
ll And he started to basically talk about discussjons that
t2 he had had with the Chief of Staff. He mentioned Mr.
l3 Giulian'i , but then I cut h jm of f because I didn't want to get
14 f urther "into thi s di scuss'ion at all
.

l5 And I said: Look, we're the National Security Council.

t6 We're basically here to talk about how we set this up, and
17 we're going to set this up in the right way. And' you know,
18 Ambassador Bolton has asked me to make it completely clear
t9 that we're going to talk about this, and, you know, we will
20 deal with this jn the proper procedures. And Ambassador
2t Sondland was clearly annoyed with this, but then, you know,
22 he moved off. He said he had other meetings.
23 And I went back to talk to Ambassador Bolton. And
24 Ambassador Bolton asked me to go over and report this to our
25 NSC counsel, to John Eisenberg. And he totd me, and this is

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 71

1 a direct quote from Ambassador Bolton: You go and te11

2 Eisenberg that I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland
J and l'lulvaney are cooki ng up on this, and you go and te11 him
4 what you've heard and what I've said. So I went over to talk
5 to John Ei senberg about thi s.
6 MR. G0LDMAN: We'11 have to pick that up in the next

7 round . 0ur ti me i s up. Over to the mi nori ty .

8 THE CHAIRMAN: The mi nori ty j s recognj zed.

9 BY I',IR. CASTOR:

l0 a Good morni ng, Dr. Hi 11 , 5teve Castor wi th the

l1 Republ i can staff .

t2 A Yes.

l3 a Ambassador VoIker related his thoughts about the

t4 July L0th Whjte House meeting. Was Secretary Perry involved
l5 with that, was he in the meeting?
t6 A He wasn't in the Ward Room when I came in. He was
17 leaving out. But he was in the meeting with Ambassador

l8 Bolton, correct.
t9 a The fjrst part of the meeting?
20 A That is correct, yes.
21 a Could you just run down the people that were in the

22 meeting again? Danylyuk, Yermak.

23 A Yeah, Yermak' s assi stant or ai de, whose name , I 'm
24 sorry, I don't reca11 . ffi th, P. We11s
There was We11s Gri
25 Grj ffi th, our senior di rector for energy. He and I were

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FlED 72

I sitting together on the sofa. There was Secretary Perry.

2 There was our director for Ukraine, and there was Ambassador
J Volker and Alex Vindman, and there was Ambassador Bolton.
4 And, again, there may have been another aide to
5 a Was Volker there?
6 A Volker was there. Yes, correct, he was there. And

7 there may have been another a'ide to Secretary Perry. I'm

8 just trying to think about the layout across the tab1e. It's
9 not a very blg tab1e. Because I think there was somebody
l0 else sitting in one of the chairs. And I'm afraid' I'm
ll sorry, I can't reca1l who i t was.
12 a Did I get this right? You said Bolton wanted you
l3 to go down to John Eisenberg, and he said, "I'fil not part of
t4 any d rug dea1 " ?

l5 A That's exactly what he said, quote/unquote. I

16 thjnk he was being ironic. But he wasn't very happy. He was

t7 very angry.
l8 a Then you went down and spoke with Eisenberg?

t9 A Yes, I went across to speak to him jn the other

20 bui 1di ng.
2t a And what did you te1l Eisenberg?

22 A I told Ambassador Eisenberg that Ambassador Bolton

23 had instructed me to go over there right away. And I gave
24 him the details of what had transpired in the meeting in
25 Ambassador Bolton's office and then what I had overheard aS I

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED t3

I came into the Ward Room and that my, you know, kind of
2 primary concern for me personally was the fact that
3 Ambassador Sondland was saying all of this in front of
4 foreign nationals.
5 Now, the Ward Room is located right beside the Navy
6 mess . It's i nsi de rea1ly the secure spaces of the Whi te

7 House. Ambassador Sondland sa'id he had requested this room

8 through the Chief of Staff's Office, because I was a bit
9 surprised that they had thjs room. We do meet with foreign
10 delegatjons in there, but usually in a formal setting, not
ll j ust for i nformal ta1ks.

t2 And when he pushed them also out of that, they were

l3 basically standing jn a space between the Navy mess and the
t4 Whjte House 5it Room. 5o this was an awkward setup, to say
15 the least. So I also expressed those concerns to John, that
16 then foreign nationals, you know, are just standing around in
t7 the corridor outside the Ward Room by the doors 'into the Si t
18 Room.

19 a The President sent a letter May 29th, are you

20 familiar with that, where he congratulated Zelensky?

2l A I am famjljar w'ith that, right.
22 a And at the end of the letter -- we can make it an
23 exhibit if we need to, but the Presjdent says: I would like
24 to invite you to meet with me at the White House in
25 Washington, D.C., as soon as we can find a mutually

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 74

I conven'ient time.
2 A Correct.
J a re aware of that?
You'

4 A Yes. And I also want to tell you that Ambassador

5 Sondland told us that he had dictated that paragraph to the
6 President and to the Chief of Staff to add to that letter.
7 That letter did not go through the normal NSC procedures
8 because the 'initial draft of the letter that we had put in
9 place was sent back to the Chief of Staff . So Ambassador
l0 Sondland coordinated on that letter d'irectly with the Chief
l1 of Staff, and it did not go back through the National
t2 Security Council Exec Sec. I had to get that letter directly
l3 from the White House Exec Sec.
t4 a Is this an unusual statement to put in a letter?
l5 A Not at all. I mean, it's the kind of thing that
t6 one would normally have in or might have in a letter, but
t7 I have to say, again, we were very cautious because it's not
l8 the case that you want actually every single head of state
l9 who'S j ust been elected to come to the Whi te House. So we
20 would usually have something more generic, "We look forward
2t to seeing you, you know, kind of at some future event,"
22 because a 1ot of heads of state we'd much prefer to meet with
23 them on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly or NAT0 or,
24 you know, some other event because, I mean, you can't have
25 basically every week the President having to host some head

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 75

I of state in the White House.

2 a Is it fair to say sometimes these invitations are
J theoretically extended, but, in practicality, they don't come
4 to frui ti on?
5 A That is correct. They're often done as a courtesy,
6 you know, as one and the President has had invitat'ions
7 ljke that himself. You may remember he got an invitation
8 f rom Theresa ['{ay on her f i rst vi si t to the Whi te House i n
9 20t7 for a state visit to the United Kingdom, and that took a
l0 long time to come about.
ll a So is it fair to say jt's part of the diplomatic
t2 pleasantrj es?

l3 A That is correct.
t4 a Say, we'11 bring you to the White House?

l5 A But not always, because we don't always put that

l6 in. So, again, Ambassador Sondland specifically told us that
t7 he had had that paragraph inserted. And we were, again,
l8 somewhat nervous about that, because, again, when you make an
t9 tati on f ike that and an expectati on i s set uP, you need
i nv'i

20 to have a clear idea of the timeframe and then the nature of

2t the discussions.
22 at thj s particular poi nt, we're sti 11 wai ting for
And
23 the elect'ions to the Ukra j ni an Parl i ament. So I j ust want to
24 put that on the record.
25 a When was that going to be?

UNCLASS ] EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 76

A That was going to be in Ju1y. We11, in actual

2 fact, at that point I'11 have to go back and check.
J Perhaps we can all check whether i t had actually been
4 announced because Zelensky was under a great deal of preSsure
5 i nternally, domesti ca11y, and also from the Russi ans.

6 There was, you know, speculatjon in all analytical

7 circles, both in Ukraine and outside, that he might not be
8 able to get a workable majority in the Ukrajnian Parliament.
9 And all of us are very cognizant of the dangers of writing
l0 congratulatory letters to people who can't form governments.
ll We've had a number of tetters, in fact, we had to pul1 back
t2 where heads of state that we congratulated then couldn't
t3 actually form a government.
t4 And at that point, we were very hesitant to, you know,
l5 push forward with any invjtation to Zelensky until we knew
t6 that he had a workable majority in the Rada and was then
17 goi ng to be able to f orm h'is own cabi net.
18 so myself and others were actually cautioning against
l9 extending an invitation at that particular point until we

20 knew that Zelensky would form a government. We were also

2l extremely concerned about Zelensky's retationship with the
22 gentleman Igor Kolomoisky, the Ukrainian oligarch, who was --
23 the oligarch who was basically the owner of the TV and
24 production company that Mr. Zelensky's famous Servant of the
25 People program had been Part of.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 77

I And, of course, our analysts and our Embassy and others

2 were watching very closely and this is ptaying out now in
J the press and public -- to see how much influence
4 l'lr . Kolomoi sky mi ght have on Zelensky or on government

5 formati on .

6 is someone who the U.S. Government has

And Kolomoisky
7 been concerned about f or some t'ime, havi ng been suspected
8 and, indeed, proven to have embezzled money, American
9 taxpayers' money, from a bank that was subsequently
l0 nati onal i zed , Pri vatBank. And he had gone i nto exi 1e i n
ll Israel in th'is particular timeframe.
12 a Is he back in Ukrajne?
l3 A So we were watching he's gone back to Ukraine.
t4 So we were watching for exactly these kinds of eventualities
15 and were very reluctant at that point to put a meeting on the
l6 agenda, push for a meeting until we could see how the
t7 complexi ties of Ukrai ni an poti tics would play out.
18 a What were your thoughts on Zelensky in the runup to
t9 hj s election victory?
20 A I had an open mind about him. He was, you know,

2t somebody, you know, completely, you know, out of the from

22 outside the political realm. Obviously, you know, we asked

23 our analysts to, you know, get us as much 'inf ormation as they
24 could.
25 And, as I said, the one question we had was real1y

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] EIED 78

I whether he would be able to act independently. He would

2 obviously need a major Parliamentary majority for this or a
J si gni fj cant Parl i amentary maj ori ty, and whether someone f i ke
4 Igor Kolomoisky or other oligarchs would try to predate upon
5 his Presidency.
6 a Did you believe he was genuinely campaigning on
7 being an anticorruPtion chamPion?

8 A There was a good chance that he was. And I'm

9 always one of the people, you know, trust but verify. So I

10 wanted to have a bit more information about him.

ll a Had Poroshenko's time run out, you think?
12 A Poroshenko's time had defi ni tely run out.
l3 I also want to say that, you know, 'in thi s t'imef rame, we
t4 were being very careful in the runup to the elections not to
l5 appear, as the previous administration had done, to tip our
t6 hat in the election.
t7 And we all the notorious phone call that the
remember

18 Russians bas'ica11y intercepted and then put on YouTube of

l9 Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland talking to our Ambassador

20 Geoff Pyatt at the time about decisjons about who should be

2t Prime Minister of Ukraine and the very damaging effect that
22 that had. So we were trying to ensure at that time
23 a When did that occur?
24 A That was during the gosh, when was that one

25 of the many upheavals in Ukrainian politics back in the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 79

I 2000s. I'11 have to to you. That's one of those,

come back

2 you know, trivja questjons I would have failed in my pub quiz

J there.
4 But, all remember that 'i t was
basi ca11y, you wi 11

5 intercepted by the Russians. It was a queStion of then-Prime

6 Minister Yatseniuk about who would be more preferable for the
7 Un1ted States. And we had determined as a government that we
8 weren't going to play that game. We were not going to try to
9 jn any case in any shape or form suggest that Poroshenko
t0 was our candidate or that we had a preference for Zelensky or
ll any of the other candjdates that were running in the
t2 Presidential race.
t3 And that had made President Poroshenko very

t4 uncomfortable and he had been agitating for Some kind of

t5 meeting in that timeframe, including with the Vice President
t6 or someone as well.
t7 a It's been posited that Ambassador Yovanovitch was
l8 close to Poroshenko, whether that's true or untrue.
t9 A That's rubbish, just to be very c1ear. Then
20 anybody in the government who js interacting with Poroshenko'
2t includ'ing the Vice Pres'ident, was and the President was
22 close to Poroshenko, and that's just not true.
23 a When was it clear that Poroshenko's time was up?
24 A I think it became, you know, very obvious in his
25 handling of , you know, various issues. The Kerch Strait

UNCLASS ]EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 80

1 incident could very well have been handled differently.

2 a When was that?
a
J A That was in November of 2018. They have a perfect
4 right to send the'i r ships through the Kerch Strait, but it
5 seemed to us that this action, you know, was taken it was
6 taken on the eve of the armistice commemorations in France,
7 where we'd already announced that there was going to be a
8 meeting between the President and President Putin. There waS
9 a 1ot of scrutiny on other major events.
10 And it seemed to have been done not just with a freedom
ll of navi gati on goal 'in mi nd, wh'ich, agai n , i s completety
t2 acceptable and the right of the Ukrainians, but also to gain
l3 maxi mum attenti on.

t4 And there was a miscalculation there. Perhaps the

15 Ukrainians -- this js speculation on my part, but I think it
t6 bears on an analytical basis rather than on anything else
17 that President Poroshenko thought that the Russians would

l8 catch and release, that they would, you know, perhaps attempt
19 to detain the ships, not that there would be a fire fight,
20 which is actually what happened. I mean, those ships were
2t shot on by a Russian helicopter, and one of the seamen, the
22 sai 1ors, was i nj ured . And I don't thi nk he anti ci pated
23 they'd seize both vessels and take the sailors off to Moscow.
24 a Was i t clear that Zelensky was goi ng to be the
25 wi nner?

UNCLASS ] F]ED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 8l

I A It was not.
2 a So it was trending not towards Poroshenko, but it
J was going to be Zelensky or a third candidate?
4 A Yeah. I mean, all the analysis, we had many
5 updates at the time we were doing. In fact, the Embassy in
6 Ukraine was doing some rea1ly excellent work on polling and

7 ort, you know, kind of outreach to Ukrainian citizens and

8 their think tanks. And it was clear that Poroshenko was

9 polting in the single digits, so it was an uphi1l battle for
l0 him if it was a free and fair election.
ll So our focus was on encouraging all parts of the
t2 Ukrainian establishment to have a free and fair election, and
l3 signaling to Poroshenko that if he tried to steal the
t4 election, this would not be acknowledged by the U.S.
15 Government, that we were watching this. And to be fajr to
16 Poroshenko, he rea1ly did run a free and fair election. It
t7 was something the Russians didn't expect, and it was
l8 something I think that a lot of people did not expect.
19 a How confident were you that Zelensky would be able
20 to get the margins he needed to form a parljament or to form
2t a maj or i ty?
22 A to be honest, given the
Not especially confident,
23 pressures that he was facing and also the role of the
24 Russians jn obviously targeting the Ukrainjan elections as
25 we11. You have to remember that before, you know, the

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I EIED 82

1 Russians targeted us and targeted other European countries

2 around their elections, they targeted Ukraine as wel1. And
J it was well-documented that the Russ'ians were trying to run
4 thej r own candidates, people with affiliations with Russian
5 busi nesses , Russi an o1i garchs, and wi th the Kreml i n.
6 a But, ultimately, he was able to do that in the July
7 electi on?

8 A He was, because I think everyone has always

9 underestimated the Ukrainian people's political sentiment and

10 grassroots.
ll a Volker, you touched on it a fittle bit
Ambassador

l2 in the first hour, what was his portfolio?

l3 A His portfolio was to conduct, as best he could, the
t4 negotiations or give the Unjted States a role in the
l5 negotiations with the Russians and the Ukra'inians to find
t6 resolution to the war in Donbas.

t7 So h'is portf o1i o covered i nteracti ons wi th the Normandy

l8 format t4insk group, the French and the Germans and the
t9 Ukrainians and Russians 'in that context. He was responsible
20 f or th Pres'ident Puti n's desi gnated Ukrai ni an
meeti ngs wi
2t envoy to the Ukrainian conflict, Mr. Sokov. That in jtself
22 is a challenge. Sokov is a political operator of the highest
23 cali ber and, you know, very well-known i n Russi an ci rc1es.
24 And alsoto deal with other European leaders who have been,
25 you know, actively involved and engaging with Ukraine, and

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 83

I our other a11ies, the Canadians, you know, NATO and others.
2 But it was very much focused on the resolution of the
a
J conflict in Donbas.
4 a With Ambassador Sondland's self-asserted authority
5 over at least parts of the Ukrainian portfolio, who are the
6 other relevant U.S. officjals, not Rudy Giuliani, but
7 relevant U.S. officials involved wjth Ukraine policy at this
8 point?
9 A In terms of across the interagency, the equivalent
l0 Assistant Secretaries and Deputy Assistant Secretaries of
ll Defense and at State. So

t2 a Who are they?

l3 A George Kent is the DAS in charge of Ukraine at the
t4 State Department. Wess Mitchell was previously the Assistant
l5 Secretary, but he left in February of 2019, February of 2019.

t6 Does that sound right?

t7 And Phil Reeker came in as Acting Assistant Secretary,
l8 having been the special adviser to EUCOM, only rea11y in
l9 April-May. So he was actually dual-hatted until the
20 ret'irement of General Scaparrotti. He was his chief adviser.
2t So he was, you know, doing two jobs at once. So I think he
22 was appointed of named as Acting Assistant Secretary, but

23 he only really was coming into the job in April.

24 And then, jn terms of the DAS is Laura Cooper at the
25 Defense Department. Then well, we also had had a number

UNCLASS IF]ED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 84

I of changes overthere. I mean, the Defense Department, there

2 was a whole range of people who were involved in this,
J because of j ust the nature of assi stance to Ukra'ine. We'd
4 also had General Abizaid, who had been a chief military
5 adviser to Ukraine. He was replaced by Ke'ith Dayton, General
6 Kei th Dayton, who 'is the head of Garmi sch our mi 1i tary
7 school at Garmisch.
8 So you had a broad range of people, people also at,
9 obvi ously , OMB, Departments of commerce, usTR. There' s a

l0 broad range of people who were involved in one way or another

11 on Ukrai ne portfol i o. Department of J usti ce, the FBI . We
t2 had a Department of Justice team working, and also in our
l3 I ntel agenc i es as we1 I
.

l4 a And in your directorate, could you help us

l5 understand how your directorate was set up?

l6 A We had one director for Ukraine, who at this

t7 particular juncture was Alex Vindman. Our previous di rector

18 who wasdetailed from the Defense Department, he had

t9 been well , he St'i1f is a f orei gn area of f i cer detai 1ed
20 to the Chai rman's 0f f ice, the Jo'int Ch'ief s of Staf f . He had
2l been General Dunford's key action officer for jnteractjons
22 wi th the Russi ans.
23 a And who's that?
24 A For i nteracti ons, thi s i s Alex Vi ndman.
25 a Okay. Thi s i s Alex Vi ndman. Is he sti 1t there?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 85

I AI'm just giving you his background. To the best of

2 my knowledge, he's sti 11 there. Hi s predecessor was

3 Catherine Croft, who was previously the Ukra'ine desk officer

4 at the State Department, and she went to work for Kurt Volker
5 as his deputy, but only in the very last couple of months.
6 a How many offjcjals on your staff concentrated on
7 Ukrai ne?
8 A 0n1y Alex Vindman.
9 a How many personnel did you have in your

10 o rgan'i zat'i on ?

ll A As you're aware, there was an effort to streamline

t2 the National Securi ty Counci 1

l3

l4 So, basically, we didn't replace people when they rotated out

l5 of detail. So some people had enormous portfolios.
l6 initially been taken on by my
And Alex Vindman had
t7 the other seni or di rector i n the di rector wi th ln€, Colonel
l8 Rich Hooker, who had been, you know, very interested,
19 obvi ously, i n defense- related i ssues.

20 And we initially brought him on to look at the totaljty

2t of Russian defense-related issues, but then there was a
22 determinatjon during in the course of the streamlining of
23 the that that should all be concentrated in our defense
NSC

24 di rectorate. So another person had been taken on there to

25 focus on those related issues who would work closely. 5o we

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 86

I moved Alex to work on Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova.

2 a When did that occur?

J A So he wasn't hi red primari ly i t had occurred

4 when Catherine Croft left.

5 a When was that?
6 A That would be sometime toward the end of the summer

7 of 2018. in the summer of the Summer we have

Every year,
8 a rotation of detailees. Most people are there for a year.
9 Some people get permission from their agencies for l-8 months.

l0 And on rare occasions people are seconded for 2 years, but

l1 only if their department is willing to pay.
t2 And there was a big debate while I was there that people
l3 here may recal1 about whether departments and agencies were
t4 going to pay for additional time beyond the L year.
15 O And what agenc'ies do you draw the detai lees f rom?
l6 A Every agency, i f we can.
17 a Such as?
18 A Every agency that we can that will detail someone.

t9 I mean, i t's rare to have

20 a Wel1, in your tenure, what were the agencies
21 supplyi ng detai lees?
22 A We11, it depended, again, on the memorandums of
23 understandi ng. When I fj rst started, the maj ori ty were from
24 the State Department. But the State Department, when
25 Secretary Tillerson came in, was refusing to let people stay

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 87

I for longer than a year, and there was also some questions
2 back and forth about the downsizing of the State Department.
J DOD initiatly were more receptive to putting forward

4 particularly foreign area officers and particularly people

5 from JCS. And there were a 1ot of detailees from DOD in the
6 time that I was there across the NSC and all d'i rectorates.
7

8 I trying to get someone actually from Commerce,

was
9 because I felt like we needed, you know, kind of a diversity
l0 of views, especially since an awful 1ot of the issues that we
ll were dealing with related to trade, especially when it came
t2 to Europe but also with many other countries. And although
l3 that was in our International Economics'djvjsion, it was very
t4 helpful to have people with, you know, broader backgrounds.
l5 We had also detailees from Treasury, although Treasury
t6 'itse1f, they got short-staffed and were trying to recatl some

t7 of their deputies in that tjme.

l8 And 1et me just see if I've missed anyone. And then
l9 a Wh'ich ?

20 A I think in some cases, that would be classified.

2l a And in total, you had anywhere from 10 to L4 people
22 under your supervisjon?
23 A At times, "it was only I
some because, of ten with
24 the detailees changing over, we could go weeks, you know, I
25 see

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 88

2 could

J attest that, when you have a changeover of detailees, it

4 often takes a long time for people to come in, and you might

5 be real1y short-staffed.
6 So I have been 1iterally
to I d'i rectors, you
down

7 know, kind of tota1, and myself have acted aS a director and

8 at different times have had to ask our special assistant. We
9 also had a number of special assistants. In my case, we Were
10 down to onfy ! special assistant.
ll a The

t2 A often that was how people's portfofios ended up

And
13 getting determined. So we had one colleague who had to cover
t4 the entirety of the eastern flank of NATQ, I mean 20-p1us
l5 countries because, when ! came in, the other previous !
t6 directors who were djvided up between them had 1eft. And I
t7 did that job for several months and actually did it so well
l8 that we decided not to hire an extra deputy. I was

t9 basi ca11y worki ng L8-hour days, however.

20 a Switching gears back to the July LOth meeting.
2t A Yes.

22 a The next sort of key event was the July 25th call
23 with President Trump and President Zelensky. You had left
24 shortly prior --
25 A I had.

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS ] FIE D 89

I a prior to the call. But what was the preparation

2 for that call underway?
3 A It was not because the call had not been announced
4 when I 1eft.
5 a So you djdn't know the call was scheduled
6 A I did not.
7 a as of J u1y 1-9th?
8 A As of July Lgth, I did not know it was scheduled.
9 And on July L5th was the last day that I had formal
l0 interagency meetings. And from Ju1y LGth, L7th, LSth and

ll L9th, I had meetings myself just to wrap up and, you know,

t2 kjnd of basically pass on informatjon about the portfolio to
l3 relevant people, i ncludi ng across the i nteragency.
t4 a did you pass your portfoljo on to?
Who

l5 A i passed my portfotio on to Tim Morrison. And so

l6 any meetings that were pertinent to Ukraine in that tjmeframe
l7 of that week, he attended with AIex Vindman, although
18 actually, to be honest, I think he was traveling in that
l9 period. He went to take part in he may have been back by
20 the Thursday an arms control meeting with the State
2t Department because he came over, as you know, from being the
22 seni or d'i rector f or arms control .

23 a Did he at any point work for you, Morrison?

24 A Work for me?

25 a Yes.

UNCLASS ] E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 90

I A No, he did not. He was my counterpart in weapons

2 of mass destruction.
J a Then he came over to take your job?
4 A Correct.
5 a Why did you decide to leave the White House?

6 A I had always sai d when I came 'in: I 'm a

7 nonparti san , nonpol i ti cal appo'intee. I was hi red, i n f act,
8 by General Flynn, K.T. McFarland, and General Ke1logg. And

9 when they first approached me and asked me if I would be

10 willing to do this, I had previously taken a leave from
ll Brookings, I was on IPA to the National Intelligence 0ffice.
t2 So I had actually worked with General Flynn when he was
l3 working for Admiral Mu11en at the Joint Chiefs of Staff when
l4 I was a National Intelligence 0fficer. And I said that I
l5 couldn't commit to longer than 2 years, maximum. 1n actual
t6 fact, I stayed longer because I agreed to help wi th
t7 transjtion, finding new directors, and also trying to find a
l8 successor and to be able to do a handover. And I said I was
t9 willing to stay no later than the end of the year to do this
20 And Tim l4orri son wanted to start on July 15th.
2l a So you're nonpartisan?
22 A I am nonparti san.
23 a In thi s current envi ronment we're j n, i t's
24 A That's actually why I took the job. Because in
25 thi s current env'i ronment we' re i n, I thi nk j t's extremely

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 9l

I important for people who are nonpartisan to serve jn

2 government pos'i tions.
3 O At any point as you were on-boarding, was it did
4 you find that you were ostracjzed because you weren't
5 associated w'ith the more partisan side of the house?
6 A I got ostracized by
7 MR. W0L05KY: What do you mean? Ostracized by whom?

8 DR. HILL: Yeah, by whom? Not by anybody in the

9 Republican Party, but I did have a colleague who had

10 previously
l1 BY MR. CASTOR:

t2 a Like were you

l3 A who has not spoken to me since I took the job,
t4 but for the opposite reasons from what you are suggesting.
l5 a And how would you characterjze, were you a
t6 supporter of the President? Were you agnostic?
t7 A I was agnostic. And I don't think that there's
l8 anything wrong with that either. I was, basically, like I
l9 said, in the case of Zelensky and many others, I think
20 everyone should have a very open mind. And I think it's very
2t important to serve your country and to serve the President
22 and the Presidency, you know, as being duly elected.
z5 And I thought it was very important to step uP, as an
24 expert, as somebody who's been working on Russia for
25 basically my whole entire adult 1ife, given what had happened

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 92

in 2015 and given theperil that I actually thought that we

2 were in as a democracy, given what the Russians I know to
J have done in the course of the 2015 elections.
4 a So you say you were agnostic on the President, so
5 you hadn't been a critic of the President?
6 A I had not. There are a couple of art'icles where I
7 expressed some, you know, skepticism about how his
8 relatjonship would be w'ith Putin that, you know, kind of
9 perhaps didn't prove to be true, but anyway.
t0 So, I mean, you can look back and, you know, see that'
l1 you know, I suggested they might not get a1ong, you know,
12 kind of because, you know, given the different natures of the
13 individuals, I thought, you know, there might be some
t4 friction.
15 a At any point, did you find yourself becoming a
16 cri tic of the President?
17 A I did not. And if I had done, l would have left
18 right away, and I left only on terms. And a lot of people --
t9 and I'm just going to put this out there. You haven't asked
20 the question, but I have been accused of it many times. I
2t did not write Anonymous. I am not Anonymous. So just to say
22 that because

23 a I didn't ask you that.

24 A Lee has been having endless phone ca11s from
25 people, and I was accused of that within the White House. It

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 93

was the most uncomfortable time that I had. It was the only
2 t'ime when I experjenced discomfort. Because of people
J parsi ng everythi ng I had wri tten. And M'ichael Anton, who was
4 the head of the press at that time, was fielding endless
5 ca11s from people saying that I was Anonymous. And I was
6 not, and I will state it for the record: I was not.
7 a But you didn't leave the White House because you
8 found yourself becoming a critic of the President?
9 A No, I didn't. I had gi ven myself 2 years. I
10 stayed longer than that. But, as a nonpartisan person, I did
11 not want to be part of the campaign
t2 a And even since you've left the White House, you
13 don't fjnd yourself as a cri tic of the President?
14 A I have not returned to the Brookings Institutjon.
15 I 'm on leave. And I have not taken on any speaki ng
t6 engagements. I am not writing a book. I am basically trying
17 to keep my head down, you know, while everybody else is
18 trying to do their jobs. I worked with the most unbelievably
19 professional first-rate team of people, both potitical and
20 nonpolitjcal, 'in the time I was at the NSC, and I want to
21 give them the space to do their jobs
22 a The July 25th call, who would ordinarily be a
23 parti ci pant on that call?
24 A That really could vary because it also, you know,
25 depends -- I mean, there were ca11s that I would have been

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS IFIED 94

I ordinarily ofl, but I wasn't there or present. I might have

2 been in another meeting or I might not have actually been
J physically i n the bui ldi ng.
4 So it be we11, again, it often would be
would usually
5 selected by the front office of the National Security Advisor
6 as well as, you know, the kind of the broader White House
7 team. You would imagine someone from the Chief of Staff's
8 Office, someone repreSenti ng the National Securi ty Advi sor,
9 which could be the deputy. It could be myself, as the senior
10 director, or the director if I'm not present. Someone from
1l the V'ice President's staf f . 0f ten Someone f rom press or the
t2 White House counsel.
t3 And if there was an ant'icipation that a particular topic
t4 in somebody else's area of responsibility would come up
15 say, jt's a call with Chancellor Merkel and she wants to talk
t6 about 1et's j ust pick a random Li bya, then the di rector
t7 who has responsibility and the senior directors for Libya
18 woutd basicalty also be present.
t9 So I can't say for sure, you know, who would normally
20 have been in those meetings, but that's usually I mean
2l and then you have the Whi te House Si tuat'ion Room staf f , and
22 then other Cabinet members can call in as we1l.
Z5 Now, also remember that there's another side to alt of
24 these ca11s. So, while people start parsing who's in our
25 cal1s, all of those ca11s could very easily be being recorded

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 95

I as well as transcribed by a very large phalanx of other

2 people on the other s'ide of the ca11. And I wi 11, you know,
J refer you to look at pictures that, for example, President
4 Erdogan of Turkey would frequently release with himself
5 listening to the call with about as many people as are
6 sitting here 'in this room.
7

t0

l1

t2

l3

t4

l5

l6

t7

l8

l9
20

2t

22

23

24

25

UNCLASS ] E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 96

I [].2 : 33 p.m. l

2 BY MR. CASTOR:

J a Did you speak with anyone? You had left on the

4 L9th, but had you spoken to anybody about the call?
5 A I did not. I was on vacation . And at

6 the time the phone call took place, I think, based on my

7 date-stamp on my phones, I was snorkeling.

8 V0ICE: You were under water.
9 HILL: I was under water, yeah. It was a pretty
DR.
10 good alibi. I djdn't take underwater pictures, but, you
ll know, I can basically
12 BY MR. CASTOR:

l3 a So you d'idn't rece jve any read-outs of the call

14 A I did not.
l5 a until it became Public --
t6 A I did not.
t7 a on the 25th?
18 A No, I did not. I'd actually people I said
asked
t9 I 'd promi se I would check my ema'i1 once a day and there
20 was a big time difference as well, so that was quite and I
2t would forward on to them anything that they needed to deal
22 with and, otherwise, I would prefer if they didn't call me.
23 a Okay. But you were getting your emai1, so you saw
24 the traffic from your
25 A That was the first I saw that there was a call.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS ] E]ED 97

I a Right. And were there any

2 A And I didn't see anything after that call at all.
J a Were there any unclassified read-outs on emajls?
4 A There were not. I mean, they don't normally do
5 that at all.
6 a Okay.

7 A And, usual1y, any preparation is done on a more

8 secu re system, because one should assume that, in those kinds
9 of emails, anybody could be readi ng them.
l0 a Ri ght.
11 When is the first time you learned about the call and

t2 i ts nature?

l3 A Really when it was started to be made public. The

t4 first hint that I got that there might have been some
15 discomfort about it was when I was handing back in my badge
t6 on September 3rd.
t7 a Uh-huh.
18 A And I went in to tatk to my office,I said, how
and
t9 are things going, and people said, we11, not great. And I
20 thought, well, okay, something is up. But there wasn't
21 any I mean, I was coming in to hand in my badge, so I was
22 technically no longer --
23 a Uh-huh.
24 A And i brief discussion with Tjm
had a very
25 Morrison, and he didn't mention the call at all. He did take

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 98

I the tjme to te11 me that Gordon Sondland was apparently glad

2 that I had gone. I thought, wel1, that was a rather
So
3 po'inted message f rom Ambassador Sondland. But I didn't take
4 that to be about the call or anything else. It just seemed
5 to be a fairly gratujtous, you know, kind of messaging as I
6 was leavi ng.
7 a So Ambassador Sondland didn't attend your farewell
8 party?
9 A He didn't. No.
10 a Did you have one?
1l A Sort of.
t2 a And when was that?
l3 A That would've been in the week I was leaving. I
l4 can't remember when 'it was, honestly.
15 a But back in July?
l6 A June or July, Yeah.
t7 a Where was i t?
l8 A It was just in the White House. We had a lot of
t9 farewell parties in that period. We11, it was because people
20 are rotating out, and everybody likes to go and relax and see
2t thei r f ri ends .

22 MR. JORDAN: Doctor, you mentioned on September 3rd you

23 got a hint of the call or the content of

24 DR.HiLL: No, I had more a hint that something was up,
25 but I didn't know exactly what.

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 99

I MR. JORDAN: Not a hint of the cal1, just a hint that

2 something was up.
J DR. HILL: Yeah. People didn't look very happy in my

4 di rectorate.
5 MR. JORDAN : 0kay.
6 BY MR. CASTOR:

7 a Who did you speak with when you came to turn in

8 your badge?

9 A I spoke to resource management, the financial

10 people, the ethics people. And i also did have a very brief
ll di scussion wi th John Ei senberg and t"ljchael E11j s, who I met

12 with very frequently on a whole number of issues and had a

t3 real1y excellent, you know, professional retationship with.
t4 AndI asked them if there was anything that I should be
15 mindful of as I was leaving, in terms of communications.
l6 Because I'd seen an ema'i1 suggesting, again, that we had to
t7 keep all communications related to Ukraine. There'd been an
18 emajl sometime in that timeframe. And I just wanted to te11
t9 them that I'd put everything into the records, and was there
20 anything that I needed to know, and they djdn't indicate that
21 there was.

22 a Di d you talk to V'indman?

23 A I d'id not talk to Alex Vi ndman, no.

24 a What did Eisenberg and E11is tell you about your
25 records?

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 100

I A They said that, as long as I was having oo, you

2 know, kind of official communications, that there was oo, you
3 know, reason to be concerned, and just asked me what I'd done
4 with all of my records.
5 a Li ke, all your notes that you take 'in meeti ngs?
6 A Correct. And I'd already f i led all of those wi th
7 the records office on the L9th.
8 a Okay . So you d i dn ' t take any
9 A I took nothing with me.
t0 a of your own notes with You?
l1 A No. A11 I took with me was my the ethics and,
t2 you know, financial agreements. And the reason that I didn't
l3 hand my badge i n unt'i1 September 3 rd because I was on
t4 vacati on unti 1 the 30th 'is that you have to f i 11 out all
15 the ethics paperwork on your last -- or immediately after
l6 your last payday.
17 a Yeah.
l8 A And you can only then sign out of all of the
l9 resource management . I t' s j ust , yoLl know, ki nd of a
20 bureaucrati c thi ng.
21 MR. JORDAN: Doctor, you said you learned about the calt
22 about the time of when it was public. Does that mean you
23 learned about it prior to the 25th? 0r when did you learn
24 about the contents and the nature of the calt?
25 MR. W0L0SKY: I believe that misstates her prior

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I F] ED 101

1 test'imony over when she learned about the ca11, when she
2 continued to have access to her nonclassified emai1. The

J record w'i11 speak or i tsetf

f .

4 MR. JORDAN: No, but she earlier, she said she

5 said a hint of a ca11, and she clarified that and said that
6 wasn' t about the call necessari ly, j ust a hi nt of somethi ng.
7 DR. HILL: Yeah, I was alert to the fact that people
8 didn't look happy and something was up, but I didn't put it
9 together wjth the cal1.
l0 MR. JORDAN: And there was no time between

ll September 3rd, when you had a hint of something up, and

t2 September 25th that you learned about the contents of the

l3 catl?
t4 DR.LL: NO, I did not Iearn about the contents of the
HI

l5 calt. I did 1earn, as a result of lots of media calting

16 me I was wi th , and I had
17 very poor Fi router that doesn't extend
has a Wi

l8 beyond, you know, kind of, basically this desk. I had to sit
l9 on it to basically get a text. And I basically ran through
20 my enti re data plan. And when I eventualty called
2l to get the data plan extended,
22

23

24 When i t came back on, I had found I had just bazillions

25 of texts and emails from press And I didn't know what was

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 102

1 going on. And I texted it was clearly about

2 NSC and a call. And I texted , who was

3 not actually directly related to all of this, and said,

4 what's going on? What I do need to know? Why am I getting
5 all of these ca1ls? And d, i t's the sai

6 whi stleblower account, and i t's related to the Ukrai ne ca11.

7 MR. JORDAN: That was before the 25th?

8 DR. HILL: That would've been because I came back on

9 the 25th w'ith , so it was in

l0 the couple of days before that. I basically read about
lt everything as I was sitting in Newark Airport in the transit
t2 area wi th

13 MR. JORDAN : Uh- huh . And who was ?

t4 DR. HI LL: The

15

t6 I di dn't know I mean , agai n, I

17 I
l8 And we kept a very close separation of issues,
t9 especi a1ly on Russ'i a. Russi a was hi ghly coordi nated, hi ghly
20 professjonal. all the Russia stuff out of
And we kept
2t everything e1se, because there was a tendency for people to
22 leak 'inf ormati on about Russi a, and we wanted to make sure
23 that that did not happen.
24 t4R. ZELDIN: If I -- excuse me. If I could ask a quick
25 followup on that?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASSIFIED 103

I So, earlier on in your testimony, you stated that you

2 ljke to keep your head down. Even without being asked, you
J stated that you' re not the person who wrote the anonymous New
4 York Times
5 DR. HILL: I've been asked about every single other t'ime
6 by every imaginable press person, and all of the people who
7 are emailing me, who don't know me, are asking that. So I
I thought I would just get it on the record so that it's not,
9 you know, kind of, a question that js all hovering over
10 people' s mi nds.

ll MR. ZELDIN: Yeah, ro, I appreciate that. But that's

t2 why your last answer just sparked my interest, and I just
l3 wanted to ask a followup question. How would so many in the
14 media have your phone number?
l5 DR. HILL: i used to work at a think tank, the Brookings
t6 Institution. In fact, I'il
t7 MR. ZELDIN: It was all from before you were jn the
l8 Whi te House?

l9 DR. HILL: -- I am technically, you know, supposed to go

20 back there. And I haven't gone back there because you can't
2l rea11y shelter in place at somewhere like the Brookings
22 Insti tuti on when somethi ng 1 i ke thi s i s goi ng on. And what I
23 mean by that is, I'm obliged as part of the iob as a senior
24 fellow to talk to the media and to the press and to make
25 publ i c pronouncements.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 104

I MR. ZELDIN: SO

2 DR. HILL: And Brookings has, very sad1y, I

J

5 MR. ZELDIN: Okay. But you weren't givi ng out your

6 phone number to the media while in your position at the White
7 House?

8 DR. LL: No.

HI

9 And I'11 be very clear, and you can ask any of the press
l0 directorS, that I only ever gave background interviews at the
ll request of the Wh'i te House, i ncludi ng the press secretary on
12 the NSC, wjth NSC press or White House press available. I
l3 never, on any occasion, talked to the media outside of those
t4 ci rcumstances background, authori zed i ntervi ews. I di d
15 not leak any information. I did not talk to the press.
t6 I was accused of many things, and that's why I'm just
t7 saying that it gets my back up when people tike Masha
l8 Yovanovitch and others were accused baselessly of doing all
t9 ki nds of improper activi ty.
20 And I did not leak, and I was not Anonymous. I am not
2t the stlebtower. And I 'm not the second whi stleblower.
whi

22 Just get this all for the record so we have it all out there
23 and you don't have to ask any more questions about that.
24 BY MR. CASTOR:

25 a Yeah, v,,e11 , you know, i f I may j ust walk you

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 105

I through this. We first heard about you coming in for today's

2 all-day interview, all-day depos'ition, Iast Wednesday night.
J Nobody told us earljer than Wednesday. I contacted your
4 lawyer on Thursday to try to find out a 1itt1e bit more
5 information and was unable to connect with your lawyer. We
6 were i n here all day Fri day. And, fi nal1y, I connected wi th
7 your lawyer for about 5 minutes last night.
8 And so you have to understand that when we're trying to
9 prepare ourselves and prepare our members, we are being kept
l0 in the dark. So you just have to excuse the fact that we're
ll going to have some questjons about who were the people you
t2 worked for.
l3 A I completely understand. And I think, you
No,
t4 know, my reaction is not because of you at all. I mean, it's
15 the, you know, kind of, just the onstaught that I have been
t6 getting. I've had media inqui ries and, you know, people I
17 don't know at all
l8 a Got it.
19 A you know, worki ng I 'm on YouTube. I 'IIr, you
20 know, on the internet.
2t O OkaY.
22 AMy js panicked that, you know, kind of,
23 I going to be targeted. You know, there are
24 a We11, certai nly, that j s
25 A So I'm responding to, you know, all these

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS IE]ED 106

I suspicions about who I am as a person. And, again, I am a

2 nonpartisan professional. And that's just what I wanted to

J have on the record.

4 a Dr. Hi 11, v\,e appreci ate your servi ce and have

5 enormous respect for you and, you know, the like-minded

6 nonpartisan people that serve in the National Security
7 Council. And, good heavens, anything that can be likened to
8 a threat and anything with , good heavens, that
9 is something that nobody, on the Republican side or the
10 Democratic side, will
ll A No, I'm aware that this is not You at alt. It's
t2 just, as you said, when you asked me a question before, gi ven
l3 the envi ronment
t4 a But just let me be clear that we find that type of
15 thing to be absolutely abhorrent, and we want to assi st you
t6 in any way possible to mjnimize that.
t7 A No, I appreciate that.
l8 a Can you help us understand, Iike, when is the first
l9 time you heard the committee had an interest in speaki ng wi th

20 you ?

2t MR. WOLOSKY: I'm going to instruct her not to answer

22 that question to the extent that it ca11s for communications

L) wi th her attorney that are covered by attorney-client

24 privilege.
25 MR. CASTOR: 0kay.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 107

I Like, how did they know you were represented by

2 Mr. Wolosky then?
J DR. HILL: When I asked Mr. Wolosky to
4 MR. CASTOR: And when 1ike, was it earlier than last
5 Wedn e sd ay ?

6 1"1R. W0LOSKY: Yeah, I thi nk that i f you want to

I mean,
7 ask a question to the witness, she will answer the question
8 to the extent that she has personal knowledge. If you want
9 to ask a question to me, I'm not the witness in these
l0 proceedi ngs .

l1 t'lR. CASTOR:I don' t want to ask a questi on of you .

t2 I just want to know generally when you fjrst became

l3 aware the comm'ittee had an i nterest i n speaki ng wi th you.
t4 DR. HILL: I became aware of it, actuaIly, when the
15 chairman released the letter publicly about what the
l6 because, you know, my tjtle js on that Iist. It sajd current
t7 and former.
l8 MR. CASTOR: Okay.
l9 DR. HILL: And so I assumed --
20 l'lR. CAST0R: 0kay.
21 HILL: -- and I hope that 'i t was a correct
DR.
22 assumption based on the very thorough list of all the
23 people that you intended to call for depositions, that that
24 would cover me.

25 MR. CAST0R: 0kay.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIE D 108

I DR. HILL: Now, the title has changed somewhat. 1t was

2 Europe and Russi a when I was the senior di rector. It's been

J changed to European Af f a'i rs oF, you know, European Issues or

4 whatever it's been changed to now.

5 MR. CASTOR: Okay. And do you remember when that was'

6 generatly?
7 HILL: We11, whenever the chai rman publi shed the
DR.
8 letter that was put 'in the med'ia.
9 MR. CASTOR: When is the first time you learned the

10 committee attempted to contact you specifically?

l1 DR. HILL: I saw that my name was on oh, not my name'
t2 not my name in person, but my function and my job was on

l3 the 1ist. So I assumed that, at Some point, I would be asked

t4 to testify or to speak to someone in some fashion.
l5 And I've known Lee for 30 years. And on my first day
t6 back,
t7 I
l8

t9 I came upto me and said,

20 you need a lawyer. And I thought, who do I know?

2t 0h, I know Lee.

22 that, the 25th?
MR. CASTOR: And when was

23 MR. W0L0SKY: Thank you for the endorsement.

24 DR. HILL: I know he's a great lawyer. I know he's a

25 great lawyer, just to add to all of that. But I've known him

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 109

I since before he was a lawyer. Lee's 1ike, great, now I'm

2 going to have no more clients Anyway, sorry. 0ops.

J BY MR. CASTOR:

4 a which I
5
I I
6

7 I doe s ! work for?

8 A does not I used to work for the

l0 a For what?
ll A I'm not going to bring ! into this
l2 I
l3 a I'm not asking you for ! name.

l4 I
l5 A We1I, did
t6 for, you know, the government. pursued

t7 white-co11ar crime.
l8
19 I mean, I was somewhat disturbed,
20

2l
22

23 would te11 me that I dismissed it

I should and at
24 first, but then, as the news media picked up on this, I
25 thought ! was probably right.

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 110

I a did you first realize that, indeed,

And when they

2 wanted to speak wlth You?

J
a
A , that's when
Well
4 MR. WOL0SKY: I mean, again, to the extent that that

5 i nvolves communi cati ons wj th me, I 'm goi ng to i nstruct her

6 not to answer that quest'ion.

7 MR. CASTOR: Uh-huh.

8 BY MR. CASTOR:

9 a The documents produced last night, are you famifiar

l0 with what was produced on your behalf?
ll A The yes, I am. Yeah.
t2 a the circumstances, to the extent
And what were you

13 know, not involving communicatjons with your lawyer, but how

14 was that produced? Your calendar entries, is that something

l5 that you had wi th You?

t6 A I didn't actuallY have i t wi th me.
17 a 0kay. There was a range.
l8 A l4y assistant at the National Security Council
t9 a OkaY.

20 A actually kept the calendar. And it's only

2t but only for the year in whjch he was working there.
22 a Ri ght.
23 A And I to, you know, obviously, establish
was asked
24 a timefine, you know, and what meetings I would've been
25 available jn. And I asked him if he had kept a copy of the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 111

I calendar that I to refer to to make sure that

would be able
2 we got at least , you know, k'ind of , the meeti ngs that the
J committee was most interested in in sequence.
4 a The handwritten notes on the calendar, is that
5 A That was just me circling
6 a OkaY.

7 A you know, whatI thought would be most

8 pertinent, and also pointing out that I wasn't because the

9 calendar had entries for after I had already 1eft.

10 a Sure. I thjnk on the L9th it said
1l A I'd gone or something, on vacation, or handed
t2 over the
l3 a And i s
that your handwri ting?
t4 A Yeah, that's my handwriting. Because he gave it to
15 me and I tooked. And I onty had one copy of this.

t6 a OkaY.

17 A And, again, this istrying to establish the

me

l8 facts as best I can, because, as you know you know it. I

l9 mean, I can't have total recal1 of every
20 a 0h, of course not.
2l A you know, single timing and things as well.
22 a And I don't expect you to.
z3 A Yeah. Yeah.
24 MR. W0LOSKY: Can I have just L minute?
25 DR. HILL: Yeah. Please. Yeah.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 112

I IDi scussioff the record. ]

on
2 DR. HILL: Yeah, I just also wanted to mention that, you
J know, obviously, in terms of documents and document
4 retention, everything was fited in accordance with the
5 requi rements from records.
6 And I that last day that I was in the
had asked on
7 office, on September 3rd, if I could have a copy for
8 reference of my contacts database, because I wanted to be
9 able to pass on to Tim Morrison and to other colleagues names
l0 of ambassadors and ambassadors' staff. And all of those

l1 things are unacceSsible to your SucceSSor when you 1eave. I

t2 mean, the accounts are all closed down.
l3 Andthat was the similar I asked if my assjstant, who
14 was actually working in the transj tion period for Tim
l5 Morrison, could have access to the calendar that he had kept
t6 for mein that time so that Tim and others would be able to
t7 refer back to when I had a particular meeting. Because, I
l8 mean, it's obviously important for the President'ial record
t9 and for, you know, recordkeeping and for directorate
20 continuity purposes to know when the predecessor met with
2t whom, you know, which ambassador o[, you know, which other

22 offi ci a1 .

23 BY I'4R. CASTOR:

24 a You always had a good relationship with Ambassador

25 Volker?

UNCLASSIEIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED I l3

I A I did. Very good relationship with him.

2 O I think we're clear where you stand with Ambassador

J Sondland, but
4 A I actually had a very good relationship, I thought'
5 at the very beginning with Ambassador Sondland. But the
6 unfortunate thing was I had a blow-up with him
7 a Ri ght.
8 A in June, when he told me that he was in charge
9 of Ukra j ne, because i n'i ti a1ly I sai d to him, "You' re not, "
l0 wi th that k'ind of , you know, surpri se and probably i rri tat j on

1l i n my voice.
t2 a Ri ght. Ri ght.
l3 A got testy wjth me. And I said, who has
And then he
r4 put you in charge of it? It seemed 1ike, h'i , I'm in charge.
l5 You know, there's no ambassador here. We11, at that point,
t6 Charge Ambassador Taylor had been sent out.
t7 And I sai d, who has sai d you' re 'in charge of Ukrai ne,
l8 Gordon? And he sa'id, the Presi dent. Well , that shut me up,
t9 because you can't rea1ly argue with that. But then I
20 wasn't to be honest, I wasn't real1y sure.
2t a But Ambassador Volker always acted with integrity?
22 A He did.
23 a In the interest of the Unjted States?
24 A He did. I have to say, though, that we did say to
25 him that we did not think it was a good'idea for him talking

UNCLASS I FIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 114

I to Rudy Giulianj.
2 a did he resPond to that?
And how
J A He said that he thought that he would be able to
4 I don't think he used exactly these words, but be able to
5 reason w"i th h'im and to, you know, ki nd of , basi ca11y , you

6 know, manage th'is. Wetl, we did not thi nk that thi s was
7 manageable.

8 t very clear that

And Ambassador Bol ton m.ade i nobody

9 should be talking to Rudy Giuliani, on our team or anybody

l0 else should be.

ll a You may have had a disagreement with Ambassador

t2 Sondland, like you just recounted, but, I mean, he always was

l3 acting in the best interests of the United States, to the
t4 best of your knowledge, correct?
15 A To the best of my knowledge, correct.
t6 a Okay. He
t7 A Ambassador Sondland, I'm afraid, you know, I fe1t,
18 you know, as I mentioned before, he was driving along on th;
t9 road. You know, he'd j ust gone off the road. No guardrai 1s,
20 no GPS.

2t a Ri ght.
22 A And my main concern, that he was wading into, not

23 just on Ukraine but many other issues, everything which he

24 was not being properly briefed. And we reached out to his
25 team at the EU mission, and they weren't giving him briefings

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 115

I on thi s.
2 a Ri ght.
J A And, again, that's why I asked

4 to try to find some time to sit with him and to encourage him
5 again not to use his personal phone, not to use other
6 peopte's personal phone, not to give people's personal phone
7 numbers out.
8 a Yeah.

9 A I mean, he pretty confident that he was,

I am

l0 you know, doing what he thought was, you know, the right
11 thing to get agreements made and to further relationships,
r2 but he wasn't doing it in a way that was, you know, going to
t3 basically make for good process. And he was also doing this
14 in a way that I thought put him at risk.
15 a Who'is "we"? You said "we."
16 A Ambassador Bolton, Ass'istant Secretary Reeker,
t7 Under Secretary Ha1e, Deputy Assistant Kent.
l8 a Okay.
t9 A I could j ust go on and on .

20 I mean and, a1so, we had complaints from other

2l ambassadors about Ambassador Sondland, that he was wading
22 into their areas. He would show up in their countries
23 without being, you know, kind of without rea11y much
24 foreknowledge. In some cases they were pleased, and in other
25 cases they were not. And he would piggyback onto other

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED ll6

I people's visits when they wanted to, you know, basically, as

2 the ambassador, shepherd their head of state to visit, and he
J would be there too.
4 a And he wasn't a Foreign Service officer. He was
5 new to the experience, right?

6 A He was new to the experjence. I mean, he was

7 cIearIy, you know, a savvy guy. He's charmi ng. He's funny.
8 He was well-meaning. I mean, a lot of the storjes that have

9 been in the press about him paying for things, actually I

l0 think he was doing that out of generosity. He was truly
ll trying to build up morale in his embassy. His embassy loved,
t2 you know, the kind of treats and things that he would get for
l3 them. He was trying to create happy hours.
t4 I thjnk he was, in the spirit of being, obv'ious1y, a
15 pretty good hotelier, he was, you know, trying to do the
l6 hospi tali ty part of the embassy, wh'ich i s actually an

17 important part of being an ambassador.

l8 a Ambassador Volker related to us that he was
t9 engagi ng wi th Mr. Gi uIi anj because he belj eved that Gi u1j ani
20 was amplifying a negative narrative and he had the ear of the
2t Presjdent, and so he was trying to make the best of this
22 truism. Is that a --
L) A That's exactly what he told me as we11. I mean, I
24 beg to differ, because I didn't think that this was actually
25 going to be very helpful. Because the more you engage with

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS ] EIED tt7

I someone who is spreading untruths, the more validity you give

2 to those untruths.
J a But Volker's i ni ti ati ves here and Sondland's
4 i ni ti ati ves here, i s i t your testi mony that you be1 i eve they

5 were trying to do what's in the best interests of the Unjted

6 States?
7 A I do believe that they were trying to do that.
8 a All ri ght. And they' re men of i ntegri ty?
9 A I know Kurt Volker definitely to be a man of
l0 i ntegr i ty . And 'i n terms of Gordon Sondl and , based on my

ll i nteracti ons wj th hi m, I 've a1 ready expressed the concerns ,

t2 but I can't say that he's not a man of integrity.

13 And he definitely was very enthusiastic in all of our
t4 early initial meetings about serving the United States,
l5 serving the President, and realIy trying to do as good a job
t6 as possible to also patch up our relat'ions with the European
t7 Uni on , whi ch were qui te rocky .

l8 And, you know, from all reports that I was getting back
19 from EU ambassadors, they actually appreciated h'is outreach
20 and felt that he was very open
2t a Ri ght.
22 A and they thought, you know, he was rea11y trying
23 very hard.
24 a 0kay. So he wasn't part of the Lev Parnas and Igor
25 Fruman

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I ElED I l8

I A I don't think he even knew who those gentlemen

2 we re
J a OkaY.

4 A because in the meeting where I had a bit of a

5 blow-up with hjm, I said --

6 a OkaY.

7 A Gordon, you' re i n over your head. I don't thi nk

8 you know who these people are.
9 a OkaY.

l0 A I also, myself, didn't know who all of

Because
ll these peopte were either. I'd only heard their names. And
t2 from what I could gather from just, you know, a quick Google
l3 and, you know, kind of, open-source search, they seemed to be
t4 bad news.
l5 a Yeah.

t6 And Volker, he related to us that the President had a

t7 deep-rooted skeptical view on Ukra'ine and thei r corruption
l8 environment. Is that something that you can attest to?
l9 I think the President has actually quite publicly
A
20 said that he was very skeptical about corruption in Ukraine.
2l And, in fact, he's not a1one, because everyone has expressed
22 great concerns about corruption in Ukraine.
23 a And, you know, Ambassador Volker related the
24 President's busj ness experience i n the region and hi s
25 knowledge of other business executjves that may have trjed to

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED ll9

I do business jn the Ukraine contributed to his deep-rooted

2 views of Ukraine and corruption. Is
J A Correct.
4 a that something you can attest to?
5 A Wel1, I can attest to that, because, again, the
6 President has said this publicly.
7 O And then, you know, addi ti onal1Y
8 DR. HILL: Can I make a quick request to have a quick
9 bathroom break?
l0 MR. CAST0R: Yeah, we've got about 2 m'inutes
ll DR. HILL: Yeah, I'ffi not trying to cut you off. I'm
t2 just sort of thinking I'd real1y ljke to go to the bathroom.
l3 MR. CASTOR: We've got about 4 minutes left. Would you
t4 want to
l5 DR. HILL: Could we j ust 1i teralty take a qui ck break?
l6 MR. CAST0R: of course.
Yes,
t7 DR. HILL: Because I've been kind of waiting for a

l8 pause.

19 MR. CASTOR: We can always take a break.

20 THE CHAIRMAN: We'11 take a qui ck break.
2l lRecess. l
22 THE CHAIRMAN: We're back on the record.
23 BY MR. CASTOR:

24 a We talking about President Trump's what was

were
25 at least related to us as his deep-rooted skeptical view of

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FI ED 120

I Ukraine as a businessman, as both hjmself in the region and

2 also with his colleagues. But he also had a skepticjsm as a

J
a
result of allegat'ions in the 20L6 election.
4 Is that also fair to say, that the President harbored
5 some skepticjsm, whether based ort, you know, legitimate
6 reaSonS or not, that he did harbor Some reserVations about

7 Ukra'ine?

8 MR. W0L0SKY:I think you should limit your comments to

9 public statementS unless there is absent a ruling from the
l0 chairman on the issue of privilege.
1l DR. HILL: Yeah, but I think he said jt repeatedly in
t2 public, you know, kind of recently as we11.
l3 BY MR. CASTOR:

t4 a I'm not asking about your personal commun'ications

15 wi th the President. I'm talki ng about your understandi ng, as

t6 an offici al wi th responsi bi 1i ty for thi s area, that the

t7 Presi dent harbored skePti ci sm.
l8 A He's- expressed it openly in the press pool and his
19 own statements.
20 O You know, the U. S. -Ukrai ni an relati ons , you know,
2l obviously, you have the President speaking with President
22 Zelensky. But you also have a fairly robust set of, you

23 know, staff at the National Securi ty Councj 1, at the State

24 Department, the DOD, other agencies. You know, you had Kurt
25 Volker, Phil Reeker, Wess Mitche11, George Kent. We have

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I EIE D t2l

I Bi I1 Taylor. And I apologi ze for not usi ng thei r offi ci a1

2 ti tIes.
J A That's all right. No worries, no worries. Yeah.

4 a I mean no disrespect bY that.

5 A Yeah.

6 a And so, to the extent there may have been some, you

7 know, comments exchanged on the calI, isn't there a

8 relati vely robust i nfrastructure around the relati onshi p to

9 help steer anything into the types of back-and-forths
10 U. S. and Ukrai ne ought to be havi ng?
ll A Hang on. Can you clari fy agai n? So, absent the
t2 a So the Pres'ident, you know absent the
l3 President's call wjth President Zelensky, there is an
t4 infrastructure of staff, at the State Department, at Nat'iona1
l5 Securi ty Counci I , that are 'interacti ng wi th
l6 A Ri ght. Okay.
t7 a Ukrai ne offi ci a1s to help everyone understand
l8 some of the various things that are being requested.

19 A Yes.
20 0 I mean, i sn't that
2l A Yeah, but I 'm not qui te sure what the questi on 'is,
22 though. I mean, are you what are you suggesting?
23 a We11, you know, there's di scussion about, you know,
24 2015 and Burisma. And, you know, we saw the back-and-forth
25 on text about whether there's going to be a statement in

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 122

I advance of the Whjte House meeting. And what we saw, I

2 think, in that exchange is that there was a, you know, good
J bit of staff work going back and forth that ultimatety 1ed to
4 a conclus'ion where no statement was i ssued.
5 MR. W0LOSKY: We're sort of losing you here. It's an

6 extremely long, compound questi on. You' re referri ng to text

7 messages that are not being presented as exhibits. So we're
8 happy to respond to a question if there's a c1ear, specific
9 question that you have for her.
10 BY MR. CASTOR:

ll a There is an'infrastructure of staff dealing with

t2 the U.S. - Ukraj ni an relati onshi p.

l3 A 0n that particular j ssue that you're talking about,

t4 actually there was not. I mean, if you're talking about the

l5 preparati on for the call .

16 a Uh-huh.

t7 A that was what I was explaining before about why

And
l8 July 10th was so problematic. Because, norma11y, there is
t9 indeed an interagency process that goes together in
20 preparation for a ca11.
2t a Volker related to us that he got a readout from
22 both the Ukrainian and the U.S. side and nobody mentioned
23 Hunter B'idenor 2015.
24 THE CHAIRI4AN : You know, I j ust want to cauti on counsel ,

25 we can't vet what counsel is saying was represented in

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 123

I earlier w'itness testimony. So if you have a question about

2 the facts for the w'itness, rather than representing what
J prior wi tnesses have sai d, that mi ght be more appropri ate.
4 MR. WOLOSKY: Let me put jt another way. The witness is

5 happy to testify to areas that are withjn her personal

6 knowledge, not Mr. Volker's personal knowledge. So I'd ask
7 you to please direct your questions to her personal
8 knowledge.

9 MR. G0LDMAN: Time.

l0 THE CHAIRI'IAN: Do you to f ini sh the last question?

want
ll DR. HILL: Yeah. I'm trying to figure it out what it is
t2 that you' re tryi ng to fi gure out.
13 BY MR. CASTOR:

t4 a My question 'is, there i s an i nf rastructure of staf f

15 at the State Department to manage the relationship.
16 A There is infrastructure to manage the relationship.
t7 a And all these people, as you've testified, have
l8 acted with you know, are individuals of high integrity.
l9 A But they were not coordinating across the
20 government. I can be pretty confident, based on where I left
21 things on Juty L9th, that nobody beyond Ambassador Volker and

22 Ambassador Sondland knew what they were doing, beyond Chief

23 of Staff Mulvaney because Ambassador Bolton and both

24 Ambassador Sondland and Ambassador Bolton referred to

25 Mulvaney. Sondland said repeatedly he was meeting with Chief

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 124

I of Staff Mulvaney. And that was it. It was not going down
2 to the rest of the staff.
J When I left, I djd several things in the week that I

4 left just to wrap up. I had a discussion with George Kent,

5 telling h'im where I knew things stood and telling him and
6 th'is was not knowi ng that there was goi ng to be a call ,

7 because I don't think it was actually at aI1 even scheduled

8 at thi s poi nt or even thought of
9 a Uh-huh.
10 A warning him that I was very worried about this
ll whole engagement between Sondland and Giuliani and with Kurt
t2 and that he should be mjndful of this, and I thought that it
l3 was starting to take on different dimens'ions, including, you
t4 know, this reference to, you know, energy corruption.
15 Although, when I spoke to George, I djdn't have a ful1
t6 picture. I just told him that he should be rea1ly mjndful
t7 and be careful on thi s.
l8 And on the very last day, on the l"9th, I had a phone
l9 call with Ambassador Taylor relating everything that I knew
20 at that point. I was sort of sending out red flags for him
2t and telling him, there's a 1ot of stuff going on here that we
22 have no insight into and that you need to, you know, kind of,
23 f i gure out and get on toP of th'is.
24 And I told him at that point that Ambassador Sondland
25 had told me that he was in charge of Ukraine. And that was

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 125

I also news to Ambassador TaYlor.

2 THE CHAIRMAN: Let' s pause here. We'11 take a l'0-mi nute

J
a
break to ejther wolf down lunch or get 1unch, and then we'11

4 resume in L0 minutes.
5 I Recess . ]

6 THE CHAIRMAN: Okay. We'11 go back on the record.

7 Mr. Goldman.

8 MR. G0LDMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

9 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

l0 a Dr. Hi11, before, at the tail end of our jnitial

l1 round, you were descri b'ing the c j rcumstances around the
t2 July 10th meeting at the Whit; House.
l3 A Yes.

14 a I believe you said that, after you came back

And
15 from meeting in the Ward Room with the Ukrainian counterparts
t6 and the other American officials, you went and spoke to
t7 Ambassador Bo1 ton
l8 A Uh-huh.
19 a right? And did you inform him of what had just
20 transpired in the Ward Room?
2l A Yes, I di d.
22 a And could you j ust te11 us agai n what he sa'id to
23 you at that poi nt?
24 A He told me, as I stated before, to go and talk to
25 J ohn i senberg. And he basi ca1ly
E he sa'id , you go and te11

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 126

I John Eisenberg you go and tell Eisenberg that I am not

2 part of this drug deal that Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking
J up.

4 a And what did you understand

5 A He was saying that sarcastically, of course, I
6 mean, just to be clear. Actua11y, he was angry, but he was
7 also sarcasti c. I mean , he wasn't
8 a Ri ght, because
9 A inferring that they were cooking up an actual
l0 drug deaf in the Ward Room.
ll a Ri ght. So
t2 A Just to be c1ear.
13 a So we're c1ear, because sometimes
t4 A Yeah, I know. This could lead to some conspiracy
l5 theori es and yeah.
t6 a Yes. And sometimes our colleagues don't understand
t7 parody or sarcasm, so
l8 A No. Ambassador Bolton has a reputation for being
t9 sarcastic and, you know, for basically using those kinds of
20 expressi ons .

2t a Okay. But what did you understand him to mean by

22 that?
23 A Wel1, based on what had happened jn the July 10th

24 meeting and Ambassador Sondland blurting out that he'd

25 already gotten agreement to have a meeting at the White House

UNCLASS I F]ED
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I for Zelensky if these investigations were started up again,

2 clearly Ambassador BoIton was referring directly to those.
J And Ambassador BoIton had said repeatedly that nobody

4 should be meeting with Giuliani. recall before

And you may
5 that I said that he described Giuliani as a b"it of a hand
6 grenade that was going to blow everyone up.
7 a Uh-huh.
8 A And he was obviously, at that point, you know,
9 closely moni tori ng what Mr. Gi u1i ani was doi ng and the
t0 messaging that he was sending out.
l1 a Uh-huh.
t2 A thjs is also against the backdrop, as all of you
So
13 witl reca11, of Mr. Giuliani's frequent appearances on
t4 television. And I can't say that I caught all of them, but I
l5 was getting them relayed to by, you know, other staff
me

16 members. And, of ten I mean, you've all , no doubt, been 'in

t7 the National Security Council buildings and the White House.
18 There's TVs everywhere. So, I mean, I could often just walk
19 down the corridor and catch Mr. Giuliani on the television.
20 a But Ambassador Bolton specificalty referenced
2t Mr. Sondtand and Mr. Mulvaney, who
22 A Correct. And he had said previously I mean, we

23 had regular meetings with Ambassador Volker, you know, jn

24 which, you know, getting back to Mr. Castor's questions, they
25 were all about the, you know, regular coordination of what we

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 128

were trying to do on Ukraine, you know, trying to get the

2 Russians to start meeting with Ambassador Volker again, see
J 1f we could move forward on the Donbas. Ambassador BoIton
4 made it very clear that, you know, again, he didn't think

5 anybody should be deali ng wi th Gi u1 i ani .

6 a And who did he make that clear to?

7 A He expressed i t i n one of the meeti ngs w'ith
8 Ambassador Volker. But, at that point, I don't think he was

9 fu11y aware of the extensive meetings that Ambassador Volker

10 was having. This may have been early on, when Ambassador
l1 Volker had just started to meet with Giulianj.
t2 Because I only, actua11y, to be honest, became famifiar
l3 wi th the t'imeli ne once i t was all publ i shed i n the press.

t4 Because we'd al ready sai d to agai n, I 'd personally sai d to

15 Ambassador Volker and others that he shouldn't be talking to

t6 Mr. Giuliani.
t7 O And did you say that to Mr. Volker before that
l8 Ju1y L0th meeting?
t9 A Absolutely.
20 a What was Mr. Volker's resPonse?

2t A n, you know, gett'ing back to what I sai d to

Agai

22 Mr. Castor, it was rea1ly about he was trying to fix it.

23 I mean, he was trying to refute, you know, the, kind of, very
24 negative perceptions that were coming out.
25 But I expressed to him that I was concerned that there

UNCLASS I FIE D
 UNCLASS I F]ED 129

I were business dealings, nefarious business dealings,

2 underway. And I to Kurt Volker the names of
had mentioned
J these individuals that had been relayed to me.
4 THE CHAiRMAN: I just want to fo11ow up with a couple of

5 questions about Ambassador Bolton's comments about not

6 wanting to be part of this drug deal.
7 Did you understand it from that that he was not
8 referring to an actual drug deal but
9 DR. HILL: 0f course not. Yeah.
l0 THE CHAIRMAN: -- some other kind of ilticit transaction
ll that he believed that Sondland and Mulvaney were engaged 'in?
t2 DR. HILL: Yes. He made it clear that he believed that
l3 they were making, basically, an improper arrangement to have
t4 a meeting in the White House, that they were predicating the
l5 meeti ng i n the Wh'i te House on the Ukrai ni ans agreei ng, i n
l6 this case, based on the meeting on July L0th, to restart
l7 investigations that had been dropped in the energy sector
l8 THE CHAIRMAN: And

t9 HILL: -- by which po'int it was apparent that thjs

DR.
20 was code, at least, for Burisma. Because that had been
2l mentioned, you know, in the course of 14r. Giuljani's
22 appearances on television and in the course of I'd already
ZJ relayed to Ambassador Bolton everything that had been told to
24 me by everyone, including Ambassador Yovanovitch and Phit
25 Reeker, when Amos Hochstein had come in to see me, and I'd

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 130

I relayed to him everything I'd been told by our energy

2 directorate and by our Western Hemisphere djrectorate as
J we11.

4 THE CHAIRMAN: And not only was djscussion of energy

5 code for but Buri sma was also, at thi s poi nt,
Buri sma,
6 understood to be code for the Bidens, an investigation jnto
7 the Bi dens .

8 DR. HILL: That never came out explicitly, just to be

9 c1ear.
l0 THE CHAIRMAN: ANd

1l DR. HILL: I d'id I talked to Ambassador Bolton,

when

t2 I also talked to Charlie Kupperman at length about th'is, the

l3 Deputy National Securi ty Advi sor. I mean, I recall te11i ng
t4 Charlie that this was the company that Hunter Bjden was
l5 aSSoci ated w'ith. And we were concerned that not at thi s
t6 parti cular j uncture, agai n, not speci fi cally about the Bi dens
t7 per se, but that Ukraine was going to be played by Giuliani
18 in some way as part of the camPaign.
l9 THE CHAIRMAN: NOW

20 DR. HILL: Because jt was positing, you know, here that

2t there was a great deal of, you know, illegal or whatever
22 acti vi ty goi ng on i n Ukrai ne, accordi ng to G'iuI i ani . You

23 know, basically, the 2016 alternative theory of the election,

24 the cyber issues these were all getting put out through
25 these art'icles j n the newspaper . So i t was k'ind of creati ng

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 131

I a klnd of a story that was out there that was bei ng packaged.
2 THE CHAIRNAN: Now, do you recal1 at the time you

J mentionedthat Giuliani had expressed that he was going to go

4 to Ukraine. Do you remember when that was?
5 DR. HILL: That was almost immediately after Ambassador
6 Yovanovitch had been removed from office, so it was sometime
7 in May. I mean, again, I
it on the television, he said
saw
8 he was going to go. And then I heard jt from colleagues.
9 And there was, you know, kind of, quite a bit of
l0 consternation on the part of the State Department.
ll THE CHAiRMAN: And he made it c1ear, I think, in those

t2 televi sion appearances, didn't he, that he was going to

l3 Ukraine to seek to have them investigate the Bidens?
t4 DR. HILL: Wel1, that's what he said. That's what I
l5 mean. This is part of I mean, I think, you know, part of
t6 the dilemma that we all have here in trying to you, ffi€,
t7 and all of us parse thjs, is that a lot of this is
l8 happening on the television, in terms of statements that
19 Gi u1 i ani has made.
20 THE CHAiRMAN: Did that give content to you when you
2t heard these discussions going on, or did that inform
22 DR. HILL: Correct, 'it did. And it was clearly I
23 mean, jn Ambassador Bolton's offjce, when I was meeting with
24 him, the television was always on. And it was usually on FOX
25 News. I mean, there was sometimes a split screen. And often

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 132

I when I was in the office, Giuliani would be on the

2 television, and, you know, Ambassador Bolton would put on the
J sound to hear what he was saYing.
4 THE CHAIRMAN: So they didn't need to make it explicit
5 in your presence what Burisma meant. It was clear from Rudy

6 G'iuliani's public comments that, for Rudy Giuliani, Burisma

7 meant i nvesti gati ng the B'idens.

8 HILL: Correct. But it
DR. was never explicitly said,
9 just to reiterate that.
l0 THE CHAIRMAN: Not unti 1 the President's call wi th

1l President Zelensky.
t2 DR. HILL: Again, which I only read about when the
l3 t ransc r i pt was released .

t4 THE CHAIRMAN: But you've seen that transcri pt now.

15 And

t6 DR. HILL: I have. But I was not aware until that

t7 point.
18 THE CHAIRMAN: And, i n fact, i n that transcri pt, the

19 President doesn't talk about Burisma; he talks about

20 i nvesti gati ng the Bj dens. Is that correct?

2l DR. HILL: From what I 've read j n the transcri pt.

22 THE CHAIR["IAN: 0kay.

23 Mr. Goldman.

24 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

25 a Ambassador Volker was also at that July L0th

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 133

I meet i ng , right?
2 A He was.

J a Okay. So, to that point, had you gotten any

4 indication that the acting Chief of Staff, M'ick Mulvaney, had

5 any discussions about a White House visit wl th Ambassador

6 Sondland or anyone else?
7 A I had.
Yes,
8 And just to be c1ear, that's also a part of, you know,
9 the acting Chief of Staff's r01e, is to oversee White House
10 visits. It would be rather unusual for him not to have been,
ll you know, consulted with on this.
12 I at thjs particular juncture, there was
mean, you know,
13 a bit of tension on these visits overall. But many
t4 ambassadors and I don't just mean our ambassadors, but,
l5 you know, kind of, foreign ambassadors and foreign
l6 officials I mean, were aware that Ambassador Bolton and
t7 the National Security staff would always do everything
l8 according to national securi ty provi sions.
t9 So there were a lot of meetings that there were
20 requests, 1et's say, from heads of state that we actually
2t didn't think merjted the Presjdent's tjme, because they
22 weren't pertinent to, you know, basically, policy priorities.
23 And I don't want to be jnsulting to any particular
24 countries by, you know, singling any of them out, but let's
25 just say I think you would all, you know, agree that there's

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 134

I a certain hierarchy of countries that one would imagine that

2 the President should be making the most time for, and there
J are orders that would be, you know, kind of a nice, you know,
4 diplomatic gesture, getting back to the quest'ions before
5 about the letter, but that, you know, obviously wouldn't be
6 something that one would want to schedule at any particular,
7 you know, kind of fast pace. And these could be, you know,
8 heads of state that the President could have a greeting with
9 at a diplomatic reception at the UNGA and things like this.
l0 a Wel1, let me rephrase mY question
ll A No, so
t2 a 0h.
l3 A the poi nt i s, on thi s, that Mulvaney's office
t4 had been pushed many, many times by Ukrainians and others for
l5 a visit. And so I was well-aware that Ambassador Sondland

t6 was talki ng to the Ch'ief of Staff at the moment.

t7 And Ambassador Sondland was, frankly, tryi.ng to play us
l8 off the National Security Council and Ambassador Bolton
l9 agai nst l"'lulvaney's of f i ce. Because we were sayi ng that we
20 didn't actually believe, at that particular juncture, that we
2t should have a meeting with Zelensky. Because we wanted to
22 wait until the July by this point, you know, I can't
23 remember exactly, you know and forgive me when it was
24 announced that the Ukra'ine elections would be Ju1y 2Lst.
25 Because there was some quest'ion about whether it would be a

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS IEIED 135

I snap election. The actual election time might have been in

2 the faI1. You know, it could've been in October or, you
J know, some other date.
4 And so we were waiting to see when the election would
5 be. And we were pushing back against thjs, you know, kind
6 of, idea that Zelensky needed to have a meeting right away.
7 We were saying, you know, getting back to our earlier

8 di scussion, flo, we should wa'i t to see 'if he actually has a

9 majori ty. I mean, what i f he and we didn't also want to
l0 then be seen to be playing in the Ukrainian parliamentary
11 electi ons . Because, obvi ously , a Whi te House v'isi t f or
t2 Zelensky before the Rada electjons, the parliamentary
t3 electi ons , would be a bi g boost, potenti a11y, to hi s abi 1 i ty
t4 to get a workable or a majority mandate. So we were trying
l5 to be very careful.
l6 And Ambassador Bolton knows Ukraine very wel1. I mean,
t7 you've seen, you know, he did hj s i ndependent vi si ts there.
l8 When he was outside of government, he was frequently in

l9 Ukra'ine. He knew all the players. He knows how compf icated

20 the politics and things are there. And he was trying to, you
2t know, basically restra'in others for pushing for a meeting
22 that he thought would be premature.
23 a Prior to that July 10th meeting, were you aware of
24 lvlr. Mulvaney bei ng i nvolved i n any conversat'ions about a

25 Whjte House vis'it being contingent on opening investigations?

UNCLASS]FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 136

I A I was not.
2 a So that was the first
J A That was r i ght .
4 a that you had heard of it?
5 A But I knew that he was obviously a player already
6 'in dec j si ons about havi ng a vi si t.
7 a Okay.
8 A And I was to be honest, I was quite shocked. I
9 mean , pri or to that, the only othelindi cati on that I had

l0 that Ambassador Sondland and the Chief of Staff were, you

ll know, kind of talking about this, you know, directly was the
t2 letter, gettjng back to the paragraph that we discussed
l3 earlier, where Ambassador Sondland essentially, you know,
l4 told us that he had, you know, personally made sure that this
l5 letter was released and that because it was delayed, you
l6 know, somewhat, i t wasn't jmmediately out after the election.
t7 The election happened over a weekend, and, you know, it was
l8 taki ng a whi 1e f or the results to get i n, but 'it was , you
t9 know, getting snarled up. And Sondland said that he would
20 make sure that the letter got out. And he said that he was
2l the person who put in this paragraph about having the White
22 House visit.

23 So that's in the week of April 22nd'23rd, if the 2Lst

24 was a Sunday. So that week immediately after the April 2l.st
25 Presi denti aI electi on.

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS ] F]ED 137

I a You're referring to the phone call?

2 A letter that was bas'ica11y stati ng
No, about the
J that there would be a general invjtation for a Whjte House
4 visit.
5 a i think the letter was May 29th.
6 A Was it May 29th? So there was a considerable delay
7 then.
8 a So it after the you may recall, just to
was
9 refresh your recollectjon, that the inauguration in Ukraine
10 was May 20th.
ll A Right. Okay. So it was around the inauguration.
12 I'm sorry then. I was getting my dates mixed up.
l3 a Uh-huh.
t4 A So 'i t was af ter, then, the i nauguration f or a
l5 congratulatory letter.
t6 a Ri ght.
t7 A 5o that makes sense. I 'm sor ry , because I 'm
l8 getting my timelines confused here. Because the election
l9 happened; there was a congratulatory phone catl, which we,
20 you know, kind of, prepared just to say, hey,
2t congratulations, that was great. And then there was an idea
22 then there would be a letter that would be tied to the
/.) inauguration. And there was a 1ot of back-and-forth on when
24 that would be as we11.
25 But that was on the Ukrainian part. Because the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 138

I Ukra'ini ans , themselves, were not sure when to have the

2 i naugurati on, because, agai n, they were tryi ng to determi ne

J when they would call parliamentary Rada elections.

4 I'm sorry. I got the timeframes confused.
5 a No, that's fi ne.
6 Just whjle we're on the topic of the April 2l.st ca11,
7 did you listen in to that call?
8 A I did not. It was on a weekend, and I remember I
9 was doing something with ,y I, and Alex Vindman, our
10 di rector, agreed to go 'in.
ll a And listen in?
t2 A Yeah. And it was a very short call.
l3 a Did you read the transcriPt?
t4 A I think I'm not
l5 MR. W0LOSKY: Yeah, I think that would probably be

16 classi f ied, the Apri 1 2l.st call .

t7 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

l8 a I just want to know if you read the transcript

r9 afterwards.
20 A I did.
2t a OkaY.

22 A I sa'id 1t was a short congratulatory ca11.

23 a A11 ri ght.
24 So, just getting back to this, sort of, aftermath of
25 July LOth, you said you were surprised, and Ambassador Bolton

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 139

I asked you to go meet with John Eisenberg. Did you go meet

2 wi th

J A I did.
4 a Mr. Eisenberg?
5 A Yeah.

6 O did you do that?

When

7 A I ended up meeting with him on the next day. I

8 went over immediately and talked to him, you know, very
9 briefly, and we agreed that we would have a longer discussion
l0 the follow'ing day, where I would talk to him about all of the
1l concerns that I had about what was going on on the Ukraine
12 front.
r3 a And i n that i ni ti a1 bri ef conversati on, do you
t4 reca11 what you said and what he said?
l5 A Yeah. I told him exactly, you know, what had
t6 transpired and that Ambassador Sondland had basically
t7 indicated that there was an agreement with the Chief of Staff
l8 that they would have a White House meeting or, you know, a
t9 Presi denti a1 meeti ng i f the Ukrai ni ans started up these
20 jnvestigations again. And the main thing that I was

2l personatly concerned about, as I said to John, was that he

22 did this in front of the Ukrainians.

23 a Why were you concerned about that jn particular?
24 A Well , I mean, thi s is you know, we' re talki ng
25 here about, you know, shoutd one reveal deliberative process

UNCLASS I EIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 140

I to, you know, kind of, of the government? And

peopte outsjde
2 here we're having a deliberative process. I mean, this is
J what Ambassador Bolton was pretty livid about, you know, kind
4 of jn an argument between, you know, our ambassador to the EU
5 and our Nationat Security Advisor about having a meeting, you
6 know, in front of the natjonal security advisor-designate of
7 Ukrai ne and the chi ef adv'i sor , Mr . Yermak, to the Ukrai ni an
8 President and a whole bunch of extraneous, you know, kind of,
9 people who hadn't, actua11y, also been in that meeting on
l0 J u1y L0th .

11 a The

t2 A And, again, the Ukrainians were put outside of the

13 Ward Room when I poi nted out that th'is wasn't an appropri ate
t4 place to be having a discussion about what was going to be a
l5 deliberative process about how one goes about setting up a
t6 meeting and the timing of it and the content of it. And then
t7 they're standing there in, you know, basically the space in
l8 the corridor between the Navy mess and the White House Sit
t9 Room.

20 a And why were you concerned about that specific

2t locati on?
22 A We11, because an awful lot of people were going in
23 the Sit Room and are having, you know, deliberative
24 conversations that may or may not be classified on their way

25 i nto there.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 141

And there's a sign in the Navy mess that says, you know,
2 do not have classified, you know, conversations in here
J because, you know, external people may be present. But on
4 the way to the S'it Room I don't know if you've been in the
5 space. It's about the space of, kind of, the interior here
6 of these desks. So you have a couple of Ukrainians who were
7 standing there as Cabinet members or anybody else could be
8 going into the Sit Room, which wj11 already give them
9 jnformation about meetings that could be taking place there.
10 I mean, they shouldn't have been, you know, kind of,
ll basically out jn the corridor.
t2 But, also, that meeti ng i n the Ward Room would've
l3 been under normal ci rcumstances, we would've known about
t4 it. We didn't know that they were actually having a meeting
l5 i n the Ward Room. And i t's completely i nappropri ate to have,

l6 you know, the Ambassador to the EU take the Ukra'inians down

17 to the Ward Room to have a huddle on next steps about getting
l8 a meeti ng w'ith the President of the Uni ted States.
19 a You had said earlier that
20 A Now, Secretary Perry, again, I want to say, had
2t left by the time I got down there. He had clearly gone down
22 and then had 1eft. So this 'is Ambassador Sondland and
23 Ambassador Volker there.
24 a And you had said earlier that you were concerned
25 that Ambassador Sondland was a counterintelligence risk. Is

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 142

I this an example of that concern?

2 A Well, yes. And a risk not by intent, getting back
J to Mr. Castor's question about, you know, Ambassador
4 Sondland's 'integri ty, but one about j ust more about bei ng
5 clueless sometimes about the k'inds of natures of threats.
6 And that's something ambassadors get all kinds of,
7 you know, early counterintelligence brjefings. But, you
8 know, he has now expanded his remjt, you know, to countries
9 that, you know, in the case of Ukraine, are targeted by the
10 Russians. One could be sure that you know, I didn't even
ll know whether the Ukrainians had Ieft thejr cel1 phones in

t2 boxes at this particular point. I mean, they had when they

l3 were in Ambassador Bolton's office, but had they picked them
t4 up before they went down to the Ward Room? I djdn't know any
15 of thi s.
t6 And so, I mean, all of them and you can be sure that
t7 they're being targeted by the Russians, jf not, you know,
18 kind of, members of our own Cabinet and our own team. And as
t9 Ambassador Sondland was using his own personal cetl phone at
20 all times, as well as hi s government-i ssued cell phone, I
2t became extremely concerned that his commun'ications were not
22 going to be secure.
23 a For example, the WhatsApp text messages that you've
24 now

25 A Yeah, we were not allowed j ust to be, agai n,

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 143

I clear, the White House has d'isabled all of those functions on

2 the phone. And Ambassador Sondland was always trying to
3 text. And on my White House phone, which did not receive
4 texts, I would always get this kind of ghost text from
5 Ambassador Sondland, from the very first time I met him,
6 texting me to say that he wanted to meet, from his personal
7 cell phone. And every time I switched the phone on, this
8 ghost text would appear. Just to make the point.
9 But he was the only person, you know, who tried that.
l0 We kept telling him over and over again, please do not text

l1 us. And the same thing with WhatsApp; we were not allowed to
t2 use this because of the Presidential record and Presidential
l3 communicat'ions.
t4 THE CHAIRMAN: I just want to go back to that first
15 short discussion you had w'ith Attorney Eisenberg.
16 DR. HILL: Yes.

t7 THE CHAIRMAN: I think that you described

you conveyed
l8 briefly your concern over having this debate about setting up
t9 this meeting in front of the Ukraine delegation. You
20 expressed your concern about the security issues 'involved
2t wi th havi ng thj s di scussi on, where i t was taki ng p1ace.

22 Did you also di scuss wlth Attorney Ei senberg, though,

23 Ambassador Bolton's concern that there was an i l1ici t
24 t ransacti on here?
25 DR. HILL: I did. And I said that, actually, what I

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 144

I would like would be for him to also ask my counterpart, We1ls

2 Griffith, to talk to him too, who'd been in the meeting.
J Because I couldn't really determ'ine, at the t'ime, j ni ti a11y,
4 in the meeting with Ambassador Bolton, exactly what it was
5 that Ambassador Sondland had said that triggered off
6 Ambassador Bolton's reaction.
7 Because Secretary Perry had been sticking to the regular
8 talk'ing nts about energy that we always had, you know,
poi

9 that were obv'iously referring to Naftogaz and, you know, to

l0 the energy sector wri t large, wh'ich was, f rankly, ri f e w'ith
il corrupti on .

t2 And, you know, you may all recall, you know, under
l3 previous iterations of the Ukra'inian Government, there was

t4 the notorious Dmytro Fi rtash-run organ'ization olintermedi ary

l5 gas entity, RosUkrEnergo and I'm sure you had lots of
l6 congressional hearings, you know, about this -- that was
17 rea11y basjcally an interface for all kinds of i1lic'it
l8 dealings between the Russjans and the Ukrainians.
t9 So we've been on this issue for decades, frankly. I
20 mean, I was working on thjs with the Bush administration and
2t the 0bama admi ni stration. Everybody has gone through looki ng
22 at this issue. So when Secretary Perry was talking, I mean,
23 from my perspective, jt's just following in a long line of
24 all of the issues that we said.
25 And then when Ambassador Sondland came in about specific

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 145

I investigat'ions, that's when Ambassador Bolton stiffened up

2 and immediately, you know, brought the meeting to a halt,

J because he tied that to the meeting. But when I went down
4 MR. GOLDMAN: Sorry. You mean the White House meeting?

5 DR. HILL: To the White House meeting or to a meeting

6 wi th the Presi dent. Now, j ust to be, k'ind of , clear ,

7 actua11y, it wasn't always a White House meeting per se, but

8 definitely a Presidential-1eve1, you know, meeting with
9 Zelensky and the President. I mean, it could've taken place
l0 in Poland, in Warsaw. It could've been, you know, a proper
11 bilateral in some other context. But, in other words, a
12 Whj te House- level Presi denti al meeti ng.

l3 THE CHAIRMAN: 5o then you were saying and then you

t4 went downstai rs.

l5 DR. HI LL: And then I went downsta'i rs . And I came i n

l6 when the conversation was already underway, because I had

t7 talked to Ambassador Bolton quickly to, you know, kind of,
l8 get a bit more of a sense of, you know, kind of, his concerns
t9 and what he wanted me to be watchful for. I mean, I had my

20 own concerns.
2t I said, wh'en I was coming in, Secretary Perry was
As
22 leaving. 5o I'm not sure that Secretary Perry was there for
23 thjs portion of the discussion. And We11s Griffith had
24 already had also left as we11.
25 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 146

I a Was Ambassador Volker stilt there for this?

2 A Ambassador Volker was sti11 there, and Yermak and

J Danylyuk and, as I mentioned before, a couple of State

4 Department people and somebody who I thought could've been

5 one of Secretary Perry's aides but I'm not 100 percent sure.
6 Because Secretary Perry had a large because he was off to

7 go to do some other business and he had a large group of

8 people wi th him.
9 And jt was at that point that sondland was complaining
l0 to our djrector, Alex Vindman, about the fact that he already
ll had an arrangement to have this meeting that he worked out
t2 wi th Mulvaney.

l3 THE CHAIRMAN: And so I want to get back to your

t4 conveyi ng thi s to the attorney, Ei senberg.

l5 DR. HILL: Yeah.
16 THE CHAIRMAN: What did you convey to him at that first

t7 short meeti ng? get i nto what you

And then l'4r. Goldman wi 11
l8 conveyed to hjm in the longer meeting. But in the first
t9 meeting, what did you convey to him about any concern you had
20 over this illicit transaction, the "if" that you mentioned?
2l DR.HILL: Yeah, I explai ned to him what I j ust
22 explained to you. And then I said, but I need to actually
23 talk to Wells Griffith and we should talk to Wells about what
24 he understood was the larger context here as we11.

25 Because Sondland talked about Burisma when I was with

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 147

I him in the Ward Room, but I didn't hear him say Burisma when
2 I was jn Ambassador Bolton's office. And, again, I was
J sitting at the back, on the sofa. They were all, you know
4 I was behind Sondland, and he was talking forward. So I
5 wasn't sure if I missed it or whether he didn't say it at
6 all.
7 And I also wanted to be clear -- because he seemed to
8 sort of interrupt Bolton and Perry you know, what it was
9 that Wells understood that decretary Perry was tatking about.
l0 Because this gets to the nub of what we're concerned about.
11 Was this a generic d'iscussion about, you know, corruption in
t2 the energy sector and Ukrai ne, or was 'i t somethi ng much more
l3 specific? And I wanted to make sure that We1ls Griffith
t4 could also talk to Eisenberg. And that's why we had the
l5 larger meeting the next day.
t6

17

l8

l9

20

2l

22

23

24

25

UNCLASS IFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 148

I [].:55 p.m.l
2 THE CHAIRMAN: And did you the larger meeting with
3 E i senberg?

4 HILL: Just me and Eisenberg and Wel1s Griffjth. I

DR.
5 mean meeting, meaning to bring in Wells, and so that I could

6 get into more detail, and I could go through my notes and'

7 you know, kind of basically figure out, you know, what
8 exactly had happened.
9 THE CHAIRMAN: Do you want to walk through that meeting?
t0 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

1l a Yeah. So in that meeting on Juty l'1, Wel1s --

t2 A Wells also came in.
l3 a What's h'is last name?
t4 A Wells Griffith.
l5 a Gri ffi th.

l6 A It's P. We1ls Griffith. And he is a long-term,

t7 he's a rea11y, you know, superb energy expert, works very
l8 closely w'ith SecretarY PerrY.
l9 a And j t was the three of You?

20 A Yes, i t was the three of us.

2l a All right. And so describe that conversatjon.
22 A Well, I reiterated to John the day before, and, you
23 know, I apologized to Wel1s for, you know, jumping on him,
24 but I said that I wanted to, you know, basically just to
25 clarify for John, you know, what had I told him what had

UNCLASSIF]ED
 UNCLASS I EIED r49

happened jn the Ward Room, but I wasn't entirely sure, you

2 know, what Wells also thought had happened in Ambassador
J Sondtand's office, because it was immediatety after Secretary
4 Perry had gone through his talking points.
5 And We1ls and the deputy the deputies to Secretary
6 Perry had worked on those talking points. And I wanted to
7 just kind of be certa'in, 100 percent sure that Secretary
8 Perry's talking points were exactly what I anticipated or
9 thought that they were, which is about the generic, you know,
l0 problems of the energy sector , wh'ich i s what
l1 MR. W0L0SKY: You said Ambassador Sondland's office. I
12 thi nk you meant Ambassador BoIton's offi ce.
13 DR. HILL: 0h, did I? I'm so sorry. Yeah. Thank you
14 for correcting me. Yeah, when Ambassador Sondland was in
l5 Ambassador Bolton's office.
t6 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

t7 O And just to be clear, between meetings with

l8 Mr. Eisenberg, did you have any fol1ow-on conversations with
l9 Ambassador Bolton?
20 A I did not, no, not in that time.
21 a Did you talk to anybody else about this meeting?
22 A I talked to Wells Griffith. And then I also had
ZJ my colleague Alex Vindman was really upset, because he said
24 that before I came in Sondland was making jt very clear that
25 there was all kinds of that there was and Perry had

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 150

I 1ef t at th'is poi nt. He said Perry didn't need to stay,

2 because by the time I came i nto the Ward Room Alex Vlndman

J was very up upset.

4 a And what d'id l",lr. Vi ndman saY?
5 A He said that these are obviously not issues that
6 the National Security Council was dealing with, should not
7 deal with. And he actually said this along the lines to
8 Ambassador Sondland, that whatever it was that he was talking

9 about was not appropriate for us to be engaged jn, and that

l0 we were you know, could only, you know, be organizing a
ll meeti ng, you know, as the National Securi ty Counci 1 oo, you

t2 know, offi cj al nat'i onal securi ty basi s , and clearly somethi ng

l3 else was going on here.
t4 a So at thi s meet'ing on the 1l.th wj th Mr. Ei senberg

l5 and Mr. Grj ffi th, what did Mr. Gri ffi th relay to
l6 Mr. Eisenberg about his recollection of this meeting?
t7 A Hi s recollectj on was somewhat simi 1ar that, you
'l
l8 know and he confirmed that Secretary Perry's talking
l9 points were all the usual talk'ing points about energy Sector
20 corruption, the importance of getting the energy sector into
2t good shape and diversi f i cati on of energy, all of the 'issues
22 that trying to do.
we were
23 We were trying to get the Ukrainians to work with the

24 Czechs, the Po1es, and with the Europeans more broadly, the
25 Germans, you know. Secretary Perry had been going to the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] EIED l5l

I Three 5eas Ini ti ative, whi ch i s all about bui 1di ng up

2 i nfrastructure i n Eastern Europe.

J So Secretary Perry was, you know, very much focused on a

4 whole larger initiative spearheaded by DOE but also with the

5 State Department on trying to help Ukraine wean itself off
6 this dependency. 5o everything that We11s believed that
7 Secretary Perry was say'ing was related to that.
8 We also agreed that Sondland seemed to be red"irecting jt

9 i nto
t0 a What was h'is recollecti on of what Ambassador
1l Sondland said in the Ward Room?
t2 A In the Ward Room he wasn't in.
l3 a 0h, so this was just jn the main meeting.
14 A Wel1s was also confi rmi ng, though, that 5ecretary
l5 Perry was not in on this discussion jn the Ward Room, that
t6 he'd come down briefly. And that was also important to me
t7 because I needed to know did Secretary Perry, you know, have
l8 part of th'is di scussi on as well .

l9 a 5o it was you personally who heard Ambassador

20 Sondland ment'ion Bur i sma
2l A Correct.
22 a jn the Ward Room?
23 A Correct. And We1ls had been sitting with me in
24 Ambassador Bolton's office when the 'initial meeting took
25 place, and he also understood jt was a redjrect.

UNCLASS ] EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 152

1 a And Mr. Vindman was also there

2 A Correct.
J
a
a and heard 'it?
4 A And Kurt Volker.
5 THE CHAIRMAN: Can you tel1 us what -- you said
6 Mr. Vindman expressed concern about what took place, and he
7 was there before you got to the Ward Room.
8 DR. HILL: Yes.

9 THE CHAiRMAN: Can you te11 us what Mr. Vindman told

l0 you

ll DR. HILL: really uncomfortable with where the

He was

t2 conversation waS, and that's also because it was in front of

l3 Ukrain'ians, that it was basjcally Ambassador Sondland gett'ing
t4 very annoyed that he already had an agreement with the Chief
l5 of Staff for a meeting between the Presidents on the basis of
t6 these i nvesti gations.
t7 THE CHAIRMAN: And did he know anything more about the

l8 investigations?
t9 DR. HILL: He was alarmed, Mr. Vindman, because he

20 didn't exactly what was going on. And he sajd that

know

2t and as I said, Sondland had mentjoned meeting wi th Giuljani

22 in front of, again, the Ukrainians. And
23 MR. G0LDMAN: So what

24 DR. HILL: -- who was the Nat'ionaI Security Advisor

25 MR. G0LDI'4AN: -- did he say about that?

UNCLASS I FIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 153

I DR. HILL: I didn't get exactly what the wording was.

2 THE CHAIRMAN: But Mr. Sondland brought up Mr. Giuliani

J in the context of there being this agreement on the meet'ing.
4 DR. HILL: And that he said he'd been meeting with
5 Giuliani as we11. Thjs is at least what I understood, you
6 know, f rom Alex .

7 THE CHAIRMAN: That was what Mr. Vindman relayed?

8 DR. HILL: That's what he understood, yes.
9 THE CHAiRMAN: And did Giuljani's name come up when you

l0 were in the Ward Room?

lt DR. HILL: No.
t2 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

l3 a Can you just clarify why it was important to you to

t4 understand that Secretary Perry's talking points were
l5 separate and apart from the reference to investigations by

t6 Ambassador Sondland?
t7 A It was important to me because I was trying to
l8 figure out how much Ambassador Sondland was coordinating with
l9 others. And, agai n, we'd actually trj ed to pri orj ti ze i n
20 thi s timef rame energy sector ref orm and all of the work w'ith
21 the other European countries. So I was pretty concerned here
22 in thinking that maybe Ambassador Sondland was not keeping
23 Secretary Perry fulty informed of what was going on ejther.
24 a And so
25 A And I'd understood from the May inauguration, I was

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 154

I not in the meeting that relayed back to the President about

2 how the inauguration had gone, but I understood from the
J readout there that we were to focus on energy Sector reform
4 as a top priority, that Secretary Perry had been asked to
and
5 sort of step up and to really see what he could do to, you
6 know, work w'ith the Ukrajnians in this timeframe to prove
7 that they could actually start to tackle, you know,
8 corruption in Ukraine.
9 And so by this point I'm personally concerned that
l0 there's something else going on, and I wanted to make Sure
ll that I understand who it's going on between.
t2 a So the energy sector reform and the anticorruption
l3 efforts surrounding that were what Secretary Perry was
t4 talki ng about?
15 A Correct.
t6 a And is it was it your understanding that
t7 Ambassador Sondland was not talking about that
l8 A Correct.
t9 a when he mentioned
20 A And it's the way that he djd a redirect.
2t a And what do you mean bY redi rect?
22 A We11, Secretary Perry wastalking, and then, you
23 know, he laid out all of these talk'ing points. And then
24 Ambassador Bolton said you know, was basically saying
25 well, you know, we'11 work all the way through all of this,

UNCLASS IEIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 155

I you know, kind of a ru1e, you know. At some point start, you

2 know, thinking, you know, basically about a meeting, but, you

J know, we're going to be, you know, in the process of and

4 i t actually what you' re talki ng about, whi ch

was encouragi ng
5 was all the staffing work and the different parts of the
6 agencies, State Department. He was urging the Ukrainians to
7 deal wi th the State Department and to deal wi th Secretary
8 Perry.
9 this is when 5ond1and, who is, you know, a fairly
And
10 big guy, kind of leaned over across Ambassador Bolton,
1l because I could see that from where I was sitting, and said
t2 to the Ukrainians and back to Ambassador Bolton, but we've
l3 already got, you know, kind of an agreement on a meeting.
t4 I mean, he was basicatly and you can imagine, you
l5 would all be annoyed as well that he was basicalty
t6 countermanding what Ambassador Bolton had just said. In
t7 other words saying, I actually have, you know, some
18 completely separate agreement about a meeting, you know, kind
l9 of you ' re stonewall i ng ki nd of thi ng.
20 And then he was clearly in the when he went out into
2l the office in front of Ambassador Bolton he was kind of
22 clearly, you know, feeli ng i rri tated, Sondland was. And
ZJ that's when he said, let's go back down to the Ward Room and
24 tatk about next steps for the meeting. And that's when
25 BoIton was just, you know, I wouldn't say apoplectic, but

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 156

I pretty furious
2 a Who did Sondland say that to?
J A He said it to the Ukrainians.
4 a Was i t your understand'ing that he had previously

5 di scussed
6 A I took it from that that he'd already said to the
7 Ukrainjans that there was going to be a meeting and that
8 obviously he was expecting Ambassador Bolton to start, you
9 know, pulling out the schedule, which is not what Ambassador
l0 Bolton does anyway. That's worked out through the Chief of
ll Staff's 0ffi ce and the Vi si t.
t2 a And just so the record is c1ear, when you say
l3 meeting, you mean a Presidential meeting?
t4 A A Presi denti a1 - level meeti ng, agai n, be i t the
l5 White House, be it in Warsaw, be 'it, you know, kind of in any

16 of the places it would be.

17 And we had been again, as I've said repeatedly,
l8 Ambassador BoIton and others, recommending against having a

t9 meeting at this juncture because this is, you know, before

20 the Ukrainian parliamentary elections.
2t a Was it your impress'ion that the Ukra'inian officials
22 there were hearing this idea of a Presidential meeting
23 conditioned on these investigations for the first time at
24 that meet i ng

25 A Danylyuk for sure. He just looked alarmed, and

UNCLASS I PIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED t57

I actually he wanted to speak to me afterwards because he

2 obvi ously di dn ' t know what was go'i ng on .

a
J O And what about Yermak?
4 A but I'm not entirely
Yermak was more impassive,

5 sure that he fu11y understood everything because I'm not

6 convinced about how good his English is. So I just want to
7 state that for the record, that I wasn't entirely clear that
8 Yermak was understanding everything because he didn't rea1ly
9 say too much. And he had an a'ide wi th him who was whi speri ng
l0 to him, and, again, I was sitting at a distance, and he maybe
ll had been helpi ng hjm wi th translati on.
t2 a Did you end up speaking to Danylyuk about
l3 A I djd, but we actually didn't rea1ly discuss what
t4 had actually happened wel1, I didn't want to d'iscuss what
l5 had happened obviously in the Ward Room.
t6 What I was tryi ng to encourage Danylyuk was to work with
t7 the State Department, work with our embassy, and, you know,
l8 particularly as he was'interested in working on the National
l9 Securi ty Counci 1 reform i n Ukraj ne.
20 I really wanted to get, you know, Danylyuk into the
2t channels that we all, you know, kind of knew were working on
22 getti ng back to thi s robust relati onshi p. Danylyuk was a,
23 you know, very above-board guy, oneof the reformers jn
24 Ukraine. Actually, he resigned his position'in Ukraine
25 recently.

UNCLASS I FIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 158

I a Was t your understandi ng f rom any of the

'i

2 interactions you had with him or any information you got that
J Danylyuk was aware of Rudy Giuliani's efforts separate and
4 apar t f rom the of f i c'i a1

5 A He didn't raise it. He was just generally

6 concerned about actually not having a meeting because he felt
7 that thjs would deprive Ukraine, the new Ukrainian Government
8 of the legitimacy that it needed, especially vis-a-vis the
9 Russ'ians. So thi s gets to, you know, the heart of our
l0 nati onal securi ty di lemma.
ll You know, the Ukrai n'ians at th j s poi nt, you know, are
12 looking at a White House meeting or looking at a meeting with
l3 the President of the Un'ited States as a recognitjon of their
t4 legitimacy as a sovereign state. And they are, you know,
l5 clearly perplexed, you know, kind of about this whole
l6 si tuati on surroundi ng the meeti ng.
t7 a Whatwas just because we're somewhat short on
l8 tjme, I'm going to jump to the crux of this July LLth
t9 meeting. What was Mr. Eisenberg's reaction to what you

20 explained to him had and Mr. Griffith had explained to h'im

2t had occurred the daY before?
22 A Yeah. He was also concerned. I mean, he wasn't
23 aware that SondIand, Ambassador Sondland was, you know, kind
24 of running around doing a lot of these, you know, meetings
25 and independently. We talked about the fact that, you know,

UNCLASS T FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 159

I Ambassador Sondland said he'd been meeting with Giuliani and

2 he was very concerned about that. And he sa'id that he would

J follow up on thjs.
4 He has frequent meetings with Ambassador Bolton and had
5 frequent meetings with Ambassador Bolton and also with
6 Charlie Kupperman, our deputy National Security Advisor, both
7 of whom, you know, were fully cognizant of everything that
8 was kind of going on and churning around.
9 I'd already expressed concerns to all of them about the
l0 removal of l4asha Yovanovitch. I mean, I'd gone to talk all
ll the way up my chain expressi ng my concerns and, you know,
t2 basi cally anger that th'is had happened.
l3 I'd also talked to the Vice President's staff, to
14 General Ke11ogg, who was the person who'd hired me and who,
l5 you know, I'd previously reported to jn the first year of the

l6 administratjon, about these concerns as we11, flagging for

t7 hjm that there were problems and that we should
l8 a Sorry, j ust to be clear , you ment1oned Ambassador

t9 Yovanovitch. What are these concerns?

20 A That she had been unfairly dismissed, that she'd
21 been forced out as a result of all of these conspiracy
22 theories and these attacks on her.
23 a Did you speak to them as well about
24 Mr. Gi uli ani 's --

25 A I d'id.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 160

I a efforts and i nfluence?

2 A Because this was all in the news, and, I mean, you
3 know, aga'in , everyone was watchi ng the news and seei ng thi s.
4 And I said that this was, yotl know, a massive complication in
5 terms of our engagements wi th Ukrai ne, becauSe t,,le were also
6 talking about the Vice President having engaged with the
7 Ukrainjan leader if we could not schedule a meeting wlth the
8 President, and that's simply about scheduling.
9 Because, you know, tradi t'ionally the Vi ce Presi dent has
l0 played an important role on countries fike Ukraine or Georgia
ll or a whole host of issues. And the Vice President had on his
t2 i ti nerary a range of forei gn tri ps, i ncludi ng the tri p you
l3 saw that he took recently, a personal trip to Ireland.
t4 And we were trying to talk to hjs staff about whether it
l5 would make sense for the Vjce President to maybe go via Kyiv
t6 or, you know, kind of basically meet with President Zelensky
t7 if we could not schedule a Presidential meeting jn due
t8 course, you know, within a reasonable period of time after
t9 the parl i amentary electi ons.

20 a After - -
2l A And also, by the way, September Lst we knew was
22 coming up because the President had been invited to
23 commemorate the initiation of World War 1I.

24 a There wasn't a long period of time when you were

25 sti11 there after this July LLth meeting, but at any point

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED l6l

I before July Lgth did you hear back either from Mr. Eisenberg
2 directly or from Ambassador Bolton or anyone else about any
3 further conversat'ions that Mr. Eisenberg had on this topic?
4 A Not from Ambassador Bolton, I did not. John
5 Eisenberg said that he had followed up, and he had followed
6 up, you know, through hi s basj cally reporti ng authori ty,
7 whi ch would be the Wh'ite House counsel .

8 a But did and you didn't hear anything else

9 A I did not, no.
l0 a on your sjde of the
l1 A No, I did not.
t2 a Do you know whether ['1r. Ei senberg spoke to
l3 Mr. Sondland at all?
t4 A Well , that wouldn't be, I thj nk, appropri ate i n hi s
l5 posi ti on.
t6 a Who would be the proper person to speak to
t7 Mr. Sondland and te11 him to, you know, change his course of
l8 acti on?

l9 A It would be the State DePartment.

20 a And did you hear whether the State Department

21 did that?
22 A I talked to Assistant Secretary Reeker about
Wel1,
23 this, and I also flagged it, you know, again, as I'd
24 mentjoned before, at different points, actually probably not
25 after the July LLth discussion. But I'd also at different

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 162

I points talked to Under Secretary Hale about the concerns

2 about Ambassador Sondland, we11, obviously, going in a
J di rect j on we were hopi ng he wouldn't on the Ukra j n'ian i ssue.
4 O And was there a substant'ive response f rom Under
5 Secretary Hale or Mr. Reeker?

6 A I mean, they were aware of it. And, you know, my

7 presumption was based on the fact that they're both, you

8 know, stellar professionals that they would fo11ow up on this
9 i n some way.
l0 a this time jn mid-July, we understand that
Around
ll there was an order to hold on the security assistance
t2 i ntended for Ukrai ne.

13 A Ri ght.
t4 a When did you learn about that?
15 A I learned about i t i n that week, that 'is my last
l6 week there.
t7 a And how did you learn?
l8 A I learned about it just in the normal course of
l9 action. We were informed that there had been a hold on the
20 by the from 0MB.
2t a Were you informed as to the reason why?
22 A No, there was no reason given. And we were told
23 that it actually came as a direction from the Chief of
24 Staff's office.
25 a From Mr. Mulvaney?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 163

A Who, I think is he stil1 technically the head of

2 OMB?

a
J a Yes. t left, yes
He hasn' .

4 A So there you are then. Yeah. I mean, that's I

5 mean, he had three different hats then, I guess, and I think
6 it came under his it would have been, you know, I guess,
7 normal for him to have put the hold on.
8 a As of that July L0th meeting, do you know whether
9 Ambassador Bolton or anyone else was aware of whether this
l0 military aid or security assistance had been put on hold?
ll A I don't think they knew. It had not been
12 discussed. It was in the last week that I was there.
l3 a Okay. And did you have any conversations yourself
t4 about the hold
l5 A We d'id .

16 a wj thi n your reporti ng structure?

t7 A And, in fact, there was a meeting set up, two
t8 meeti ngs on Ukra j ne "in the last week that I was there, but
l9 Tim Morrison went and chaired them, so I did not take part in
20 these meeti ngs .
2t was interagency meetings were basically
So there
22 ca11ed to find out what was going on. And Charlie Kupperman,
23 the deputy ass'istant to the President, the National Security
24 Advisor, was basically trying to get to the bottom of it.
25 a And did you ever learn what he found out?

UNCLASS I FIE D
 UNCLASS ] F]ED 164

1 A I did not, but I know that he was going to go and

2 talk to this.
Mulvaney about
J And I left on the L9th, so, you know, by that point --
4 but I relayed to Ambassador Taylor at that point most of the
5 things I've actually relayed to you today.
6 a 1et's just talk about Ambassador Taylor for our
So
7 last couple minutes. He had become the Charge d'Affaires in
8 Ukra'ine?

9 A Correct.
l0 a And you spoke to him you said, I think, on

ll J uly 1.9th?

t2 A I'd actually spoken to hjm on several

Yes, but
l3 occasi ons before. I thi nk you' re all fami f i ar wi th
t4 Ambassador Taylor's biography. I've worked wi th him i n many,
l5 many di fferent capaci ti es.
16 And he was asked after Ambassador Yovanov'i tch was
t7 removed along wi th a number of other people whether they
l8 would be willing to be Charge, because it was agreed that
t9 wi th her preci pi tous removal - - I mean, she'd i ni ti a1ly been,

20 it was my understanding because I'd been told that by the

2t State Department, asked to stay on for a trans'itional period
22 a bit longer than she was supposed to, you know, as the
23 Zelensky Presidency was underway.
24 So it was pretty abrupt, notwithstanding all the

25 information we now have about this. So there was a debate

UNCLASS ] EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 165

I about how could you possibly stil1 have the embassy there
2 wjth, you know, no Charge of any stature..
J And there was a new DCM bei ng sent out, Kri sti na Kv"ien,
4 who I met in that last week as we11, who was just being sent
5 out fresh, although she was very knowledgeable about the
6 regi on.
7 And there was a debate back and forth about whether they
8 could find someone from either previous ambassadors to
9 Ukraine or someone like a Pauta Dobriansky,
from high 1evel,
l0 you know, the Ukra'inian American community, or somebody who
11 would be wjlling to be Charge at thjs transitjonal period to
t2 basi ca11y agai n, getti ng back to the nati onal securi ty
l3 questions about showing to Ukraine that we were stil1
t4 supportive of them and that we were sti1l standing by them in
15 the face of Russian aggression to have someone of stature
16 there until there could be a formal appointment and naming of
17 a new ambassador.
l8 a And Ambassador Taylor was someone of stature jn
l9 your vi ew?
20 A Correct. Yes. I mean, h€'d previ ously been
2t ambassador to Ukra'ine and i s one of the most di sti ngui shed,
22 you know, people that one can think of.
23 a I believe you sa'id, and I just want to clarify
24 this, that Ambassador Taylor, you relayed I think you ca11ed
25 them red flags

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 UNCLASS I FIED 166

I A My red flags.
2 a your red flags to Ambassador Taylor, and that he

J was unaware that Ambassador Sondland had taken lead on

4 Ukrainian policy. Is that

5 A Correct. That was news to h'im. I mean, he, like
6 everybody e1se, knew that Ambassador Sondland was playing a
7 role, but he had not been told that Ambassador Sondland was
8 the lead.
9 a And he had not been told by the State Department?
10 A No.
ll a Nor by Ambassador Sondland?
t2 A No.
13 a 0kay. All right. I believe our time is UP, so I
l4 yield to the minority for 45 minutes.
l5 BY MR. CASTOR:

t6 a Is jt fair to say just about every special envoy or

t7 broadly chartered ambassador sometimes 'is blamed for jumping
l8 out of their lane?
t9 A Yes, but Ambassador Sondland hadn't been named as a
20 special envoy or, you know, ambassador at that time. We had
2l Ambassador Volker who had been named aS the speci a1 envoy for
22 Ukraine, but Ambassador Sondland was saying that he was in
Z) charge of Ukrai ni an affai rs wri t 1arge.

24 a Are we certain the President never appointed

25 Ambassador Sondland to this role?

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 UNCLASS ] FIED t67

I A No.

2 a 0r we only know about

J A I said before, you remember, when I said, I said
As
4 whatT Who? You know, who said this? And he said the
5 President, and then, you know, I couldn't really argue w"ith
6 that.
7 a In the July L0th meeting in the fa1lout in the Ward
8 Room, was it ever clear to you what investigations were part
9 of thi s di scussion?
l0 A We11, he mentioned Burisma.
ll a Buri sma. Anythi ng else?
t2 A No.
l3 a OkaY.

t4 A And again, I cut it off because it was obviously

15 going down avenues which were not appropriate for the
l6 Nati onal Securi ty Counci 1 to go down. And also, agai n, he's

t7 haggt i ng almost about thi s meeti ng.

l8 a Are you aware of theallegation there's been
l9 some reporting, there was a big Poli tico art'ic1e in
20 January 20L7 about Ukrainians' efforts to affect the
21 outcome of the election, the U. S. election?
22 A I'm aware of the articles.
23 a And do you give any credibility to some of the
24 basic charges in there, such as ? Are you
25 familiar with that? Would it be helpful jf we marked thjs as

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED r68

I an exhi bi t, thi s ti co arti cle?

Po1 i

2 A I've seen that Politico article.

J a Okay.

4 A Look, I think we have

5 O I can hand i t to you.
6 A No. But we have
7 a Do you want i t?

8 A and I am very confident based on all of the

9 analysis that has been done I don't want to
and, again,
l0 start getting into intelligence matters that the Ukrainian
ll Government did not interfere in our election in 2015.
t2 a 0kay. But you're aware of the reporting?
l3 A I'm aware of the reporting, but that doesn't mean
t4 that that amounts to an operation by the Ukrainian
l5 Government.
t6 a Right. What do you know about ?

t7 A I don't know very much about them, apart from

18 things that I couldn't speak about.
t9 Can I also say that in my past life at Brookings, is a
20 think tank, I must have had about 25 different people f rom
2t all kinds of d'ifferent backgrounds coming to try to use me as
22 a conduit to various campaigns, Republican and Democrat,
23 given my experience and links, from, you know, Ukrainian,
24 Belarussi an , you know, Georgi an, Russi an, all tryi ng to make

25 contact with the campaigns.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 169

I I could wrjte a million articles like that putting all

2 kinds of people's names out there based on just the contacts
J of people that I had.
4 a Fai r enough . J ust aski ng the questi ons .

5 A No, but I'm just saying in here that but this

6 gets back to what Masha Yovanovjtch said, that you can write
7 something in an article and it somehow becomes true that it's
8 written in an artjcle without all of the due diligence that's
9 done about done on this later.
l0 I have my own beef with 2015 and the investigations,
u that I don't believe it should have started by focusing,
12 fi rst of all, on Americans. It should have started by
13 looking at what Russians were doing, and I think we would
14 have ended up in exactly the same place that Mr. l.4ueller djd
l5 on what the Russ"ians di d wi th the same sets of i ndi ctments,

t6 and it might have not been quite so politicized at the tjme,

t7 because I can promise you that the Russians did everything
l8 that he outlined and then some. And I myself have been
l9 targeted by the Russians on many occasions.
20 And that doesn't make me anti -Russi an. But I'11 j ust
2l say that this particular Russian administration, run by
22 somebody who is an 'incredibly, you know, well-ski1led KGB
23 operative, is something that you just don't mess with. And
24 we are going to be in big trouble --
25 a Who is the KGB operative?

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 UNCLASS I FIED 170

I A That's Presi dent Puti n.

2 And we're going to be'in big trouble, if we don't get
J our act together, in creating more fodder for them to throw
4 right back at us in 2020. And I th'ink th'is is an issue of
5 our natjonal security for all of us, no matter what part of
6 the ai s1e that you' re si ttj ng on.
7 a Would you agree though that, you know, the bringing
8 of Mr. Manafort's dealings in the Ukraine to the forefront,
9 you know, may have had

l0 A s the way that Presi dent Puti n and

Corrupti on 'i

il other nefarious actors, be they from Chjna, Iran, or North

12 Korea, access our system.
l3 a Are you familiar with the, you know, the allegation
14 about Serhiy Leshchenko? I'm sorry i f I'm not pronounci ng

l5 that
t6 A Leshchenko, yes.
t7 a You know, relating to publicizing Manafort's role
l8 in the Ukraine?
t9 A You've also got to remember that Ukraine is going
20 through a massive period of upheaval i tself i n thi s period.
2t I mean, this is the period where Yanukovych, the previous
22 Ukrainian Presjdent, basically flees the country, leaves all
23 ki nds of documents and thi ngs behi nd, and the Ukra'in'ian
24 'i nvesti gati ve reporters and everybody pori ng all over thi s.

25 You can go back and look on YouTube at some of the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 171

I rather strange things that Yanukovych left behjnd hjm. He

2 tried to flush half of his documents down the toilet. He
J threw some of those in a 1ake. There was all k'inds of
4 material that were out there for people to pick over and to
5 look at. And I think, again, that Mr. Mueller and his team

6 have well documented a 1ot of this information.

7 a But to the extent the Ukrainians were involved in
8 pushing out the information on Paul l4anafort, don't you think
9 that could have had an impact on the election?
10 A There are all kinds of things that could have had
il an impact on our election.
t2 O Do you think it's fair that people who are aware of
l3 that reporting
t4 A I don't know how much the average American voter is
l5 aware of that reporting. My family ,my
t6 in-1aws, that was not the reason that they voted in the
l7 election, for example. I have a huge Amerjcan family, and
l8 none of them have ever referenced anything like that to me at
t9 all. They just they care about all the things that the
20 average Ameri can cares about, whi ch i s health, educati on,
2t jobs.
22 a But if there are Ukrainians trying to push the
23 information out about Manafort, isn't that an effort to
24 influence the outcome of the election?
25 t4R. W0L0SKY: I think she answered the question several

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 172

I times.
2 DR. HiLL: Also there are Ukrain'ians pushing out --
a
J MR. CAST0R: I t' s a pretty harmless questi on
.

4 MR. WOL0SKY: You ' ve asked i t three or fou r t i mes

.

5 DR. HILL: Yes, but there are Ukrajn'ians pushing out

6 i nf ormati on about Masha Yovanov'itch whi ch 'is untrue. Why

7 don't you ask about that as well? Is l'4asha Yovanovi tch any
8 less of an American that Mr. Manafort? She has not been
9 accused of any corruption.
l0 I'4R. ZELDIN: Dr. Hi 11

ll DR. HILL: I'm sorry. I'm just getting annoyed about

t2 this, because the point is that, you know, Mr. Manafort has
l3 also been subject -- I don't know him either. But there's
t4 been a trial in which he was convicted of certain activity.
l5 And I like to believe that the law was abided by in pursuing,
l6 you know, what he did.
t7 And, agai n, as I've said, corruption j s our Achi 11es
18 heel here in the United States. And I am shocked, again,
t9 that we've had the f a jlure of imaginat'ion to reaf ize that the
20 Russians could target us in the same way that they use
2t corruption in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia.
22 We, unfortunately, by not cleaning up our own act, have given
23 them the doors in which they can walk through and mesS around
24 in our system.
25 And jf Mr. Manafort did half of the things that he was

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 UNCLASS I EIED 173

I said to do, shame on him. Okay? And I don't know him. And,

2 agai n, thj s i s not a parti san di scussion. And, frankly, what

J he d'id shoutd not be subject to, you know, thjs kind of back
4 and forth ei ther.
5 MR. ZELDIN: Just kind of unpacking that back and forth
6 and the origin of it, the fjrst question, the answer was that
7 it was -- and I don't want to put words in your mouth, so
8 please correct me if this is not accurate. But the answer to
9 the first question was where you concluded Ukraine did not
l0 'interfere in the U.5. election?
ll DR. HILL: The Ukrainian Government did not interfere in
t2 the U.S. election. The Ukrainian Government did not do that.
13 The Ukrainian Special Servjces also did not interfere'in our
t4 election.
l5 MR. ZELDIN:0kay. The fotlowup question and answers,
l6 the answer is that it's your assessment that where there was
t7 interference by Ukrainjans that it's your assessment that it
l8 djdn't change the electjon results. So I see that there is
19 an i nterpretati on

20 MR. W0LOSKY: That mi sstates her testi mony.

2t HILL: It also m'isstates i t. I have no basi s

DR.
22 MR. ZELDIN: Feel f ree to cor rect i t. I 'm j ust
23 MR. W0L05KY: We j ust sai d i t mi sstated her testi mony,
24 so go to your next question, please.
25 MR. ZELDIN: So the first answer is, it's your position

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 174

I that the Ukrainian Government did not interfere with the U.S.
2 electi on, correct?
J DR. HI LL: Cor rect.
4 MR. ZELDIN: Did Ukrain'ians interfere with the U.S.

5 election?
6 DR.HILL: I mean, 1ook, this is any fore'ign
7 individual the way that you're going with this question is
8 any foreign ind'ividual who evinced any kind of interest in
9 the campaigns or tried to meet with anyone in any campaign
l0 and I just said to you before, I can come up in my own
ll accounting of a whole range of people who are foreign
t2 ind'ividuals who wanted to meet with the various campaigns
13 then that would count as 'interference, anybody wanting to
t4 meet with anybody in any campaign to talk to anybody.
l5 MR. ZELDIN: Okay. As far as

t6 DR. HILL: So did some Ukrainians want to talk to

t7 yes, but so d'id some Ch j nese, did a lot of Russi ans. And
l8 there were a lot more Russians that were trying to get
19 i nvolved i n all ki nds of people's campai gns. I mysetf

20 wi of th'is, and i t wasn't j ust on, you know, the

tnessed some
2t kind of Democratic or the Republican side.
22 And, I mean, th j s i s not the nature of my test'imony
23 because it's when I was in, you know, not in my current job'
24 but when I was at the Brookings Institution. But remember,
25 I 've been the nati onal i nte11 i gence offi cer for Russi a before

UNCLASS ] F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED t75

I this for 3-L/2 years. So a lot of the information I have is

2 classi fied.
J And I position about how many
know from my previous
4 people who were trying to gain influence into our politics.
5 And it's very the Russians want to show that, in fact,
6 that it wasn't them that were involved in 2015.

7 MR. ZELDIN: Was j nvolved i n any of the

8 Ukra'ini ans' to i nterf ere wi th U . S. electi ons?
ef f orts

9 DR. HILL: Tamperi ng wi th our election systems? No.

l0 MR. ZELDIN: All r'ight. Was connected at
ll all to any of the act'iv j ti es of Ukrai ni ans to i nterf ere w'ith
12 the U.S. election?
l3 DR. HILL: I can't answer that question. No, I can't
t4 answer that question.
15 THE CHAIRMAN: Andjust to be clear whether we're
t6 talking about on the basis of press reports or are we talking
t7 about witness' personal knowledge?
18 MR. ZELDIN: The wi tness' personal knowledge.
t9 DR. HILL: My personal knowledge, no. My personal
20 knowledge, no. I mean, there were a 1ot, a 1ot of press
2t reports purporting to all kinds of things, and I'm not
22 testifying about press reports.
23 MR. ZELDIN: So that I don't misunderstand your answer,
24 based on your personal knowledge, you're not aware of
25 being connected to any Ukrainians attempting to

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASSlFIED 176

I i nterfere th the U. S. etecti on?

wi

2 DR. HILL: COrrCCt.

a
J And I also want to just point out here that our

4 intelligence agencies were pretty thorough about a lot of the

5 i nvesti gati ons and thi ngs here.

6 BY MR. CASTOR:

7 O Who was at the NSC?

your predecessor
8 A My predecessor at the NSC we11, there would have

9 been two predecessors, because this was an amalgamation of

l0 two bureaus. The immediate predecessor would have been
ll Celeste Wallander for Russia, Central Asia, I guess, but
t2 probably not Ukraine.
l3 a Who had the Ukra'ine Portfolio?
t4 A I think it would have been Charles Kupchan.
15 a I'm sorry, what was his last name?
t6 A Charles Kupchan. He's a professor at Georgetown.

t7 a And then who had the Ukraine portfolio before

l8 Vi ndman?

t9 A Croft, who was the Ukra'ine desk officer

Catherine
20 at the State Department and then went to work with Ambassador
2t VoIker.
22 a And what was the timeframe that she had the Ukraine
23 portfolio?
24 A Up unt"il the summer of 2018. And bef ore her i t
25 v,,as oh, I can't remember who was bef ore her. There were

UNCLASSI FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 177

I several changes of directorates in the tjme that of

2 directors in the time that I was there.
3 Look, and I'm sorry to get testy about, you know, this
4 back and forth, because I'm rea1ly worried about these
5 conspiracy theorjes, and I'm worried that all of you are
6 goi ng to go down a rabb'i t ho1e, you know, looki ng f or thi ngs

7 that are not going to be at all helpful to the American

8 people or to our future election in 2020.
9 You just had the Senate report coming out informing us
t0 all yet again, a bipartisan, nonpartisan report from the
ll Senate about the risk that there is to our elections. If we
t2 have people running around chasing rabbit holes because Rudy
l3 Giuliani or others have been f eeding inf ormat'ion to The Hi11,
t4 Politico, we are not going to be prepared as a country to
t5 push back on this again. The Russians thrive on
l6 mi si nf ormati on and d'i si nf ormati on .
17 I just want to say that that was the reason that I
And
l8 went into the administration when I was asked by General
t9 F1ynn, K.T. MacFarland, and General Ke1logg. We're jn peril
20 as a democracy because of other people interfering here.
2l And i t doesn't mean to say that other people haven't
22 also been trying to do things, but the Russjans were who
23 attacked us in 20L5, and they're now wrjting the script for
24 others to do the same. And jf we don't get our act together,
25 they witl continue to make fools of us'internationally.

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 UNCLASS I FIED 178

I l'lR. JORDAN: Dr. H'i11, was Christopher Steele's dossier

2 a rabbi t hole?
J DR. HILL: I thi nk i t was a rabbi t hole.
4 MR. JORDAN: Youthink the Russians were trying to
5 influence us and get us to buy into something that was
6 absolutely not true?
7 HILL: But that was not on any basis once I got
DR.
8 into the administration I didn't see that that was a rabbit
9 hole that my former colleagues in the Natjonal Intelligence
l0 Council had gone down to. The way that the Russians operate
ll is that they will use whatever conduit they can to put out
t2 information that is both real and credible but that also
l3 masks a great deal of disinformation.
t4 So I've written a book on Vladimir Putin, and if you,
l5 you know, have a moment when you want to have a sleep aid,
t6 you know, late at night, I've laid all of that out there.
t7 And Putjn himself has gone around, you know, claiming there
18 were dossiers on h'im trying to red j rect people to look in
19 other places for i nformati on.
20 When I was at the Nationat Intelligence Council there

2t was some person who kept constantly writing to us, telling us

22 that we were missing, you know, whole things about, you know,
23 Vladimir Putin, which was clearly, you know, kind of an
24 effort on the part of the Russians to send us down rabbit
25 holes of inquiry that would kind of distract us from looking

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 179

I at the actual issues that we should be rea11y concerned

2 about. And thi s was under the Bush admi ni strati on .

J l'4R. JORDAN: So I j ust want to be c1ear, there was a

4 story done in Politico on you last month. In that reporting

5 it says Steele might have been played by the Russians into
6 spreading disinformation. That's what you think happened

7 wi th

8 HILL: It's very 1ike1y that the Russians planted

DR.
9 disinformation in and among other jnformat"ion that may have
10 been truthful, because that's exactly, again, the way that
1t they operate. And I think everyone should always be
t2 cogni zant of that.
l3 |.4R. Yeah. So i nformation that Chri stopher
J0RDAN:
t4 5tee1e was played by the Russians, that information was used,
l5 as you well know, by our Justice Department, specifically our
l6 FBI, as part of the basis for securing a warrant to spy on an
t7 American citizen.
l8 HILL: I think it's already come out that that
DR.
19 wasn't exactly the case, that the dossier was basically out
20 there when those investigations had already taken place.
2t lvlR. JORDAN: WeIl, that's not accurate. It was part of
22 what was taken
23 HILL: Wel1, some of the information was that it had
DR.
24 come through other ways. But, look, I don't want to also get
25 into, again, a discussion that could go down a ctassified

UNCLASS]FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 180

I avenue because I just want to te11 you oo, You know, rea1ly
2 good author i ty that the Russians I mean, again, we shoul d
J all know thi s, the Senate has reconfirmed this again
4 attacked
5 MR. JORDAN: I'm not disPuting that.
6 DR. HI LL : attacked our democracy .

7 And also, the point that actually hasn't come out and,
8 again, why I've been very cross in the media, is that the
9 Pres'ident waS attacked aS we11, because the Russians sought
10 to discredit him.
l1 And I've been very unhappy with the media coverage of
t2 all of this, which is why I don't want to start, you know,
l3 k'ind of basi cal1y doi ng test'imony by vi rtue of an arti c1e
t4 that you've read in Politico. Because everybody wants to
l5 sensationalize things, everybody wants to spend time look'ing
t6 at the things that seem sexy, and they don't want to actually
17 look at, you know, talk to what the facts are.
l8 MR. JORDAN: I'm not trying to do that.

t9 Doctor, te11 me about your relationship with

20 Chri stopher Steele.
2t DR. HILL: He was my counterpart when I was the
22 director, the national intelligence officer.
23

24 l"lR. JORDAN: And so

25 DR. HI LL: So i nevi tably , when I had to do l'iai son

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 181

I meet'ings wi th the U. K. , he was the person I had to meet wi th.

2 |.4R. JORDAN: And so you had a worki ng relat'ionship wi th

J him for how long?

4 DR.HILL: For the whole period that I was national
5 intelligence officer, so that would be from 2005 to the end
6 of 2009.
7 MR. J0RDAN: 0kay.
8 DR.HILL: 5o anybody who was working in the
9 intelligence agencies at the time
l0 MR. JORDAN: I get it.
ll DR. HILL: -- who was deafing with Russia would have to
t2 deal wi th hi m. He reti red as I understand,
l3 at the end of 2009.
t4 MR. J0RDAN: The story on you says that you spoke with
l5 him in 2015. So can you tel1 me about that conversation?
t6 DR. HILL: That was prior to the t'ime that I had any
t7 knowledge about the dossier. He was constantly trying to
l8 drum up business, and he had contacted me because he wanted
t9 to see if I could give him a contact to some other
20 individual, who actually I don't even recal1 now, who he
2t could approach about some business issues.
22 MR. JORDAN: And earlier you said there were all kinds
23 of folks who contacted you from time to tjme wanting to get
24 involved and have contact w'ith various political campaigns.
25 Is Mr. Steele one of those i ndiv'iduals?

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 182

I DR. HILL: He was not.

2 MR. JORDAN: He was not, okay.

J And then the same article

that yotl, when you
mentions
4 were hired, as soon as you were hired you told Mr. McMaster
5 that you had worked with Mr. Steele. Is that right?
6 HILL: Yes, in the course of my official duties as
DR.
7 NIO, because I thought , obvi ously , gi ven the si tuati on , i t
8 would be worth saying that. I also told Ambassador Bolton
9 this as we1I.
l0 MR. J0RDAN: Okay. And you did that based on the fact

ll that Steele was i n the news?

12 DR. HILL: Correct.
l3 MR. JORDAN: Okay. And you did that after you were

t4 hired or before you were hired?

l5 DR. HILL: I mentioned it to General Kellogg when he was
t6 i ntervi ewi ng me as well .

t7 MR. JORDAN: 0kay.

18 DR. HILL: I mean, you can't, you know, choose who you
l9 have to interact with.
20 MR. J0RDAN: No. I just want to know

2l DR. HILL: And at that point Christopher Steele was the

22 poi nt person for deali ng wi th Russi a.

23 MR. JORDAN: Great.

24 MR. ZELDIN: Dr. Hi 11, are you aware of any i nteraction

25 between Mr. Steele and Ukrai n'ians

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 183

I DR. HILL: - I'm not.

2 MR. ZELDIN: i nvolved i n the dossier?
J DR. HILL: I have no knowledge whatsoever of how he
4 developed that dossier, none, I just want to state that. The
5 first time I saw that dossier was the day before jt was
6 pubtished jn Buzzfeed when a colleague, like it seemed to be
7 about half of Washington, D.C., had it and showed me a copy
8 of i t and I was shocked. And then i t appeared 'in Buzzf eed
9 the next day.
10 MR. JORDAN: And when you read it you were convinced
1l that it was --
t2 DR. HILL: That was when I expressed the misgivings and
l3 concern that he could have been played.
14 MR. JORDAN : Yep. Okay . Thank you .

l5 DR. HILL: Because if you also think about it, the

l6 Russians would have an ax to grind against him given the iob
t7 that he had previously. And if he started going back through
l8 hjs old contacts and asking about, that would be a perfect
19 opportun'i ty f or people to f eed some ki nd of mi si nf ormati on .

20 I had no basis on which to assess that.

2t I,IR. CASTOR:

22 a We learned during the course of our investigation

that Steele was desperate to see that Donald Trump was not
24 elected Pres'ident. Do you
25 A I don't know anything about that at all, no.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FTED 184

I a How does the Natjonal Security Staff staff the Vice

2 Presjdent? Is there a separate unit that
J A He has a separate unit. But we, in my directorate,
4 work very closely with the series of people, again, that he
5 has detailees often for just a year at a time who rotate
6 around. And we try to keep them as informed as possible
7 about everything that's happening in our area of
8 responsi bi 1i ty, especi ally, as I sai d, that's 'in the context
9 of, you know, your question about red f1ags.
10 I wanted them to know that, you know, if we were
ll di scussi ng the possi bi t i ty of a Vi ce Presidenti aI v'isi t , that
t2 there would be issues that we might be concerned about to be,
l3 you know, very carefut about, you know, protecting the
t4 integrity of the Vice Presidency and the V'ice President.
l5 Because the Vi ce Pres"ident played actually a very
l6 important foreign policy and diplomatic role in terms of his
t7 outreach, and especially th'is Vice Presjdent like, you know,
l8 predecessors has really kind of stepped up where there's been
t9 a conf lict or where there's been some spec'ial care needed,
20 you know, for a country that, you know, perhaps isn't one of
2t the top allies but, you know, certainly might need some
22 attenti on.

23 And, you know, Vice President Pence has been, you know,

24 extremely good about stepping up when asked, you know, to go

25 and, you know, give speeches for Munich Securi ty Counci 1

UNCLASS I FIED
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I conference and other settj ngs, for example.

2 But the other thing, it's often very difficult for him
J to do these trips because of course he can't be out of the
4 country when the President is, and he has got other domestjc
5 obligations, not least being here as representative as we11.
6 a Ri ght. There was some quest'ion about whether Vi ce
7 President Pence was going to attend Zelensky's inauguration?
8 A It depended on the date. I mean, we were hoping,
9 you know, if others couldn't attend that he could. I mean, I
l0 myself couldn't attend because of the date, that the way that
ll it aga'in, there were several di f f erent dates, and then the
r2 date that was announced in May was very quickly announced.
l3 a Ri ght.
t4 A It was, you know, k jnd of bas'ica1ly wjth a couple
l5 of days' notice.
t6 O So the decjsion not to send the Vice President had
t7 nothing to do wjth
l8 A Well
l9 a anything other than hjs schedule?
20 A I can't say with any with complete certainty. I
2l did flag already that there were some problems, but I have no
22 reason to believe you know, I flagged to his staff, to
23 General Kellogg that there were some issues, yoLr know, kind
24 of noise going on around Ukraine that was worrisome and that
25 we'd need to get to the bottom of. But I have no basjs to

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 186

I say that he was told not to go. I think it would have been a

2 real stretch for his schedule.

J a okay. How big is the NSC staff for the Vice
4 Pres'ident?
5 A I don't know. I don't know the
To be honest,
6 numbers. It's not big at a1I, maybe about 1.0 people total.
7 a Which js about the same size as your --
8 A Is that about ri ght, Derek, L0 people at the V'ice
9 Presi dent's staff?
l0 MR. HARVEY: I thi NK SO.
ll BY MR. CASTOR:

t2 a Andthat's about the same size

l3 A Yeah, which is why we always tried to he1p.

t4 a as your
15 A Yeah. I mean, no one can say that the Vice
16 Presi dent i s overstaffed .

t7 MR. BiTAR: Just for the record, that was Derek Harvey

l8 answeri ng.
t9 HILL: Yeah, Derek Harvey, yes. You know, I asked
DR.
20 him because I could see him and I know that he would, you
2t know

22 t'4R. BITAR: For the reporter.

23 DR. HI LL: I 'm sor ry . Yes . Yep.

24 MR. CASTOR:

25 a Vice President Biden had a role overseeing Ukrajne

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS]FIED 187

I policy. Do you know anything about that?

2 A It was, you know, as far as I understand, you know,
J part of the di vi s'ion of labor f rom the previ ous
4 admi ni strati on. I mean, as I sai d , Vi ce Pres'idents of ten ,

5 you know, step up and play particular ro1es.

6 When I was in the Bush administration as NIO, Vi ce

7 Presjdent Cheney had actually played a very active role on

8 the f ormer et Un'ion, gave many speeches. And I often had

Sovi

9 to go and brief him as well when I was NIO.

10 a When you lef t the NSC on J uly l"9th , could you j ust
ll go through your direct reports again?
t2 A There was my assistant. Do you need me to name
l3 them all for the record?
t4 a That would be he1pfu1.
l5 A So there was my assistant . He was an
t6 NSC direct hire. He's no longer there because he had agreed

t7 to be there for the year that I was there and then he woutd
l8 transi tjon off. He's gone to the Treasury Department.
l9 There was , who was basjcally detailed
20 from Treasury, and she and I started around the same time and
2l ended the same time. She'd also had an agreement to be there
22 for 2 years, and Treasury was understaffed and wanted to pu11
23 her back.
24 There was John Erath, who was the deputy senior
25 director. John had been there for about a year and from

UNCLASS I FIED
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I State Department, and he had previously been detailed out to

2 the Defense Department and all kinds of other -- NATO. He's,
J you know, kind of a quite long-serving State Department
4 official who covered the whole gamut of issues.
5 There was sorry. I'm closing my mind to k'ind of do

6 the desk things in order here.

7 who was detailed from

8 and covered the entire eastern flank of

9 NATO. I ment'ioned before that some people ended up with a
10 huge portfoljo of countries, so we had everything from the
l1 Baltic States all the way down to k'ind of Romania, Bulgaria,
t2 Poland, you know, all those other countries.
l3 There was , who was detailed from

t4 who was covering the U.K., France, the

l5 Netherlands, and the Western European countries. He's gone
t6 back to
t7 There was , also from
18 who was our NATO djrector. And he had a smaller portfolio
t9 because NATO is very wide ranging on a whole host of issues
20 There was , who was the director for Turkey,
2t Greece, the Aegean, and at one point had the Caucasus as
22 we11, but that actually became too much for him to handle.
23 Turkey 'is a 24/7 , 365-days-a-year job. He's actually now of f
24 wi th the , so he was also detailed
25 over f rom 'the

UNCLASS I FIED
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I There was Alex Vindman, who, as I explained before, got

2 Ukra'ine, Belarus, and Moldova, also detailed in from the JCS.
J There was , who was detailed from !
4 so we shared with the
5 directorate, and the nature of I job was classjfied.
6 And then there *rt I, who was our director for

7 Russia and who was really handling all the outreach that we
8 had to the Russian Natjonal Security Council and very much
9 f ocused on j ust the ni tty-gri tty of coordi nat'ing all of our

l0 interactions with the Russians, which at this point were

11 actual 1y fai r1y extensj ve.
t2 And hed'id none of these other individuals worked on
l3 the Ukraine portfolio. We actually had to ask f to step
t4 up arfd help on the Balt'ics and Caucasus j ust i n a pi nch
l5 because our other djrectors were getting overwhelmed.
t6 I don't think I've missed anyone. How many people do

l7 you have there? How much does that add up to? Is that !?
l8 a It's about!, yeah.
t9 A 'Yeah, that sounds about right. And we previously
20 had a couple more directors and we'd gone we were
2t agreeing, I mean, as you've heard and read about the NSC
22 downsizing, we were agreeing to attrition
23 a Ri ght.
24 A you know, so that d'i rectors would not
25 necessari 1y be replaced.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 190

I a So what was i t 1 fi rst arri ved? Li ke,

i ke when you
2 you know, how many people did you have reporting to you?
J A Initially there were ! people there. But by the
4 time I arrived there was a reorganization going on, because
5 we used to also have Central Asia, and that moved to the
6 directorate covering Central and South Asja. So one of the
7 directors already went, and the Western European portfolio
8 was differently arranged, and we djdn't replace one of those

9 di rectors.
l0 So, in fact, had all of the EU,
ll Germany , I taly , the Vat'ican, Spai n , Portugal .

12 a In the course of your experience did you ever come

l3 into contact with national security staffers that had a

l4 poli tical orientation?

l5 A We11, I mean, I had plenty of political appointees
l6 from the administration.
t7 a Any political or nonpolitical appointees that had a
l8 pol i ti cal ori entati on?

t9 A Not in my experience. People did not express

20 those. I mean, I made it very clear from when I came on
2t 'in that I was nonpart j san and I did not want people's, you
22 know, politjcs brought into the office. I mean, people could
23 share opinions. And I was aware, you know, obviously of a
24 few people's political preferences, but they weren't in any
25 way that was only just by chance. But they were mostly

UNCLASS]FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 191

I all Republicans.
2 a When you started were there any holdovers from the
J previous admini stration?
4 A Wel1, of course there were because the
5 administrations that always happens. I mean, I was a
6 holdover f rom the Bush admini strat'ion at the DNI
7 a How many of tne ! were holdovers?
8 A Wel1, when I first started all of them would have
9 been, because my first job, when I came in in March, was to
10 preside over -- that's why I can't remember, you know, all of
ll the sequencing of directors, because the entire staff were
t2 from the previous administration. And from, you know, the
13 period between March and the summer, that's when I ended up

t4 down with four people at one point. We were trying to find

l5 new detai 1ees.
t6 O And you were
t7 A And everybody left, you know, we11, for the most
18 part, who had just had a L-year detail in the summer of 20L7.
l9 But, again, all of these people were detailed from agencies,
20 so they're professional staff.
2t a You were j n j t j a1ly 'introduced to the possi bi 1i ty of
22 working at the NSC by General Flynn
23 A I was.
24 a K.T. MacFarland?
25 A Correct. I had my f i rst discussion with K.T. 'in

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED t92

I December of 2016.

2 a And when General McMaster --

J A I had to wai t a ujhi Ie to see whether he wanted to
4 cont i nue .

5 a Okay. And could you just help us understand, he

6 wanted you to cont'inue to

7 A He did. I mean,, I came 'in to meet with him.
8 a And

9 A I mean, I'd been already offered the job and I was

l0 al ready 'in the process of onboardi ng. But clearly, you know,
ll if a new National Security Advisor comes in, he's, you know,
t2 perfectly wi thi n hi s ri ghts to deci de not to proceed.
l3 0 But he
t4 A And I d'idn't know him well. I mean, I knew him
l5 somewhat professionally. I'd been at a conference or two
t6 with him. But, I mean, 'it wasn't f ike I rea11y knew h'im
t7 we11.

l8 a When you onboarded, did you have any Flynn

t9 loyalists that you had to that left?
20 A Remember, I was hired by General Flynn, and I knew
2t him from the period when I worked at the DNI. And there were
22 a number of people who continued who had worked with General
23 Flynn. But, yes, it was true that, you know, Ambassador --
24 sorry General McMaster, just like Ambassador Bolton, also
25 did change out the staff.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 193

I a General McMaster, could you identify the

2 differences, top-1ine differences between how he ran the NSC

J and Ambassador Bolton?

4 A They have verydifferent personati ties. I mean,
5 they've obviously got very di fferent backgrounds. And
6 General Mcl4aster was very focused on process. He had a lot
7 of interagency meetings. He was focused in the whole year
8 that he was there on the National Security Strategy and then
9 trying to create integrated strategies to pu11 all the policy
l0 together.
ll So, you know, it was a very different, deliberative
t2 approach, a 1ot of, you know, meetings in his office, a lot
r3 of meetings with a 1ot of staff, you know, going through all
t4 the national securi ty pri nci p1es.
l5 And Ambassador Bolton, you know, is much more of the
16 view, as I think'is well known about him, of a much sma11er,
t7 streamlined Nat'ional Security Staff in which just the
l8 pri nci pals i nteract wj th the Presj dent and, agai n , sma1l
t9 meetings between, you know, the he famously has a picture
20 on his wa11 that's put in all of the, you know, bios of hjm
2l or the stories about him sjnce it's all been out in public of
22 the picture of the, you know, the Bush Wh'i te House wi th
23 Scowcroft and Powell and Cheney and others just at the desk,
24 at the Resolute Desk, you know, k'ind of a sma11 group.
25 Where Ambassador Bolton then kept it sma11, General

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 194

I McMaster liked, you know, kjnd of the larger, bringing out

2 the guys, you know, for meetings and things.
J a There was some discussion about the WhatsApp usage.
4 A Yes.
5 a And you indicated that White House staffers
6 couldn't use WhatsApp?
7 A No. It was not on our phones.
8 a But the State Department fo1ks, they
9 A Yeah

l0 a do use WhatsApp?

ll A So this has actually been an issue not with

t2 WhatsApp because it's a relatively, you know, recent
l3 platform, but when I was Ni0 between 2005 and 2009, State
t4 Department did an awful lot of business on their BlackBerrys
15 or, you know, whatever their system was at the time.
t6 I think BlackBerrys were invented by 2006, right? I
l7 keep remembering times when we all had giant, you know, kind
l8 of phones and things like this.
19 And we had a real problem at the time capturing, you
20 know, the flow of information. And when I was NI0, I mean,
2t an awful lot of things that we refied on were embassy cables
22 and feedback, you know, from our ambassadors or the deputy
23 assi stant secretari es, assi stant secretari es. And a lot of
24 the information was just not accessible to us because, you
25 know, they'd take weeks to write up a cable and often the

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 195

I i nformation was not captured.

2 in the executive branch,
And, you know, obviously,
a
J because of the concerns about executive privilege, but also
4 about Presidential records, everything needs to be captured.
5 a But State Department offic'ia1s that are utilizing
6 WhatsApp, as long as they're preserving it for their own
7 recordkeepi ng rules
8 A I presume that, you know, the State Department has
9 fai r1y robust procedures.
l0 We were also instructed, you know, like everybody e1se,
ll that'if anybody, you know, got hold of our personal emai1 in
t2 any way or, you know, kind of phone number, that we had to
13 jmmediately forward that onto our NSC email, which I always

t4 did.
l5 It didn't often, but, you know, as you
happen very
l6 mentioned before, you asked me a question, why did the media
t7 have my phone number, my emai1, jn actual fact, it's on my
l8 Brookings out-of-office message on leave. So they have it.
l9 You know, it's quite easy to get, hence why I get a 1ot of
20 emai 1s and phone ca11s.
2t I'd f jnd that, you know, some of f icjal had,
So somet'imes
22 you know couldn't remember the sequence of the NSC, so
23 they'd just use my Brookings email and email me, and I would
24 forward that on. But we were not a11owed, as I said, to go
25 before, i n any offjci al busi ness i n otherwi se an offjci al

UNCLASS ] EIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 196

I manner like that.

2 a President Trump's Ukraine policy with forwarding
J lethal defensive weapons to the Ukrajne, is it fair to say
4 that that is a much more robust aid policy?
5 A That's correct.
6 a And what else can you tel1 us about the difference
7 between the current admini stration and the previous?
8 A Wel1, I, myself -- you can find th1s in the pubtic
9 record wrote an op-ed before long before I joined the
l0 adm'ini strati on , af ter the annexati on of Cri mea and wi th the

11 war on the Donbas, actually opposing letha1 weapon

t2 provisions, defensive letha1 weapons to Ukraine, because I

13 was rea11y worried at the time as an'independent analyst and
t4 based on what I'd known previously in my NIO job that the
l5 Ukrainian miljtary was in such a state of shambles that it
t6 would never be able to stand up to the Russian military,
l7 which had, you know, basically escalation dominance, and that
l8 we were in the danger of basically fanning, you know, of the
t9 flames of the confljct and having the slaughter, frankly, of
20 Ukrai ni an soldi ers.
2l And also that the Europeans wouldn't step up and
22 woutdn't do anything. I mean, this is a perpetual problem
23 that I was facing on many fronts. Remember, Europe is all in
24 my portfofio as well. And we were very concerned that, you
25 know, it could become I was concerned, and my cohort at

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 197

I the time, that it's become a rift in our relations with

2 Europe, that they might actually even step back from
J sanctions or other commitments that they've made with us as a
4 government.
5 Now, when I got into the government, the adminjstratjon,
6 I became actually more convinced that there was a thorough
7 plan, that our colleagues at the Pentagon had rea1ly thought
8 aI1 of this through, and that General Abizaid and then, you
9 know, kind of his replacement, Keith Dayton, who had been
l0 working on the behalf of the Pentagon as a special envoy of
ll the Secretary to work with Ukrainian defense, as one would
12 hope, they knew what they were doing.
l3 And then they had a proper plan for the long-term
t4 sustainability of the Ukrainian military, and that the'intent
l5 was that the Ukrainian defense sector would be able to get
l6 itself back jnto shape again over time. Because you may
t7 recal1 that Ukraine, as a republic of the Soviet Union, was
l8 one of the 1ocus, along with Belarus, of the majority of 'the
t9 defense industrial base of the Soviet Union.
20 So many parts for helicopters and planes, all the heavy
2l f ift capacity for the Russian forces, were stil1 being made
22 in Ukraine up until the falling out between Ukrajne and
23 Russia. So we were kind of confident that if Ukraine could
24 get its act together, especially jf jt could tackle some of
25 the energy issues as we11, whjch, you know, were real1y

UNCLASS I F] ED
 UNCLASS I FlED 198

I dragging it down, energy efficiency, and as we alt know,

2 militaries are one of thei r biggest utjlizers of energy, that
J over tjme Ukraine, you know, could actually have a viable
4 mi f i tary.
5 And given the size of the country and, you know, the
6 size of the populat'ion, Ukraine could actually potentially
7 over time become a formidable mjlitary power, like the Poles
8 were al ready becomi ng 'in Eastern Europe.
9 And so there was a plan there.
, you knout,
So I
l0 everybody changes their mind, you know, and kind of learns
ll things, I, you know, was basically persuaded that, you know,
12 this was actualty worth doing, even though I sti11 had qualms
l3 about Russian escalation dominance and was worried about how

t4 th'is would be provi ded and maki ng sure not to provoke the
l5 Russians.
t6 O to the vjew that it was
So you came around
17 A i djd. I mean, I didn't want to use it as a way of
l8 just, you know, sticking a finger up to the Russians, you
t9 know, which is kind of you know, there were a few people
20 that wanted to say, hey, you know, here, Russians, you know,
2t k'ind of we' re taki ng these acti ons, but i t was very f ew. I
22 wanted to make sure that it was part of a well thought out
23 policy.
24 MR. CASTOR: I have about just shy of 10, 8 minutes.
25 Does anybody, any Members have any questions?

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 199

I MR. ZELDIN: Dr. Hi11, Ambassador Volker made it sound

2 like many in the U.S. Government working on these issues

a
J really wanted the meeting with Zelensky to happen. And
4 earlier you're testjfying a litt1e bit about the des'i re for a

5 meeting between President Trump and Zelensky. Can you just

6 help me better understand your interest and your team's
7 interest in wanting to set up a meet'ing between President
8 Trump and President Zelensky?
9

10

ll
t2

l3

l4
15

t6

t7

l8
t9

20

2t

22

23

24

25

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 200

I [2:55 p.m.]
2 DR. HILL: We11, there was a bit of a split there as

J we11. You know, I think I've made myself c1ear, but I'11,
4 you know, be more c1ear. That myself and Ambassador Bolton
5 and, you know, some other parts of our team did not believe
6 we should be having a meeting with President Zelensky I
7 mean "we" writ large as the U.S. Government at the highest

8 levels -- until we were very sure how the Ukrainian Rada

9 parliamentary elect'ions would play out. And a1so, then, we
l0 could be rea11y sure which, you know, nothing is ever
ll rea11y sure about how much Zelensky was going to be under
t2 the i nfluence of vari ous o1i garchs.
l3 And, again, I was concerned, as was Ambassador Bolton,
t4 that there was all this extraneous activity going on that
l5 would one way or another impact on this meeting in ways in
t6 which and this'is actually my worst n'ightmare, what's
t7 happen'i ng now, that thi s could , you know, bas i cal1y spi n out

t8 and put, you know, kind of the United States in a very bad
t9 position because I d'id not know exactly what [.,lr. Giuliani was
20 doi ng. So we are now 1i vi ng my worst n'ightmare.
2t MR. ZELDIN: As far as people inside of the United

22 States Government working on the Ukraine issue, there was a

23 difference of opinion and desjre of whether or not to set up

24 a meet'ing between President Trump and President Zelensky?

25 DR. HILL: Yeah, overa11, we all wanted to have a

UNCLASS] FIED
 UNCLASSIEIED 201

I meeting, but under the right kjnd of circumstances, you know,

2 wj th the right messaging and the right discussion because i t

J was important for the legitimization of the new Ukrainian

4 Government and as a strong symbol of U.S. solidarity with
5 Ukrai ne.
6 I mean, Ukraine is in a rea11y remarkable and very
7 di fficult posi tion. I mean, j t fi rst got i ts i ndependence
8 after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Lee will
9 actually remember this. Back in 1994, we all worked on a
l0 report called "Back in the USSR" when we were at the Kennedy
11 School that was basically documenting all of the efforts that
tz the Russian Government and Boris Yeltsjn were actually making

13 to subvert the sovereignty of all of the new countries that

14 emerged out of the Soviet Union.
l5 And webasically highlighted Ukraine as being the most
t6 vulnerable at that particular juncture because this was the
t7 period when Ukraine was being pushed to give up its nuclear
18 weapons. And we actually wrote in the report that Ukraine
19 shouldn't give up jts nuclear weapons because there was a

20 good chance that they would then be predated upon by the

2t Russians. And this was then addressed by the Budapest
22 Memorandum in late 1994.

23 And there were all kinds of attacks on Ukraine taking

24 this is a long time to go back but there were lots of
25 attacks on Ukrai ne, strange assassi nati ons, all kj nds of

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 202

I threats of military act'ion, jncluding against Crimea, all in

2 thi s timeframe. And that's when the U.5. Government moved,
J wjth others, to basically give guarantees to Ukraine of its
4 soverei gnty .
5 So, when you now lookat what's happened to Ukraine, you
6 know, basically 20 years ofl, exactly what we feared at the
7 time has happened. So Ukra'ine has basically lost its
8 sovereignty again. And our concern was to show that we were
9 looking at Ukraine as a sovereign country. And one of the
t0 ways of expressing that sovereignty is obviously to show
ll respect to their head of state at the very highest levels in
l2 our country. It's something that we traditionally do.
13 MR. ZELDIN: Ambassador Sondland seems to have a

t4 reputatjon, from the conversat'ions I've had outside of this

l5 setting and from what we're hearing, that he rea11y liked to
16 get his hands into everything. Even though he was the U.S.
t7 Ambassador to the EU, someone told me that he rea1ly looked

l8 at the entire European continent as his. And on his own

t9 initiatives, he was just getting himself involved "in
20 everything. Was that pretty much your observations too, or
2t did you have a different observation?
22 DR. HILL: We11, that was my observation. And I said,
23 you know, before that I was I had, you know, what I
24 thought was an unfortunate blowup wjth him at the time when
25 he told me he was in charge of Ukraine, which it was already,

UNCLASS T FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 203

1 you know, at the juncture where Ambassador Taylor was being

2 sent out as Charge. And when he said that was the first
J time that he sa'id to me that the President had told him he
4 was in of Ukraine.
charge
5 But prior to that, he'd actually said to me repeatedly
6 when I challenged him, you know, on issues ljke th'is where,
7 you know, he was running around with, you know,
8 appearing at the White House and, you know, all kinds of
9 other thi ngs that he was, you know, doi ng at the t'ime that
l0 were, you know, completely out of the ordinary process, I,
lt you know, sa'id to him agai n: What's goi ng on here?
12 And he sa'id: The President has given me, you know, thi s
13 broad I am to be his point man on Europe.
t4 |\,lR. ZELDIN: Do you know whether or not he was actually

l5 getting any of this guidance from a higher 1eve1, or is it

t6 possible that he was just name-dropping the President?
t7 DR. HILL: It i s enti rely possi ble that he was
l8 name-dropping the Presjdent. There were many times where
t9 I mean, he was a shocking number of times in Washington,
20 D.C., to the point where several people said to me: Is he
2t ever in Brussels?
22 I busted him a couple of t'imes on the street i n West
And
23 Executive where, I mean, if he was there, he would normally
24 come in through protocol , as all the other Ambassadors did.
25 They would have a meeting with me or with Ambassador Bolton.

UNCLASS ] F]ED
 UNCLASS I FTED 204

I And he would have some meetings with Ambassador Bolton

2 from tjme to time, but I'd often see h'im in West Exec coming
J out of, you know, what looked like he was coming out of the
4 West Wing. And he'd say that he'd been in, you know, to see
5 the Presjdent, but I would find from talking to the staff
6 that he'd only been up to see l'4i ck Mulvaney . I don' t know
7 whether that's hearsay or presumption or
8 MR. ZELDIN: But as far as him getting involved in other

9 countries outside of the EU, he came across as someone who

10 was trying to get his hands into everything on his own
l1 initiative?
t2 DR. HILL: If in Brussels from another
he met somebody
l3 country, they were fair game, is basically how it appeared to
t4 be. He spent a long time working on I for a while and
l5 actually made a huge mess-up because he was given a piece of
t6 information from th. I Prime Minister that he should
t7 have actually handed over to State Department. He sat on it
18 for 3 months.
l9 And people at the State Department had meetings that
20 were pertaining to that piece of paper, and it had never
21 actually been handed over. And the thought that
22 the'i r counterparts were either, you know, kind of insane or
23 deliberately obfuscating on the issues that they kept
24 rai si ng.
25 THE CHAIRMAN: It's time, Mr. Zeldi n.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 205

I MR. ZELDIN: The time is almost up, or it is uP?

2 THE CHAIRMAN: It is up.

J l'4r. Goldman.
4 MR. WOLOSKY: Can we take a 5-minute break?
5 THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, take a 5-minute break and we'11 come

6 back i n.
7 lRecess. l
8 THE CHAIRMAN: All right, let's go back on the record.
9 Mr . Noble.
10 NR . NOBLE : Thank you , 14 r . Cha i rman .
1l BY NR. NOBLE:

t2 a Dr. Hi11, you sajd in the last segment of your

13 testimony that we're now living your worst nightmare. Can
l4 you unpack that a little bit for us? What do you mean by
l5 that?
16 A Wel1, I was extremely concerned that whatever i t
t7 was . G'iul i ani was doi ng mi ght not be legal
that Mr ,

l8 especially after, you know, people had raised w'ith me these

19 two gentlemen, Parnas and Fruman. And also they'd mentioned
20 this thjrd ind'ividual who, I mean, I guess js actually on the
21 list of names that you had because I didn't recognize all the
22 others of, Harry Sargeant and when I'd spoken to my
23 colleagues who, you know, were based in Florida, including
24 our director for the Western Hemisphere, and he'd mentioned
25 that these people were notorious and that, you know, they'd

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 206

I been involved in all kinds of strange things in Venezuela

2 and, you know, kind of were just well-known for not being
J aboveboard. And so my early assumption was that it was
4 pushing particular indjvjduals' business interests.
5 a Did there come a time when you understood, though,
6 that RudyGiuljani was also pushing the Ukrainians to conduct
7 or reopen or open particutar investigations?
8 A Yes. I mean, that was when Amos Hochstei n had come
9 to talk to me in May. I think it was May 20th, May 22nd,
10 something like that. So all around the time of when we were
ll preparing for the inauguration. And he had said that a
t2 number of Ukrai ni ans had come to compla'in to h jm that they
l3 were that this was starting to happen. I also had the
14 a Just to be clear, that Rudy Giuliani was in
l5 Ukrai ne, tryi ng to
t6 A Correct.
17 a press Ukrai ni ans?
l8 A 0r was talking to Ukrainians, I mean, in all kinds
l9 of different settings, and was sending messages to
20 Ukrai ni ans.
21 a And was it about these investigations in
22 particular?
23 A Also about Naftogaz, again, the Ukrainian oi1 and

24 gas company. And the

25 a So those two. So Naftogaz and the jnvestigatjons?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 207

I A Correct. of Naftogaz in this same

And the board
2 time period had also come to have an official meeting with us

J i n the NSC because

4 a I think we're going to get to that a little bit

5 1ater.
6 A But they raised the same concerns, that they felt
7 that they were under pressure to change out thei r board.
8 a And with respect to the investigations, I just want
9 to be very clear, did you have an understanding of which
l0 'investigations in particular Rudy Gjuliani was pushing or
ll pressing the Ukrainians on, and when did you come to realize
t2 that?
l3 A It in that period of tate May after
was rea1ly
t4 Masha Yovanovi tch had been removed where i t became clear that

l5 jt was Burisma. And it was being couched in the context of

t6 energy investigations, but it was primarily focused on
t7 Bu ri sma .

l8 a did you ever come to understand that Rudy

And
t9 Gi uf i ani was also pressi ng the Ukrai ni ans to i nvesti gate

20 matters related to purported Ukrai ni an i nterference i n the

2t 20L6 U. 5 . Presi denti a1 electi on?
22 A On1y based on what he was saying himself on the
ZJ televi sion.
24 a And when, in what time period did you realize that
25 that was what Giuljani was pressing as well?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 208

I A Wel1, that began with the articles that I started

2 to see in The H11t and others, you know, from March onwards.
3 And I started to pay attention to this. There was also the
4 mentioning of George Soros, which, again, has become this
5 crazy trope where every time somebody mentions the name of
6 George Soros, there's a whole flurry of conspi racy theori es,
7 and he seems to be basically orchestrating absolutely
8 everyth i ng.
9 a Right. So, in your last of testimony, I
segment
l0 believe you said while you and other NSC officials in the
11 interagency were trying to make Ukraine poticy the way that
12 you normally went about such things, there was a1t this
l3 extraneous stuff going on?

t4 A Correct.
15 a What do you mean? Were you referring to what Rudy
t6 Giuliani and others were doing
t7 A Correct.
l8 a as the extraneous stuff?
l9 A Correct. And sayi ng, yeah. I mean , so, you know,
20 every single day it seemed and that's probably an
2l exaggeration, but every single day it seemed that he was on
22 televjsion, you know, basically spouting off, you know, one
23 th i ng after anothe r .

24 a Okay. And I believe you also said something along

25 the lines that you didn't actually know exactly what Rudy

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 209

I Giuliani was going on, but did you have it seems that you
2 did have some understanding at the t'ime of what he was up to.
J A Well , I tri ed I worked extraordi nari 1y Iong
4 days, so the last thing that I wanted to do when I went home
5 was watch television. I watch FOX News just as much I
And
6 watch anything else, and I've appeared on FOX News, and
7 that's how I got to know K.T. I was often on her show. I
8 knew her through the Council on Foreign Relations.
9 So, you know, just to be kind of clear, I'm an omnivore
l0 when i t comes to watchi ng the news, and but I would have

ll to go home in the evening and try to look on the news to see

l2 what Giuliani was saying. And then I would have to go onto
l3 YouTube or whatever else I could find, you know, k'ind of
t4 replays of things because people were constantly saying to
l5 me: My God, have you seen what Giuliani is saying now?
l6 And it was clearly starting to create this, you know,
t7 meta-alternate narrative about Ukrai ne
18 a And about Ambassador Yovanovi tch?
l9 A political articles and all these other things as
20 we11.

2l a And Ambassador Yovanovitch as well?

22 A Correct.
23 O Now, so, when you saw Rudy Giuliani or you talked
24 to your colleagues about his appearances on the televis'ion,
25 part of what he was saying and part of what he was pressing

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 210

I was for Ukraine to investigate Hunter Bjden and his

2 connect'ion to Buri sma, correct?
a
J A He was. He was.
4 a So, at some point, did you come to realize that
5 what Rudy ani was pressi ng, these i nvesti gati ons were
Gi u1 i

6 poli tical in nature, that these were 'investigations that

7 could benefit the President in his reelection campaign?
8 A I to realize that one way or another Ukraine
came

9 was being used as part of the discussions and debates around

10 the elections. And that's what I mean about my worst
ll nightmare because Ukrajne and the national security aspects
t2 of this and what the Russians have done and will continue to
13 do is something that we should all be it should be a
t4 nonpartisan issue, and we should all be paying a 1ot of
l5 attention to i t.
t6 And that's what I mean about my worst nightmare, is
t7 havi ng Ukrai ne become po1 i ti ci zed I 'm sure i t's the
l8 Ukrainians'worst nightmare as well -- to become politicjzed
l9 'in the way that Russi a has become poli ti c'ized i n all of our
20 discourse.
2l And so, at that point, I saw all of the above being
22 bundled together: somebody's nefarj ous busi ness i nterests,
23 conspiracy theories about George Soros or the alternate
24 retellings of what happened in 2015, and then also,
25 potentially, you know, digging up dirt on candidates, al1

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 211

I based on what Giuliani himself was saying, just to be very

2 c1ear.
3 a Right. But did you also have an understanding that
4 Gi ut i ani was worki ng and self-proclaimi ng to be the agent,

5 essenti a11y, of the Pres'ident of the Un j ted States?

6 A Yes, of course, I was aware of that. I mean, he
7 said it all the time.
8 a And did you have any conversations or did you hear
9 through other U. S. offi ci a1s about how the Ukrai ni ans were
r0 reacting to this
l1 A Yes. I heard from
12 a to this essential shadow foreign policy?
l3 A Yes, I heard from our Embassy staff. And this was
t4 after Masha Yovanovitch had left as we11. I mean, I was in
l5 constant contact with Embassy staff. i heard from former
t6 Assistant Secretary Wess Mitche11, the Deputy Assistant
t7 Secretary, many others, and, of course, there's a whole think
l8 tank world out there. You know, I 'm readi ng arti c1es, and
l9 I'm hearing from people a1l the time.
20 As we1I, we had regular meetings with people from
2l Heri tage, CSIS, you know, ki nd of Atlant'ic Counci I
22 because they were doing a lot of work on energy. And I know,
23 you know, a 1ot of th'is gets poli ti ci zed agai n, but we were
24 meeti ng wi th everybody from all of the thi nk tanks. And I '11
25 j ust po'int out that our colleagues f rom Her i tage were

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 212

I complaining to us repeatedly about what they were real1y

2 concerned about what was going on wjth Ukraine.
J a Who at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv were you speaking
4 wi th about thi s i ssue?

5 A The previous DCM. I mean, obviously Masha

6 Yovanovitch herself before, you know, she was removed, and

7 then, after she was removed, I mean, talking to Ambassador

8 Taylor , who had been reachi ng out and talki ng to 'in the
9 course of his work, you know, he 'd been, yoti know, very
10 closely associ ated wi th all of the former Ukrai ni an U. S.
ll Ambassadors to Ukraine, who had also been talking to people
t2 as weII.
l3 a And the prior DCM, was that Mr. Pennington?
t4 A That is correct. And he got moved on, you know,
l5 ki nd of basi ca11y i n thi s sort of timeframe as well .

r6 a So you said, you know, you were concerned about the

t7 poli ticization of Ukraine. How does that impact our national
18 securi ty, U. S. national securi ty?
t9 A We11, if Ukraine suddenly becomes, as it, you know,
20 certainly appears to be, on the track of being a part'isan
2t j ssue, and we can't have a serious nonparti san or bi parti san

22 discussion about what the U.S. national security interests in

23 it is, then that's a problem, especially as many of the
24 sanctions that we've put in place I'11 give you a concrete
25 example about this.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 213

1 I put sanctions, as a government and as the

mean, we
2 U.S. Congress put in place, against Russia because of
3 Russia's annexation of Crimea and the starting of the war in
4 the Donbas. The Europeans came on board with those sanctions
5 and have been tightly coord"inating with us since the downing
6 of t4H17, the Malaysian airljne flight over Donbas, by what
7 has been proven to be Russian operatives. And there's been a
8 very thorough international commission and investigat'ion for
9 this.
l0 The Europeans have started to see that many of these

ll issues, including sanctions that we've put on against Russia

t2 from 2016 onwards and now many of our machinations about

l3 Ukraine, are nothing more than our own domestic political
t4 games now.

l5 I was very disturbed and distressed in my last few

So
t6 weeks at the NSC in discussions that I had with Europeans.
t7 One case in point was the CAATSA sanctions that you as the
l8 Congress, you know, kind of put forward, and the decision to
19 basically sanction Mr. Deripaska and Rusal because the
20 Treasury Department did a completely aboveboard and this,
21 you know, is on everyone here process to reatly try to
22 deconflict because when we're presuming that when you a1l
23 put on sanctions under CAATSA, there wasn't an intention to
24 close down factories and, you know, major installations
25 across Europe. They' re ki nd of collateral damage. And the

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 214

I largest aluminum factory, manufacturing factory in Europe

2 happens to be in Ireland. There are major facilities'in

J France and Sweden and, you know, elsewhere.
4 And all of the Ambassadors to talk to us, very
came

5 concerned about the impact that this was going to have on

6 their countries and on, you know, major workf orces, mass'ive
7 employment, if the sanctjons were done to the narrow letter
8 of the 1aw. So Treasury was talking, you know, with all of
9 them and trying to work on a supervisory arrangement and to
l0 try to make sure that there could be no collateral damage.
1l And when, you know, Ambassadors would come to talk to
t2 staff and people here, they got the impression that this was
l3 just a pofitica1 game between both parties and that we were
14 not taking seriously the implications of thi s.
15 So they began to believe that we were politicizing our
t6 foreign policy, that we were doing it sometimes to target
t7 them or that we were doing this, you know, to basicalty fight
l8 out, you know, our own disagreements. And that means that we
l9 cannot be effective jn working together with our European
20 a1li es on pushi ng back agai nst Russi a or also tryi ng to
2t enshri ne Ukrai ne's soverei gnty.
22 a Okay. I want to I'm going to jump around just a
23 1itt1e bit to cover some topics that you already spoke about.
24 The J u1y L0th and J uIy 1Lth, 2019, meeti ngs wi th Ei senberg,
25 are you aware of any documentation of the concerns that you

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASSIFIED 2ts

I rai sed or Mr. Gri ffl th rai sed wi th Mr. Ei senberg?

2 A I 'm not.
J a You're not aware of anythi ng?
4 A No.

5 a Are you aware of whether Eisenberg wrote anything

6 down or made any written reports?
7 A I'm not. I mean, i n the time when actually,
8 John has rea11y great recal1, as one would hope in a Iawyer.
9 And I 'm sorry. I 'm maki ng that shtj ck about poor Lee all
10 the time here.
ll But he was fistening very intently, and he said that he

t2 would fo1low up.

13 a Okay. Was he taking notes?
t4 A And I had every reason to believe he was very
l5 familiar already with a 1ot of this because, again, like
t6 everyone else, he was observing what was going on on the
17 televi si on .

l8 a Had you had pri or conversat'ions wi th Mr . Ei senberg

l9 about these 'issues?

20 A In passing, I believe that I had. I met wjth him
2t probabty every day one way or another. His office was
22 opposite mine, so I would see him constantly. But also, just
ZJ to be clear in terms of process, we always had a legal
24 representatjve at all of our interagency meetings and you
25 know, as one would hope, you know, in terms of keeping us on

UNCLASS ] F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 216

I the straight and narrow on many things.

2 a So, going back to Ambassador Volker, his role was

J limited to trying to bring to the Donbas, correct? He

peace

4 wasn't he didn't have he wasn't in charge of Ukrainian

5 policy writ large, is that right?
6 A He was not, although I think, you know, you had a
7 reference before about special envoys. We often saw mjssion
8 creep wi th speci al envoys . And, frankly, i t's a di ffi cult
9 job for them anywhere because they're given a part'icular
10 slice of and are dealing w'ith an issue, and they've got to
ll bring jn, you know, so many other things as well.
t2 a Do you know whether Ambassador Volker ever had
l3 direct one-on-one conversations with the President?
14 A He did not.
l5 a What about Ambassador Sondland?
l6 A Well, Ambassador sondland told me all the time that
t7 he did, but I don't know jf that was actually the case.
18 a when was the fi rst tjme you di scussed Rudy Gi uli ani
t9 w'ith Ambassador Volker?
20 A I'm trying to think about which -- i think it might

zt have been in an unscheduled meeting where I saw h'im around

22 the ti me of Masha Yovanovi tch' s di smi ssal
.

23 a So that would have been late April 201'9?

24 A Late APri 1 , Yes.
25 a And do you remember what that conversation was?

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 217

I A It basically talking about, you know, k'ind of

was
2 basically the circumstances of her dismissal and that we
J should be extraordinarily careful about dealing with
4 Giuliani.
5 a Okay. And can you explain just a littte bit more
6 what you sai d to h'im, what he sai d to you about Gi ut i ani and
7 what he' s up to i n Ukra'ine?
8 A Wel1, he basically ment'ioned at thi s time, and i
9 can't say I mean, hopefully, he told you this exactly
10 when he had hjs first meeting with him. But he was
1l i nti mati ng that he was cons'idering meeti ng wi th Gi ul i ani or

t2 perhaps he had some initial encounter w"ith him so that he was

l3 clearly trying to you know, getting back to the question
t4 before try to figure out, you know, how he could do, you
l5 know, the right thing, in terms of trying to smooth this over
t6 and trying to deflect away because he was just as concerned
t7 as the rest of us were about the, you know, kind of
l8 politicization or the distortion of U.S.-Ukrainjan relations
t9 or , you know, of U. S . -Ukrai ni an po1 i cy.
20 a And what did you say to Volker when he suggested he
2t may meet with Giuliani?
22 A I thought that it was futile. I mean

23 a Explai n why.
24 A Because based on my look, I'm not a psychologist
25 or anything, but based on my assessment of what Mr. Giuliani

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 2t8

I was sayjng on the television, it was all over the place. And
2 if that's what he's like in person, I have no way to judge
J it, but if he was anything like he was on the television, I
4 d jdn't see the point in hav'ing a conversation with h jm. He

5 seemed at times to actually believe some of the things he was

6 saying that I knew to be untrue.
7 a That what Gi ul i ani was say'ing was untrue?
8 A Correct.
9 a Are you aware that Ambassador Volker produced text
l0 messages to us?
ll A I am aware because they were in the paper.
t2 a Okay. Have you read some of the text messages that
l3 are in the paper?
14 A In the newspaper, yes.
l5 a Were you aware that those conversations were going
l6 on at the time?
t7 A I was not.
l8 a You never saw those you were never part of those
t9 WhatsApp conversati ons?
20 A No. And, actually, the timing of it was after I
21 left the NSC. Most of those text messages seemed to have
22 been in the July-August tjmeframe, as far as I can te11.
23 a But, in any event, you weren't aware that Volker,
24 Sondland, and Taylor were having text message exchanges?
25 A I was not. I would hope that they would be talking

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS T FIED 219

I to Taylor. In fact, that was also one of my

Ambassador

2 concerns when I was leaving, that they would not have

J Ambassador Taytor in the 1ooP.
4 a And why i s that? Why was that a concern?
5 A Because Ambassador Sondland had done this w'ith our
6 Charge in I. r mentjoned bef ore he'd met tt " I
7 Prime Minister in Brussels and then decided that he was going
8 to be the point person to I, because we were also

9 without an Ambassadot in I, but we had a very good

l0 Charge like Ambassador Taylor, who had previously been an
ll Ambassador and was retired, but had
12 come back to step up. And Ambassador Sondland just ignored
l3 him and pretended he wasn't there.
t4 a text messages that are in
Having reviewed the the

l5 papers, what's your opi nion of those? Is that normal

t6 di plomacy, as you based on your experience?
17 A No.
t8 a And why not?
l9 A of the content and the nature of , you know,
Because
20 setting up a meeting in relation to this, to something that
2t i s not a national securi ty deliverable.
22 a And can you explain that a litt1e bit more? Like
23 what do you mean by this was not a national security
24 def iverable? What was not the national securi ty deliverable?
25 A It was obvious from those text messages that they

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 220

I were referring to the investigations, and that was not

2 something that we were pushing from the national security
J perspecti ve, certai n1y not the Nati onal Securi ty Counci I and
4 certainly not the State Department.
5 a And they were pushing that in exchange for a White
6 House meeti ng?

7 A In exchange for a White House meeting.

8 MR. NOBLE: I'd like to show you what's going to be

9 marked maj ori ty exhi bi t 1, I guess.

l0 IMaj ori ty Exhi bi t No. 1

ll was marked f olident'i f icati on. l

12 BY MR. NOBLE:

l3 a And this js
t4 A I'11 put my glasses on.
l5 a one of the text message exchanges involving
t6 Ambassador Volker and actually Andrey Yermak?

t7 A Uh-huh

l8 a And I direct your attention to the entry, the fjrst

t9 entry on July 25th, 2019.

20 A Uh-huh.
2t a Do you see that?

22 A Yes, I do, yes.

23 a Can you just read what that says?
24 A Whi ch? Hang on . I t' s the one that

25 a Yeah.

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 221

I A starts with Kurt Volker.

2 a Yeah, Kurt Volker writing to Andrey Yermak.
J A I t says : Good l unch . Hea rd f rom Wh'i te House

4 assuming President Z conv'inces Trump he will investigate/get

5 to the bottom of what happened in 2015, we will nail down
6 date for v i s i t to Washi ngton . Good tuck. See you
7 tomorrow Kurt.
8 a Okay. And just for the record, the Bates stamp is
9 KV- 19 .

l0 A Uh-huh.
11 a Dr. Hi11, the message that Kurt Volker is relaying
12 to Andrey Yermak, Presjdent Zelensky's adviser, how does that
l3 correspond or match up or not with the message that
t4 Ambassador Sondland delivered during the July L0th meeting
l5 that Ambassador VoIker was in attendance at?
t6 A I t seems cons'istent wi th that . At least i n that
l7 case, he 's talki ng about i nvesti gat'ions. And i n the context
l8 of the July L0th/LLth, you know, that was more on the energy
t9 sector jn the way that Sondland but in terms of saying he
20 w111 i nvesti gate and then , you know, get to the bottom of
21 what happened in 201,6 is consistent, at least, with the way
22 that that was laid out in the Juty 10th.
23 a But in JuIy L0th jn the Ward Room meeting, I
24 believe you testified you overheard Ambassador Sondland

25 specifically mention Burisma. Is that right?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 222

I A He did.
2 a And can you te11 us a 1itt1e bit more about what
J he

4 A But this seems, you know, somewhat we11, this is

5 slashed so I don't know I mean, obviously, I don't know
6 exactly what they had in mind there.
7 a But, agai n, i t's the they seem to be exchangi ng
8 a White House meeting for a commitment by Ukraine to
9 i nvesti gate these matters that Rudy Gi u1i an'i had been
l0 pressi ng?
ll A That's what it looks like. The "heard from the
t2 Whi te House" 'is i nteresti ng to me because I don't know,

13 obviously, who they heard from in the White House.

t4 a Was i t you or anyone at the NSC that you're aware?
l5 A It would not be me because I was not there. But, I
t6 mean, th'is could be the Ch'ief of Staf f 's 0f f ice.
17 a Mj ck Mulvaney?

l8 A I mean, that leans to speculation, but based on the

t9 July LOth, which js 2 weeks prior to that, the only person

20 that Gordon Sondland referenced was Chjef of Staff Mulvaney.
2t And, actuaI1y, getting to the point when you asked me
22 before about when did Sondland teI1 me he was in charge of
23 Ukraine, at that time, in that rather testy exchange I had
24 with him, you know, I was tryjng to impress upon him the
25 importance of coordinating, you know, with all of these

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 223

I d'ifferent individuals and others that, you know, you were

2 laying out. We had a fairly robust set of interactions with
3 Ukrai ni ans.
4 And he retorted to that if he was coordinatjng with
me

5 the President because, again, this is part of hjm saying he's

6 talking to the President, he was talking to Mulvaney, and he
7 was filling in Ambassador Bolton he d'idn't say he was
8 talking to him, Ambassador Bolton, he said filling in
9 Ambassador Bolton and then talking to, you know,
l0 basi ca1ly he sai d Brechbuhl , U1 ri ch, at the State
ll Department. He d'idn't actually mention Secretary Pompeo,
l2 wh'ich I noted at the t'ime I thought was a bi t odd. Who else
l3 did he have to inform?
t4 And I said: We11, it would be nice to inform all of us
l5 and, you know, the obviously, the Deputy Assistant
l6 Secretary and others.
t7 And he did not think that he needed to do that.
l8 a Did you have an understanding why he was

l9 A also, of course, talking to Ambassador

He was
20 Volker and Secretary Perry, and he did mention that.
2t a Why was he keeping Ulrjch Brechbuhl in the toop?
22 A UIrich is a special counselor to Brechbuhl -- to
23 Secretary Pompeo. And, of course, Secretary Pompeo at thi s
24 time is on the road all the time. So I'm you know, it
25 would be difficult to meet wjth Secretary Pompeo on a regular

UNCLASSIE]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 224

I basjs. that would actually make sense, I mean, but he's

So
2 the special counselor. He's not, you know, kjnd of in the
J chai n of command.

4 And that's actually what I po'inted out to Gordon, that

5 he wasn ' t to Ambassador Sondland . He wasn ' t , you know,
6 kind of basically linked into anybody in the Embassy. He
7 certai nly wasn' t talki ng to Deputy Assi stant Secretary George
8 Kent, who, you know, on the basis of, you know, the daily
9 interact'ions, would be managing that in the State Department.
l0 And he wasn't aware of some of the larger policy threads
l1 that were goi ng on e'ither . He si mply j ust wasn' t aware of
t2 some of the elements of things we were trying to do wjth

l3 Ukrai ne. He wasn't, aga'in, getti ng a regular brief on any of

14 thi s ei ther.
l5 a Do you know whether Ulrich Brechbuhl was generally
t6 aware of what Rudy Giuliani was up to in Ukraine?
t7 A I could not say.
l8 a Di d you have any di rect conversat'ions w j th
t9 Brechbuhl about Giulian'i?
20 A Certai nly not about Gi u1 j ani . I di d not , no. I
2l mean , I d have conversat'ions wi th hi m about coordi nati on
di ,

22 you know, trying to figure out how we could coordinate

23 better.
24 a And did Rudy Giuliani come up in those contacts?
25 A He did not. No, he did not.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 225

I a 0n the security assistance issue, I believe you

2 testified that the first time you learned that the President
J had placed a freeze on the assistance was July 18th. Is that
4 right?
5 A Yes. But I learned that as OMB
6 a 0h , that 0l4B had put the f reeze
7 A and Mick Mulvaney had put a freeze on. So, just
8 to be clear, I never learned that the President had put a
9 freeze on this. And this is on what was happening at this
l0 time was there was a freeze put on all kinds of aid and
ll assistance because it was in the process at the time of an
t2 awful 1ot of reviews of foreign assistance.
13 a But had there been any discussion within the
t4 national securi ty staff about freezing the Ukraine
l5 assi stance?
t6 A No. I mean, it was at that point supposed to be
t7 movi ng forward.
l8 a did you ever get an explanation before you left
And
t9 government for why the freeze was put in place?
20 A I did not. And I discussed with Alex Vindman, the
2t deputy, and wi th others that i t would be 'important to f o11ow

22 up on thj s, and they should work very closely wj th the Deputy

23 Natjonal Security Advisor Charlie Kupperman because he at
24 this point was also trying to keep tabs on everything that
25 was happening. So, I mean, I kept him fu1ly apprised of all

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 226

I of my concerns.
2 it was easier to meet with him often
And, obviously,
J than Ambassador Bolton. And, you know, we were aware that
4 Gordon Sondland was talking to Chief of Staff's 0ffice.
5 They're all in the same corridor. And we were hopeful, at
6 least I was hopeful at that time, that Deputy National
7 Security Adviser Kupperman would be able to figure out what
8 was goi ng on.
9 a Did Kupperman or Vindman or anyone else you spoke
l0 to in that timeframe express any views as to why they
ll believed there was a freeze in place?
t2 A No. They were just wanting to find out. And they
l3 were i n touch wi th OMB, and they weren't gett'ing much

t4 information apart from the fact there was a freeze. So I'11

l5 j ust say that my assumpti on at the time was that i t was 'in
t6 thjs general framework of many, you know, foreign assistance
t7 i tems bei ng put on ho1d.
l8 a And do you believe that the assistance that the
t9 U.S. was providing to Ukraine should have gone through?
20 A Yes. I mean, it had all been agreed on and was
2l actually in train, but so had some of the other assistance,
22 just to be c1ear.
23 a And were you aware that, at the time, DOD had
24 already certifjed that Ukrajne was compliant with the
25 anti corrupti on requi rement?

UNCLASS I F]E D
 UNCLASS I FIED 227

I A I that, yes, because that's what I

was aware of
2 mean; it was already on train, and our colleagues in the
J Pentagon had been working on this, you know, very thoroughly.
4 a Sitting here today, do you have any other -- has
5 your understanding changed about why the freeze was put in
6 place?
7 A It hasn't actually because, you know, as I said,
8 when I left, there wasn't an explanation, and foreign
9 assistance overall was being frozen. And I haven't seen
l0 anything, at least in the public record, that would suggest
ll that it was that the foreign assistance was being frozen
t2 for specific purposes at that point.
13 I mean, this was also, remember, again, at the point of
14 di scuss"ion about cutti ng back on lots of Pentagon pro j ects
l5 for the building of the wal1 for Homeland Security purposes,
l6 the border wa11.
t7 a After you left the National Security Council, did
l8 you have any conversations with anyone about the freeze?
l9 A I did not, no. I mean, I had a conversation with
20 Alex Vindman in the last couple of days. And I did also have
2t a conversat'ion, as I reported before, wjth Ambassador Taylor.
22 But I said at that point that I had no insight as to why it
23 had been frozen, but I said, again, that I hoped that people
24 would be able to get to the bottom of it with Mick Mulvaney.
25 a Did Ambassador Taylor say anything about why he

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 228

I believed the freeze was in place to you?

2 A Wel1,at that point, he was asking me why it was,

J and I couldn't answer that. And then, again, I was leaving.
4 So, I mean, I'd left that to Tim l4orrison. And I believe
5 that the following week they had a meeting. So I left on the
6 19th. So, sometime on the 22nd or 23rd, there was a meeting
7 scheduled aS I was leaving for them to pu11 everyone together
8 from the interagency to try to get to the bottom of this.
9 But I did thjnk that if it was political for whatever
l0 reason, the walt or, you know, you name it, it would have to
1l be resolved at hlgh 1eve1s in the interagency, and that
t2 Ambassador Bolton and Deputy National Securi ty Advi sor
l3 Kupperman would have to si t down wi th M'ick Mulvaney and try

14 to get to the bottom of what was go'ing on. And, aga'in ' there
l5 were other freezes of assistance because there was a move to
t6 push out the new foreign assistance strategy.
t7 a There's been reporting that the President or
l8 perhaps Mulvaney had tasked Ambassador Bolton to do a review
t9 of the security assistance. Are you aware of
20 A I'm not aware of that. Not when I left, I didn't
21 know about that.
22 a If there were a freeze if a freeze were going to
23 be put in place like this, would it have been normal for the
24 National Security Council staff to have been involved in the
25 decisionmaking process leading up to the freeze?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 229

I A Well, if it was done from the perspective of Ol\/lB,

2 this has happened before, so define normal. I mean, you
3 know, "in other settings actua11y, when General McMaster
4 was.in place there was a 1ot more process, so a lot more
5 regular interactions. And he always made sure to have OMB
6 and everybody etse present in meetings.
7 And there had been interventjons by OMB previously, when

8 Mr. Mulvaney was only singte-hatted as the head of OPIB, to

9 hold things back and to review them. I mean, that had

l0 happened before. But in terms of you know, by this point,

ll I have to say in thjs point in July, the process had somewhat
t2 broken down.
l3 a You testified earlier about the scheduling of a

t4 meeting between President Trump and President Zelensky, and

l5 that
t6 I just interject for a quick
THE CHAIRMAN: Can

t7 question? Dr. Hi11, you ment'ioned I think, when you lef t

l8 your position, you didn't have any firsthand knowledge about
l9 why the mi 1i tary ass'istance was bei ng f rozen.
20 DR. HI LL : Cor rect .

2t THE CHAIRMAN: And you didn't subsequently personally

22 Iearn anything that would inform you as to whether it was

23 HILL: Correct.
DR.
24 THE CHAIRMAN: -- withheld as part of a broad

25 wjthholding or for a more insjdious purpose?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 230

DR. HILL: I did not, no. I first I saw of

mean, the
2 something suggesting otherwise was really in this exchange of
a
J text messages and also in newspaper reports.
4 THE CHAIRMAN: And the text message you're referring to

5 is one in which --
6 DR. HILL: Ambassador Taylor makes the comment about
7 thi s.
8 THE CHAIRT'IAN: Yes . And have you had any conversati on
9 with Ambassador Taylor --
l0 HILL: i
DR. have not. No, I have not been in touch

1l wi th him at all.

12 THE CHAiRI'4AN: So, i f there were a hidden agenda here,

l3 in terms of why that military assistance was being withheld
t4 along the lines that Ambassador Taylor jnd'icated, that would
l5 have not come to your attention while you were there and

t6 DR. HILL: It would not have done, no. And, again,

t7 though I djd speak to Ambassador Taylor at great length on
18 the 19th of September , 'in whi ch I revi ewed a whole host of
t9 issues that I wanted to hand over to him, so Ambassador
20 Taylor was very much alert to all k'inds of concerns. And he
2t was going to, you know, basically because he had to in his
22 job as Charge you know, basically try to look into these
23 and to try to figure out, you know, how he could work, you
24 know, more closely with Ambassador -- we11, he was already
25 working closely with Ambassador Volker but also with

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 23t

I Ambassador Sondland to figure out what was going on'

2 t'4R. W0L0SKY: You referenced the L9th of September. I
J
n
think you meant Ju1y.
4 HILL: July. I'm sorry. Thank you, Lee. I'm
DR.
5 sorry. My brain is now more shook up than my water. Sorry'
6 THE CHAIRI{AN: Thank you.

7 DR. HILL: I apologi ze for that.

8 testi fi ed
THE CHAIRMAN: You

9 DR. HILL: How does thjs get corrected, by the way? I

l0 mean, do you go back, do you do the whole, you know, kind of
lt correction back and forth of dates, you know?
12 THE CHAIRMAN: Well, the transcript wjtl read as you

l3 said, and the correction will appear as you corrected it.

14 DR. HILL: Okay, good, thanks. That was just a slip,
l5 based on, you know, the timing here. Yeah. Anyway, go
t6 ahead . Sor ry.
t7 BY MR. NOBLE:

l8 a between scheduling the meeting

The meeting
t9 between President Trump and President Zelensky, I believe you
20 said that, in your opinion, you were waiting to see what
21 happened i n the Ukrai ni an part i amentary electi ons

22 A Correct.
23 a which I believe were held on July 2Lst' Is that
24 right?
25 A That's right. And I left before that.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 232

I a To date, though, there's been no meeting between

2 President Trump and President Zelensky, at least at the White
J House, ri ght?
4 A No, there has not. But there has been a meeting,
5 of course, in the
6 a At the U.N. General Assembly?
7 A In New York, yes. And, actually, I mean, agai n,
8 we'd been preferring those kinds of meetings in the past
9 because setting up a Whjte House meeting, as one can imagine,
l0 is a very heavy lift and, you know, the scheduling is always
l1 very djfficult. And, you know, basically, we always try to
t2 have a serious meeting wherever we can.
l3 And the i n'i ti al even when I there, there had been
was
l4 ki nd of a schedul i ng aspi rat'ion f or Warsaw on the Lst of
l5 September because that seemed to be actually a very apt first
l6 meeting. Because after Poland, you know, the lands that were
17 now modern Ukraine were pretty much run over by Nazi Germany,
l8 and, you know, Ukraine suffered greatly during World War II.
t9 And we thought it would be appropriate to, immediately after
20 the meeting with the Poles, to have the President meet with
2t Zelensky. So, I mean, that seemed to be kind of a n'ice
22 packagi ng.

23 a But, as you said, after you teft the Wh'i te House,

24 you weren't privy to the conversations that were going on
25 behind the scenes

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED z))

I A I was not, no.

2 a by Ambassador Sondland, Ambassador Volker, and,
J to a certain extent, Ambassador Taylor about the scheduling
4 of the meeting and linking jt to the Ukrainian commitment to
5 jnvestigate
6 A I was not.
7 a You did not see any of those messages?
8 A I did not see any of those messages.
9 a I believe you said that you've reviewed a copy of
l0 the July 25th call summary, the call between President Trump
l1 and President Zelensky?
12 A The one that was published in the newspaper, yes.

13 a I'd like to ask some questjons about those.

14 MR. NOBLE: So we're going to mark this government
15 exhj bi t 2 I mean maj ori ty exhi bi t 2.
t6 [4ajority Exhjbit No.2
t7 was marked for identification.l
l8 DR. HILL: See, we all have thi ngs
l9 t"lR. NOBLE: 01d habi ts die hard.

20 l'lR. CASTOR: Do you have a copy of that?

2t MR. NOBLE: We might have another copy.
22 THE CHAIRI4AN: It's j ust the call record.
23 t'4R. CASTOR: 0kay, gotcha .

24 BY MR. NOBLE:

25 a So I direct your attention to page 3. You see at

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASSIFIED 234

the top there that President Trump says: I would like you to
2 do us a favor though
J A Uh-huh.
4 a And then he goes on to mention: I would like you
5 to find out what happened with this whole sjtuat'ion with
6 Ukra'ine, they say CrowdStrike... I guess you have one of your
7 wealthy peop1e... The server, they say Ukraine has it.
8 Do you know what the Presi dent what Pres'ident Trump
9 was referring to when he was asking President Zelensky to
l0 look i nto those thi ngs?
1l A I thjnk some of this gets to some speculation here.
t2 Clearly we11, this seems to be the alternative theory for
l3 2016 at the begi nni ng here wi th the whole si tuat'ion w'ith
t4 Ukraine when as you've been asking questions along that
l5 Ukrai ne mi ght have i nterfered i n the electi on , parti cularly
l6 in the references to CrowdStrike.
t7 Tom Bossert has already spoken out publicly against
18 this, and we spent a 1ot of time with Tom and General
t9 McMaster and others trying to refute this one in the first
20 year of the admi ni strati on.
2t a Can you say a 1ittle bit more about that? What djd
22 Tom Bossert do jn the first year?

23 A Well, Tom Bossert came out publicly and said that

24 he rea1ly regretted this reference after he read the
2s transcript as well because this was a debunked theory. And

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 235

I this was also a muddle.

2 a But you sai d there were some ef f orts early on 'in

J the administration internally to debunk this theory. Can you

4 explaj n what you did?
5 A Basically, Tom and others who were working on

6 cybersecurity taid out to the President the facts about the

7 i nterference. n, I can't say any more than that.
Agai

8 a Okay. But to a certai n extent, they adv'ised him

9 that the alternate theory that Ukraine had interfered in the
l0 elect'ion was false?
l1 A Correct.
t2 a If you turn to the next page, the top of paragraph
t3 4. I'm sorry. Page 4, the top paragraph.
t4 A Uh-huh.
l5 a So the President is saying that he's going to have
16 Rudy G'iuf ian j and the Attorney General call Presi dent
t7 Zelensky about these investigations, and then he goes ofl,
l8 lower in the paragraph, says: The other thing, there's a lot
t9 of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution
20 and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever
2l you can do with the Attorney General would be great.
22 jn the next paragraph, President Zelensky
And then down
23 responds. Kind of middle of the paragraph, you see he says:
24 He or she, referring to the new prosecutor general that
25 Zelensky says he's going to appoint, wj11 look into the

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 236

I s'i tuati on , speci f i ca11y to the company that you menti oned 'in
2 thi s i ssue.
J Do you have an understanding of, when President Trump
4 ref erences i nvesti gati ng B'iden ' s son , Hunter Bi den , and
5 President Zelensky's reSponse that they're going to look into
6 the company, what company Presjdent Zelensky was referring
7 to?
8 A We11, I think he means Burisma, President Zelensky
9 is referring to.
l0 a And why is that?
1l A Because that was the company that Hunter Biden was
t2 on the board of.
l3 a understanding did you have an
So you had an
t4 understanding back at the time that when people like G'iuliani
15 were talki ng about i nvesti gati ng Buri sma, they were also
t6 saying that Hunter Bjden and Joe Biden should be

t7 i nvesti gated, or Hunter Biden?

l8 A That was becoming apparent. But, I mean, Mr.

t9 Giuliani made it very apparent as we11.

20 a And goi ng back up to that top paragraph, do you see
2l President Trump sayS: The former Ambassador from the United
22 States, the woman, was bad news and the people she was
23 deating with in the Ukraine were bad news So I just want to
24 let you know that. Do you know who he's referring to there?
25 A He's obviously referri ng to Ambassador Yovanovi tch.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 237

I And I that, later on, Presjdent Zelensky runs her name

know
2 back agai n, although he mi spronounces j t.
J a I think it's spelled Ivanovich in the summary in
4 the next paragraph.
5 A Yes.

6 a And 'in the next paragraph , Presi dent Trump says :

7 We1t, she's going to go through

things. Do you know
some
8 what President Trump was referring to when he sajd that
9 A I do not.
l0 a Ambassador Yovanovitch was going to go through
ll some thi ngs?

t2 A I do not know what that meant.

l3 O Because at thi s poi nt , J u1y 25th, she'd a1 ready
t4 been removed, ousted, as you said, from her position,
15 correct?
l6 A Yes, correct.
t7 a did you react when you read that, the
How

18 transcri pt, particularly the portions I poi nted to about

t9 President Trump pushing President Zelensky to investigate the
20 Bi dens and 'i nvesti gate Ukrai ni an purported Ukrai ni an
2t interference in the 20L5 election and as well as h'is comments

22 about Ambassador Yovanovi tch?

23 A I was actually shocked.
24 a why?

25 A We11, partjcularly on Ambassador Yovanovitch, and

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASSITIED 238

I very saddened because, again, Ambassador Yovanovitch is a

2 great Ameri can ,I don't thj nk any Ameri can ci ti zen should
and
J be d'i sparaged by thei r Presi dent, j ust to put i t out there .

4 So that made me very sad and very shocked and, yeah, not too
5 happy.
6 other issue, it was pretty blatant. So, I
And on the
7 mean, I found that I couldn't realIy explain that away with
8 an alternate explanation. So that's what I mean about being,

9 you know, quite shocked.

10 And I to be frank, that we ended
was also very shocked,
ll up with a telephone conversation like this because all of
t2 the and , you know, thi s i s obvi ously go'ing i nto executi ve
l3 privilege, and I'm not going to say anything more about this,
t4 but I sat in an awful lot of calls, and I have not seen
15 anything like this. And I was there for 2 and a half years.
16 So I was just shocked.
t7 a And I'd like to ask you some questions, to the
l8 extent you can answer, about the process of preppi ng for
l9 these types of ca11s in a littIe bit.
20 So you just said that it was pretty blatant, what
2t President Trump was saying in this call. What do you mean by
22 that?
ZJ A that it looks to me fike it was in the
We1l,
24 context of everything else that had come to my attention.
25 a And what do you mean by you mean fike what

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 239

I Ambassador Sondland had brought up in the July L0th meeting?

2 A Correct. And then, you know, that Rudy Giutiani's
J commentary I mean, agai n, Rudy G'iu1i an'i has been sayi ng an
4 awful lot of things all the time, and he was pretty
5 inescapable. And after a whi1e, you know, kind of he was
6 making it crystal clear what it was that he was pushing. And
7 thi s i s very much repeati ng thi ngs that Rudy Gi ul"iani was
8 sayi ng i n publ i c on televi si on.
9 THE CHAIRMAN: And by that, you mean that he wanted an

l0 investigation done of the Bidens and of this debunked

ll conspi racy theory about 20L6?
t2 DR. HILL: Correct.
l3 THE CHAIRMAN: And that thi s was a condi t'ion of getti ng
l4 thi s te House meeti ng?
Whi

15 DR. HILL: That's certainty what this looks like, in the

16 context of thi s transcri pt.
17 BY MR. NOBLE:

l8 a "this," you mean the July 25th call summary?

And by
r9 A Correct. But, again, I only read this jn the
20 context of the publication of jt by the White House and
2l subsequently jn the press.
22 a And here it's I mean, this is essentially
23 President Trump adopting exactly what Rudy Giuliani had been

24 pressing since the spring of 2019 in this phone call. Is

25 that right?

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 240

I I mean , G'iu1i ani has been relentless on thi s poi nt

A ,

2 you know, to the point where, you know, obviously, he has, as

J Ambassador Volker said, shaped a very negat'ive image.

4 a But now it's Pres'ident Trump pressing the President

5 of Ukraine to do exactly what Rudy G'iuliani had been trying
6 to get other Ukra'inian officials to commit to, correct?
7 A That is certainly how this reads.
8 a With the assistance of Ambassador Sondland and
9 Ambassador Volker?
10 A We11, I can't say that it was, you know, directly
ll wi th the'i r assi stance.
t2 a But you've seen the text messages between them,

13 correct?
t4 A I have.
l5 a Doesn't i t seem that they were, i f not assi sti ng,
t6 faci 1i tating thi s scheme?
t7 A They certainly seem to have been 1ook, I wasn't
l8 in the deposition that Ambassador Votker gave. I don't know
l9 how many times he met with Ambassador I mean, with
20 Giuliani or Ambassador Sondland, for that matter. I know
2t that Ambassador Sondland talked repeatedly about
22 conversations and you have him coming to give a deposition
23 and, you know, I should leave it to him to speak on his own
24 behalf.
25 But he said to me repeatedly that he was going jn

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 241

I talking to the President. I mean, again, you can actually

2 ask him because he'11 have to te11 you all truthfully how

a
J many times he rea11y d'id meet with the President because I
4 have my doubts. I could be wrong, but there were often times
5 when he said he'd been in to see the President when other
6 staff jndicated to me that they did not befieve that he had.
7 He was certainly meeting with Chief of Staff Mulvaney on a
8 regular bas"is.
9 a And how do you know that?
l0 A Because I that from Mulvaney's staff
know .

ll a Who in particular told you about those meetings?

t2 A Many people did. I mean, he has look, and there

13 are also lots of again, I keep telling wel1, I've said
t4 this before. Any of you who have been into the West Wing,
l5 into the entryway when you go jn from West Executive, it's a
l6 very sma11 space. So lots of people can say that they have
t7 seen people.
t8 Thefront office of Ambassador Bolton, the door is
l9 always open. It looks right down the corridor to the Chief
20 of Staff's Office, to the entryway to the foyer. People who
2t are sjtting on the staff of Ambassador BoIton could see
22 Gordon Sondland goi ng 'into Mulvaney's of f i ce. The guards
23 could see Ambassador Sondland going into Mulvaney's office.
24 I didn't have to be told secretly by, you know, some
25 high-ranking staff member. I could just say to someone, the

UNCLASS I FIED
 II\T'T ACqTtrTtrN 242

I front desk receptionist: Hey, has Ambassador Sondland just

2 been i n?
J And I could just say: Did he see the President?
4 No, but he' s been i n to see Mulvaney.
5 So, I mean, I'fl uncomfortable with answering, you know,
6 ki nd of the questi on the way that you put 'i t because I don't
7 know, you know, to what extent Ambassador VoIker, you know,
8 was talking I don't know whether when Ambassador Volker is
9 saying, you know, "the White House" whether he means the
l0 Chief of Staff or whether he means that Ambassador Sondland
ll has told him that he's heard from the White House and he's
12 just relating that to Yermak.
l3 a Fa'i r enough . Do you know whether Ambassador Bol ton
t4 or Secretary Pompeo ever tried to rein in Ambassador
15 Sondland?

t6 A Ambassador Bolton complajned about him alt the

t7 time, but I don't know whether he tried to rein him in

l8 because, agai n, Ambassador Sondland i sn't i n hi s chaj n of
t9 command. And Ambassador Sondland, you know, would
20 occasionally and I just say "occasionally" make an
2t appointment to see Ambassador Bolton, usually when he knew
22 that I or somebody else wasn't there, just to so I don't
23 know also what he said to Ambassador Bolton because I didn't
24 get a readout.
25 So, often what he did with me, I would find out later

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS]FIED 243

I Ambassador Sondland had told people that he'd called me and

2 spoken to me about an issue, but he wouldn't relate what I'd

J totd hjm. He'd just then proceed to go ahead on the way that
4 he wanted to proceed anyway by just simply saying: 0h, I
5 tatked to Fjona, and, therefore, you know, k'ind of I'm doing
6 thi s.
7 I'd find out after the fact that he'd used my name,
And
8 you know, as the basis of a phone call to just go forward and
9 proceed wi th doi ng somethi ng.
l0 a R'ight. Going back to the transcript just quickly,
ll the'investigations that President Trump was urging President
12 Zelensky to undertake, 'is i t f a'i r to say that those were to
13 serve Presi dent Trump's personal ti ca1 i nterests as
po1 i

t4 opposed to the nat'ional security interests of the United

15 5 tates ?

16 A I don't honestly see much national security

l7 interest in what I've just read there, and I do not see and I
l8 d'id not see at any point any national security interest in
l9 the things that Rudy Giuliani v{as saying on the television
20 that I watched. Now, I coutd have missed many of his
2t appearances . Agai n, they were ubi quj tous, and I couldn't
22 keep up with all of them, but I don't beljeve that he
23 anyway, he's not a national security official at this
24 parti cular j uncture.
25 a Do you see anything that would benefit President

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 244

I Trump politically?
2 A WelI, I think it depends on how this all plays out.
J THE CHAIRI4AN: Our ti me has expi red . The mi nori ty
.

4 BY ]'4R. CASTOR:

5 a Do you know

6 ?

7 A I have, yes.
8 a And what do you know I !z
9 A

10

ll
t2 a what were I Iz
l3 I
t4

l5

t6

t7

18

t9

20

2l
22 a What were ?

23

24

25

UNCLASS ] FIE D
 UNCLASS I F]ED 245

1 a And do you know what the cjrcumstances of I

2 )

J T
4

6 I
7

10

ll I mean, a similar thing happened wi th Ambassador Bolton.

t2

l3 And a

t4 couple of other people, there's just been a couple of people

l5 who have Ambassador Bolton's, one of his key assjstants,
t6 , who would actua11y, you know, know a 1ot
l7 about aI1 of these comings and goings,
l8

l9

20

2t a Did you have any djscussjons, communicatjons with

22 ?

23 A I 've kept j n contact w'ith most of the people that

24 I 've worked th, i n a general sense. And !
wi

25 a When js the last time

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 246

I T
2

7 a And so when was the last time

8 A last tir. lI
The ! would have been before
9 I went on vacation. I mean, in the last week. We did a 1ot
l0 of wrap-ups with all of the people who were, you know,
ll pertinent. I did a lot of, you know, out-briefing in the
t2 professional arena. I often met, as I said, with DAS Kent.
l3 You know, I could run through, you know, all the people that
l4 I met with jn that week just to, you know, wrap things up
15 agai n.
l6 a Since you left
t7 A Th'is was part of the whole bri ef i ng, you know, and
l8 analytical I should actually clarify. When I mentioned
t9 analysts before I'm an analyst myself , so I tend to use
20 that as shorthand. But, you know, obviously, we met with an
21 awful lot of analysts or, you know, subject-matter
22 i ndi vi duals from around the agenci es.
23 a S'i uly L9th , d i d you have you
nce you 1ef t on J

24 had any communications wi th any of the indjviduals we've

25 discussed today about your

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 247

I A With all of my staff.

2 a About your appearance here today?
3 A , they know I 'm appeari ng, yeah. I mean
Well
4 a Did any of them reach out to you, have any
5 commun j ca t i ons wi th you ?

6 A We1l, a lot of them have reached out to me and, you

7 know, k'ind of in solidarity, you know, because, I mean,
8 obvi ous1y, thi s i sn' t a pleasant experi ence for everybody.
9 And I've had a few peopte who have reached out because
l0 they're just very concerned about the future of the National
ll Security Council, and they're worried that, you know, all of
t2 these issues will politicize what has, you know, up until now

l3 been again, has certainly strived to be a nonpolitical

t4 body.
l5 a Anyone try to influence your testimony?
l6 A No, they have not.
t7 a And, again, please don't jump down my throat when I
l8 ask thi s.
t9 A I won't.
20 a When was the first time that you knew you were
2l coming jn today?
22 A When was the f i rst time I knew I was comi ng 'in
23 today ?

24 a Yes.

25 A We11, for sure when I got the letter requesting me

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 248

to come i n.

2 a But today specifically, not that you were on a

a
J generalized 1ist.
4 A I don't know when the fi rst day would be because I
5 gave Lee a sense of dates about when I was available.
6 a But it was sooner than -- it was farther back in
7 time than last WednesdaY, right?
8 A It might not have been. Actually, when was last
9 Wednesday? What was the date of last Wednesday? I'm sorry,
l0 I'm
ll MR. WOL0SKY: I'm not testifying. If you don't know the

t2 date
t3 DR. HILL: Yeah. No, I'ffi sorry, I don't know the answer

t4 to that.
15 And, 1ook, and one of the reasons that I've been

l6 basi cal1y
t7

l8 And

t9 I don't have a laptop right now, which may sound bizarre,

20 because I've taken an extended leave from Brookings. So I
2l only have my i Phone . And I ' ve been , you know, bas i cal 1y
22 trying to keep focused on the personat stuff.
23 And, a1so, I wanted to come here without any undue
24 preparation precisely for the reasons that you've said, so
25 that no one could i nf luence my test'imony. It's hard to

UNCLASSlFIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 249

I escape the news, and I've tried to keep on top of that, but I
2 haven't been, you know, completely keeping track of when I
3 knew what, you know, because I wanted to come in and just
4 make myself available, you know, and do my duty.
5 BY MR. CASTOR:

6 a Okay. In terms of the universe of State Department

7 off i ci als
8 A Yes.

9 O that you had communications with about these

l0 relevant matters, I just want to make sure that we haven't
ll mi ssed anybody. There was Wess 14j tchel1?
t2 A Yes, who left in February of 2019, yes.
l3 a And Phj 1 Reeker?
14 A Correct.
t5 a And George Kent?
l6 A George Kent.
t7 a And Masha Yovanovitch?
l8 A Kristina Kvien, out to be the DCM. I met
who went

19 with her as she was goi ng out. I also met wi th Catheri ne

20 Croft, who I mentioned had been our d"i rector previously and
2l replaced Chrjs Anderson, who was previously Kurt Volker's
22 he's another individual you're probably aware of , Christopher
23 Anderson, who is Kurt Volker's deputy.
24 Catherine was actually in language training to be sent
25 out to Baghdad for all the period after she 1eft, but then

UNCLASS ] F]ED
 UNCLASS I EIED 2s0

I the Embassy in Baghdad got downsized, as you're all aware, so

2 they started redeploying people. And given her work on

J Ukraine, she was moved to work for Kurt Volker. And I would
4 have talked to all of, you know, the office, relevant office
5 directors. David Hale. I've also talked to Deputy Su1livan,
6 Under Secretary Ha1e. Brechbuhl only a couple of tjmes.
7 I've talked to Morgan 0rtagus, the press spokesman, and press
8 spokesperson and Robert Palladino I think he's moved
9 on press people, because we coordinated a 1ot of
10 statements jn support of Ambassador Yovanovitch.
ll a Ambassador Taylor?
t2 A Ambassador Taylor, correct.
l3 a How about a former Ambassador Pyatt?
t4 A No. I've obviously had contact with Ambassador
15 Pyatt because he's Ambassador to Greece. Is he still
t6 Ambassador to Greece? He was, you know, last time when I --
t7 yeah. And so, but i only dealt with him jn the context of
18 things that we were doing in Greece. We didn't actually
l9 speak about Ukraine, only with the exception of
20

2t

22

23 So, yeah ,
24 I that was the only and he's been very good about
mean,
25 keeping a separation from his previous work on Ukra'ine

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FTED 251

I because he got burned in that infamous phone call with

2 Ambassador Nuland.
J a Kathy Kavalec, do you know her?
4 A I do know her, yes. She was nominated to be our
5 Ambassador to Albania until an Albanjan lobbyist group used a
6 very tenuous tie that she had to Chris Steele to have her
7 removed from the nomination. So this is another thing of
8 somebody who was treated rather disgracefully. She had been

9 i nstructed as part of her duti es to meet w1th hi m. She

l0 hadn't met him before. She had had very limited interactions
ll with him when he wat l in official position. And she
t2 was snarled up in all of these exchanges of emajls when she
l3 just reported that she'd met with hjm.
t4 And an Albanian tobbyist group also started to accuse
l5 her of being part of spurious conspiracies. And so her
t6 nomination to Albania to be our Ambassador was shelved, even
t7 though she would have been an excellent Ambassador and was in
l8 Albani an language trai ni ng.
t9 a Did you have any communications with her in regards

20 to the Ukraine matters?

21 A I have not. I mean, I've
in touch with her
been
22 more generally because she's now got a new position. She's
23 being sent out to the OSCE to do some work on the Balkans,
24 but I did not talk to her about Ukraine.
25 O How many commun'ications did you have wi th

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FlED 2s2

1 |\4r . Brechbuhl ?

2 A 0n1y a couple. I mean, these were in general

J coordi nati on- related i ssues.
4 a Was it
5 A I went out to meet with him, you know, first to
6 introduce myself when he was appointed. I happened to have
7 been j n grad school wi th , so I had a connection.
8 I obvi ously had met h jm at some poi nt i n the d'istant past.
9 And I wanted to go and meet him so he'd know who I am and so
t0 we could talk about trying to do better coordination.
ll Because Secretary Pompeo didn't have a chief of staff , and,
t2 you know, given the jncredible amount of travel that he
l3 takes, it was important to be able to have some interactions.
14 And we were a.1so concerned at thi s poi nt about
t5 coord'ination with a couple of Ambassadors, including
t6 Ambassador Sondland. 5o I wanted to make sure that
t7 Mr. Brechbuhl would feel free to reach out to me if there was
l8 any i ssue.
l9

20

2t

22

23

24

25

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 253

I [4:05 p.m.]
2 BY MR. CASTOR:

J a And forgive me if you said this. We've been here a

4 1jtt1e bit. Did you have any discuss'ions with Mr. Brechbuhl
5 about Sondland, Giuti ani
6 A I did not. But I --
7 a So i t was j ust Yovanov'i tch and the c i rcumstances of
8 her departure?
9 A Correct. But, obviously, Mr. Giuliani seemed to

l0 have had

ll a Ri ght.
t2 A even at the time, a big influence in her

l3 departure.
t4 a OkaY.

l5 A And I expressed concern about that.

t6 a You expressed concern to l'lr . Brechbuhl about --

t7 A I probably said something about the circumstances

l8 of her departure. But this is only in a general sense.
t9 a Was 'it a one-on-one meeti ng or telephone call?
20 A I think it was a telephone call.
2l a 0kay.
22 A But it was really about other issues. So, you
23 know, he may I took most of my concerns, you know,
24 directly to Under Secretary Hale, Ambassador Bolton, and to
25 Assistant Secretary Reeker. And I also spoke to Deputy

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 254

1 Secretary Su11ivan.
2 a Uh-huh.

J The fact that the foreign ass'istance was frozen, it

4 occurred on July 18th, which was the day before
5 A Yeah, exactly.
6 a you 1eft. So you may not have a 1ot of
7 fi rsthand
8 A Correct.
9 a facts, but
10 A And I already sajd that.
ll a it's your understanding that it was subsequently
t2 1 i fted?

l3 A That's my understandi ng.

t4 O got their Javetins and, you know,

And Ukraine
15 everything has been flowing in terms of the financial
t6 assi stance?
t7 A I haven't any of the 'inf ormati on on thi s at all .

l8 a But that's your understandi ng?

t9 A That's my understanding.

20 a Is it fair to say that thjs type of stops and

2l starts is sometimes common

22 A Yes.

23 a wi th f orei gn ass'i stance?

24 A It is.
25 a That there's different -- different power centers

UNCLASS 1 FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 255

I have questions and there are some starts and stops?

2 A That's correct. And as I mentioned before in
J response to this question, 0t4B quite frequently woutd raise a

4 1ot of questions about this at other meetings in the past

5 they had.

6 a Right. And sometimes there's issues from the Hi11.

7 You know, flembers get concerned about something, and that has
8 to be sorted out and
9 A Correct. And it wasn't clear, when I 1eft, about
l0 where was the provenance of this concern, but that l4ulvaney,
ll presumably in his hat as sort of the head of OMB, you know,
t2 not just as chief of staff, had put the hold on this.
l3 a So these holds can happen for any reason or no
t4 reason?
l5 A We11, there's usually a reason

l6 a But good reason.

t7 A as you just laid out. Wel1, it depends on one's
l8 perspective of good reason.
t9 a Ri ght.
20 A I mean, for some persons, it would be a good
2t reasonI for others, it wouldn't be.
22 a Right. I guess that's what I was trying to
23 establ i sh .
24 A Yeah. Yeah.

25 a Do you agree wjth that?

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 256

I A I do agree with that.

2 a And I have a couple followup questions from
J A Sure.
4 O other rounds. And I know I asked you this
5 before, so forgive me.

6 You know, witnesses told us when we looked at the we

7 looked at the Hillary Clinton investigation, and we looked at

8 the begi nni ngs of the Russi a i nvesti gati on Iast Congress wi th
9 Chairman Gowdy and Chairman Goodlatte. And so we had a 1ot
t0 of firsthand testimony about --
ll A Ri ght.
t2 a Christopher Steele and Bruce Ohr and so forth.
l3 A Ri ght.
t4 a And it was established I don't think anyone
l5 real1y di sagreed wi th thi s that Steele's m"indset was that
16 he was desperate, or passionate, that President, yotl know,
t7 Trump not be elected.
18 And so my quest'ion and f orgi ve me i f you 've al ready
l9 addressed'this. I just want to be sure. Did you have any
20 idea whether he held that view?
2t A I had no idea whatsoever. I was shocked to find
22 out that he'd even been and undertaken thi s i nvesti gation,
23 honestly.
24 a OkaY.

25 A Because what I knew he was doing was, 1ike,

UNCLASS I EIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 2s7

I political risk. I thought he was, 1ike, doing, like,

2 cont ro1 led r i sks or Krol t .

J a 0kay.
4 A And all in my discussions with hjm, I mean, he was
5 clearly very interested in building up a cfient base. I
6 almost fel1 over when I discovered that he was doing this
7 report.
8 a Okay. So you have no idea whether he was desperate
9 and it related to his business interests or he was --
10 A I have no idea whatsoever.
ll a 0kay.
t2 Do you ever have any communications with Bruce 0hr?
l3 A No.

t4 O You ever met him?

15 A I mean, not since oh, I met him when I was NIO.

l6 a Okay.

l7 A Because, I mean, he was at interagency meetings

l8 a Ri ght.
t9 A given the nature of his Position.
20 a But did you ever have any communjcations with
2l Mr. 0hr about the Steele dossier?
22 A I did not.
23 a OkaY.

24 How about t'lr. Simpson, Glenn Simpson, at Fusion GPS?

25 A I didn't know who he was until he was --

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 258

I a OkaY.

2 A basically named in the Press.

J a 0kay . Fa'i r enough .

4 President Trump has, from time to time, expressed

5 concern, among other descri ptors, of D'i rector Brennan,
6 Director Clapper, and their role, you know, in the run-up to
7 the 20L5 etection. Was there ever any frjction caused by
8 that at the Natjonal Security Council between some of the
9 nonpartisan staff that had been serving under Director
l0 Clapper and Di rector Brennan?
1l A Not that I noticed or was ever raised, you know, to
t2 me. We did staff that we wanted to
have discussions'in the
13 see the nonpartisan depolitic'izat'ion of intelligence. And
t4 having been the National lntelligence 0fficer for Russia and
l5 Eurasia previously, I personally didn't believe that
t6 intelligence officials should take potitical stances. So we
t7 dld have a d'iscussion about that. But there wasn't any
18 friction within, certainly, my di rectorate or with any other
t9 di rectorates about thi s.
20 a And did you ever have any discuss'ions with Di rector
2t Brennanor Di rector
22 A I did not.
23 a You d'i d not .

24 A I worked briefly
25 a About these

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 2s9

I A with Director Clapper --

2 a About these i ssues .

J A when I NIO. But, no, I've had no

was the
4 contact with Brennan. I don't think Brennan would know who I
5 am.

6 a 0kaY.

7 I think you've addressed this today on several

And
8 occasions, but I just want to be sure that, other than the
9 reference of Vice President Bjden in the transcript, he has
l0 never come up during the course of, you know, any NSC
ll acti vi ty regardi ng the Ukra'ine?
12 A He did not. No. It's only in the context of RudY

l3 Gi uf i ani
t4 a Okay.

l5 A on the televi sion repeatedty.

t6 a Okay. And, to your knowledge, Ambassador Volker or
t7 Sond 1a nd nobody was encouraging the Ukraine to investigate
l8 Vice President Biden?

19 A To my knowledge, no.
20 aOkay. It was related to Burisma, and to the extent
2l the Vice President's son was a director on Burisma, that
22 could be a --
23 A Correct.
24 a But it wasn't Vice President Biden
25 A I did not hear that.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 260

I a himself. 0kay. And you never heard of any

2 reason why anybody should be investigating Vice President

J Biden?
4 A I also did not hear that, correct.
5 a Okay.

6 A Yeah.

7 a Do you have any concerns generally about the

8 circumstances of the transcript release of the July 25th

9 call?
l0 A In what way would I have concerns?
ll a Wel1, it lays bare the communications between, you
t2 know, our leader and the
13 A I have a lot of I've read it,
concerns now that
t4 but and, no, please, I 'm not sayi ng that j oki ng. I mean,
15 it's raised an awful 1ot of concerns as a result of reading
l6 it.
t7 a But as a more generat matter, the declassifjcation
l8 of, you know, call records from heads of states, does that
t9 concern you?
20 A Yes, it does, actually, as a general matter.
2t a Because i f
22 A I mean, I was responsible for overseeing many of
23 these in my position, and I was deeply concerned at all times
24 that they would not be leaked.
25 And in the first period when I was at the White House

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 261

I and the NSC in 20L7

2 there were a lot of leaks

a
J of materi a1, and I felt that thi s was i ncredi b1y damagi ng.
4 a Uh-huh.
5 A Someti mes i t was obv'ious i t was bei ng done to
6 settle scores internally, because there was blame apportioned
7 to people who were not responsible for the leakage. And I
8 firmly believe that one of the leakages of the preparation
9 packages for, basically, a phone call with Putjn was used to
10 have General McMaster fired.
ll a Okay. Is it due to that pervasive leaking that
t2 these transcripts may have been moved to a d'ifferent server
l3 or placed under a different set of
t4 A I personally never heard of a transcript being
15 moved to a different server. That also those
t6 circumstances trouble me. But we did move and I was
t7 responsible for part of that, with our tegal colleagues to
l8 reduce the number of people who had access to any of these
t9 transcripts
20 a Okay.

2l A i ncludi ng transcri pts that I would wri te up from

22 meetings with heads of state.
23 a R'ight.
24 A And I took that very seriously up to the records
25 office.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 262

I of people who left, you know,

And there were a number
2 from the NSC because they felt very responsible for all of
J these issues and felt that they couldn't contjnue with all of
4 this leaking going on. Peopte were being accused, 1eft,
5 right, and center, of having leaked documents. And I th'ink
6 it's incredibly'important for all of us to have integrity of
7 commun'ications.

8 a Uh-huh. And you're in favor of, if there is a

9 pervasive leak problem, to do something tofix it, correct?

l0 A Yes, but not to put them on a system that isn't
ll designed for that. You can restrict the number of people who
t2 have access to it fairly easily. I mean, we did a 1ot to
l3 make sure that you could actually figure out who got access
t4 to them. Hav'ing been , myself , ti mes of
accused mul t'ip1e
15 leaking documents, we made sure that you could actually get a

t6 record of who had

t7 O Who accessed i t.
l8 A Who accessed i t. Exactly. And, also, bei ng very
t9 mindful, and we were encouraging people to report if they saw
20 somebody trying to look at their computer, for example, if
2t they had access to something.
22 And then it was also usually, if there was some
23 concern about the sensitivity of the communicat'ion, having a
24 restricted number of people sitting in on the call.
25 a And what do you know about the al ternat'ive server

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 263

I arrangements?
2 A I'm not going to talk about it because it's
J classi fied
4 a OkaY.

5 A and it shouldn't be used for this kind of

6 materi al
7 a 0kaY.

8 A it has classjfied content. And very few

unless
9 people have access to i t.
10 a Okay. And do you know can you tell us when the
ll migration occurred?
t2 A I don't know anything about it. I only know what I
l3 read jn the paper, and, as I said, that ra'ised concerns for
t4 me as we11.

t5 a 0kay. Do you know if it occurred while you were

l6 A It couldn't possibly have done because I wasn't
t7 there. I wasn't there for the cal1. So if the question was
l8 could the transcript of the call be placed on the server
19 while I was there, the answer is no
20 a Oh, I'm sorry.
2t A because I had left.
22 a My questi on was, the deci s'ion to move a certai n
23 amount of information from one server to another, did that
24 occur while you were

25 A Not related to transcripts. No.

UNCLASS I EIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 264

I a Okay. So, if that did occur, it was after you

2 1ef t
J Correct. But it was I do not have any knowledge
A
4 of any transcript that came under my purview being moved to
5 that server.
6 a Okay. There's been press reporting that there may
7 be other ca11s with, you know, other leaders dating back to
8 the earliest part of the administration.
9 A I cannot speak to that.
l0 a OkaY.

ll The Juty LLth meeting with John Eisenberg you attended

t2 with Secretary Perry's
l3 A We11, no. 0ur senior director for energy, Special
t4 Assistant P. Wells Griffith, he used to work for Secretary
15 Perry.
l6 a 0h, okay.
t7 A We had a 1ot of people detail from DOE. I mean,

18 again, you know, yoLl need expertise.

t9 a Sure.

20 A is really a great energy expert.

And Wells
2t So, if my recollection is correct, after the events
a
22 occurred, Ambassador Bolton referred you to Mr. Eisenberg.
23 A Correct.
24 a And you walked across the hall
25 A I had concerns myself -- we11, I went out of the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 265

I bu'ilding and up. John Eisenberg's office is in a separate

2 building from Ambassador Bolton
J a OkaY.

4 A and hi s office was opposi te mi ne.

5 a Right. So, on the l-Oth, you

6 A I went over right away.
7 a went to talk to him?
8 A Correct.
9 a And you gave him the information?
l0 A I mean, basically along, you know, the lines that I

1l said ore, a qu'ick summary, probably about i n the same ki nd

bef

t2 of length and with detail that I gave to you.

l3 a Okay. And then he had you come back a day later
t4 to
l5 A No, I asked if we could go back for a more lengthy
t6 calI and discussion and asked if we could include Wells
t7 because he'd been in the meeting with me

l8 a Okay.

l9 A and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't, you

20 know, kind of, purporting things being said by Secretary

2t Perry to be part of this as we1l.
22 a Uh-huh.
23 A Because Secretary Perry had been talking at great
24 length about energy sector and corruption. And at no point
.25 did I th'ink that anything Secretary Perry sa'id referred to

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 266

any of these jssues that are under discussion today.

2 a OkaY.
J
a
A And I wanted to make sure that I was 100 percent
4 correct and that when Secretary Perry ha! talking points,
5 that, you know, these were there was nothing in there
6 about any of these jssues. Because, again, that would
7 explain the very abrupt response to Gordon Sondland's
8 i nterj ecti on .

9 a Okay. And nothing Secretary Perry

l0 I"lR. GOLDMAN: t'4r. Castor, I'm sorry, do you mjnd? She

1l just Said "theSe iSSueS," and I want tO make Sure the recOrd
t2 i s clear as to what she meant.
l3 DR. HILL: 0h. Agai n, about Buri sma and the
t4 investigations on energy. I'm sorry. I should've been more
l5 specific on that, yeah. And do you need any further
t6 clarification?
t7 MR. GORDON: No. Thank You.
l8 DR. HILL: NO? OKAY.

t9 MR. CASTOR: I'd like 30 seconds back. Just joking.

20 J ust j oki ng.

2t MR. GOLDMAN: It's all yours.

22 BY MR. CASTOR:

23 a You didn't have any concerns about what Secretary

24 Perry was saying during that meeting?
25 A I did not. And I wanted to make sure that it was

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 267

I very clear with John Eisenberg that, you know, kind of,
2 Secretary Perry was having one, kind of, set of discussions
J and that, clearly, Ambassador Sondland seemed to be having a
4 d'i f f erent one. Because i t was , you know, the

5 a OkaY.
6 A disjuncture between the two that was what had
7 immediately got Ambassador BoIton alerted to it.
8 a OkaY.
9 A It also suggests that Ambassador Bolton
l0 Ambassador Bolton also, yott know, suggested to me that thi s
ll was all related to the Rudy Gjulianj discussjons.
t2 a Ri ght.
l3 A So he had been, i n the run-up to th'is every time
t4 I was in his office, Giuliani was on the television. And I
l5 told you he'd already told me that Giuljani was a hand
l6 grenade that was going to blow everybody up.
t7 a Uh-huh.
l8 Secretary Perry's, you know, i nvolvement 'in thi s and h j s
l9 'i ssues wi th the LNG and the other , you know, gas i ssues, you
20 di dn't have any i ssue wj th anythi ng he was pursui ng there,
2t dj d you?

22 A Not in the discussions that I had with him.

23 a OkaY.

24 A We always had discussjons about-- I was the one

25 who often was pushing for Secretary Perry to show up around

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 UNCLASS I EIED 268

I E u rope

2 a Okay.
J A sending him off jn a plane to Three Seas
4 Initiative meetings and other -- because he knew what we were
5 talking about. And we were trying to get him to integrate or
6 help us i ntegrate
7 O 0kaY.

8 A all of the different aspects of European energy

9 to bring Ukraine into this so that it wasn't just the United
l0 States trying to push on Nord Stream 2. So we got the
ll Germans, the Poles, the Romanians, and others to Czechs,

l2 Slovaks to step up and to help the Ukra'ini ans.

l3 a Uh-huh. And he 1ed the delegation to President
14 Zelensky's i naugurati on?

l5 A Correct.
t6 a And he was i nvolved wi th, i t's been reported, some

t7 debriefing of the President about that

l8 A He was . Cor rect.
t9 a meeting. And with all of his involvement as it
20 relates to these issues with President Zelensky, you don't
2t have any concerns?
22 A I personallY had no concerns.
23 a OkaY.

24 I wasn't 'in all of the meeti ngs, but there was

A
25 nothing in any of my interactions with Secretary Perry that

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 UNCLASS ] FIED 269

I would lead me to think anything different.

2 a OkaY.

J So getting back to the July LLth meeting with P. Wells

4 Griffi th and John Ei senberg
5 A Rl ght.
6 a and Mjchael E11is, I think you sa'id
7 A I didn't say, actually, because I'm not sure that
8 Michael E11is was in there.
9 a 0h, okay.
10 A I did say that, on my last day in the office, on
ll September 3rd, that I met with both John Ejsenberg and
t2 Michael E11is.
l3 O 0kay . Okay . What was the f i nal determi nati on

t4 of you gave a readout of what occurred in the meeting,

15 maybe what your concerns were, what Ambassador Bolton's
16 concerns were. What was the final
17 A The final outcome of that was that John Eisenberg
l8 said that he would talk about this further, and I presumed
19 that he meant with the White House counsel, with Pat
20 Cipollone, and that he would, you know, raise these concerns
2l about what Sondland had said.
22 a OkaY '

23 A And Wells Griffith, you know, obviously, was'aIso

24 you know, concerned in the general sense about the
25 references, you know, that were going out with Giuliani and

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 UNCLASS I FIED 270

1 the other two, Burisma. But he did not indicate that, you

2 know, Secretary Perry was following up on any of these

J i ssues.

4 a Okay. And was that loop ever closed? Did

5 Eisenberg ever reach out to you and te11 you that he spoke
6 with Mr. Cipollone or any other officials?
7 A He said that he'd talked to Cipollone, but he
8 didn't then give me any further -- but, again, at this point,
9 having told so many people and also Charlie Kupperman, as
l0 well as Ambassador Bolton, there was every indication that
ll they were at1 going to follow up on th1s.
t2 a Rl ght. And presumably you arti culated to John
l3 E i senberg

t4 A this is July LLth, and I'm leaving

And, again, the

l5 following week. So I don't have a 1ot of time

t6 a Fai r enough.
t7 A to do, you know, followuP.
18 a Fai r enough.
l9 You retated your other concerns about Sondland, not just
20 the
21 A We11, I'd said multi p1e times to him and to others
22 that I was real1y worried about, you know, Sondland's
23 extensive potentially self-appointed portfolio and that thj s
24 could cause a whole range of problems, because we didn't have
25 any oversi ght or i nsi ght, of ten, "into what he was doi ng.

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 UNCLASS I FIED 271

I And, again, it's 1ike, you know, the guardrails were off and,

2 you know, kind of, there could be a lot of problems from

J thi s.
4 I'd already gone and spoken to our intelligence
And
5 di rectorate to ask them to reach out to the chi ef of stat'ion
6 at the EU mission to see if they could actually do a proper
7 briefing for him again.
8 And I'd expressed that to Eisenberg as wel1, because
9 that's also within Eisenberg's portf olio, to have these k'inds
l0 of concerns about, you know, kind of, jnadvertent disclosure
1l or, you know, kind of, basically'if somebody is being
t2 targeted by foreign powers. And, basically, at this point,
l3 Sondland has made himself a target for foreign powers,
t4 because he's basically telling people, I can get you into the
l5 White House, I can get you in to see Ambassador Bolton.
t6 You know, you show up at the door, and, I mean, I thjnk
17 alt of you who have trjed to show up at the door of the White
l8 House wjlt know it's actually not that easy to get in and you
t9 have to go through all kinds of procedures. You can't just,
20 kind of, appear at the doorstep and be 1et in by the Secret
2t Service.
22 litera11y coming up at the door because
People were
23 Sondland was -- and then he would, you know, literally call
24 up and shout at the assi stants 'in the f ront of f ice to make
25 sure that people were giving, you know, their passports or

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 272

I any kind of informat'ion because to have meetings.

he wanted
2 So he was already offering himself as a conduit to all
J kjnds of foreign officials to the White House for meetings.
4 And it didn't matter whether it was the President, but with
5 myself and others. I mean, that i s, i n i tself, a problem.
6 a And these are the concerns you related to
7 E i senberg?

8 A Correct.
9 a And he was going to talk to Pat Cipollone and he
l0 was goi ng to
ll A Yeah. And, 1ook, I'lr sure from the point of view

12 of Ambassador Sondland, having never been in the diplomatic

l3 serv'ice bef ore, I mean, and bei ng a busi ness guy, I mean,
t4 this is what you do. You kind of connect people, and you set
15 up meeti ngs .
t6 aUh-huh. Did you ever communicate to Sondland your
t7 discomfort? I know you had talked about the one
18 A I did. I mean, I had that which is probably why

t9 Tim Morrison related to me that Ambassador Sondland was glad

20 to see the back of me when I had come back agai n.

2t a OkaY.

22 A Because we ended up with a kjnd of testy set of

23 final interactions, which, you know, k'ind of as I sajd,
24 you know, when I f i rst started of f , I had qu'i te h'igh hopes.
25 He was enthusiastic. He clearly wanted to serve, you know,

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 273

1 the he's a patriot. He wanted to serve the American

2 people. You know, I
t get any i ndi cati on, you know,
d'idn'
J early off that he was going to go off on a tangent ljke this.
4 a Uh-huh.
5 Howdid Volker deal with Sondland?
6 A I don't real1y know, because I also sajd to Kurt
7 that I di dn ' t thi nk he should be spendi ng qu'i te so much ti me
8 wi th Sondland. Because, agai n , i f you recall , ori gi na1ly, I
9 was skeptical that Sondland was actually in charge of Ukraine
t0 from any higher authority other than hjs own interest in this
11 i ssue.

t2 a Uh-huh . Okay.

13 MR. ZELDIN:Dr. Hi11, you brought up the phone call

t4 that Presjdent Trump had wjth President Putjn and the leaks
l5 that took ptace and the f i ri ng of General Mcl'1aster.
16 DR. HI LL: Yes .

t7 MR. ZELDIN: Do you know who leaked that i nf ormat'ion?

l8 When you say that you believe that it was leaked in order to
t9 get General McMaster fj red, do You know who actually leaked

20 i t?
2l DR. HILL: I don't know for sure, so I won't start to
22 speculate. But I'm pretty confident and, you know, kind of,
23 just from other djscussions that I've had more recently, that
24 this was exactly what happened, that thjs was leaked to get
25 rid of him.

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 UNCLASS I EIED 274

I I was ofl, you know, kjnd of, calls after that wjth
phone

2 General l4cMaster when he was being ripped open on thjs topic,

J blaming his staff for leak'ing this. And I know that I did
4 not leak it and that my team did not leak it. And we offered
5 to resign on that day, because jt had clearly been used as
6 part of an internal score settfing.
7 MR. ZELDIN: You believe you know who leaked it
8 DR.HILL: Could I j ust offer - -
9 MR. ZELDIN: but you're not sure?
l0 DR. HILL: -- to be clear, that this particular "do not
l1 congratulate" card was not intended, even, to be briefed to
t2 the President. So that's kjnd of part of the backstory that
l3 isn't publicly known. Because we knew that the Presjdent was
t4 going to congratulate him anyway, because that's you know,
15 the President always congratulates people. And we always
16 have a 1ot of people wanting to put things into, you know,
t7 Presjdential call packages for the historical record. And it
l8 was the State Department that had requested that we write
l9 that i n.
20 MR. ZELDIN: I guess just due to the subject matter of
21 why we're here, I won't ask further on that, but in another
22 setting I'd have some followup questions
23 DR. HILL: But this gives you the, kind of, sense of how
24 these things can be manipulated, you know, by people, which
25 i s also deeply d j sturb'ing. Because, agai n, thi s i s a

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 275

I national security issue. And no matter what your views are

2 of General McMaster, he's an American hero who served his
J country, you know, to great di st'inction. And to be pushed
4 out over the leaking of a stupid card that wasn't even

5 brj efed to the Presi dent i s pretty rjdi culous .

6 MR. ZELDIN: Earlier

7 DR. HILL: the right person for the job
Whether he was
8 or not is another matter, you know, that you a1t can debate
9 at some poi nt.
l0 MR. ZELDiN: Earljer on, after you had referenced the
ll term "drug deal, " Chajrman Schiff asked a question
t2 referencing it, where he used the word "illicit" in his
t3 question. Do you reca1l that question and answer wjth
14 Chai rman Schiff earlier?

15 DR. HILL: I clari fied, of course, that the drug deal

t6 was an ironic and sarcastic statement that Ambassador Bolton
17 made.

l8 MR. ZELDIN: Yeah. Was was I

your opin'ion that'it
t9 just want to be careful with the use of the word "i11jcit."
20 Do you bef ieve that 'it was i 1lega1 or no?
zt MR. W0L0SKY: What are you referring to?
22 DR. HI LL: What was i 11ega1?
23 MR. ZELDIN: I just -- jt was one question and answer
24 from earlier on

25 MR. WOLOSKY: You can have it either read back

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 276

I MR. ZELDIN: That would be fantastic.

2 DR. HILL: that would be, yeah, because I'm
Yeah,
3 I'lR. ZELDIN: And I thi nk that mi ght serve everybody
4 DR. HILL: I mean, clearly, Ambassador Bolton was
5 worried that something was going on, which is why he wanted
6 me to go to John Eisenberg.
7 MR. ZELDIN: We might get back to that. Just for sake

8 of time
9 MR. GOLDI4AN: It's going to take a long time to get back
l0 to that. If you could just rephrase the question?
1l DR. HILL: I 'm afrai d I can't remember the exact
t2 phrasi ng of Chai rman Schi ff's questi on .

l3 f"lR. ZELDIN: You have a reputation, Dr. Hi11, of being a

t4 master note-taker. And I don't know if this reputation js

l5 accu rate
t6 DR. HILL: I haven't been doing all of it quite as much
t7 as I normally do.
l8 MR. ZELDiN: Apparently, you and you took a 1ot of
19 notes all the time, and you had books. The first off, is
20 that accurate?
2t HILL: That's correct. I grew up in a town that
DR. was

22 very impoverj shed, and we didn't have textbooks. So I

23 learned to take notes from basically first grade onwardS,
24 because, you know, otherwise, I wouldn't have learned
25 anything. And so jt's a habit as much as anything else.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 277

1 t"lR. ZELDIN : The books themselves , were they

2 DR. HILL: re all i n the records.
They'
J MR. ZELDIN: They at1 have been turned back jn?
4 DR. HILL: Correct. 0n the L9th, I fi11ed up more boxes
5 than I think is normal and spent lots of time putting in all
6 the forms about all the dating of all of those books, and I
7 handed them over to Presidential records.
8 MR. ZELDIN: And you don't have in your possession any

9 of those or copies of those books?

books
l0 DR. HILL: I do not, and that would be i11ega1.
ll t'lR. ZELDIN: Di d you ever di sobey any orders you

t2 di sagreed w'i th or ref use to implement superiors' po1"ic'ies

l3 that you di sagreed wi th?
t4 DR. HILL: I did not. And if I'd come to a juncture
l5 where I'd been forced to do that, I would've left.
16 MR. ZELDIN: And earlier on, at the beginning of this
t7 45 minutes, you were asked I
l8 7

19 DR. HILL
20

2t

22

23

24

25

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 UNCLASS I F]ED 278

a
J

l0
11

t2

13 I
t4

l5

t6

t7

l8 I

t9 dld not start formally until Apri 1 3rd, and the

20 admi ni strati on came i n i n J anuary .

2t I had already been offered the job at that parti cular

22 point, but, as I mentioned before, General McMaster came on
23 board. I 'd been hi red by General Flynn and K. T. and General
24 Ke11ogg, and so we had to wait a period to see i f General
25 McMaster wanted to conti nue w'ith the hi ri ng process.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIE D 279

5
I
6

7 t"lR. ZELDIN: And I apologi ze f or bounci ng around a

8 tj ttle bj t. Just some questions from earlier rounds.

9 September 3rd, you mentioned that you came back, spoke

l0 to your team, and one of the people you spoke to was Tim
ll l'lorrison.
12 DR. HILL: Correct.
13 MR. ZELDIN: And that's when you first became aware that
t4 there may be an issue?
l5 DR.HILL: We11, I just noticed that everybody was not,
l6 you know, kind of, as chipper as, you know, I was expecting.
t7 We11, I mean, I was going jn just very briefly
l8 MR. ZELDIN: Did you
t9 DR. HILL: -- but there seemed to be, you know, just
20 people just seemed tense. And, you know, I put it down
21 initially to the fact that there was a transjtjon, you know,
22 underway and, you know, all kinds of things. But I wasn't
23 exactly I was just being honest in saying that I felt at
24 the time that the atmosphere, you know, was d'ifferent and
25 people seemed worried.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I ElED 280

I MR. ZELDIN: But you didn't speak to them specifically

2 as to what that i ssue was?

J HILL: No. I just said, how have things been? And,

DR.
4 you know, a couple of peopte said, not so great.
5 MR. ZELDIN: But nothing more specific than that?

6 DR. HiLL: Correct.

7 But I had seen and I mentioned that before that
8 there'd been and this is what I did raise to Mr. Castor
9 when you asked about meeting with Michael E1lis and John
l0 Eisenberg. As part of my out-briefing, I had to have a

ll meet i ng wi th them.
t2 And I in the I don't know
had seen an email sometime
13 what exactly t'imef rame it would've been maybe late August,
t4 early September, just as I was, you know, coming back to
l5 D.C. from my vacation, that said we had to retain all
t6 documents pertai ni ng to Ukra'ine.
t7 And so I asked them, did I have to do anything? I also
l8 told them I'd already handed in all my documents before I saw
t9 this. So I was concerned about my own obligations, making
20 sure I'd done proper retention, because, you know, I hadn't
2t seen that before I left. And, obviously, i might have been
22 more extensive in even keeping some of, you know, the just
23 generi c i ntel pi eces you can of ten j ust, k'ind of , arch j ve
24 electronically. Because I didn't know whether it meant, you
25 know, you had to keep anything that had, you know, "Ukraine"

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 28t

on top and what that meant.

2 And they didn't teI1 me anything in particular. They

J just said that I'd already done what I needed to do.

4 t"lR. ZELDIN: So, on July 25th, you were snorkeling
5 during the call. And at the end of the
6 DR. HILL: I could've been sleeping, actua11y, in that
7 time, given the time di fference, but anyway

8 14R. ZELDIN: Hopef u11y not at the same time.

9 DR. HILL: Hopefully not, no.
l0 MR. ZELDIN: At the end of August, yo! said you returned
ll home from vacation. Was that the same vacation from the end

t2 of J u1y
13 DR. HILL: I'm afraid it was. I know that sounds
t4 outrageous. But I djdn't take much vacat'ion in the time I
l5 was at NSC, and they owed me 5 or 7 weeks of back pay, and
l6 they said they'd prefer to do it as a vacation rather than as
l7 a payout.
l8 MR. ZELDIN: That communicat'ion
19 DR. HILL: I took an outrageous vacatjon.
So
20 t'lR. ZELDIN: That commun'icati on at the end of August i s
2t the first communication that you received to alert you that
22 there may be some i ssue related to Ukrai ne?
23 DR. HILL: Correct.
24 MR. ZELDIN: And who was the
25 DR. HILL: It was an NSC you know, from the office of

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 UNCLASS I FIED 282

I the lega1 counsel, so from John Eisenberg and his staff.

2 Very generic. We've had these before, you know, related to a

J or anythi ng else, sayi ng that we had to

congress'ional i nqui ry
4 retajn all documents pertaining any k'ind of
5 communi cati ons .

6 And, you know, as I said, I'd already handed in my box

7 and, you know, djd a big purge of my offjce. And I'd also
8 handed over things to colleagues that I thought would be
9 useful for them for continuity purposes. And that's why i
10 was nervous. You know, I thought, oops, did I retain
1l everything I was supposed to? And I didn't know what this
l2 was about.
l3 MR. ZELDIN: In an earlier round, we ran out of time. i
t4 was asking about Ambassador Sondland
l5 DR. LL: Yeah.
HI

l6 MR. ZELDIN: and how he had stated or you had

t7 stated that he asserted himself as a lead for Ukra'ine?
l8 DR. HILL: Correct.
l9 MR. ZELDIN: And that his authority was

20 DR. HILL: He said he was in charge of Ukraine.

21 MR. ZELDIN: And he stated that his authority was

22 granted to him by the President?

23 DR. HILL: Yeah, because I said, "No, you're not. " And'
24 you know, I mean, sorry, it was kind of a bit of a rude
25 retort because I was just So, "What?" And I said, "We11, we

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 UNCLASS ] EIED 283

I have Ambassador Taylor who's been sentout as Charge. Who

2 says you're in charge of Ukraine?" It wasn't exactly the
J most diplomatic of responses on my part. And he said, "The
4 President. " And I was f ike, "0h."
5 MR. ZELDIN: But youdon't know whether or not he
6 actually was given that authority from the President.
7 DR. HILL: I do not. And nobody else seemed to be aware
8 of that ei ther.
9 MR. ZELDIN: There's a possibility that Ambassador

l0 Sondland was appointing himself as the lead for Ukrajne and

ll stating that it was

t2 DR. HILL: I think you should ask Ambassador Sondland

l3 when he submits his depos'ition.

l4 MR. ZELDIN: Yeah, I wi11. 5o we just don't know one

l5 way or the other.

16 DR. HILL: I do not know. There was never any kind of
t7 directive. Ambassador Bolton was not informed, and people at
l8 the State Department did not seem to be informed about this.
t9 I would've thought that Assistant Secretary Reeker, you know,
20 and others would've known, i f that was the case.
2l MR. ZELDIN: 0ne last questjon before I turn it back
22 over. The calendar that we got w"ith your document
23 production, very detailed. You sa'id it was prepared by
24 someone else. Who

25 DR. HILL: My assistant. I mean, it wasn't prepared. I

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 UNCLASS ] EIED 284

mean, i t's myschedule. It's j ust a schedule.

2 MR. ZELDIN: Your assistant post-leaving-the-White-House
J or from when you were at the White House?
4 DR. HILL: No, it's actually only from the time that my

5 assistant was making the schedule. So my assistant, this

6 parti cular last assi stant, , who I mentioned to
7 you before, he only worked with me for a year because, like
8 in other positions, there was a rotation of detailees.
many

9 And the role of a special assistant is to keep the schedule.

l0 MR. ZELDIN: Thank you.
l1 DR.HILL: So, I mean, it wouldn't also have every entry
t2 on it of everything I ever did either.
l3 MR. CASTOR: Do you have something?

14 MR. J0RDAN: Dr. Hi11, Ambassador Yovanovitch said that

l5 President Zelensky, you know, had one priority and ran his
t6 campaign on ending corruption in Ukraine. Do you share that
t7 befief?
l8 MR. GOLDMAN: l'lr. Jordan, I'm sorry to i nterrupt, but I
t9 don't believe that was what Ambassador Yovanov'itch testified.
20 And maybe if we could just ask she wasn't there for this,
2t SO

22 MR. JORDAN: I'm reading from her statement. She said,

23 "During the 2019" -- which I think has been public. And I
24 thi nk Dr. Hi 11
25 DR. HI LL: The publ i c statement . 0kay.

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 UNCLASS I F]ED 285

I MR. JORDAN: I think Dr. Hill said she read it.

2 DR. HILL: Yeah, I had read that. Yeah.
J MR. J0RDAN: "During the 2019 Presidential elections,
4 the Ukrainian people answered the question once again.
5 Angered by i nsuffi ci ent progress i n the fi ght agai nst
6 corruption, Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly elected a man who
7 said that any corruption will be his number-one priori ty. "
8 DR. HILL: He did say that, yeah.
9 MR. JORDAN: 0kay.
l0 DR. HILL: I mean, that was hi s campai gn pledge.
ll MR. JORDAN: But then, earlier, you also said that you

t2 never know, right?

l3 DR. HILL: Yeah. I sajd that we were concerned, as you
t4 might reca11, to an earlier question, about the potential
l5 influence of Igor Kolomoisky, who was an oligarch, who was
t6 the owner of the televjsion and, you know, production company
t7 that Zelensky's program, "The Servant of the People," was
l8 broadcast on.
t9 MR. HECK: Your time has expi red.
20 I'm inclined to take a 5-minute bio break unless
2t somebody obj ects.
22 Heari ng no obj ecti on.
23 lRecess. l
24 MR. HECK: Very good. Let's go back on the record.
25 Dr. Hi11, I'd like to start, before turning it over to

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 286

I Mr. Goldman.

2 HILL: Certainly.
DR.
J t'4R. HECK: You sa'id in answer to an earlier question

4 from Mr. Noble that the President had been briefed early in
5 the administration that the Ukraine Government did not
6 interfere in the 2015 election in the U.S. How do you come
7 to know that?
8 DR. HILL: I know that from my interactions with General
9 McMaster and Tom Bossert and many of the National Security
10 staf f .

1l MR. HECK: They both informed you that they had briefed
l2 the President thusly. Is that correct?
l3 DR. HILL: We11, they 'informed me
that those brief ings
t4 had taken p1ace. But I think, you know, part of those
t5 briefings were also conducted by the intelligence services.
t6 MR. HECK: Good. Very good. Thank you.

t7 14r. Goldman?
l8 MR. G0LDMAN: I '11 turn i t over to Mr. Nob1e.

t9 MR. NOBLE : Thank you .

20 BY MR. NOBLE:

2t aDr. Hi11, just sticking on that point for a moment,

22 can you say anything about how 14r. Giuliani or others working
23 with him pursuing this theory that Ukraine interfered in the
24 2015, even though it's been determined that they did not, how

25 does that affect Russia? And can Russia take advantage of

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS IEIED 287

I that jn any way?

2 A 0f course Russia can take advantage of this. I

J mean, actua1ly, President Putjn's whole schtick since 2015
4 has been, "We didn't do it."
5 a And tried to pin it on Ukraine?
6 A Pin it on whoever, you know, kind of else, and

7 a1 ternati ve theori es .
8 a Are you aware of any conversations between
9 U.S. Government officials and Russia or Russian officials
l0 about thi s theory that Ukra'ine i nterf ered i n 20L6?
ll A I'm not aware of that.
12 a Okay.

l3 Are you aware of well, did you watch any of the press
14 conference that was hetd between President Trump and
l5 President Zelensky on the sidelines of the U.N. General
t6 Assembly'in September?
t7 A I confess I did not.
l8 a You did not watch jt?
19 A I was with my mother, and I djd not watch it. I'm
20 sorry.
2l a 0kay. that press conference,
We11, during
22 President Trump said something along the lines that President
23 Zelensky should meet with Vladimir Putin and settle their
24 disagreement. Was a Putin-Zelensky meeting ever part of
25 U.S. policy when you were working at the National Security

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 UNCLASS I FIED 288

I Counc i 1?

2 A I encouraged a Putin-Zelensky meeting to the

J Russians when, you know, I was speaking to them as wel1.

4 a To what end?

5 To, indeed, have Putin because for a period of

6 time, Putin was refusing to acknowledge Zelensky as the new,

7 legitimately elected Presjdent of Ukraine. And we had been

8 encouraging we, writ large the Russians to adopt a
9 different strategy towards Ukraine.
l0 And, uI ti mately, i f Ukrai ne and Russj a make peace, i t
ll has to be on Ukraine's terms, and it would be much better to
t2 be negotiated by Ukraine than, frankly, done by
l3 i ntermedi ari es . I mean, I thj nk that's the caSe i n poi nt for

t4 most disputes and most conflicts. International mediation

l5 can only do so much. We've still got Kosovo-Serbia, for
t6 example, where we're trying to encourage them to have direct
t7 ta1ks. So I don't th'ink that that, i n and of i tself , i s
l8 anything that anyone should be concerned about.
t9 And I had gone out to Moscow i n between the two rounds
20 of the Ukrainian Presidentjal election at a point where
2l you know, there was an earlier question, you know, were we
22 sure that Zelensky was going to be elected? We were not.
23 But, certainly, between the two election rounds, Zelensky
24 looked like he had a pretty good chance of becoming the
25 Presi dent .

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS i rreo 289

I AndI lajd out to the Russians that, you know, maybe

2 they should take a fresh look at this, that, you know'
J they' re creati ng 1i f elong enm'ity wi th an otherw'ise f raternal
4 country, people who've been close to them, you know, for
5 hundreds of years of history, and that, you know, they would
6 be well-served to not be just so punitive wjth the Ukrainians
7 and to, you know, reth'ink over the longer term.
8 We also had jn June a trilateral meeting with the

9 Russjans and Israelis in Jerusalem just before the G-20 in

10 Osaka. And you're probably aware of that happening. And I
ll conducted meetings with my counterparts from the Russian
t2 Nati onal Securi ty Counci 1 , by whi ch time, of course,
l3 President Zelensky had already been elected, and I tried to
t4 urge them to take a different approach.
l5 Because there were two jssues that one could immediately
t6 refute wi th Zelensky ' s electi on . The f i rst was the Russi ans

t7 were saying that Ukraine was being run by a fascist

l8 government and one that was also hostile to Russian speakers.
l9 WeI1, Zelensky is a Russian-speaking Jew from basicatly
20 eastern Ukraine. All of his family ties are in Russia. He'd
2l spent an awful 1ot of time in Russia. He can neither be
22 descrjbed as a fascist or as somebody who is hostile towards
23 Russia or Russian speakers. And they couldn't argue wjth
24 that. And, basi ca11y, the poi nt was, you know, thi s i s a
25 time for reassessment.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS ] EIED 290

I But they were waiting, honestly and this is why it

2 gets back to before, where Russia was looking for as much
J leverage over Ukraine as they possibly can. They were
4 obviously waiting to see how things unfolded with the Rada,
5 the parliamentary electjons, which took place later on in
6 July, and to try to see there how much leverage they would
7 have over Zelensky. They were stil1 holding on to the
8 sai lors from the Kerch Strai t i ncident, and we'd been tryi ng
9 to push them to release them. And, in fact, we thought that
l0 they m'ight around 0rthodox Easter in April, and they didn't.
ll We'd been given all kinds of signs that they might.
t2 And it was very clear that the Russians were looking for
13 anywhere to, you know, basically put Ukraine'in a weaker
14 position so that when they do finally sit down with them
l5 they'11 have the upper hand and Ukrajne will have, you know,
t6 litt1e choice but to go along with, you know, many of the
t7 issues that were already on the table, of maximum autonomy
l8 for Luhansk and Donyetsk and basically having a veto over
t9 Ukrainian foreign policy, including any chance that Ukraine
20 might have, somewhere off in the future, of their joining
2t NATO or even becoming, you know, kind of a member state of

22 the European Union at some point.

23 a Ri ght.
24 A So jt was all very obvious, you know, at this
25 particular juncture, that Russia was look'ing for leverage.

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I E]E D 291

I But we were hoping that we could get, you know, kind of,
2 Putin to see it's somehow, you know, kind of, in his
J interest, a recalculation and a recalibration of Russian
4 policy, to at least begin to engage with Zelensky.
5 a V{ould a meeting between President Trump and
6 President Zelensky following Zelensky's election be something
7 that the Russians would be paying attention to?
8 A Sure.
9 a Why is that?
l0 A Wetl , f i rst of all , they are very 'interested i n
ll fjnding out whether they can drive a wedge between Ukraine
l2 and the Un'ited States. I mean, President Putin has been out
l3 in public -- this is not, you know, classified'informatjon or
t4 anything from the course of my work, but you can look at any
l5 public pronouncement of President Putin about Ukraine, and

l6 it's unremittingly negative. And he a1so, himself, always

t7 poi nts to corrupti on 'in Ukrai ne. I t's become, ki nd of ,

l8 shorthand for, "This is not a real country, thjs is not a

l9 sovereign country, and this is not a country that deserves
20 support from the U.S. or the Europeans at a1l."
21 a OkaY.
22 I want to go back to the July 25th call summary. And we
23 were talking about, I believe in the last round, the transfer
24 of that summary into the NSC Codeword Class'ified System
25 A Uh-huh.

UNCLASS I F] ED
 UNCLASS I FIE D 292

a which I believe is sometimes referred to as

2 I. Is that are you familiar with that acronym?
J A I am kind of familiar, Yeah
4 a Okay. Do you believe there was any reason for this
5 particular ca11, the July 25th ca11, summary to be placed in
6 ttre ! system?

7 A No.
8 a Okay. And why not?
9 A Because that's not the appropriate place for these
10 kinds of transcripts. As I said before, they can be
lt restricted, in terms of their access, very easily, and you
t2 can keep track of who has access to them.
l3 a And when you were at the NSC, were you aware that
t4 some transcripts were being transferred to the or, not
15 transcri pts summari es of meeti ngs or telephone cal1s

l6 between the Pres'ident and f orei gn leaders were bei ng

t7 transferred to
l8 A I was not. And the only circumstances jn which

l9 that would be conceivable would be if it dealt with

20 classi fi ed i nformati on.
2t a Highly classified informat'ion?
22 A Yes. But, I mean, we do occasionally talk to
23 counterparts about that kind of information.
24 a Who would have the authority to order a call
25 summary like the July 25th call summary to be transferred to

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASSIFIED 293

I the I system?

2 A
I'm not entirely sure, to be honest, because I've
3 never had to deal with that.
4 a OkaY.
5 A I imagine that wel1, I shouldn't imagine. I
6 basically I'm not real1y clear. I would have to refer you
7 back to, you know, other officials to ask for that.
8 a OkaY.
9 A That was not, certainly, in my purview. I would
l0 never be able to, you know, make a determination to have it
lt in that system.
12 a And I think I know the answer to this, but are you
l3 aware of whether or not John Botton or, before him,
t4 H.R. McMaster was aware of this practice and that this was
l5 goi ng on?

l6 A
I don't beljeve that it happened on any occasion
17 when General Mc['laster was there. I 'd never heard of anythi ng
l8 about it. You would have to ask Ambassador Bolton.
t9 a OkaY.
20 There's been public reporting about the May 201,7 meeting
2l between Ambassador Kislyak, Foreign Mjnjster Lavrov, and

22 Pres'ident Trump i n the 0va1 0f f i ce. Di d you parti ci pate j n

23 that meeti ng?
24 A I did not.
25 a You did not. Did you get a readout from that

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 294

I meet i ng?

2 A I did.
J a Okay. And do you know whether the readout or the
4 notes or the summary of that meeting were placed in tne !
5 sy s tem?

6 A To my knowledge, it was not.

7 a Okay.

8 A But I don't know for sure.

9 a Okay.

l0 A There were concerns about that transcript being

ll leaked, and so it was certainly being preserved. And, a1so,
t2 the fact that it was later on requested by Mr. MueIler in the
l3 courSe of hi s 'investi gation. So there was every ef f ort made
t4 to keep that transcri Pt secure.
15 a And what were the concerns about that being leaked?
t6 A Well , I thi nk there's concerns every t'ime i t's
t7 been mentioned before -- about the integrity of
18 communications, of leaking information'
t9 a But was there anything in particular about the
20 conversation or the
2t A We11, the conversatjon seemed to immediately end up
22 i n the press.
23 let me also just keep saying that, every time we get
And
24 bent out of shape on issues like this, remember, there are
25 foreign participants in all of these meetings who take just

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 295

1 as good of notes as I do or, in some cases, could very easily

2 be recording some of these meetings. Because when you go
3 not in the Wh'ite House, of course, but if you're 'in the G-20
4 or you're jn some other public setting, UNGA, I am not
5 convinced that these things are screened.
6 And I'11 just give you an example. When I was at one of
7 the G-20 meetings, a member of the Chjnese delegation came in
8 wjth a big backpack which they left on the chajlin one of
9 the meeti ng rooms, and i t was there f or the ent'i re ti me.
l0 a When you got the readout of that May 20L7 meeting,
ll was there anything that caused alarm for you?
t2 A Can I ask why we ' re go'i ng over the May Oval 0f f i ce
l3 meeting? Because I don't see how it's directly related to
t4 Ukrai ne.
l5 a We11,there's been public reporting about that
t6 parti cular meeti ng bei ng parti cularly sensi tj ve wj thi n the
17 White House and'it being the transcript or readout, the
18 summary being ptaced in tne f system.
t9 A I was not aware that it was placed 'in ttre !
20 system.
2t a Right. And I understand that's your --
22 A Yeah.

23 a testimony, but we're trying to figure out why

24 that meeting, in particular, could have been

25 A We11, that meeting

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASSIF]ED 296

I a treated the same way as the July 25th

2 call summary.

J A That meeti ng was scruti ni zed because of , agai n, the

4 press reportjng that the Presjdent, who had the authority to
5 declassify information, had talked about something that was
6 previousty codeword, in a general sense. And in actual fact,
7 if that was the case, then there would be a reason to put jt
8 on I. Whether he'd said it to, you know, kind of,
9 unauthori zed i ndi vi duals or not, i f he had declassi fi ed that,
10 but it would sti11 technically be classified codeword.

ll a 0kay.
t2 A And, i ndeed, when we had the readout , we had to

l3 redact portions of jt. 5o that actually would not be in any

t4 way i nappropri ate on that occas'ion .

l5 a OkaY.

t6 to the July 25th call summary, some of the

Going back
t7 portions I read included el1ipses. And there's been some
18 public reporting and speculation that there could be other
l9 things that were said.
20 Are you aware of , j n the process of creati ng th'is type

2t of call summary, whether there's a more word-for-word

22 transcri pt that's created?
23 A Transcripts that I produced often had ellipses in
24 them.

25 a 0kay.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 297

I A I put el1 i pses i n.

2 a Can you explain to us the process by which these
a
J types of call summarjes are created, from when the call
4 occurs to when this type of summary is drafted?
5 A There's been some public discussion of this, but I
6 feel that this might be verging into secure, you know
7 MR. WOLOSKY: I ' m sor ry . Could you repeat
8 14R. NOBLE: Yeah. I was aski ng her to explai n the

9 process of creating a call summary. So there's a call that

l0 occurs. What's the process by wh'ich notes are taken? Is
ll there a verbatim transcript created?
t2 DR. HILL: Is that f ine to talk about?
l3 MR. W0L0SKY: You can talk about the process --
t4 DR. HI LL: . Okay
Process .

t5 I mean, some of this has already been

l6 MR. NOBLE : Ri ght.
t7 DR. HILL: -- made public. I mean, I saw a piece of it
l8 on CNN or something that was reporting to say how the
t9 transcri pt would've come i nto bei ng.
20 But the White House Situation Room, they produce that
2t transcript. They actually talk in real-time through kind of
22 a -- I don't know, it's almost like I don't know whether
23 you have one as a stenographer, but they actually sort of
24 talk through a device in real-time as they're hearing the
25 speech and the exchange. And that's how

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 298

I a Who talks through the device?

2 A The White House Situation Room staff. And that

J produces a kind of a word vo'ice-recognition version of their

4 voi ce . So they a re
5 a And they' re repeat'ing what the Presi dents are

6 sayi ng?
7 A And what the translator is saying on the other end

8 as we1l. And that's probably I of you who,

mean, those
9 you know, are familiar with voice recognition js probably
l0 to deal with the fact that translators and others have
ll accents. I have an accent. So, you know, it would make it
t2 difficult for the vojce-recognition software.
13 And, a1so, I think, at this point, we no longer tape our
t4 President. That doesn't mean to say that the other party
l5 don't tape all of these communications, just to be very clear
t6 here.
t7 that rough transcript is then produced and then Sent
So
l8 to either the director or the senior director or both,
t9 whoevelis avai lable, to look through, and then to others who
20 were on the call that'S pertinent to their area of expertise
2t or who have taken notes
22 a Okay.
23 A to check this for accuracy. And sometimes there
24 can be some pretty hysterically funny misrepreSentatjons of
25 what people heard.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 299

I a Okay. I won't ask about examples.

2 So once you or your director reviews the, kind of, raw

J transcript created by the voice-recogni tion software and you

4 make all the corrections, are you the ones who draf.t the
5 summaries, like the one that we see for the July 25th call?
6 Who drafts that?

7 A This, to me, looks like the transcripts that we

8 would draft.
9 a Okay. And then where does the transcript
l0 A It goes to our --
1l a Are there further layers of approval?
12 A It goes through further layers of approvals. That
l3 was managed by the Executive Secretarjat of the NSC

t4 a For the National Securi ty Counci 1?

l5 A Correct.
t6 a OkaY.

l7 A And then wjth the White House review, and jt goes

l8 to the National Security Advisor and others as well -- and

r9 the Deputy National Security Advisor -- to take a look at.

20 a OkaY.

2t 1itt1e bit, are you aware of a

Skipping around a
22 compilation of documents, you might say a dossier, that Rudy

23 Gi u1i ani created about Ambassador Yovanov'itch and

24 A 0nly from news reports.
25 a others? Okay. You weren't aware of that at the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 300

1 time
2 A I not, no.
was
J a that that was created that it came in a Whjte
4 House envelope to the State Department?

5 A I had never heard anything about that.

6 a Did you ever see those types of materials or a
7 s'imilar dossier, floating around the White House?
8 A I did not.
9 a OkaY.
l0 I believe in the last of testimony you said that
segment
1l you had some conversations with Deputy Secretary of State
t2 Sulf ivan
l3 A Correct.
l4 a about Rudy Giuliani and your concerns?
15 A Uh-huh.
l6 a How many times did you speak with Deputy Secretary
t7 Su11 i van?

l8 A I saw Deputy Secretary Sullivan quite a lot at

t9 events, and I often talked to him on the sidelines of this.
20 So, often, these were conversations that I was just having
2t with Deputy Secretary Sul1ivan, who is a pretty wonderful
22 'indi vi dual . And , you know, I know he' s now been nomi nated to
23 be Ambassador to Russia. But he and I would talk a 1ot on
24 the margins of events and other meetings.
25 a And did you raise the

UNCLASS I F] ED
 UNCLASS T FIED 301

I A I did.
2 a concerns you had?

J A Frequently. And he was also concerned.

4 a Okay. Did he say anything in response when you
5 raised your concerns about Giuljan'i's activity?
6 A He just expressed that he was also concerned. He
7 didn't give any specifics, you know, back again. He just
8 gave me a good, you know, respectful hearing. And it was

9 clear that he was very upset about what had happened to

l0 Ambassador Yovanovi tch.

1l a tried to, himself,

Did he ever say whether he ever
t2 do something about jt or get Secretary Pompeo to do something
l3 about i t?
t4 A He sajd that both he and Secretary Pompeo had tried
15 their best to head off what happened.
t6 a Did he explain how they had tried?
t7 A He did not.
l8 But I was also very much struck by the commentary in her
l9 public statement, in Ambassador Yovanovitch's public
20 statement, that they'd been under pressure since summer of
2t 2018. I had no idea. Because, for me, I only you know,
22 obviously, as I mentioned before, I just started to pick up
23 that there something after January of this year.
24 a Uh-huh.
25 A And, most def ini te1y, when I saw what I thlnk was a

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASSIFIED 302

I March 20th article in The Hill by John Solomon, then I Iooked

2 back and saw that there were, you know, other similar
J reports. And then, of course, I started to watch
4 Mr . Gi u1 i ani on televi si on .

5 a 0kaY.
6 Did you ever speak wjth Michael El1is about your
7 concerns?
8 A I'm sure I djd. But, I at the request
mean, not
9 of, as I mentioned before, when I went in to talk to
10 a Mr. Ei senberg?
l1 A Mr . Ei senberg. Yeah .

t2 a Okay. So these were

13 A Because I saw all of them, both Michael E1lis and
t4 John Eisenberg, pretty much dai1y, sometimes multiple times
15 'in the day. Again, our of f i ces were opposi te each other.
16 And i t was, ki nd of , they were w'ith me worki ng on a whole
t7 range of issue. This was a big portfolio, and I needed a lot
l8 of legaI advice. We'd often looked at treaties and other
l9 issues that we were trying to coordinate, and we needed them
20 to work wi th the legaI staff at the State Department, for
21 example, or to reach out to DOD for us on a whole range of
22 i ssues.

23 And I just, you know, wanted to say that they were the
24 epi tome of prof ess'ional i sm, and I 've had a great worki ng
25 relationship with them. And I had no hesitation in going to

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS ] EIED 303

I express concerns to them about any issue.

2 a And

J A SoI probably talked to l'4i chael on a number of

4 occas'ions about th'is, just jn a general, hey, you know, th'is
5 is going on and I'm worried about jt.
6 a Uh-huh. Did you ever ask him to do anything in
7 particular about --
8 A I did not. I mean, I was raising concerns, but I
9 did do the official reporting to John Eisenberg.
10 a Okay. And did Mr. Ei senberg or Mr. El1i s ever telt
ll you that they had taken steps to try to address the problem
t2 or had reported i t further up the chai n i n the Whi te House
l3 counsel's office or elsewhere?
t4 A Yeah, I already responded to that, that I believe
l5 that John Eisenberg talked to Pat Cipollone
t6 a OkaY.

t7 A i n the Whi te House counsel 's offi ce.

l8 a What about Mr. Elf i s?

l9 A i do not know about that. And, again, you know,

20 Ju1y LLth js just 10, LL is just the week before I'm
2t leav'ing.
22 a okaY.

23 0n the issue of the security assistance freeze, had

24 assistance for Ukrajne ever been held up before during your

25 time at the NSC?

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS 1 FIED 304

I A Yes.

2 a For what -- and when was that?

J A At multiple junctures. You know, it gets back to
4 the question that Mr. Castor asked before. There's often a
5 question raised about ass'istance, you know, a range of
6 assi stance
7 a But for Ukraine specificallY?
8 A Yeah , that' s cor rect .

9 a Okay. Even though there's been bi parti san support

l0 for the assistance?
ll A Correct.
t2 a OkaY.
13 A But there's been a 1ot of hold-up of other
l4 assistance, you know, a 1ot of additional questions asked. I
l5 mean, agai n , clarj fi cati on. You know, new people agai n,
l6 remember, a1so, there's a 1ot of turnover in staff at this
17 point. So, as Mr. Castor was sort of suggesting, a 1ot of
l8 people suddenly want to know why is this happening, you know,
l9 ki nd of, who authori zed thi s, what's the nature of i t.
20 Somet'imes i t was j ust i nf ormati onal .

21 a But at this point in time, when you learned about

22 the freeze, July L8th I bet'ieve, everyone in the 'interagency
23 had blessed it, so to speak, and had signed off on the aid.
24 And so, as f ar as you know, there was noth'ing that
25 legitimately should be holding it up.

UNCLASS IFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 305

1 A Correct.
2 a OkaY.

J Onthe issue of security assistance for Ukraine, are you

4 fami 1i ar wi th the fi rst sale of Javeli ns to Ukrai ne

5 A I am.

6 a back jn 2018? March or April timeframe, js that

7 correct?
8 A Yes, that ' s cor rect .

9 a 0kay. Around the same time, are you aware that

l0 Ukrai ne stopped cooperati ng wi th Speci al Counsel Mueller's
11 i nvesti gati on?

t2 A I was not aware of that.

l3 a 0kay. Are you aware that they also stopped four
t4 separate investigations of Paul Manafort around this same
l5 time?
t6 A I was also not aware of that.
t7 a Are you aware that Ukraine altowed Konstantjn
l8 Kilimn'ik, who was a witness in the l"1ue11er investigation,
19 stip across the border to Russia?
20 A I was aware of that.
2t a You were aware of that?
22 A Uh-huh.
23 a What did you know about that?
24 A t{el1, Konstantin Kit'imnik is somebody if we're
25 i n the space of who knew people 'in the past, he used to work

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 306

I for the International Republican Institute in 14oscow. And

2 when I was working at the Kennedy School of Government on
J technical assistance projects, you know, we had a 1ot of
4 interactions with IRI as well as NDI, and Konstintin Kilimnik
5 was there. all of my staff thought he was a Russian spy
And
6 at the time that I was working with.
7 So Konstantin Kilimnik was somebody who popped up on the
8 radar screen from time to time. So, when his name came up, I
9 immediately had the, you know, reminders of the 1990s and of
l0 peopte bei ng somewhat suspi ci ous of Kj 1 j mni k. And so, you

ll know, I did note that he'd

t2 a How did you learn that Ukrai ne had allowed h'im to
t3 ex'it to Russi a?
t4 A It was in a report that I read.
l5 a Okay. Are you aware of any connection between that
l6 and the sale of Javelins to Ukraine?
t7 A I am not.
l8 a 0kay.
t9 You said that sometimes in your transcripts that you
20 created or reviewed you'd use ellipses.
2t A i did.
22 a Why would you use elliPses?
23 A When the sentence trailed off, it wasn't a complete
24 sentence. And that mi ght be, you know, my Engl i sh trai ni ng,
25 beCause, Often, the Exec SeC would correCt SometimeS and, yOU

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I E]ED 307

1 know, change punctuation and things. I overuse commas, for

2 example, and
a
J a Are you a fanof the Oxford comma?
4 A I 'm confused, i s ki nd of basi cally where I am.
5 Because when I was growi ng up, they changed the comma
6 formatting, and then when I came here, I found there was at1
7 kr'nds of different comma formatting. So I tend to put commas
8 everywhere.
9 And I also do like e1lipses. Because, you know, when
l0 somebody trails off, like I just do sometimes, just dot, dot,
ll dot, finish that thought. So I wouldn't read too much into
t2 the el 1 i pses .

l3

t4

15

t6

t7

l8

t9

20

21

22

23

24

25

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FlED 308

I [5:L4 p.m.]
2 BY MR. NOBLE:

J a While you were working at the NSC, were you aware

4 of whether Kash Patel had any role in the Ukraine portfolio?
5 A I became aware of that by chance and accident. In
6 the last couple of weeks that I was there, probably in May,
7 j ust after the Presi denti al i naugurati on i n Ukrai ne. I - -

8 a did you learn?

How

9 A I'd gone over to the Exec Sec in the White House

l0 j ust topi ck somethi ng up, and thi s was around the t'ime where

l1 we were trying to there was going to be a setup to debrief

t2 the President on the Presidential delegation. And just one
l3 of the people in Exec Sec just as a routine, you know, just
t4 sa'id: 0h, the President wants to talk to your Ukraine
15 di rector.
t6 And I like a bit surprised by that because the
was
17 President has never asked to speak to any, you know, of our

l8 di rectors ever before. And I sai d: "Oh? "

t9 Yeah, to talk about some of the materials.
20 And I said, "0h," again because I thought thjs is
2t strange.
22 And they said: Yeah, so, I mean, we might be reaching

.L) out to Kash.

24 And I said, "0h," because Kash the only Kash

25 a What was his role as far as You know?

UNCLASS] PIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 309

I A I could thi nk of was Kash Patel , and I thought,

2 welt, he i s in our International 0rgan j zat'ions Bureau and,
J you know, considerably he works on the U.N. and other related
4 issues but he's not the Ukraine director. The Ukraine
5 director, you know, after aIl the streamlining is only'in our
6 offi ce.
7 I basically djdn't engage any further because I was
So
8 wonderi ng to myself: That's very strange.

9 And I went to talk to Charlie Kupperman, who was going

l0 to be taking part on our behalf sjtting in on the debriefing
ll for the President. And I said: Apparently, the President
t2 may think that Kash Patel is our Ukraine director, and I just
l3 want to make sure there's no embarrassment here. I'm not
t4 quite sure why that might be, but I want to flag for you that
l5 this is the case.
l6 And I related what I related to you. And I sajd: That
17 probably means that AIex Vi ndman, our Ukra'ine di rector who

18 hadactually been on the Presidential delegation, probably

19 shouldn't go into the debrief from the delegation.
20 a And this was the l'lay 23 meeting
21 A Correct.
22 a after the delegation got back?
23 A Correct. And then I went back to my offjce and
24 started looking at all my djstro ljsts to see, you know, kjnd
25 of whether Kash was on any of the maybe I'd missed out,

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS 1 FTED 310

I you know, that he had some special, again, Ambassador

2 Sondland-1ike representational role on Ukrajne that I hadn't
a
J been informed about, and I coutdn't elicit any'informatjon
4 about that.
5 a Did you ever figure out what l4r. Patel was doing
6 with respect to Ukraine kjnd of behind the scenes?
7 A I did not, but I raised concerns with Charlie
8 Kupperman about that, and he said that he would look into

9 that, whi ch j s the approprj ate course of acti on.

10 a And did you ever learn what he learned after he
ll looked into it?
t2 A I di d not because, agai n , yotl know, i t' s di ffi cul t
l3 always to f o1low up on these i ssues. But I d'id warn my
t4 office to be very carefu1 about communications with Kash
l5 Patel until we figured out why it was that he was sending
l6 clearly materials on Ukra'ine over to the because I didn't
t7 know what k'i nd of materi al s .

l8 a Did you ever see the materials?

t9 A I did not.
20 a 0kay. Did you ever learn what materials Mr. Pate1
2t was providing?
22 A i did not.
23 a Okay. You said that you advised or told
24 Mr. Vindman not to go into the debrjef on May 23.
25 A Wel1, particularly after it seemed to be the case

UNCLASS T FIED
 UNCLASS I EIE D 311

I he's evidently not Kash Patel and that if there was some
2 confusion over who the director for Ukraine is, that could be

J rather difficult and awkward.

4 a 0kay. But you knew this meeting was supposed to be
5 about briefing the President on

6 A 0n the Presidentjal delegation.

7 a the delegation to the inauguration?
8 A And Alex Vindman was also just there as the
9 representative of the NSC. He wasn't the lead of the
10 delegation in any case. And the whole point of the
t1 debriefing was for Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker, and
t2 Ambassador Sondland, and Senator Johnson to talk about their
l3 experiences and their views on Zelensky and to relay back the
t4 meeti ngs.
15 And Alex wasonly jn those meetings as basically a
t6 notetaker and, you know, again, as the representative of the
t7 NSC because neither Ambassador Bolton or I were able to go

18 given the timing of the inauguration.

t9 a Do you know whether Kash Patel attended that
20 meet i ng?

2l A I do not. I had never heard any information to

22 suggest that he was there.
23 a Okay. Did Mr. Patel have anything to do wjth
24 Ukraine after that meeting, to your knowledge?
25 A I'm not aware that he did. And i took him off our

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 312

I distro list because I was alarmed in thinking that, you know,

2 this is I mean, this is obviously just not approprjate,
J and I'd already reported it to Charlie Kupperman.
4 a Do you know whether any of the documents that
5 Mr. Patel was providing to the President relating to Ukrajne
6 had anything to do with what Rudy Giulianj was doing?
7 A I rea1ly do not know. And I'11 be also clear: I
8 never actually have ever had a conversation with Kash Patel.
9 I knew who he was. I at the international, you
knew he was
l0 know, organization group, and I'd seen him in meetings.
ll And I was, you know 1et's just say it's a red ftag
12 when somebody who you barely know is involved orl, you know,
13 one of your policy issues and is clearly providing, you know,
t4 materials outside of the line that we don't even know what
l5 those materi a1s were.
16 And we were atways very circumspect about the materials
t7 that we provjded, and we only ever sent them up the chain to
18 the Exec Sec to Ambassador Bolton. So, I mean, we never did
t9 anything to the President's or to the Chjef of Staff or
20 ty Advi sor.
anythi ng else except through the National Securi
2t a And i t's your understandi ng, though, that these
22 materials that Mr. Patel provided made their way directly to
23 President Trump?

24 A That's what I was 1ed to believe from my very brief

25 'interacti on wi th the Exec Sec. And, agai n, I went

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 3i3

I immediately and told Charfie Kupperman about this.

2 a Okay.

J t"lR. NOBLE: I do want to go through some

So, Dr. H'i11,
4 of the other meetings on your calendar, and I thlnk we'd tike
5 to mark your calendar as an exhjbit. So it's going to be
6 majority exhibit No.3.
7 [l\4ajority Exhjbjt No.3
8 was marked for i denti fi cati on. l
9 BY MR. NOBLE:

l0 a And we have an extra copy for you. And we're just

ll going to skip through some of the meetings and see if there's
t2 anythi ng
t3 A Sure.
t4 a relevant.
15 A And I just want to assure everybody that I was not
t6 filing my na'i1s or having spa treatments in all thjs black
t7 space. I obviously don't look ljke I was very busy, but
18 there were a lot of other meetings.
t9 And we also were very mindful of our calendars because
20 calendar information can obviously be used by outside
2t parties, meaning Russ'ia, you know, kjnd of any others to kind
22 of figure out the kind of meetings that they should be
23 checki ngfor people's communi cati ons wi th. So I would also
24 ask people to be very careful with this.
25 a 0kay. We appreciate that.

UNCLASS I FI ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 314

I Let's ski p to page 36. I t's Hill 35. These are the

2 entries for April 29th through May 3 rd , 2019.

J A April 29 to
4 a May 3. It's page 36.
5 A Yeah. We haven't got oh, yeah. I see.

6 a Bottom ri ght.
7 A Yeah. I got i t. Yes.

8 a Okay. So the meeting on May 1, I think we talked

9 about that wi th

l0 A We did.
ll a That was with Phil Reeker and Ambassador
12 Yovanovi tch?
l3 A Correct. That's when she told me that she was

t4 bei ng removed as Ambassador.

l5 a Okay. The next day, on May 2nd, you had a meeting
16 wi th Rob Blai r.
t7 A Correct.
l8 a Who i s Rob Blai r?

t9 A He is the deputy to Mick l'4ulvaney.

20 a Do you reca11 what that meeting was about?
2t A Yes. And there was also a meeting with JRB was,

22 .you know, Ambassador Bolton, and then with General Ke11ogg.

23 They were both to relate to them they were to relate to
24 all of them my meeting with Ambassador Yovanovitch and Phil

25 Reeker.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 315

I a Okay. And what specifically about Ambassador

2 Yovanovi tch?
J A How disturbed I was by what had happened to her,
4 and I asked if there was anything that we could do.
5 a And what dld they say?
6 A That' s when , you know, I ment'ioned to you that
7 Ambassador Bolton, who looked extremely pained, you know,

8 basically said there was nothing that could be done, but Rudy

9 Giuliani was a --
l0 a That's the hand grenade comment?
lt A hand grenade, yeah, that's going to blow
t2 everybody up.
l3 a Okay. And who is General Kellogg?
t4 A is the now National Security Advisor to the Vice
He
l5 President. And General Kellogg is the person who hired me
l6 along wjth K.T. McFarland and General Flynn to work at the
l7 National Security Council. He's had a number of positions.
l8 O What was his role at this time?
l9 A He was the National Securi ty Advi sor to the V'ice
20 President. And I wanted him to know that this very troubling
2t development had taken place because, I mentioned before 'in
22 the line of question'ing, that we were always contemplat'ing:
23 Was there a way that we could get the Vice President, you

24 know, to go to Ukraine at an appropriate time? And, you

25 know, we had been, you know, talking about, depending on the

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 316

I timing of the inauguration or, you know, any of the potential

2 meet i ngs .

a
J a Sure. Let's talk about that for a second because
4 there has been public reporting that originally Vice
5 President Pence was supposed to attend the inauguration, and
6 then President Trump, at least has been reported, ordered him
7 not to attend. Do you have any knowledge about that and how
8 that happened?
9 A Yeah. I already responded to that in regard to
l0 Mr. Castor's question, and as I said, there was a lot of
ll scheduling issues. The Vice President can't be out of the
t2 country at the same time as the President. And as I
l3 mentioned, I'd already flagged that there were all kjnds of
t4 i ssues swi rl i ng around wi th Rudy Gi u1 i ani and Ukrai ne and ,

l5 you know, the ousting of our Ambassador.

t6 And i t was go'ing to be very ti ght f or the V j ce Pres'ident
t7 to make it for the inauguration. So I, you know, have no
18 knowleQge that he was actually ordered not to go, but it was
t9 going to be very difficult for him to go.
20 a 0kay. And
21 A And I had already put forward, you know, as I
22 mentioned before, Secretary Perry, who I, you know, was
23 always advocating to go and you know, go to things like
24 this.
25 a Did you have conversations with General Kellogg

UNCLASS 1 F]ED
 UNCLASS IEIED 317

I about your concerns regarding Giuliani ?

2 A I did.
J a 0kay. And was that is that around thjs time?
4 A No. Thi s i s exactly that ' s what I 'm sayi ng.
5 These meeti ngs w'ith the three of them, and I know they look
6 like they were in the same time because they were both very
7 short with Ambassador BoIton, and then with Ke1logg, it was
8 for somewhat longer because I had already expressed concerns
9 with Ambassador Bolton beforehand.
l0 And I wanted to flag for Rob Blai r, because often
l1 ambassadorial issues come through the Chief of Staff's
t2 0ffice, Blair js a, you know, very good professional,
and Rob
r3 knows foreign affairs, that this was all transpiring and that
l4 this was going to have a massjve backlash also at the State
15 Department and that it already had, you know, a chilling
l6 effect, you know, with our Embassy in Kyiv and also among,
17 you know, many people that we were interacting with.
l8 People were shocked. They'd already got word that she'd
t9 been, you know, recalled for or summoned very abruptly for
20 consultatjons back at home, and she told me at this meeting
2t here that she'd already been di sm'issed, and i t was looki ng
22 for a time for her to come back.
23 a Okay. How did Mr. Blai r respond when you raised
24 these concerns?
25 A He said that he would flag this for t"'lick and that

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 318

I he would pay attention to it, for Mulvaney.

2 a How about General Kellogg?

J A General Kellogg didn't say that he would te11 the
4 Vice President, but he said that he would talk to the team.

5 And I also had Jennifer Wi11iams, his director who covered

6 all of Europe, who was our counterpart there I mean,
7 again, we talked about how sma1l the Vice President's team

8 is and she was also in the meeting.

9 So I wanted to make sure that they knew that there 1,',ere
10 issues and they should be very careful, you know, so that the
l1 Vice President didn't, you know, get mi red up in you know,
t2 I was flagging, you know, in case Rudy Gjuliani or anybody
l3 who's sort of seeki ng meeti ngs.
t4 We did this frequently. I mean, that's what the Vice

l5 Pres'ident's staff would rely on us for sending red flags to

t6 them for, you know, meetings they should avoid or, you know,
t7 kind of things that they should be aware of because they
l8 didn't have a big team to be able to track everything.
l9 a Okay. Let's ski p to the next page, page 37 , a
20 meeting on l'lay 6th with, it looks 1ike, the Ukrainian it
2t was a Ukrainian delegation along with
22 A There was a Ukrai ni an delegatj on. I can't actually
,t) speak about that one. This was arranged with our

24 j nte1l i gence di rectorate.

25 a Okay.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 319

I A call with Phil Reeker was me

And then the secure
2 following up again on, you know, more of these related
a
J i ssues.
4 a Relating to Giuliani?
5 A Related to concerns about Ukraine and, you know,
6 how things were unfolding with Ambassador Yovanovitch. But

7 a1so, I mean, as Phil Reeker was the Assistant Secretary for

8 all of Europe, we always had a long agenda of items that we
9 needed to di scuss about. And i n thi s, you know, timeframe
l0 there was also things related to and you'11 see on the
l1 next page Viktor Orban, the Prjme Mjnister of Hungary was
t2 coming, and Ambassador Reeker was in charge of obviously
13 Hungary in his portfolio. And we were doing a press
t4 background bri efi ng i n thi s timeframe. He was doi ng one, and
l5 I was doing one. So all of these issues would have been on
l6 the agenda.

t7 a Okay. 0n l4ay 23rd, i t's not on your calendar, but

l8 that's the day of the meeting we've been talking about when
l9 the
20 A That's ri ght.
2t a U.S. delegat'ion came back.
22 A Yeah.

23 a Did you get a readout from anyone about that

24 meet i ng?

25 A Yes. I got a readout from Charlie Kupperman.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 320

I a He participated in the meeting?

2 A He did.
J a And what djd he say happened during that meeting on

4 May 23rd?

5 A He said that the other participants had made I

6 mean, he obviously wasn't on the delegation had made a

7 concerted effort to express and Senator Johnson can talk

8 to you about this because he was in that meeting about
9 their positive impressions about Zelensky, and that there had
l0 been a lot of stress on energy reform, and that Secretary
ll Perry had been instructed that he had 90 days to see if we
t2 could make some progress on the energy reform in the
l3 energy sector.
t4 And, agai n , thi s was all cons'istent wi th , as I menti oned

15 before, discussions that we'd been having with our energy

t6 team, including with We11s Griffith and his staff and many

t7 others, on how we would try to get Ukraine more embedded in

l8 European energy security, not just look to some kind of
19 object vis-ir-vis Russia or as a trans'it country for Russian
20 energy, but how we would get Ukraine in and of itself in a
2t better place jn terms of its energy diversification and the
22 restructuring of jts own energy sector.
23 a Are you aware of President Trump saying anything in
24 that meeting along the lines that he believed that Ukraine
25 had tried to bring him down jn 20L5?

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 321

I A That was related to me by Ambassador Volker at a

2 later poi nt.
a
J a 0kay. What did Ambassador Volker tel1 you?
4 A He told me exactly that.
5 a Okay. Had you ever heard did you ever hear that
6 on any other occasions, President Trump expressing belief
7 that he believed Ukraine
8 A I think he sajd i t pubticty, but defini tety
9 Mr. Gi uIi an j has said thi ngs 'in that regard.
l0 a Turning to page 39, on May 241n, that Friday, it
ll looks like you had a meeting with Ambassador Taylor
t2 A That's ri ght
l3 a and l4r . Vi ndman?
t4 A Yes. And I had a previous meeting with Ambassador
l5 Taylor on the L3th. So this was when Ambassador Taylor, on
t6 page 38, was, you know, basically in the process of he

l7 wasn't able to go out to the inauguratjon. He was in the

l8 process of going out as Charge.
t9 And as I mentioned before, I've known Ambassador Taylor
20 for decades, and he and I talked, you know, very frequently
2l about some of the challenges he was going to face'in this
22 posi ti on.

23 And I know he's going to talk to you

come in and
24 himself, but he had made jt very clear that if the State
25 Department didn't have hi s back on th'is, that he wouldn't

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 322

continue in the position. He was very reluctant to step into

2 a situation where the previous Ambassador had been ousted on

J
a
baseless charges. He was very well aware of all of the
4 dangers here.
5 a Did that include the dangers of Giuliani?
6 A Yes.
7 a Yeah. You discussed that with Ambassador Taylor?
8 A I d1d discuss that with Ambassador Taylor. And,
9 actually, i ni tj a11y, I thought he shouldn't do i t. And then
l0 over time we became, you know, more -- we needed Ambassador
ll Taylor, frankly, somebody of his stature. And he said that
12 he had an undertaking from Secretary Pompeo that they would
t3 have his back and make sure that he wasn't subject to
l4 baseless attacks either from inside of the Ukraine or from

l5 the outsi de.

16 a did you init'ia1ly think he shouldn't do it?
Why

t7 A Because he was basically taking over what looked at

18 this point fike a tainted, poisoned chalice. I mean' if you
19 have had your previous Ambassador ousted on no just cause and

20 somebody else has to step in and they have to basically clean

2l up a mess, I mean, would You do that?
22 O I 'm not testi fYi ng, but
23 A Yes. But I thi nk basically most of us would thlnk
24 twice, three times, four times before agreeing to do this.
25 a Yeah. 0n page 39, there's th1s meeti ng on the 22nd

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED JZ)

with Amos Hochstein. Is that the meeting that you referred

2 to earlier?
J A That's the meeting that I referred to. And I
4 related to Ambassador Taylor, who also knows Amos Hochstejn
5 from the past, what he had told me and suggested that he
6 should, you know, also talk to him if he wanted to. But
7 Ambassador Taylor seemed to know a lot of this jnformation
8 anyway. Ambassador Taylor is extremely well jnformed, and
9 he's, you know, kjnd of never stopped on his keeping track of
l0 Ukraine, you know, since the time that he was an Ambassador.
ll a Okay. What about thjs meeting on May 23 with
12 Kri stj na I 'm goi ng to
13 A Kvien. She is the new DCM, deputy chief of
14 mi ssi on , i n Ukrai ne.

15 a And what was this? Was thjs meeting just a briefer

l6 on

t7 A Correct.
l8 a before she went over?
t9 A for us to talk about, you know, kjnd of policy
And
20 'issues. And I related to her, you know, the hopes that we
2t would be able to focus with the Ukrainians on this broader
22 energy sector reform and how we could work with other
23 European embassies there, the Germans, the Poles, the Czechs,
24 the Slovaks, you know, not just the usua1, you know, suspects
25 of , you know we always work obv'iously wi th the EU or the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]E D 324

I NAT0 in a general sense, but how we could be more

a11ies
2 proactive jn trying to get the Europeans to do more on
J Ukra i ne .

4 it wasn't just about military issues; it was also

And
5 about energy because, yotl know, the Germans -- we were in
6 this spat with the Germans about Nord Stream 2, but, you
7 know, the Germans also have the wherewithal to help Ukraine
8 refurbish its energy infrastructure and, you know, also to
9 work with the Poles and the Czechs and Slovaks for bringing
l0 i n LNG.
ll at this point talking about
And the Germans were also
t2 bringing through Bremen, and through a new port, LNG into
l3 Germany that also could come'into Ukraine 1f there was indeed
t4 a bujlding up of the infrastructure in that part of Europe.
l5 a Okay. 0n page 41-, we're moving into early June'
t6 you had a SVTC with Ambassador Volker, jt looks like?
t7 A Yes to update the Eu ropeans on
. That was f or him ,

18 you know, the Presidential delegation and some of the next

t9 steps, you know, on and then, you know, the question stil1
20 at thjs point was, were the Russians going to be at all
2t willing to meet, you know, as we're getting now past the
22 inauguration of Presjdent Zelensky, or were we going to have
23 to wait until the larger elect'ions were taking place?
24 And so this is a kind of occasion where the French and
25 German counterparts to Ambassador Volker would relay

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 325

I i nformati on from meeti ngs that they had parti ci pated i n. I

2 haveto confess, I was only jn part of that meeting.
a
J a Okay. That's okay. We don't need to go i nto
4 detail. But I did want to ask you
5 MR. HECK: IPresjdjng.] Your time has expi red.
6 Mjnority.
7 HILL: And just as a note, the Alex Ukraine thing
DR.
8 after this js to fol1ow up to say, you know, to kind of make
9 sure that we were, you know, following up on any issues that
l0 would pertain to us in terms of interagency coordinatjon.
l1 So, often, when we had a meeting, I would follow up with
t2 our Ukraine director just to make sure that if we had any
l3 do-outs that we had to be in charge of and, you know, at
t4 his 1evel, there's lots of working-1eve1 meetings that i
l5 don't participate in just to make sure that everyone is on
t6 the same page.
t7 MR. NOBLE : Okay.

l8 BY MR. CASTOR:

19 a 5o you told Mr. Vindman not to go to the debriefing

20 wi th the Pres'ident?
2t A We agreed with Charlje Kupperman that, given what
22 I'd just Iearned about this confus'ion about Kash Pate1, that
23 i t would not be best.
24 a What "if i t was j ust a mi stake?
25 A Charlie Kupperman led me to believe that it

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 326

I probably not was a mistake, and he didn't want to get into

2 personnel i ssues.
J a Okay. So

4 A But he was clearly concerned bythis as wetl.

5 a What exactly was the issue? It sort of strikes us

6 as random that now we're talking about Kash Pate1.

7 A it was a bit random to me too. I'd never
We11,
8 talked to I would him, and i told you I didn't have any
9 meetings with him. And suddenly the Exec Sec, just, you
l0 know, the regular guys, you know, who I'm picking up some
ll other material for are telling me that the President wantS to
t2 meet wi th thi s Ukrai ni an di rector about materi als that they
l3 had got from him and, you know, just to have an alert that
t4 he'd be asking for Kash. And that's obviously what, yotl
l5 know, for me
t6 a Is it possible there was just a mixup, that --
t7 A It didn't sound like it. That doesn't really
18 happen . I 've not had that ki nd of mi xup before. I t ' s not

t9 like the names of directors not everybody knows our

20 di rectors.
2l O Any other reason the President would know Kash
22 Patel? I mean, maybe
23 A I couldn't tel1 you. I think you'd have to ask
24 that yourselves. I don't know.
25 a And you have never met Mr. Patel or you didn't

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIE D 327

I A I him. I know what he looks fike, and I'd

have met
2 been in meetings with hjm. But I'd never had any one-on-one
3 jnteraction with him, and he'd not been attending any of our
4 Ukrai ne meeti ngs. He was on the general d"istro f or hi s
5 directorate. But I started to worry that he'd been sending
6 some of our materials in an unauthorized fashion, so I made

7 sure that he wasn't on any of our distros that could have

8 been i nternally.
9 a Did you communicate your issue wjth Ambassador
l0 Bo1 ton ?

ll A Charlie Kupperman said he would speak to Ambassador

t2 Bolton about thi s.

13 a Okay. And did he ever get back to you about what
t4 the
15 A He sajd that he was dealing with jt.
l6 a Okay. That's i t? That was the end of j t?
17 A Charlje Kupperman always dealt with issues that you

18 brought to hjm, and it was jn discuss'ion with h'im that he

t9 said that he would go in and sjt jn and give us a readout of
20 the meeting, because it was another red flag at that point
2t that something was going on, because Kash Patel had not been
22 involved in the inauguration meeting. And I never raised
23 th'is wi th Kash Patel because, agai n
24 a Was this like a widely known fact at NSC? It just
25 seems like a rather random factoid.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 328

I A When I told my office that this was the case, I

2 said: Has any of you had any interaction with Kash Patel?
J It alarmed everybodY.
4 a Right. But now it's the subject of a Q and A being
5 raised by, you know, congressional staff. I mean, how would
6 that information get to congressional staff?
7 A Wel1, that suggests that Charlie Kupperman did
8 i ndeed rai se i t w'ith peoPle.

9 a Including congressional staffers?

l0 A I don't know about that, but he must have raised it
ll with other people because, you know, how else do you guys get
t2 to know a lot of thi s stuff?
l3 a Okay. But you haven't communicated that
t4 information
l5 A I have not.
l6 a i n advance of today, ri ght?
t7 A I have not.
l8 a the information conveyed to the majority has
And
t9 been equal in terms of majority and minority get the same
20 i nf ormat'ion comi ng f rom you?
2t A I haven't spoken to anybody from any of the staff.
22 a 0kay. So this js the first time that you've been
23 here talki ng

24 A About?

25 a about these matters? You didn't have a

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 329

pre-brief?
2 A That i s correct, I did not.
J a 0r any pre-fe1t telephone ca1ls?
4 A I did not.
5 O And to your knowledge, there was no prof f er ra'ised
6 by your representatives, whether your attorney or otherwjse?
7 A What do you mean a proffer?
8 a Proffer is when, you know, an attorney will call
9 and talk about the testimony that his or her cljent intends
l0 to give.
11 A Not to my knowledge. Although, now, what I have to
t2 say is that I've read a 1ot about my testimony, purported
l3 testimony, and as you know, I don't have a written testimony
14 i n the press.
15 a Ri ght.
16 A 50, as I had raised Kash Patel as a concern in my

17 djrectorate and to other people, and I mentioned it to DAS

l8 Kent, Deputy Assjstant Secretary Kent, and to also Ambassador

t9 Taylor, and after I'd put it up the chajn asking them to be

20 aware if there was any communjcation from Kash Patel, I can
21 be, you know, fairly confident that they talked to other
22 people about thi s.
23 a Okay. So i t wasn' t a mi stake. I t was somethi ng to
24 be handled, in your view?
25 A Correct. That's ri ght.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 330

I a 0kay. And

2 A And based on my experience of 2 and a half years at

J the Natjonal Security Council, something like this isn't
4 usually a mistake. We had an awful lot of people in the
5 early stages of the admi ni strat'ion doi ng all ki nds of thi ngs
6 that were not jn their portfolio.
7 a 0kay. Did you talk wi th Mr. Patel's supervi sor?
8 A I did not because they were jn the moment of a
9 transi tion there as well. And Charlie Kupperman was the
10 person who was dealing with all personnel issues, so I went
ll to the appropriate channel.
t2 a And did he ever
l3 A I also was not, you know, at the time, you know,
t4 going to, you know, basically throw Mr. Patel under anybody's
l5 bus. I told Charlie Kupperman about it, and I said: I
t6 barely know Kash Patel. I know what he works on.
t7 But I did go back to my office and, aga'in, flag for the
l8 people who were working on Ukraine that they should just be
t9 alert to make sure that they had no representation from him
20 and, you know, kind of suggested there may be some
2t confusion that is exactly what I said -- from our Exec Sec
22 for whatever reason about who is our Ukraine director. And I
23 just want to make sure that everyone knows jt's Alex Vindman,
24 and there is no other Ukraine director at the NSC.
25 a Okay. And Vindman wasn't in the May 23 debrief?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 331

I A He was not.
2 a Was anybody from NSC?

J A Charlie Kupperman.
4 a Okay. And Charlie Kupperman didn't get back to you

5 with a result of his

6 A He gave me a readout, and I just, you know,
7 repeated that
8 a No, with the Kash Patel issue.
9 A He did not. But I wouldn't necessarily have
l0 expected him to, but my experience with Charlje Kupperman is
1l he always followed up, always, on any jssue that I brought to
12 him.
l3 a Well , 'if there's some conf usi on about somebody

t4 operating in the Ukraine policy space

l5 A Then he would have dealt with this.

t6 a you would think that he would follow up with
t7 you.

l8 A From whatI've heard most recently is that Kash

19 Patel has been moved to counterterrorism, where there's not a
20 lot of terrorism going on in Ukraine.
2l a Okay. But I guess my point was, if there was an
22 issue that needed to be deconflicted and Mr. Kupperman went
23 and djd that but didn't come back to you, I mean, what --
24 A He did not, but, I mean, he would not necessarily.
25 if there was any disciplinary or anything else as a result of

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 332

I that, he would not come back to me on that. That's a

2 personnel issue that he would deal with.

J a Dld he jndicate to you that he had handled it?
4 A He said he would. He said he would handle it.
5 a Okay. But you never had any closed loop
6 A I did not, no.
7 a I'm going to ask you about the Politico article
8 from January L7th again.
9 A Okay.

l0 a I just want to warn you in advance.

ll A A11 right. I mean, I have to go back and read that
t2 all over again.
l3 a And we have copies if anybody wants one.
t4 A You don't work for Politico, do You?
l5 a What's that?
l6 A Well , j t's j ust you' re touti ng thi s , you know, ki nd
t7 of Po1 i ti co arti c1e .

l8 a I 'm not touti ng i t. No. I'm j ust you know,

t9 thi s i s, you know, a news account. 1t's rather i n depth.
20 You know, this is a reporter that
2t A Who's the reporter? Jog mY memory.
22 a Mr. Voge1, Kenneth P. Voge1. Do you know
23 l'4r. Vogel?
24 A I mean, I know of him. I've seen his bio and other
25 things.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED JJJ

I a Rlght. I mean, h€'s gone on to The New York Times

2 at thi s poi nt. And, you know, thi s arti cle goes through
a
J entreati es to the Ukrai ni an Embassy, you
4 know, here in the United States. And l'lr. Vogel interviews
5 and gets people on the record talking about what
6 was interested in.
7 And I'm just all the guffawing over the veracity of
8 thi s arti cle, I 'm j ust
9 A This is in January 20L7, this article.
l0 a Yes. Yes.
ll A So, remember , I go 'into the government, 'into the
t2 administration in Aprit of 20L7.

l3 a Ri ght.
t4 A By which time, I receive or when I go jn an awful
15 1ot of briefings
l6 a Ri ght.
t7 A from the Intelligence Community, and I read all
r8 of the documents pertaining to 2015. And I am then in
t9 endless meetings about this to try to push back against the
20 Russ'ians .

21 a Ri ght.
22 A all of the materiats that I have from a
And so
23 classi fi ed context, there i s none of that, anythi ng, you
24 know, related to
25 a 0kay. But, I mean, i t's - - you know, reporti ng i s

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 334

I a compi lati on of talki ng to sources. And you' re not sayi ng

2 the whole story is just
J A No, I 'm not.
4 a outright fabrication, right?
5 A No, I 'm not.
6 a Okay. Are you able to characterize what parts of
7 the story concerns you?
8 MR. W0L0SKY: I mean, we
9 DR. HILL: I really yeah, I'd like to know why we're
10 doi ng thi s.
ll MR. W0L0SKY: Just wait before we get to that.
t2 DR. HILL: Yeah. OkaY.
l3 MR. WOLOSKY: You know, I don't know what document
l4 you' re talki ng about.
l5 MR. CASTOR: 0kay. We can make an exhibit.
t6 MR. WOLOSKY: I haven't read it. The witness hasn't
t7 read i t.
l8 DR. HILL: I read it a long time ago.
We11,
t9 MR. WOLOSKY: A long time ago. It's not been entered as

20 an exhibit --
2t MR. CASTOR: I 'm goi ng to enter i t .

22 MR. W0LOSKY: -- or offered as an exhibit. Do you want

23 us to sit and read the article? I mean we're here. We'11 do

24 whatever you want.
25 MR. CASTOR: This is exhibit 4.

UNCLASS IFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 33s

I lMi nori ty Exhi bi t No. 4

2 Was marked f or j denti f i cat'ion. l

J t'4R. W0L0SKY: If you are going to ask her about, you

4 know, generally what's accurate and what's not accurate, you

5 know, why don't you point her to specific portions of the
6 art'icle.
7 MR. CAST0R: Yeah, I 'd be happy to.
8 DR. HILL: Yeah, I remember, I mean, of course, th'is
9 artjcle. And as I sa'id before, I could g'ive you a long t'ist
l0 of people who were reach'ing out on at1 ki nds of di f f erent
11 fronts to all of the campaigns, all of the campaigns, from
t2 all k'inds of di f f erent sources who were tryi ng to do
l3 something like thjs.
t4 MR. CASTOR: So you don't discount the fact that
15 was probably doing what's reported here? I mean,
l6 you're an expert
t7 DR. HILL: It's not we11, what specifically are we

l8 talk'ing about?
l9 MR. WOLOSKY: We11, what specifically are you referring
20 to because we're not going to have her answer -- you know,
2t affirm broad statements: Is this accurate? Is this 30-page
22 art'icle accurate?
23 DR. HILL: Yeah. And i t's a1so, you know, talki ng about
24 people in the Ukrajnian Amerjcan community, which is pretty
25 extensive, people with meetings at the Embassy. And as you

UNCLASS ] EIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 336

I know, there were all kinds of peace projects that were being
2 put around at that time. I received about three of them from
J di fferent people.
4 I had people asking to talk to CoIin Powe11 and would I,
5 you know, help set things up with that
6 BY MR. CASTOR:

7 a Sure.

8 A before, you know, for example, Jeb Bush, you

9 know, you name it. There were people coming forward trying
l0 to use any contact that they possibly could to talk to
ll people. And there aren't art'ic1es about a1t of them.
12 So, when i go back to Brookings, perhaps I could start
l3 wri ti ng a lot of arti cles about the people I knew prev'iously
14 in the runup to the 20L5 election who were trying to do some
l5 of these things too. It does not amount to a large-scale
l6 Ukrainian Government effort to subvert our elections which is
t7 comparable to anything that the Russians did in 2015.
18 And if we start down this path, not discounting what one
t9 indiv'iduaI or a couple of individuals might have done, ahead
20 of our 2020 elections, we are setting ourselves up for the
2t same kind of failures and intelligence failures that we had

22 befo re .

23 a Okay. I

24 A Look, and I feel very strongly about this.

25 a Evi dently .

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 337

I A I'm not trying to mess about here.

2 a Evidently you do.

J A Yes, and so you should, too, in terms of our

4 nati onal securi ty.

5 a Iet me help you understand here. I'm trying
Wel1,
6 to understand: Is jt the whole thing, everything?
7 MR. WOLOSKY: Ask her a question about a specific thing
8 of whjch she has personal knowledge, and she'11 respond.
9 She's not going to respond to an L8-page article based on
l0 some general
1l MR. CAST0R: I'm not asking her to respond to an L8-page
12 article. I marked it as an exhibjt, and we're about to get
l3 into it.
t4 MR. W0L0SKY: We11, ask her something specific, Mr.

l5 Castor.
16 DR. HILL: Are you tryi ng to suggest - - sorry. 0kay.
17 MR. W0L0SKY: Just ask her a quest'ion, and she will
l8 respond.
t9 BY MR. CASTOR:

20 a Okay. Page two

21 A Al l r'ight
22 a a Ukrainjan American operative this is the
23 third paragraph on page two who was consulting for the
24 Democratic National Committee met up with top officials of
25 the Ukrajnian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 338

I tjes between President Trump, top campaign aide Paul

2 Manafort, and Russia, according to people with knowledge of
J the si tuat jon. The Ukra'ini an ef f orts had an impact i n the
4 race helpi ng to force Manafort's resi gnati on.
5 MR. W0L0SKY: Answer to the limit of your personal

6 knowledge that you had.

7 DR. HILL: WeI1, this is the conclusion of Kenneth Vogel

8 and David Stone.

9 BY MR. CASTOR:

l0 a Right. And so
ll A Thi s i s not the conclusi on of the U. S. i nte11 i gence

t2 agenc i es .

13 a Okay. 5o

t4 A I cannot make that conclusion just based on that

l5 arti c1e ei ther .

t6 a OkaY.

t7 A This is an assertion, the conclusion that the

t8 authors of this article are making.
l9 a 0kay.
20 A Now, should we have been looking, all of us,
2t overall, at every effort to jnterfere in our election? Yes,

22 we should have been.

23 a At , I 'm tryi ng to fi gure out whether thi s
my peri 1

24 is just complete fiction that was pitched to a reporter and

25 has been completely debunked based on information you have or

UNCLASS T FIED
 UNCLASS I E] ED 339

I whether there's any other explanation for this

2 A It is a fiction that the Ukrainian Government was
J launching an effort to upend our election, upend our electjon
4 to mess with our Democratic systems.
5 a Okay. But there could have been some Ukrainians
6 that were i nterested i n i nj ecti ng i nformati on
7 A And this appears to be a Ukrainian American, which
8 we're also talking about 14r. Fruman and Mr. Parnas are
9 Ukrainian Amerjcans who were also trying to subvert our
10 democracy and who managed to get one of our ambassadors
l1 sacked.
t2 a 0n page 1l. i s where i t starts getti ng 'into
l3 Leshchenko's jnvolvement. Like, what do you know about
l4 Leshchenko's efforts to expose the Manafort issue?
l5 A 0n1y what I have read in the press.
t6 a 0kay. So there is nothing that you have
t7 A Again, th'is is jn January of 2017, and the period
l8 jn which I entered into the government and, you know, the
t9 period in which you're working there, we unearthed more and
20 more information on what the Russians were doing.
2t a Okay. I'm not
22 A And i t's not to
23 a trying to compare what they're doing
24 A Yes, but I'm not sure where we're going with this
25 1 i ne of i nqui ry here

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 340

I a I'm just asking You about

2 A Because if you're also trying to peddle an
J alternati ve vari ati on of whether the Ukrai ni ans subverted our
4 election, I don't want to be part of that, and I will not be
5 part of j t.
6 a I'm not tryi ng to peddle anythi ng. I'm tryi ng to
7 ask you about what 'information you have regarding these.
8 And, you know, frankly, if we didn't have such a --
9 A But you're asking me about an articte that was
l0 written in Pofitico in January of 20L7.

11 a And I probably wouldn't to i t, but i t

have returned
t2 was just such a passionate rebuke of this article that
13 j ust

t4 A it's of the thrust of the question that

We11,
l5 you're asking here, which 'is to basically you know, what
t6 we're dealing with now is a s'ituation where we are at risk of
t7 saying that everything that happened in 2015 was a result of
18 Ukraine in some fashion.
l9 a Yeah, I 'm not saYi ng that. I 'm not
20 A Well, that's certainly what it sounds like to me.
2t a I'm not goi ng down that path. I'm j ust simply
22 trying to understand the facts that are djscounted or
./.) recounted in this storY.
24 0n page 13, it talks about the Ambassador Chaly penning
25 an op-ed. Do you have any familiarity with the op-ed that

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 341

I the Ambassador wrote that was negative to the President, the

2 President when he was a candidate?
3 A There were an awful 1ot of people from every
4 imaginable country at this particular point trying to game
5 out where thi ngs were goi ng to go 'in our electi on. We can
6 find an awful lot we had to do this, by the way, before
7 every head of state v'isi t. We had to comb through what any
8 of them might have said in the course of the election
9 campaign that might be negative toward the President, and

l0 there were an awful lot of people who said negative things.

ll You might remember a moment in public in the Rose Garden
t2 wi th Prime M'ini ster Tsi pras of Greece, and i got my ass

l3 chewed out for this one afterwards because we hadn't

t4 noticed because I don't happen to speak Greek and didn't
l5 have on hand a Greek-speaking staff member, but John Roberts
t6 of CNN did a gotcha moment for Tsipras in public, fu1l
t7 view I remember it very vividly pointing out to Tsipras
18 negative things that he had sa'id about the President and how

19 much he hoped that President Trump was not basically elected

20 duri ng the Pres j dent'ial campai gn.
2l And the President was not at all happy, and the press

22 staff said to me: How could you have missed that?

23 We11, jt was all in Greek. So I presume that CNN has a
24 whole Greek staff on board who are poring over things at, you
25 know, vast expense. Wel1, we don't have lots of

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 342

I Greek-speaking staff members poring over everything.

2 So, getting back to this again, many individuals were

J t ryi ng to game out ou r po1 i t'i ca1 sys tem , many othe r
4 governments. The Russians are the government that have been
5 proven from the very top to be targeting our democratic
6 systems.
7 a Okay. Fai r enough.
8 A And I'm sorry to be very passionate, but this is
9 prec i sely

l0 a I'm just trying to get your --

l1 A why I joined the administrat'ion. I didn't join
t2 it because i thought the Ukrainians had been going after the

13 Presi dent .

t4 a I didn't say you did. I'm just trying to get your

l5 reacti on to
l6 A We11, my reaction obviously 'is pretty strong
t7 because, again
l8 a I know. I t' s proven very i nteresti ng.
19 A I'm extremely concerned that this is a rabbit
20 hole that we' re all goi ng to go down i n between now and the
2t 2020 election, and it will be to all of our detriment.
22 a I'm just asking you to give your reaction and if
23 you have any firsthand information given your area of
24 expertise.
25 A t'ly fjrsthand reaction is exactly of certain

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 343

I i nf ormat'ion i s exactly what I've sai d, that there may be

2 , and I
J can name lots of other American cit'izens with various
4 appellates to them who were running around trying to do
5 similar things with sim'i1ar embassies.
6 a Okay. But you don' t have any f i rsthand i nf ormat'ion
7 about Ambassador Chaly? Was that ever a point of discussjon?
8 A It was not. But Ambassador Chaly was always trying
9 to obviously push President Poroshenko's interest and, you

l0 know, obviously has now been removed by President Zelensky.

1l a Ri ght.
tz A He was the former chief of staff to President
l3 Poroshenko.
t4 a Was Pres'ident Poroshenko, you know, i n f avor of
l5 Hillary Clinton over President Trump to the extent you know?
16 A I do not know. I do know that Pres'ident Poroshenko
t7 spent an inordinate amount of time in the early stages of the
18 administration trying to create as good a relationship as he
19 possibty could with both the Vice President and the
20 P res i dent .

2l a 0n page L4, Ukrai ne's Mi ni ster of Internal Affai rs,

22 Avakov

23 A Mr. Avakov, yeah.

24 aYeah. He had some disparaging remarks about the
25 President on Twitter and Facebook. Do you have any firsthand

UNCLASS]FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 344

I information about that, or can relate any additional

2 i nformati on?

J A I can't. As I sajd, we found di sparagi ng remarks

4 made by pretty much every world leader and official at
5 different poi nts about the President. So, you know, thi s i s
6 not surprising but, again you know, and the fact of this
7 was in the course presumably of the campaign. Again, this is
8 January of 20L7, this article.
9 a Okay. And this will be my last passage that I
l0 point you to, page 15, a Ukrainian Parliamentarian Artemenko?
ll A Artemenko. Yeah, I don't really know him.
l2 a It was quoted you know, it was very clear that
l3 they, presuming the Poroshenko regime, was supporting Hillary
t4 Clinton's candidacy. They did everything from organizing
l5 meetings with the Cljnton team to publicly supporting her to
t6 criticizing Trump. I think they simply didn't meet -- that
t7 is with the Trump 0rganization because they thought Hillary
18 would wi n .

t9 A I think that this is the kicker here. As you

WeI1,
20 well know and as we all know, there was an awful lot of
2l people who actually thought that Secretary Clinton would win
22 the election. So an awful lot of countries and indiv'iduals
23 were already preparing for that eventuality by trying to
24 curry favor with the campaign.

25 a Okay.

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 345

I A certainly, as I said earlier on, before

And
2 President Trump was selected as the candidate, I mean, if
J you're at all interested, at some point, I can sit down with
4 you privately and go through a1I of the people I know who
5 tried to go through every single one of your colleagues'
6 campaigns from every kjnd of djfferent people who came up to
7 us, because I had colleagues who were working on Senator
8 Rubio's campaign, on Bush's campaign, on Jeb Bush's campaign.
9 And, beli eve me, there were Ukrai ni ans, Ukrai ni an
l0 Americans, Russians, all of whom wanted to talk to those
l1 campaigns too because they didn't think that President Trump
t2 would become the candidate.
13 a r enough. Yeah. And at the end of today, I am
Faj

t4 pretty certa'in you and maybe your lawyer won't want to see me
15 agai n, but
t6 A No. No. It's totally fine. I'm just trying to
t7 basically say here that I have very you know, obviously
l8 strong feelings about our national security. And I just want
19 to, if I've done anything, leave a message to you that we
20 should all be greatly concerned about what the Russians
2t jntend to do in 2020. And any jnformation that they can
22 provide, you know, that basically deflects our attentjon away

23 from what they djd and what they're planning on doing is very
24 usefut to them.

25 a The bottom of exhibit 3, on each page there's a

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS 1 FIED 346

1 date stamp July 3L.

2 A That was when my assistant printed it out. As you

J can be aware, I not actually there at the time.
was
4 a And do you have any firsthand information about why
5 this was printed then?
6 A Because that was his last day in the office. And
7 before I 1eft, after I'd been in to talk to our lega1 team, I
8 asked i f I could have a copy of the contacts and the calendar
9 for reference purposes so that I could help Tim Morrison with
l0 transi tion.
l1 And I wasn't actually able the contacts is also
t2 date-stamped the same time becauseI wasn't savvy enough to
l3 be able to print it out. Every time I printed it, it didn't
t4 print.
l5 a Fai r enough.

t6 And then i t was pri nted

t7 A Si mple i ncompetence.
l8 a It was printed on the 3Lst and then
t9 A And he held onto i t, and I picked it up

20 a When in
you came jn Septembe r ?

2t A Basi ca11y, yep. My printer -- picked it uP from

22 him, yep.
23 a that the information that
To the extent
24 Mr. G'iuliani was communicating to the various persons, to the
25 extent the jndividuals he was communicating that informatjon

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 347

I to
2 A That was a 1ot of us, I think, you know, but anyone
3 who was watching.
4 a took i t at face value
5 A Ri ght.
6 a and didn't undertake their own fact checking
7 A Ri ght.
8 a or investigation. If they simply took it at
own
9 f ace va1ue, you know, i s i t f ai r to say that 'if people

l0 genuinely believed what was being provided, I mean, is it

1l fajr to say that that could have yielded some of the results
12 that we saw?
13 A What results?
14 MR. WOLOSKY: I don't understand. Too much breadth in
15 that question. Could you sort of maybe break it down?
16 DR. HILL: Yeah. t'/hat results?
t7 BY MR. CASTOR:

l8 O Well , some of the results about the 'inf ormati on

l9 Mr. Giulianj was proffering
20 A Ri ght.
2t a you testjfied yielded the unpleasant result of
22 Ambassador Yovanovitch being recalled?
23 A 0h, Ambassador Yovanovitch being recal1ed. We11,
24 yes, if you beljeve in conspiracy theorjes and, as you said,
25 you know, and you don't have any

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 348

I a Ri ght.
2 A alternat'ive ways of fact checkjng or looking
J i nto i ssues, 'if you bel i eve that George Soros rules the world

4 and, you know, basicatly controls everything, and, you know'

5 if you

6 a Was Mr . Gi ul i ani pushi ng that?

7 A He mentioned George Soros repeatedly, and The H'i11

8 art'ic1e as well did and many others.

9 a But just the March 24tn Hill article?
l0 A I th'ink i t was the 20th or somethi ng 1i ke that,
ll that I saw.
t2 a Okay.
13 A And I was very sensi ti zed to thi s i ssue because 'in
t4 the whole first year at the NSC
l5 a Rl ght.
t6 A more people, myself included, were being accused
t7 of being Soros moles. And, indeed, I'm out on InfoWars again
l8 with Roger Stone, Alex Jones purporting that jndeed from the
t9 very beginning I've been involved in a George Soros-led
20 conspi racy.
2t a Okay.

22 A So, if you believe things tike that, I mean' in

23 general, and a 1ot of people seem to do, or some people seem
24 to do

25 t"lR. W0L0SKY: I just wanted the record to reflect that

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 349

Mr. Castor laughed in response to that question.

2 MR. CASTOR: , no. No
We1 1 .

J MR. WOLOSKY: Let me finish. And thjs is a very serious

4 matter, okay. This js a matter where people are being
5 targeted and people --
6 MR. CASTOR: is an outrageous -- that is outrageous
That
7 to say that I laughed at that.
8 MR. W0L05KY: You did laugh, and I want the record to
9 reflect it because thjs is a very serious matter where
l0 peopte's lives potentially are in danger. And i t's not a
ll laughi ng matter .

t2 MR. CASTOR: She discussed of individuals and

a number
t3 situations that I have no familiarity with, and so to the
t4 extent you think that
15 l'lR. W0LOSKY: And when she mentioned Soros and InfoWars
t6 and the fact that she is now back into that cyc1e, you

t7 laughed about i t.
l8 MR. CASTOR: i didn't bring up InfoWars.
r9 DR. HILL: I did. I did.
20 MR. W0LOSKY: And you laughed. So the record will
2t reflect'it.
22 14R. CASTOR: We1l, that is, you know, an absolutely
23 ridi culous characteri zation.
24 DR. HILL: Look, I think the unfortunate thing that
25 we're aIl in at the moment -- and as I said, you know, I try

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 3s0

I at all times to, you know, maintain this nonpartisan, you

2 know, expert approach, but we're in an environment where
a
J people befieve an awful 1ot of things.
4 I mean, Mr.Soros and a whole lot of other people were
5 sent pipe bombs. I had a call from one of the detailees from
6 the FBI who was in my office previously, my previous special
7 assi stant, who told me to seal up my door slot today before I
8 came down here because he'S been following the a1t right out

9 of those and wh'ite suPremac j sts.

l0 BY MR. CASTOR:

ll a Who was that?

t2 A My at the FBI, who was detailed,
colleague back my

l3 special assistant, and he said I'm lighting up the

t4 Twi ttersphere.
l5 a 0kay. I have no
t6 A I don't follow all of this stuff, so I have to rely
l7 on other people tipping me off about this.
l8 a Okay. I know nothing about Alex Jones or anything
19 1i ke that. I'm s'imply i nterested i n The Hi 11 reporti ng and,
20 you know, what Lutsenko may or may not have said to Solomon
2t and

22 A But i t's become part of what's become a very large

23 universe of information and stories that are out there on the
24 'internet that is rea1ly affecting an awful lot of people's
25 j udgments.

UNCLASS]FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 351

1 MR. CAST0R: Mr. Jordan?

2 MR. JORDAN:Okay. Dr. Hill, I just want to go back to
J where I was last hour, if I cou1d. Again, Ambassador
4 Yovanovitch 'in her statement last week talked about
5 corruption is not just prevalent'in Ukraine but is the
6 system. And then along comes , Zetensky, who 'is
thi s guy

7 running a campaign on you know, totally on cleaning up the

8 corruption, I mean, it's a central issue of his campaign, and
9 wins. And my understanding is he won rather big.
l0 DR. HI LL: He di d wi n bi g, yeah .

l1 MR. JORDAN: But as you ind'icated earlier, you still

t2 don't know. You know, people run campaigns and say things,
r3 and then they get elected and sometimes they do things that
t4 aren't consjstent wjth what they told the voters they were
l5 going to do.
t6 DR. HILL: Right.
t7 l,lR. JORDAN: So you wanted to wait, see how things
l8 happen j n the part i amentary electi ons
t9 DR. HI LL: Yep.

20 MR. J0RDAN: -- himself. And so you

see how he handled
2t wajt and the parliamentary elections go well for his party,
22 right?
23 HILL: Well, this happened, you know, in July,
DR.
24 July 2l.st, by which I had already 1eft, but that'is correct,
25 yeah.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 352

I Right. You're kind of waiting. And you

MR. JORDAN:

2 also said earlier that I guess you were probably also

J waiting to see what happened what kind of feedback you got
4 from the fo1ks, Secretary Perry, Senator Johnson, who went to
5 the inauguration, see what their feedback was. And my
6 understanding, that feedback was positive for President
7 ZeIensky.
8 testified earlier that
And you
9 MR. G0LDMAN: Sorry to 'interrupt, but i f that's a

10 you're nodding, so I just want the record to reflect you're

l1 sayi ng yes.
t2 DR.HILL: 0h, I'ff so sorry. Yes. I forgot the
l3 fi rst yes. That i s correct. Yes. I'm sorry.
t4 MR. JORDAN: And then you said earlier that, you know,
l5 OMB holds up dollars all the time.

t6 DR. HILL: Uh-huh.

t7 MR. JORDAN: It happened i n your, you know, extensive

18 experi ence, 'i t's happened several times, even happened wi th

t9 Ukrai ne, ri ght?
20 DR. HILL: That's correct.
2t MR. JORDAN:Yeah. And then, in the end, it sort of all
22 worked out, the J avel i ns happened, the securi ty assi stance
23 dollars happened, continued to flow. And then, when
24 President Trump and Presjdent Zelensky meet, like many people
25 have told US, it seems to me they actuatly hit it off when

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 353

I they met 'in New York.

2 So we've got all this stuff going on, and I get it, and

3 we've spent several hours talking about it all. But as I

4 look at it all, in the end, it k'ind of worked like it
5 normally does. I understand there were d'ifferent people
6 talking and doing d'ifferent things, and you talked a lot
7 about Ambassador Sondland and Mayor Giuliani and d'ifferent
8 thi ngs.
9 But in the end, what needed to get done, everything you

l0 have sa i d . You
you agreed w'i th the J avel i ns goi ng there
u agreed with the security assistance happening. You felt, I
t2 think, like the rest of the folks that we have spoken to,
l3 that if President Zelensky and Presjdent Trump get together,
t4 they're actually going to get a1ong.
l5 And you felt that when the Senator and the Secretary
t6 went there for the inauguratjon, they liked this guy too.
t7 All that kjnd of worked out. Is that fair to say?
18 DR. HILL: Well, it depends on what you mean about
t9 working out. The President and President Zelensky did, in
20 f act, meet at the U. N. GA. That j s correct. The m'i1i tary

2t ass'istance appears to have been delivered, to the best of my

22 knowledge and also to yours.
23 But in terms of the overall U.S.-Ukrainian relationship,
24 no, I wouldn't say that this has worked out because we're in
25 the m'idd1e of now what i s a scandal about Ukrai ne. So the

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 354

manner in to this point has been extraord'inarily

which we got
2 corrosive, the removal of our Ambassador and what we have
J done, which is laying open what appears to have been an
4 effort in which a number of unsanctioned individuals,
5 including Ukrainian American busjnesspeople, seem to have
6 been involved in these efforts
7 MR. JORDAN: Dr. Hill, why do you think President

8 Zelensky was jn favor of a new Ambassador to Ukraine from the

9 Uni ted States?
10 HILL: I only see what I see in the transcript, in
DR.
1l whi ch he's talki ng to the Presi dent. He di dn't say that he

t2 was necessarily in favor. He's just responding to what he

13 has been told i n thi s transcri Pt.
t4 MR. JORDAN: I mean, I can look at th'is transcript

l5 again, but I think he said he favored it 100 percent. He was

t6 pretty emphatic about
t7 DR. HILL: He's responding to what the Presjdent said,
l8 as far aS I can tel1 here. I can't speak to what President
l9 Zelensky'is thinking. I rea1ly can't.
20 MR. JORDAN: You th'ink he's simply responding to the
2t President's suggestion? It seems to me, if that was the
22 case, he would say: Okay. I think that would be fine.
23 He says: No, I agree with you L00 percent. She was for
24 Poroshenko.

25 DR. HiLL: He also says that he agrees l-00 percent,

UNCLASS I FlED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 355

actually L ,000 percent, on, you know, Angela l'4erke1 and other
2 European countri es not helpi ng Ukrai ne, whi ch actually i sn't
3 true. It i s true, as the President has asserted, that
4 they're not helping on the military front, but the Germans
5 and the French and other Europeans are giving an awful 1ot of
6 technical assistance and funding and money to Europe. We
7 were tryi ng to get them to do more, but 'it's not true that
8 they' re not doi ng much.

9 Look, I can't speak to what either of the Presidents

l0 were thi nki ng 'in thi s moment. I can only read and respond to
lt the transcri pt.
t2 1'4R. JORDAN: Wel1, okay, fine. I mean, we have what
l3 Pres'ident Zelensky said. He obviously wanted a new

t4 Ambassador just f ike President Trump did.

l5 DR. HILL: We11, he doesn't say he wanted a new
t6 Ambassador here. He wants his own new Ambassador. President
t7 Zelensky also removed Ambassador ChaIy because he's newly
l8 elected, and Ambassador Chaly used to be President
19 Poroshenko's National Security Advisor and Special Assistant,
20 Special Diplomatic Advisor.
2l MR. JORDAN: I'm just reading what President Zelensky
22 said. I agree with you 100 percent -- page four, second
23 paragraph, President Zelensky, near the bottom: I agree with
24 you L00 percent. Her attitude towards me was far from the
25 best as she admi red the previ ous Pres'ident and she was on hi s

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 356

I side.
2 HILL: Look, I can't speculate about why Presjdent
DR.
J Zelensky was saying this and about what he was thinking about
4 at thi s particular time. He also doesn't have her name
5 correct.
6 MR. JORDAN : You don ' t thi nk

7 HILL: And he says: It was great that you were the

DR.
8 fi rst one who told me that she was a bad Ambassador.
9 He said: It was great that you were the first one who
l0 told me that she was a bad Ambassador.
ll MR. JORDAN: I understand. I'm not saying

t2 DR. HILL: No. But I'm just saying that this seems to
l3 suggest something e1se, so perhaps all of us shouldn't be
t4 speculating on what they were basically both th'inking or
l5 saying.
t6 MR. JORDAN: I'm not speculating. I'm just saying what

t7 he sai d. I 'm aski ng you

18 HILL: We11, he says: It was great that you were
DR.
t9 the first one the first one who told me that she was a
20 bad Ambassador because I agree wi th you 100 percent.
2t That doesn't mean to say that he thinks that she was a
22 bad ambassador. He's responding to what the Presjdent has
23 sai d to hi m.

24 MR. JORDAN: So, when he sajd, "I agree with you 100

25 percent," he's not agreeing with the President 100 percent?

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 357

I DR.HILL: Well, he's agreeing with the Pres'ident

2 100 percent if the President has told him that she is a bad
a
J Ambassador, as the fi rst one who i s telling him.
4 MR. JORDAN: A11 I'm
5 DR.HILL: I'm just saying to you what I'm reading here
6 as weI1. And, look, I don't want to start parsing what
7 either the President is saying or President Zelensky
8 MR. JORDAN: I didn't posit why he wanted her. I just
9 said what he said. You're the expert on Ukraine, not me.
l0 DR. HILL: LooK
ll l"lR. JORDAN:I'm asking you what you think
12 DR. HILL: I am saying that he
13 MR. JORDAN: -- why did Presjdent Ze1ensky, the guy who
14 ran on corruption, the single biggest'issue, that was his
l5 campaign, he wins, he gets elected. He wjns the
l6 parliamentary races, and he says he wins overwhelming in
t7 his Presidential election, he says he wants a new Ambassador.
l8 I 'm j ust aski ng you
t9 DR. HILL: You'11 actually see here that there's an

20 error i n translati on here. So, remember , Presj dent Zelensky

2t doesn't real1y speak English. He speaks some English but not
22 a lot of English. I would like to actually know whether this
Z) was, you know, fully interpreted or whether he himself was
24 attempting to speak in English for thjs because you'11
25 actual ly see i t ' s qui te garbled .

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 358

I So, if you start to actually look at this paragraph

2 here, and I worked as a translator as we11, as an
J interpreter, just to be clear here, and I do speak Ukrainian,
4 although not as well as I speak Russian, and what he's saying
5 here i s he has got confused between the Ambassador to the
6 United States from Ukraine, which cou1d, in actual fact, be

7 his Ambassador, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United

8 States. So he's getti ng himself confused i n thi s parti cular
9 poi nt here.

l0 MR. JORDAN: What was her name or his name, excuse

ll me?

l2 HILL: That's Ambassador Chaly. But you see, he

DR.
l3 says here: 1t'd be very helpful for the investigation to
t4 make sure that we admi n'ister j usti ce i n our country wi th
l5 regard to the Ambassador to the Un'ited States from Ukraine.
t6 So that ' s a1 ready a confus i on .

t7 MR. JORDAN: We11, but he didn't say

l8 DR. HILL: So what I'm saying here is he didn't, but

t9 he ' s gett'i ng conf used .
20 t'4R. J0RDAN: He said Yovanov'itch.
2l DR. HILL: Yes, but as I say, h€'s getti ng confused
22 because he's talkr'ng about the Ambassador to the United
23 States from Ukraine.
24 MR. JORDAN: OkaY. Fine.
25 DR. HILL: So what I'm saying here is, and then he said:

UNCLASS 1 FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 3s9

I It was great that you were the first one who told me the
2 first one who told me that she was a bad Ambassador
J because I agree with you 100 percent. And then he says her
'4 attitude to me was far from the best as she admired the
5 previous President and she was on his side.
6 And thi s 'is what we understand as be'ing sai d by Rudy
7 Giuliani. Because I know from working with Ambassador
8 Yovanovitch that she wasn't personally close to Poroshenko.
9 MR. JORDAN: Dr. Hi11, that is fine.
10 DR. HILL: And tet me j ust te11 you thi s, there's been
ll two instances -- just 1et me finish there's been two
t2 instances jn which ambassadors have been refused agrement or
l3 been refused cons'ideration by the countries because they've
t4 been accused of being close to the previous incumbent

l5 P res i dent .

l6 This with our Ambassador to Georgia, and she'd

happened
t7 been previ ously servi ng 'in the Embassy i n Georgi a under
l8 Saakashvili, and the current President said that she was
l9 close to him and purported to prov'ide information to me and
20 to others, and thi s wasn't true. Agai n, as I've sa'id bef ore,
2t anyone who had worked with President Poroshenko
22 MR. JORDAN: Doctor, I'm not asking about Georgia. I'm
23 aski ng about Ukrai ne.
24 HILL: No. But I'm poi nti ng out to you that thi s
DR. i s

25 a common refrain that we get from other embassjes jn other

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I EIED 360

I countries when they don't necessarily, you know, want to

2 either have an ambassador that we're trying to send to them
J or that they want to curry favor with many of our officials.
4 They will often refer to things like thjs.
5 MR. JORDAN: A11 right. Thank you.
6 MR. ZELDIN: Dr. Hi11, do you have a relationship with
7 f ormer Ass'istant Secretary of State Vi ctori a Nuland?

8 DR. HILL: In what way, a relationship?

9 MR. ZELDIN: Professional.
10 DR.HILL: A professional relatjonship, yes, when I was
l1 working jn the previous capacities as the national
t2 intelligence officer. She's a long-term, yotl know, Foreign
r3 5ervice officer. 5he'd been the Nat'iona1 Security Advisor to
t4 Cheney, for example, to Vice President Cheney at that tjme.
l5 I do not have a personal relat'ionshi p wi th her beyond the
t6 professional relationship.
17 l'4R. ZELDiN: Are you aware of her directing anyone at

l8 State to talk to Christopher Steele during her tenure as

t9 Assi stant Secretary?

20 HILL: i was aware from the exchanges that she asked
DR.
2t Kathy Kavalec to talk to him after we had thjs discussion
22 already, when I suppose Christopher SteeIe had asked to talk
23 to her, and she asked Kathy Kavalec to talk to him instead.
24 MR. ZELDIN: In your opinion, would that be proper?
25 DR. HILL: I wouldn't have talked to him "in that

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 361

1 position, but whether jt's proper or not, I think, is a

2 j udgment for Assi stant Secretary Nuland and others.

3 MR. ZELDIN: This was in the midst of the 20L5 election,

4 correct?
5 DR. HILL: I believe that's the case. I mean, I read
6 about this 1ater, and Kathy Kavalec told me that she'd been
7 i nstructed to go and talk to h'im.

8 MR. ZELDIN: Has anything been stated so tar today that

9 you would describe as classified, or would you say everything
l0 up to thi s poi nt 'is unclassi f i ed?
1t DR. HILL: I don't think that anything that I have said
t2 is classified. 0r are you referring to just questions that
l3 you have asked? I mean, I think that when we've got jnto
t4 and this is why, you know, perhaps I've been a fittle harsher
l5 in my responses to the questions about the Politico piece and
t6 things about Ukraine because I have a lot of classified
t7 jnformation that leads jn other directions, and, obviously, I
l8 can ' t sha re those.

t9

20

2t

22

23

24

25

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASSITlED 362

I [5:15 p.m.]
2 MR. ZELDIN : But i t' s your - -
J MR. BITAR: Just as a matter of record for the
4 interview, this interview, as we said at the outset, has been
5 conducted at the unclassified 1eve1. We have not flagged
6 anything at this moment in time as classified.
7 DR. HiLL: No, and I have confined all my answers to the

8 things that have either been in the public d'iscussion

9 MR. BITAR: I just don't want to leave any ambiguity, in
l0 light of the question
ll MR. ZELDIN: That's why I'm asking the question.
t2 So specifically with regards to the first round of
l3 questions, you stated something about Venezuela and Russia.
t4 Do you recall talking about some type of
l5 HILL: Yes. I said that the Russi ans si gnaled,
DR.
t6 including publicly through the press and through press
t7 articles that's the way that they operate that they
18 were interested in they lajd'it out in articles, I mean a
l9 1ot of them in Russian but, you know, obviously, your
20 staff and Congressional Research Service can find them for
21 you positing that, as the U.S. was so concerned about the
22 Monroe Doctrine and its own backyard, perhaps the U.S. might
23 also be then concerned about developments in Russja's
24 backyard as in Ukraine, making it very obvious that they were
25 trying to set up some kind of let's just say: You stay out

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLAS S I FIED 363

I of Ukraine or you move out of Ukraine, you change your

2 posi ti on on Ukrai ne, and, you know, we'11 rethi nk where we
J are wi th Venezueta.
4 I said that I went to Moscow. It wasn't a
And
5 classified trip because I was going to meet with Russians.
6 And in the course of those discussjons, it was also apparent,
7 including with a Russian think tank and other members, that
8 the Russian Government was'interested in having a discussion
9 about Venezuela and Ukraine.
l0 MR. ZELDiN: And just
for my own knowledge then, so

il that's something that it's all been publicly reported,

t2 everything's unclassif ied there?
l3 DR. HILL: It's that the Russjans, the
been reported and
t4 Russians themselves made it very clear in unclassjfjed public
l5 settings that they were interested at some point in and,

t6 'in f act, i t was even reported i n the press that I had gone to
t7 Russia, by someone that asked a question of our State
l8 Department officiats in doing a press briefi ng: Had I gone
l9 to Russia at the time to make a trade between Venezuela and
20 Ukraine? It was asked as a question to Christopher Robinson
2t during a press briefing at the State Department.
22 MR. ZELDIN: Did you state earlier that there was a
23 nexus between Rudy Giulianj associates and Venezuela?
24 DR. HILL: I was told that by the directors working on
25 the Western Hemi sphere. I d'idn't have a chance to look i nto

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 364

1 this in any way. I told that the same individuals who

was
2 had been jndicted had been interested at different points in
J energy i nvestments 'in Venezuela and that th'is was qui te
4 well-known.
5 MR. maintained after you left the
ZELDIN: Have you
6 U.S. Government, have you been in contact with any Ukrainjan
7 Government offi ci a1s?
8 DR. HILL: I have not.
9 with any U.S.
NR. ZELDIN: Have you had contact
10 Government officials sharing any information with you about
ll when Ukraine became aware of a hold on aid?
t2 DR. HILL: I have not. I've only read about it in the
l3 paper.
t4 MR. ZELDIN: So the sole source of information that you

l5 have with regards to the hold on aid to Ukraine has been

t6 based on press reports?
17 HILL: No. Well , you said about Ukra'ini an
DR.
l8 offjcials, when they knew about when the aid had been put on
l9 ho1d.

20 t4R. ZELDIN: Wi th regard to Ukrai ni an offi ci a1s, so1e1y

2t through press reports?
22 HILL: I only know about that from press reports.
DR.
./.) When I 1eft, it had just been announced internally, and I was

24 not aware at that point whether the Ukrainians knew about

25 that. So I left on Ju1y 19th.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 365

I MR. ZELDIN : And you were snorkeling on Ju1y 25th?

2 DR. HILL: I was snorkeling quite a bit in that
a
J timeframe, yeah.
4 MR. ZELDIN : How much time do we have left?
5 MR. HECK: Three mi nutes.
6 MR. ZELDIN: We yield back.
7 MR. HECK: Turn now to the gentleman from Californja,
8 Mr. Rouda, who has a couple of questions.
9 MR. ROUDA: Thank you very much.
l0 Dr. Hill, thank you for a long day of testimony.
l1 MR. GOLDMAN: Mr. Rouda, can you use the microphone?
t2 l'lR. ROUDA: Just a couple quick questions. You talked a
13 little bit about the aid that was approved in a bipartisan
t4 fashjon that it is typical for the agencies and departments
l5 involved to slow down and move forward, step back as the
t6 process goes through for them to get to their final
l7 approvals.
l8 if I understood your testimony correctly, it did appear
t9 that all approvals had been made at the time that this aid
20 was delayed and that that would be characterized as unusual.
2t DR. HI LL: That i s correct .

22 MR. ROUDA: And equally unusual that the communication

23 from Mulvaney to the respective departments, that there was
24 no speci f i c reason f olit. Would you characteri ze that as
25 unusual as well?

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 366

I DR.HILL: That i s correct.

2 MR. ROUDA: Thank you. And then I just want to get a
J 1itt1e bit of better understanding on the voice memorandum
4 the call memorandum, excuse me. And if I understand
5 correctly from your testimony, we have individuals who are
6 repeating exactly what the Pres'ident of the United States has
7 sa'id as well as what the President of Ukraine has said that's
8 go'ing i nto voi ce analyti cs , and that that i s more than one
9 person , i s that cor rect , that ' s doi ng that acti vi ty?
l0 DR. HILL: I think there may be more than one person at
1l times.
t2 MR. R0UDA: So do we know in this
13 DR.HILL: I know I personally myself know of one
t4 person who usually does thjs, but there could be two at the
l5 same time, particularly if it's, you know, kind of a long
t6 call or, you know, maybe one person does one person, one
t7 person does another.
18 MR. ROUDA: So, in this situation, we don't know as we
t9 sit here right now whether there was one or more people
20 who

2l DR. HILL: I do not know.

22 But, regardless, it's being dictated into
t"lR. ROUDA:

23 the voice recognition, and then there's a process to go back

24 and check against people's notes to make sure that the
25 memorandum is as close aS possible to what they believe they

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 367

I heard during that call?

2 DR. HILL: That's right.
J MR. R0UDA: And then, once that's completed, various
4 individuals, including members of the White House staff, have

5 the ability to review that memorandum as well and make any

6 add'iti onal edi ts?
7 DR. HILL: Say agai n. Members of the
8 MR. ROUDA: Members of the White House staff would have
9 the ability to look at that call summary?
l0 DR. HILL: 0nly the Executive Secretari at wouId.
ll MR. R0UDA: 0kay , the Execut j ve
t2 DR. HILL: But usualty for punctuation or, you know,
l3 ki nd of style punctuati on- related j ssues.
l4 MR. ROUDA: And is'it possible that the memorandum that
l5 was circulated coutd have had redactions from it?
t6 DR. HILL: It's poss'ible, but it doesn't necessarily
t7 indicate this in looking at thjs. This is not 'incons'istent
l8 wi th other transcri pts that I've worked on.

l9 t"lR. ROUDA: Thank you, Chairman. I yield back.

20 MR. HECK: 14r. Goldman.
2l MR. GOLDMAN: Mr. Noble wi 11 take i t.
22 BY I,IR. NOBLE :

23 a So I'd like to go back and ask about some more of

24 the meetings on your calendar.
25 A Sure.

UNCLASS ] FIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 368

I a Actua11y, this one is not on your calendar, but the

2 day before the meeting on the 5th that we were talking about,
J there was a d'inner or of celebrat j on hosted by
some k'ind
4 Ambassador Sondland in Brussels to celebrate independence 1

5 month ear1y. Were you aware of that?

6 A I was . Yeah , that was 'i n J une. And thi s was the
7 dinner that he had invited President Zelensky to attend.
8 a Ri ght. Do you know why he i nvlted Presi dent
9 Zelensky?
10 A Yes. Basically, this was in the course of, you
ll know, the discuss'ions that it would be very difficult for us
12 to necessarily get a high-1evel meeting scheduled with
l3 Presi dent Zelensky, you know, 'i mmedi ately after hi s electi on .

l4 We'd already talked at great length about, you know,

l5 kind of all the back-and-forth about what we were going to do
t6 about trying to have a Pres'idential meeting or a meeting with
t7 the Vi ce Presi dent.
18 And the Germans and the French and others were already
t9 i nvi ti ng Presi dent Zelensky to vi si t . And Ambassador

20 Sondland, what was tradi tionally we11, I guess the Uni ted
2l States Embassy always traditionally has a July Fourth party.
22 For whatever reason, Ambassador Sondland was going to have

23 his a month early.

24 You know, 'it was w'ith'in the respectable period after the

25 election of President Zelensky. We all wanted to have a

UNCLASS IFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 369

1 touch of some description at a high level with him, something

2 that would, you know, show that the United States was paying,
a
J you know, attention to him. And Gordon Sondland came up with
4 that idea and, in fact, we all supported it.
5 a Who else attended the dinner, do you know, on the
6 U.S. side?
7 A I never saw a full invitation list. I mean, I read

8 that Jay Leno was there, which was quite jnteresting and I
9 guess makes sense. He's one comedian, you know, and another.
l0 And I do know that Jared Kushner was there. There was even a
tl discussion about that because he was going to Europe for
t2 other business. And 'it was discussed that this would be a
l3 signaling, you know, on the part of the Whjte House that, you
t4 know, Zelensky was being treated seriously by having a member

l5 of the President's family and also another senior White House

l6 off icial attending that dinner. So we did not see this as
t7 untoward 'in any way.
l8 a Did you get a readout from the meeting?
t9 A I dld not get a readout. I mean, this was being
20 bi1led more as something social, and jt was to introduce
2l Zelensky to the European Diplomatic Corps and other European
22 heads of state. And I believe that he Pres'ident Zelensky
23 had some other meetings around that with European officials.
24 a Okay. 0n page 42, on June L3, you had a meeting
25 with Ambassador Votker and Ambassador BoIton.

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 370

I A Yes.

2 a Do you recall what that meeting was about on the

J L3th?
4 A Yes. That meeti ng was, agai n, looki ng forward to
5 where we were go'ing to try to go with Ukrainjan policy,
6 whether there was going to be any hope of having the Russians
7 revisit Some kind of process again with Ambassador Volker.
8 I mean, at this point, he's been waiting for some
9 response from Sokov aS to whether he'S intending to meet with
l0 him again and whether we should anticipate the Russjans doing
ll anything before the Rada, the parliamentary elections. And
12 he was relating to Ambassador Bolton, you know, all of his
l3 efforts to talk to the Europeans and to others at that time.
t4 a Di d you recal l that that , on J une l'3 th , that was
l5 the same day that Presjdent Trump told George Stephanopoulos
16 i n an i nterview that he'd be wl11i ng to accept di rt f rom a

t7 foreign government on a political opponent?

l8 A I did not make that connection. No, I did not
t9 recal1 that.
20 a 5o you d j dn't di scuss that w1th Ambassador
2t Volker --

22 A No.

23 a and Ambassador Bolton?

24 Did you ever discuss that statement by the President
25 with Ambassador Bolton?

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 371

I A I did not, no.

2 a Did that raise any concerns for you when you heard
J the President say that?
4 A I jt raised general concerns about, you know,
mean,
5 what does that mean? I mean, obviously, you know, I'ln sure,
6 based on my responses to some of these questions, you can be
7 sure I don't approve of that kjnd of thing because, again,
8 this is where we've all got ourselves into a predicament.
9 a And did you discuss that concern with anyone else
10 at the NSC?
1l A I did not.
t2 a 0n the next page, on the L7th, you met with General
l3 Kel ogg abou t Ukra i ne
1 .

t4 A Yes.
15 a Do you recall what that meeting was about?
t6 A Yes. Thi s was , aga i n , you know, f ol low'ing up wi th
t7 him on my previous concerns and also trying to check to see
18 if there was any more chance that perhaps the Vice President
19 might consider, you know, going to Ukraine at some point in
20 the summer.

2t a And the next day you met with Ambassador Sondland?

22 A is correct. That was the day that I was told
That
23 by Ambassador Sondland that he was in charge of Ukraine.
24 a Okay. We've gone over that. Ski ppi ng forward to
25 the 3rd of July, it's on page 45, you had a meeting with

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 372

I Michael E1lis and John Eisenberg, and it looks like you

2 handwrote thi s transi tion and question mark?

J A Yes, because I thi nk that was my f i rst i n'iti aI
4 transition meeting, and i just wanted to, you know, kind of
5 double-check for myself because, you know, this is already in
6 the month that I'm leaving, and there was an awful 1ot of
7 things I had to make sure that I was complying with. I was
8 also asking them, were there any of the issues that we'd all
9 worked on together that I should specifically think about
10 handi ng off to others , other i ndi vi duals .

ll a This was a week before the meeting on July 10th

t2 that we talked about earlier where Sondland blurted out about
13 push'i ng

t4 A That i s that hadn't actually

correct. And
15 hadn't been fu11y scheduled at that partj cular tjme. We were
l6 working on having 0leksandr Danylyuk and Andrey Yermak come,

t7 but we didn't at that moment actually that Ambassador

know

l8 Sondland and Ambassador Volker were going to participate as

t9 wel1.
20 Andin actual fact, they weren't on the initial list to
2t parti ci pate because I '11 j ust say i t was actually hi ghly
22 unusual for both of them to be at a meeting with a senior
23 Ukrainian official that was with Ambassador Bolton. I mean,
24 the normal thing would have been to have Ambassador Volker
25 have his own meetings with them at State Department, but

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASSIEIED 373

I Ambassador Sondland was pretty insistent on getting jnto the

2 meeti ng along with Ambassador Volker.
a
J a Was he admitted to the meeting over the objection
4 of
5 A And then that's actually when we also determined
6 that Secretary Perry should be there as we11, because
7 obviously we were having Ambassador Volker and Ambassador
8 Sondland, and Secretary Perry was having you know,

9 basjcally, was rea1ly in the process of initiating work on

l0 the Ukrainian energy sector. Then, if we were going to have
ll the two of them, we should then have Secretary Perry as well
t2 and cover the whole range of issues. It also seemed, to be
l3 frank, to be an opportunity for coordination that we
t4 obviously sorely needed at that point.
l5 a Fai r enough. The l'lay 20th i naugurati on, the U.5.
t6 delegation, its composition, was there ever any debate about
t7 whether or not Ambassador Sondland should attend the
l8 i nauguration?

t9 A Yes. He wasn't on our i ni ti al li st.

20 a Okay. How did he
2t A We were trying to determjne and the Chief of
22 Staff 's Office kept putting him back on. And Ambassador
23 Sondland, in any case, said he was going.
24 a Mick Mulvaney's office kept putting hjm back on?
25 A That's ri ght.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 374

1 a So did Ambassador Bolton essentially get overruled?

2 A Essentially. I mean, that actually is not uncommon
J for us to put forward a ljst and then others to put forward
4 lists. The State Department often puts lists forward of
5 people that they want to be attending as we11. And
6 Ambassador Sondland also got the State Department, Lisa
7 Kenna, who is the Executive Secretary at the State
8 Department, to make it clear that he should attend.
9 a What do you mean, he got Lisa Kenna to make it
l0 clear that he should attend?
ll A He contacted me when he wasn't on the list that
12 Ambassador Bolton had put forward and said he wasn't on the
l3 list that he would be contacting Lisa Kenna to write to
and
14 the NSC to make sure that he was on the 1ist. And he wanted
l5 to know why he wasn't on the 1ist. And I related to him that
t6 the ljst had been drawn up according to people who were

t7 responsible for, you know, Ukrainian affai rs.

18 Th'is i s bef ore s i s May 20th, bef ore
remember, thi
l9 he's announced to me that he's in charge of Ukraine on June
20 L8th and that there was, you know, kind of no reason to
2t see at that po'int why he should be goi ng to the Presi dent'ia1
22 inauguration of the Ukrainian President as Ambassador to EU.
23 It was just simply as simple as that.
24 And he sa'id that he had been i nstructed by the State
25 Department and that he would have Ulrich Brechbuhl, you know,

UNCLASS I FlED
 UNCLASS] FIED 37s

1 if necessary, ca11, but he was going to have Lisa Kenna send

2 a note to the Executive Secretariat.
J a 0f the National Securi ty Counci 1?
4 A 0f the National Securi ty Counci 1.
5 a Do you know whether she sent that note?
6 A I believe she did. We'd also invited quite a lot
7 of people. I th'ink, you know, Senator Portman as well as
8 Senator Johnson and a range of other people. But the
9 scheduling was so tight that very few people were able to
l0 come.

ll O Was Sondland, Ambassador Sondland originally on the

t2 fist of attendees for the July L0th meeting?
l3 A No. Ini ti ally I mean , thi s 'is a meeti ng that
14 was requested with Ambassador Bolton, and they asked jf they
15 could attend, Ambassador Sondland and Kurt Volker. Then we

t6 decided tothat we should atso have Secretary Perry come.

t7 a Who did they ask to attend, Ambassador Bolton?
l8 Whose permission did they have to get?

l9 A They went through Ambassador Bolton's offjce. And

20 we were also then asked to push f orward 'if they wanted to

2t attend. So we had some back-and-forth with Ambassador Bolton
22 about thi s. Because, agai n, j n the spi ri t of coordi nation at
23 this particular juncture, it seemed like actually a good
24 thing to do.
25 a Okay. We may have talked about thjs one, so

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS] FIED 376

1 forgive me, but on page 46, there was a meeting with George

2 Kent

J A Yes.

4 a on Monday, July8th. What was that about?

5 A That was basically in the course of my you know,
6 I mentjoned before I was trying to do handover meetings. And
7 I wanted to fill in DAS Kent about the Deputy Assistant
8 Secretary Kent about the fact that we were working very
9 closely with Secretary Perry on trying to promote
l0 energy-related issues. And given h'is portfolio, I asked him
ll if he would take the lead in making sure that there was fu11
t2 coordi nation wi th Secretary Perry on the energy i ssues.
13 a Okay. On page 47, we may have talked about this
t4 one as wel1, July L9th, your meeting with Ambassador

15 Taylor - -
l6 A Yes.

t7 a about Ukraine. Was that another -- that was a

l8 transition meet'ing?

l9 A It was a secure phone call with him.

20 a OkaY.
2l A He wasn't at this point jn he was actually in
22 Kyiv. This was actually a secure phone ca1l.
23 a And is this the conversation you had where you went
24 through the taundry list of concerns with him?
25 A That i s cor rect .

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 377

1 a OkaY.

2 A And this was because, you know, obvi ous1y, the

J previous week we had, you know, had thi s these epi sodes,
4 and I hadn't been abte to tatk to h'im s i nce I was trying to
.

5 schedule a call with him.

6 And as you can see, I've also got Phjl Reeker. We had
7 lunch and I basically was trying to hand off. It wasn't
8 j ust, agai n, about Ukrai ne i n hi s case. A1t these i ssues

9 that I was worried were loose threads that needed to be

l0 wrapped up, and I was worried there wouldn't be coordjnation
l1 on.
t2 a Got it.
l3 A And then, as you can see here, Mr. Danylyuk ca11ed
t4 me as well, because he was sti1l worried about not having
15 reached a conclusion on who he should engage wjth to work on

l6 the National Security Council reform jn Ukraine. And I

t7 suggested to that he work with Deputy Assistant
him again
l8 Secretary Taylor -- Kent and also with Ambassador Taylor,
t9 because that would be appropriate, because normally the State
20 Department carrjes out this kjnd of technical ass'istance or
21 advisory ro1e. And we'd already done this, of course, with
22 the Ukra'inian military, with Generat Abizaid and also with
23 Kei th Dayton.
24 a Did Danytyuk raise anything about the any

25 concern about setting up a meeting between President Zelensky

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 378

I and President TrumP?

2 A that there was no sign

He kept expressing concern
J of the meeting. And I assured him that Ambassador Bolton was
4 treati ng i t seriously and that we would do 'it, you know, when
5 it waS in terms of the schedule. I also stressed
appropriate
6 again that, at this juncture, we needed to wait for you

7 know, as I've said to our colleagues, that we needed to wait

8 for the Rada elections and then to See about the formation of
9 the government.
l0 a Which were scheduled for the following week at that
ll poi nt?

t2 A The fo1 lowi ng week , cor rect .

l3 a Okay. And then, on July 23rd, the next page,

t4 there's a Ukraine PCC meeting?

15 A Yes.

l6 a I take it you did not attend that meeting?

t7 A I did not. And I actually d'idn't attend the
l8 meet i ng that's also on the calendar for the L8th, because I'd

19 a1 ready handed over to Tim Morri son. The last series of

20 meet i n gs that I went to in mY formal capaci ty were on the

2t L5th, the redacted meet i ngs .

22 Andafter that, w€'d agreed wi th Ambassador Bo1 ton and

23 Charlie Kupperman that, You know, because of the short nature
z4 of the that we should hand over to Tim. But T'im had been
25 traveling 'in th'is period. He d jd return on the Thursday, you

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 379

I know. And then the point was to have this meeting on the
2 Tuesday, wh'ich was actually supposed to be where they started
J to discuss what was going on with the hold on the military
4 ass'istance.
5 a Did Mr. Morrison, do you know, did he attend that
6 meeting on the L8th, orsti11 traveling?
was he
7 A I would have to check. He might have I remember
8 he came back I think on the Thursday, but he might have
9 mjssed the meeting. But this, looking at this, you know,
l0 often when it says Vindman, this is a meeting that is being
lt held at the director 1eve1, whjch could have been, you know,
t2 kind of preparing for the Iarger meeting on the Tuesday,
l3 which Tim Morrison in that new role would have been
t4 a Would have attended?
l5 A That's ri ght.
t6 a 0kay. That's i t on the calendar. Thank you.
17 MR. G0LDMAN: th your consent, would you
Mr. Jordan, wi

l8 mjnd if I took over this round, even though ordinarily we

t9 understand the rules are that counsel, just since we don't
20 have a time timit?
21 MR. JORDAN: Are you guys planning on using all 45?

22 MR. GOLDI{AN: i don't know.

23 MR. JORDAN: Go ahead.
24 MR. GOLDMAN : Thank you .
25 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 380

I a Briefly, you mentioned earlier Dmytro Firtash. I

2 don't want to get into too much detajl about him. But I'm
a
J curious whether you know, whether you learned at any point
4 whether Parnas and Fruman had any association with Firtash?
5 A I did not learn that, no.

6 a And do you know whether Rudy Giulianj had any

7 connection to Fi rtash?

8 A I also do not know that.

9 a Do you know who represents Firtash in his
l0 extrad'iti on to the Uni ted States?
ll A I actually didn't know that either. Who was it?
t2 Do we know that?
l3 a I mean, the public reporting right now is that it's
t4 J oe d i Genova and Vi c tor i a Toens i ng .

l5 A I see. No, I don't know either of those names. I

l6 mean, all of my knowledge of Fi rtash comes f rom my t'ime when
t7 I was at the DNI and then, you know, subsequently, to some
l8 degree, when I was in the think tank world because, of
t9 course, hjs role in RosUkrEnergo and the, you know, various
20 middleman dealings between the Russian and Ukrainian energy

2l sectors was very well-known. But he didn't really come onto

22 the radar screen very much in my time in the administration.
23 a Are you familiar I'm going to switch gears now
24 to Na flogaz agai n . Are you fami 1 i ar wi th the publ i c
25 reporting that Secretary Perry tried to convince Naftogaz to

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 381

1 change membersof thei r board?

2 A I was not familiar jn the way that it's been
J publicly reported. I know that, you know, we were focusing
4 on Naftogaz. Secretary Perry hadn't opposed Amos Hochstejn
5 bei ng on the board i ni ti a1Iy, but there was defi ni tely a

6 discussion about how was Naftogaz going to be moving forward

7 into the future. part of that would have required
And
8 probably getting, you know, kjnd of a pretty robust oversight
9 board. And there were concerns expressed to me by the
10 Naftogaz executives when they came to vjsit that they were

l1 under a 1ot of pressure at that part'icular point.

12 a Pressure from whom?

l3 A They djd mentjon to that there was pressure

me
t4 coming from Ukrain'ian Americans. They didn't get into any
15 detaits because they clearly felt uncomfortable about th'is.
l6 But one of the women on the board who actually at that point
t7 was potentially slated to be Deputy Foreign Minjster told me
l8 that i t was comi ng f rom these Ukrai n'ian Ameri cans who were
t9 deal i ng wi th Gj uf i ani
.

20 a Fruman and Parnas?

2t A That's exactly the case, yes.
22 a Did you ever become aware of a memo or an open
23 letter wrjtten by Dale Perry?
24 A No. I don't know who that is.
25 a Did you ever come to learn whether there was a

UNCLASS I FIE D
 UNCLASS ] FIED 382

I meeting in March of this year in Houston between an executive

2 on Naftogaz, wi th Naftogaz, Andrey Favorov, and Parnas and
J Fruman?

4 A I did not know, but this could be what they were

5 referring to, because it's after that time when they came in
6 to See me. And this is around the time when Amos Hochstein
7 came in and said the Naftogaz people being on the board are

8 coming under an awful 1ot of pressure.

9 a So just one last tittle bit on this. What was the
l0 ratjonale, that they would need a stronger board, you said,
ll or I don't want to I don't know that that was your
12 exact terminology, but
13 A Well, I mean, that was part of the discussion about

t4 how Naftogaz was goi ng to become self-sufficient. They had

l5 debt i ssues. Thi s 'is, you know, ki nd of a company that
t6 rea11y needed an overhaul, and although the people who had

t7 been 'involved there had, you know, been tryi ng to be very

18 prof essional - - th'is i s, you know, a f ar cry f rom, you know,
t9 some of the days of Russian and Ukrainian energy interactions
20 there's obviously sti11 a lot of work to be done.
2t I also just want to reiterate here that, as the National
22 Security Council, you know, we weren't having a major role in
23 a lot of these i ssues . I mean, v,Ie were rea1ly tryi ng at that
24 point, you know, at the direction of Ambassador Bolton and

25 others, beginning back at the beginning of the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 383

I administration, to play more of a coordinating ro1e. And in

2 termsof the energy sector reform, this was rea11y Department
J of Energy in conjunction with the State Department.
4 So, when people were approaching me with these concerns,
5 I was referring at alt tjmes. Hence, why I was
them back
6 havi ng regular consultat'ions wi th Deputy Assi stant Secretary
7 Kent and also to then, now Charge Ambassador Taylor in Kyiv,
8 because that would be the appropriate place for them to
9 fol1ow up. There wasn't any expectation, even on the
10 National Security Council reform, that we would play some

ll kind of meaningful role in that.

t2 Dr. Hi11, I have to step out. I'm going to
l,lR. HECK:
l3 make every effort to return, but in the event that I am not
14 able to return before you conclude, which I think everybody
15 is aspiring to at this point, jt js important to me that I
16 express my personal appreciatjon for your presence here
t7 today.
18 Indeed, I would say that, in the years that I've been jn
l9 the Congress, I've never seen anybody testify for 9 straight
20 hours and have every bit as much energy and recall in the
2t njnth hour as they did in the first hour. And I'm very, very
22 grateful to you for your presence today and for your
23 consi derable publ i c servi ce.
24 DR. HILL: Thank you, si r. Thank you.
25 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

UNCLASS ] F]ED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 384

1 a Did you understand how the Naftogaz executives

2 could feel pressure from two bus'inessmen, Parnas and Fruman,
J 'in such a meani ngf ul way?
4 A We11, I think there were lots of efforts i n the
5 Ukrainian energy sector, as'in the Russian energy sector at
6 many times, to, you know, move away from, you know, the sort

7 of state supervision, to hive off parts of djfferent

8 compan i es .

9 In my previ ous gui se i n the th'ink tank wor1d, I 've

l0 written a lot of articles and publications on the energy
ll sector . And when I was at the DNI , I was 'involved very
t2 heavily in analysis of the energy sector in Ukraine and in
l3 Russia and elsewhere. Th'is was, you know, an area,
t4 obviously, there's a 1ot of money to be made.
15 in the Russian energy
And, you know, as you know,
l6 sector, a 1ot of the people who are in charge of that sector
t7 are very close to Pres jdent Put'in. He himself has taken a
18 personal i nterest 'in thi s.
l9 And RosUkrEnergo, Mr. Firtash and others, a1I of the

20 oligarchs involved in these energy sectors, have been close

2t one way or another to the Kremlin, because, in many respects,
22 the Ukrainian energy sector is dependent on Russian energy,
23 both as a transit route to the rest of Europe and also
24 because an awful 1ot of the energy exploitation was taking
25 place in areas close to Russja, and at different points,

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 385

I Russians were invested in energy sector development.

2 And, of course, after the annexation of Crimea, a number
J of potenti a1ly promi si ng Ukrai ni an gas and oi 1 fi elds were
4 actual ly annexed by the Russ'i ans as wel l .

5 So, you know, this is a kind of fairly complicated

6 procedure, and there's a lot of opportunity for a number of
7 i ndi vi duats , you know, ki nd of be they Ukrai ni an Ameri can

8 businesspeople or people who have been you know, Western

9 businesspeople who have been involved in the energy sector,
l0 to get involved in investments there.
l1 I also came across, I just have to say, people who were
t2 not Ukrainian American but Americans who I was also wondering
l3 what they were up to, in terms of their own interest in the
t4 energy sector.
l5 a ght. But that doesn't necessari 1y answer the
Ri

t6 question as to how two businessmen from Florida could make

t7 the Naftogaz executives feel significant pressure.
18 A Their connections. The connections that they were
19 ei ther imputi ng or purporti ng 'in the context of these
20 meet i ngs .

2t a The connectionsto whom?

22 A To Rudy Giuliani, and through that by, you know,
23 usurpation, I presume, of some kind of Presidential
24 authority, or purporting to be doing this on the kind of
25 behalf of , i n some way, of Rudy Gi ut'ian j .

UNCLASS I F]E D
 UNCLASSlFIED 386

I a Was it not the case that Naftogaz had significantty

2 reduced its dependence on Russia?
J A It had, but there's sti11, you know, kjnd of a way
4 to go. And they were also having financial problems at this
5 particular juncture, and they were hoping that the United
6 States and other international entities would help them wjth
7 funds that they needed, both for restructuring but also for
8 purchases of gas, you know, for the winter.
9 a So do you bef ieve that two oi1 and gas executives
l0 or finance executives from Texas was the solution to
ll revamping the board?
12 A I am not quite sure who you're talking about there,
l3 agai n.
t4 a I'm sorry. That was the public reporting.
15 A 0h, I see.
t6 a That Secretary Perry was advocating for
t7 A I wasn't familiar at all with who Secretary Perry
l8 and others might be advocating. I'm just relating that the
l9 Naftogaz executives told me that they felt under pressure.
20 And, again, I referred them to the State Department and to,
2l you know, obviously, our colleagues at Department of Energy.
22 And I did talk to Ambassador Taylor, Deputy Assistant
23 Secretary Kent, and also Phil Reeker about this.
24 a Because it wouldn't necessarily be your area of
25 focus?

UNCLASS I F]ED
 UNCLASS I FIED 387

I A Correct.
2 a Understood. I have a few final questions a 1jttle
J bi t later , but I 'm goi ng to turn i t over to Mr. Rask'in to see
4 jf he has any questions.
5 Dr. Hitl. Thank you
MR. RASKIN: Thank you very much,
6 for your remarkable service to our country. And speaking as
7 I can say I 'm extremely proud of you, especi a1ly
one l'lember ,
8 because you're my constituent. And thank you for the way
9 you've conducted yourself through thi s very di ffi cult process
l0 as we1l.
ll of the reasons that you've taken umbrage at being
One
t2 1ed down a path wh'ich looks ljke the conspiracy theory that
l3 i t was Ukra'ine and not Russi a that i nterf ered i n our electi on
t4 in 2015 is that you said that it undermines our capacity to
15 respond to 2020 property, to understand what's happening or
16 what's about to happen in 2020.
17 And I wonder if you would expound upon that a little
l8 bi t. Vn/hat i s about to happen, best you can te11 , i n terms of
l9 Russian interference in our current Presidential election?
20 DR. HILL: I think, as we have gone on over the past,
21 you know, 2 and a half years, and sjnce the whole proceedings
22 and the l'lue1ler report, you know, i n terms of press reporti ng
23 and more in-depth investigations by social media, we realize,
24 you know, how sophi sticated and how extens'ive the Russi an
25 'interf erence has been.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 388

I But the Russians, you know, can't basically exploit

2 cleavages if there are not cleavages. The Russian can't
J exploit corruption if there's not corruption. They can't
4 exploit alternative narratives if those alternatjve
5 narrat'ives are not out there and getti ng credence. What the
6 Russians do is they exploit things that already exist.
7 And 'if you look at actually how President Putin himself
8 has responded to what he fears would be our, or other
9 interference in his elections, you can see, you know, what he
10 has done. He's made it impossible to have foreign money into
ll h'is electi ons. He's cut down NGOs and other f orei gn
t2 entities, you know, from everything from Transparency
l3 Internat'iona1 to IRI and NDI and other enti ti es.
t4 He has basically designated anyone wjth any kind of
15 foreign experience as a fifth column and as a traitor to the
t6 country. He has gone after people fike Alexei Navalny and
t7 Vladjmir Kara-Murza, both people who you here as Members of
t8 Congress know Vladimir Kara-llurza has been here and met
19 with congressional staff as stooges of the West and as
20 people who are being played.
2t And, a1so, he has, you know, created a good degree of
22 plausible deniability by sending out patriotic hackers to
23 from, you know, for example, Mr. Prigozhin, his, you know,
24 erstwhi1e cook or kind of catering ofigarch, who has been

25 paying for and sponsoring the IRA, the Internet Research

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 389

I Agency, that has been basicalty doing the same kind of

2 research on all of our campaigns and all of our individuals,
J to di g up di rt and to, 'in f act, exploi t any weakness i n our
4 system and to throw back all kinds of informatjon on our
5 candi dates .

6 So the more that we denigrate ourselves, the more that

7 we end up 'in across-the-aisle screaming matches, the more
8 dirt that we put out on our own poli tical cand'idates 'in the
9 course of our own race, the more that the Russians will use
10 that to ampl i fy thi s.
ll And I think it's been very well documented right now how
t2 they've tri ed to exploi t race. They've tri ed to exploi t
l3 religious differences. And if you look very carefully at
t4 what Putin does, he never does anything like this in his own
l5 establishment. Putin presents himself as the President to
t6 everybody. He never s'ingles anybody out on the basis of
t7 their race or thei r religion or thei r ethnic background. He
18 Iets other people do that, and he plays with it, but he has
19 basically harnessed he's the first populist President, and
20 he has harnessed that populism very effectively.
2t I made a mistake when I did my research on Putin in
And
22 the book that I wrote, because I actually wrote that he
23 doesn't rea1ly fully understand our system and how jt
24 operates. I meant that from a posi tive poi nt of view. But
25 my mjstake was in not fully understanding that he understands

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 390

I all the negative aspects of how our system works, and he's
2 playing that right back at us.
J I'4R. RASKIN: He understands the weaknesses?
4 DR. HILL: Correct. And the more divisjve our politics
5 are, the more that he can pick partisan differences apart and
6 encourage people to go out and exploit that, the more
7 vulnerable that we are.
8 MR. RASKIN: So partisan rancor and division is one of

9 the weaknesses he's exploited, but you also said that

l0 corruption i s our Achi lIes' hee1. And I don't know whether

1l you were thi nki ng speci f i ca11y about l'4r . Parnas and
12 Mr. Fruman, but
13 DR. HILL: I was.

14 MR. RASKIN: You were will you explain

l5 DR. HILL: Because the fa'ilure of imagination for
16 myself, agai n, j n wri ti ng thi s book and I 've forced Lee to
t7 buy a copy now is if you read the epilogue and, you know,
18 the final, you know, chapter -- and I'd be happy to send
t9 everybody, you know, this -- is basically Putin was a case
20 officerin the KGB. He has said many times that his
2t specialty is working with people, which means manipulating
22 people, blackmai 1i ng people, extorti ng people. He looks at
23 people' s vulnerabili ties.
24 And this i s why I was concerned about the Steele report
25 because that i s a vulnerabi 1 i ty. Chri stopher Steele goi ng

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 391

I out and looking for information. He's obviously out there

2 solici ting information. What a great opportuni ty to,
J basically, you know, present him with informat'ion that he's
4 looking for that can be couched some truth and some
5 di si nformation.
6 So he's looking out there for every opening that he can
7 fi nd, basically, and somebody's vutnerabi 1i ty to turn that
8 against them. That's exactly what a case officer does. They
9 get a weakness, and they blackmail their assets. And Putin
l0 will target world leaders and other officials like this. He
ll tri es to target everybody.
t2 5o a story from when I was working on the book, I was
13 also looking for information for the book to write about
t4 Putin. And my phone was hacked repeatedly, and the Brookings
15 system was hacked repeatedly. And at one poi nt, i t was
l6 clearly obvious that someone had exfjltrated out my draft
t7 chapters. I mean, you know, they were in draft form.
18 And then, mysteriously, after thjs I started to get
t9 ema'i1s from people who purported to have met me at different
20 points in my career, people I kind of vaguely remember. I'd
2t look online, and there would be these, you know, Linkedln
22 pages or there might be, you know, something I could find out
23 some information for them. And they'd start offering me
24 information, you know, that somehow purported to, strangely
25 enough, some of the chapters that I was actually working on.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 392

I And when I to meetings in Russia, people would

would go
2 basically, you know so that I was being played, or they
J were attempting to play me as well. And I've seen this time
4 and time again.
5 So the more that peopte are looking for business
6 opportuni ti es, the more that they' re doi ng somethi ng that i s
7 illegal or certainly shady and nefarious, the more that Putin
8 can step forward and the people around him to exploit this.
9 And you can see this time and time again in every one of
l0 the former Soviet republics and real1y across Europe as we11.
1l They've given money to political parties, to all kinds of
t2 potitical operatives, or sometimes they've just simply given
13 access to people.
l4 MR. RASKIN: The firing or the recall of Ambassador
15 Yovanovitch followed upon a sequence of events that looks to
16 me very much fike a politica1 hjt and propaganda, that there

17 was a campaign out to get her. Please give me your sense of

l8 if I'm right about that. And have you ever seen an
t9 Ambassador removed'in similar circumstances before in your

20 career?
2l DR. HILL: Well, that's what I said, that I believe as
22 well that that was atso a political hit on her. And I
23 mentioned in reference to the question about do I know Kathy
24 Kavalec that I believe that there was a hit done on her as
25 well by the Albanjan Democrats, who picked up on information,

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 393

I including the fact that she'd been mentioned in these

2 exchanges with Bruce 0hr and Toria Nuland on Chris Steele,
J and used that to denounce her and to basically force the
4 State Department to pul1 back her name. She was already in
5 Albani an language trai ni ng, whi ch mustn't have been a lot of
6 fun, I can imagine, but she was already well progressed on
7 this. And she's now going out to have some role in the OSCE.
8 And there was also something simjlar done to our
9 Ambassador-des'ignate, Brjdget Brink, to Georgia by the
l0 Georgians, also, you know, purporting to create a dossier and
ll materi a1.
t2 And I was also Connie Mack, not the Congressman but
l3 his son, went to Vice President Pence's staff and asked for
t4 me being removed, providing as an exhibit the InfoWars and
l5 all the other information, saying that I was a Soros mole jn
t6 the White House.

t7 MR. RASKIN: to a kind of all's well that

In answer ends

l8 well suggestion about this situation, you said, jn fact, the

l9 U. S. p i s now covered j n scandal.
-Ukrai ne relationshi
20 I wonder to what extent is the Ukrainian Government
2t stil1 looking to see how 1t should respond to the request for
22 political dirt on the Bidens. Is that story over, or are
23 they still waiting to see what happens jn the United States
24 now?

25 DR. HILL: I'm sure they are still waiting to see how

UNCLASS I EIE D
 UNCLASS I FIED 394

I that happens. But I'm sure that they also want to find out
2 f or themselves i f there's any, you know, ki nd of th'ing there

J that they should be scared about or concerned about in any

4 way. Not scared, let's just say concerned about.
5 And I was struck by the fact that thei r prosecutor
6 announced that they were, you know, reviewing all of this
7 again. And I think if I were President Zelensky and his new
8 team, having been unfamiliar in actual fact with what was
9 going on before remember, President Zelensky was engaged
l0 in making, you know, programs and playing a Pres.ident on
ll televisjon. He wouldn't necessarily be f amiliar w'ith all of
t2 thjs as we11. So it's not actua11y, you know, completely
l3 rid'iculous that he would actually be asking to have some
l4 investigations for his own purposes to see, you know, quite
15 what has transpired here.
l6 NR. RASKIN: Finally, the inspector general of the
t7 Department of State gave us a package, essentially, of
18 propaganda materials and conspiracy theory, which I think
t9 Rudy Gi uti anj took credi t for later. You've emphasi zed a lot

20 the role that propaganda has played in attacking certain

2t people and advancing this agenda in Ukraine, and I just
22 wonder i f you would expound generally on th'is.
23 Do you think we're in a period where political

24 propaganda is playing a very seriously role in undermining

25 the legitimacy of government, undermining the legitimacy of

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 395

I pubfic officials, and what are your thoughts about what needs

2 to be done about that?

J DR. HI LL: Wel 1 , I do. Look, I mean the i ssue I
4 mean, this is, you know, obviously a big debate that we're
5 hav'ing nationa11y about campaign finance and about the role
6 of political action comm'ittees.
7 But what President Putin and others have seen and

8 this gets back, you know, to be fair to you and your kind of
9 question here about, you know, individual efforts by
l0 Ukrainian Amerjcans or anybody to, you know, kind of get into
ll campaigns, is they see an opportunity through the existence
t2 of these kinds of entit'ies to play out someth'ing similar
l3 themselves.
t4 I've often described Vladjmi r Putin as heading up a
15 Super PAC, but he's not an American cj ti zen. It's not part
l6 of a legitimate campaign, and it's not part of our democracy.
t7 But what he's doing is using exactly the same tactics and
l8 us'ing, i n f act , the campai gn research that we all produce as
19 part of our, you know, pol"itical efforts, to turn it right
20 back at us. So that is, again, exactly the kind of actions
2t that people ljke Putin take.
22 So the only way that we can keep the Russians out of our
23 politics is to clean up our own act.
24 MR. RASKIN: ['4a'am, we don't allow our own government to
25 spend money on our politics. Why should we atlow other

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 396

I people's governments to spend money on our politics?

2 DR. HILL: That's exactly right. That's the kind of
J question, that's why I was getting so testy. You know, and I
4 apologize again for getting a bit testy. I've got a bit of a
5 headache now. You know, kind of a long day here.
6 But that's the kind of point that I am trying to get
7 across here, that, you know, these are, you know, as you
8 ri ghtly poi nt out, forei gn governments, be they Ukrai ni an or
9 Russian or others. The scale of what the Russ'ians have done,
l0 they ' ve al so opened i t up f or the Chlnese. And when
1l President Pence said that the Chinese make the Russians look
l2 Iike junior varsity and he got pooh-poohed somewhat, you
l3 know, out'in the press on that, he was absolutely right.
t4 The biggest thing that I was most disturbed about in the
l5 course of my work js real1y the scale of Chinese efforts.
l6 The Chjnese have a 1ot of money. They've infiltrated all of
t7 our uni versi t'ies. They've i nf i ltrated a lot of our
l8 companies. And we can't get too carried away and, you know,

t9 start w'ith a mass hyster i a about Ch j na . But I was completely

20 shocked, frankly, when former Senator Lieberman WaS basically

2t signed up to represent a ChineSe company at th'is particular
22 juncture.
23 We all be extraordinarily careful about our
should
24 former senjor officials and others go'ing on to foreign
25 companies of th'is nature. It's one thing to go and work wlth

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 397

I American companies or al1ied companies, the Netherlands and

2 Norway, Sweden, you know, the Uni ted Ki ngdom, but i t's
J another enti rely when we know that a country has some

4 adversarial intent towards us, and also from anyone who has
5 had a security clearance to go jnto lobbying efforts.
6 And I was deeply disturbed to find out that my resume
7 could be put in a filing of a FARA report by Connie Mack and
8 coutd be used as an exhi bi t to try to create a case aga'inst
9 me to ask the Vice President and his staff to have me fired
l0 for bei ng a Soros mole i n the Whi te House. I mean, they
1l laughed him out of a hearing and, you know, basically didn't
t2 listen to this, but this was, unfortunately, the kind of
l3 actions that were taken against l4asha Yovanovjtch. And if
14 you also see with Kathy Kavalec, the Albanian Democratic
15 Party, where they took on an advocacy group and put out her

l6 information, also in a FARA.

t7 So we have perm'itted open season on our di plomats, and

l8 it could happen to anybody. It doesn't matter whether
l9 they' re a noncareer offi ci a1 . It happened, rather
20 disturbingly to me, to rather a 1ot of women, but it can
2t happen to any political person as we11. Any one of us here
22 could be subject to this kind of claims and these kinds of
23 attacks, any single person who gets crosswise with any of
24 these 'ind'ividuals or any of these countries, if they think
25 that any of us are in the way. And I've been extraordinarily

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 398

1 concerned about this.

2 And, again, that's the only reason that, you know
J again, Mr. Castor, I don't mean to jump down your throat, but
4 I'm really worried about this. And, you know, one of the
5 reasons that I actually decided that I wanted to also come
6 out of the administratjon during the campaign was to be able
7 to speak about this pub1ic1y.
8 Now, in the case of right now, I think that, you know,
9 what you're all doing here I know that there is debate
10 about this is actually very important to get to the bottom
l1 of what has rea1ly been happening. If nothing else, we
t2 should all agree that what happened to Ambassador Yovanovitch
l3 is unacceptable, and we should not be letting this happen to
t4 our public servants across the board because 'it could happen
l5 to congressional staff. It could happen to absolutely
t6 everybody.
t7 And I wi11, you know, try to, as I said, keep my head
l8 down and, you know, try to keep out of the public spotlight

19 while thjs process is underway because I want to see that

20 it's done in as nonpartisan and as serious a way as possible,
2t but I eventually want to be able to speak out against this
22 ki nd of acti vi ty.
23 I'm not a Russia hawk. What I am is a critic of the way
24 that this government, led by a KGB former case officer who
25 specializes in manipulating people's vulnerabilities and

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EI ED 399

exploiting corruption it's what Putin did in the 1970s,

2 when he joined the KGB in Leningrad and St. Petersburg. They
J went after American businessmen and set up sting operations.
4 He's been targeti ng the busj ness communi ty.
5 I firmly befieve he was also targeting President Trump,
6 and he was targeting all of the other campaigns as wel1. And
7 I think that that was the mistake when the 2015
8 investigations were launched, not to take it from the point
9 of view what Russia was doing to target Americans, no matter
l0 who they were in the system.
ll MR. RASKIN: Based on what you just sa'id, one final
t2 question. Why do you believe that Putin was targeting Dona1d
l3 Trump from his days as a busjnessman?
t4 DR. HI LL: Because that' s exactly what Presj dent Puti n
l5 and others were doing. Again, he was part of a directorate
t6 in the KGB in Leningrad. That's what they djd exclusively
t7 was targeti ng busi nessmen.
l8 And as a result of that work that he had there, he was
l9 then the deputy mayor in St. Petersburg under Anatoly Sobchak
20 back in the period when, actual1y, Lee and I were working
2t together for , and we had delegations coming
22 over from Sobchak. As deputy mayor, he was in charge of the
23 1i a'ison wi th all of the busi nesses 'in Leni ngrad and St.
24 Petersburg. And that was filthy, the politics there at that
25 particular juncture, as we reca11.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS]FIED 400

I BY l,1R. GOLDI'4AN :

2 a We just in this round, and,

have a couple minutes
J unfortunately, we are going to need to go to another round on
4 our end, but it won't be a ful1 round. But I do just want to
5 circle back to one thing. You've said earlier today that you
6 have you are aware of no credible evidence that Ukraine
7 was involved at all in the 20L6
8 A As the Ukrainian Government.
9 a The Ukrai ni an Government, ri ght. And are you aware
l0 of any evidence that V'ice Pres'ident Joe Biden in any way
ll acted inappropriately while he was Vice President in
t2 connec t i on

l3 A I 'm not.
l4 a to Ukrai ne?

l5 A I'm not.
16 a So you're not actually endorsing the idea of
t7 reopening these'investigations by the Ukrainian Government.
l8 Is that right?
t9 A As a personal I thjnk if the
endorsement?
20 Ukrainian Government wants themselves to figure out -- this
2l is a new government -- wants to figure out, you know, what
22 may have happened for their own informational purposes,
23 they're perfectly within their rights to do that.
24 a So are you referring then to sort of a review of
25 what has happened in the past, or are you talking about

UNCLASS IFIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 401

I actually reopeni ng thi s i nvesti gati on?

2 A I think what thejr prosecutor has announced is
J somewhat ambiguous. He has said that they are going to look
4 into this. He didn't say very specifically jn the direction
5 that they' re goi ng
6 a But you're not aware, at least, of any evidence
7 that ei ther of
8 A I am not.

9 a these i nvesti gati ons should --

l0 And so whether or not they want to look into Burisma for

ll thei r own purposes, i n terms of any po1 i ti ca1 i nvesti gati ons
t2 related to U.S. politics, you're not suggesting that that's
l3 somethi ng that they s.hould do?
14 A I am not suggesting that, no.
l5 MR. GOLDMAN: A11 right. I will yield to the minority.
16 MR. CAST0R: I've got a couple questions.
l7 MR. J0RDAN: Can I go first then?
l8 MR. CASTOR: Sure.
l9 MR. J0RDAN: So, Dr. Hi11, you sa'id that the Russians
20 and particularly Putin uses propaganda to go after people and
2t it could happen to anyone. They can target
22 DR. HILL: Yes, and also kompromat, whi ch j s, you know,
23 basically, you know, what the Steele dossier was, which was,
24 you know, kind of comprom'ising information on jndividuals.
25 MR. iORDAN: And that is my question. Did it happen to

UNCLASS ] F] ED
 UNCLASS I EIED 402

I the President in 2016, 20L7?

2 HILL: I think that there's a good chance that was
DR.
J the case and that, you know - - and, agai n, comprom'isi ng
4 material was being collected on a whole range of individuals.
5 And it was most definitely being collected on Secretary,
6 former First Lady and Senator Clinton as wel1.
7 And I did, in the course of public speaking at the time,
8 you know, point this out, that we should be investigating,
9 you know, what the Russ i ans we re t ry i ng to do aga'i ns t alt of
l0 our po1 i ti ca1 candj dates .

1l MR. JORDAN: And the material that was used against the
t2 President, you don't think that in any way was accurate? You
l3 thi nk 'it was thi s propaganda, thi s kompromat, thi s - - that
t4 was contained in the now somewhat famous Steele dossier?
l5 DR. HILL: I said that I wasn't in a positjon to assess
t6 that, obviously, from my private capacity then. But I said
t7 that I felt that it also be looked at and investigated, the
l8 kind of information that was being collected.
l9 Now, I believe that the Mueller report and 14r. Mueller
20 and h'is team di d look at some of thi s i nf ormati on . But,
2t again, they were looking at, you know, information in a more
22 general sense. I would have much preferred to see, from my
23 own perspective, the Mueller report focusing at the outset on
24 what was it that the Russians were doing and then, as the
25 course of that, following the 'investigatory leads, which, you

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 403

I know, they did in any case, to fjnd out what doors were
2 opened for them jnto our political system.
J I think they would have sti11, to be quite frank, come
4 down where they did on 14r. 14anaf ort, because, agai n, these
5 are all back doors, of people who are doing, you know,

6 potitical dealings in other countries of the nature that he

7 was that open up the door for Russians and others to step
8 'in .

9 just you know, and I get it. You

MR. JORDAN: You
10 were very emphatic about this could happen to anyone, this
l1 propaganda machine that Russia engages in using. And then in
t2 the, I think, earlier rounds and based on the story that was
13 written about you last month, you sajd you believe Steele
t4 could have been played by the Russi ans.

15 And it like if we're talking about

seems to me
t6 propaganda being used to target a political figure, there is
t7 probably no bigger, better example than what happened with
18 the dossier targeting the President of the United States.
t9 There's no bigger political figure anywhere. 5o that seems

20 to to be example number one.

me
21 DR. HILL: At that point, though, remember he was a
22 cand'idate, as was Secretary Cti nton, to be the President.
23 Thi s was bef ore the electi on when th1s dossi er was bei ng
24 p roduced .

25 MR. J0RDAN: I understand.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 404

I DR. HILL: There was also information on other

2 candjdates as we11, you know, who weren't ultimately selected
J to be, you know, the two Presidential candidates. So, again,
4 I just want to rejterate I think the Russians were targeting
5 everybody, and they were trying to get as much information as
6 possi ble and what
7 Fair enough, but we
MR. JORDAN:

8 DR. HILL: What the Russians do, again, is they get

9 information that's not just plausible but often is factual.
l0 That's the way that they operate wjth a story. And then they
1l wi 11 spri nkle i nto that d j s'inf ormati on .

t2 Fair enough. But the fact that the dossjer

MR. JORDAN:

l3 was used to go after the individual who won the election, now
t4 President, seems to me to be example number one.

l5 DR. HILL: We11, it was done before he was elected as

t6 President.
t7 MR. J0RDAN: No, I understand.
l8 DR. HILL: But I think it's also there are two

19 examples. A1so, what the Russians did to target Secretary

20 C1 i nton .

2t MR. : Thank you.

JORDAN

22 DR. HILL: So I think that both of those issues are the

23 case. And, again, that's what I would like to flag to make
24 sure that we're all aware that everyone is a target because
25 their goal was to discredit the Presidency. Whoever was

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 405

I elected President, they wanted to weaken them. So, if

2 Secretary Clinton had won, there would have been a cloud over
3 her at this time if she was President Clinton. There's been

4 a cloud over Presjdent Trump since the beginning of hjs

5 Presidency, and I think that's exactly what the Russians
6 i n tended .

7 BY MR. CASTOR:

8 a The documents that l4r. Patel purportedly gave to

9 the President, I can't remember whether you
l0 A I didn't know what they were.
ll a There was never closure on that?
t2 A There was no closure on that.
l3 a And you learned that information from, was jt staff
14 in the Executive
l5 A It was staff in Exec Sec.
l6 a It wasn't the Exec SecT
t7 A It was not. No, I just simply went down to p'ick up
18 something e1se. I would often go over myself because I was
t9 worried about, you know, kind of the, you know, the command
20 and control of valuable documents if I needed something to
2t get signed, and I would, you know, kjnd of take it back, you
22 know. And of ten , when I was go'ing over to see Ambassador
23 BoIton, so I just popped in, basically, to pick up a document
24 that I needed, and that was when it was just an aside.
25 They assumed that I knew.

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I E]E D 406

I a And my colleague Dav'id Brewer has a quick question

2 as we11.

J A Sure.

4 BY MR. BREWER:

5 a Dr. , thanks for your pati ence today.

Hi 11

6 Following up on Mr. Castor's line of questioning, how many

7 tjmes during your tenure at NSC did you communjcate with
8 Mr. Patet, by emai 1 or by Phone?
9 A i didn't communicate wi th him at all.
l0 a Okay.
ll A He was on a distro list at one point for the
t2 just some of the Ukraine issues, but he was on multiple
t3 distro lists because he was'in the International
t4 0rgan'izati ons. So the U. N. and other Internati onal
l5 0rganizations felt under h'is purview, aS far as I understood.
t6 Agai n, to be honest, I d'idn' t rea1ly know him at all . I

t7 knew what he looked 1ike. I knew his name. And he'd sat in

l8 Some meetings. I had no reaSon up until that point, rea11y,

l9 to think that I needed to know him. And he never introduced

20 himself to me.
2l a I understand. l'la'am, have you ever spoken wi th any
22 members of the med'ia about Mr. Patel ?

23 A I have not.
24 a Ma'am, today at L: 1.6, Manu Raj u, who I understand
25 i s a reporter for CNN

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 407

I A Who?

2 a Manu Raj u.

J A I don' that i s. Manu Raj u?

t know who
4 He's a reporter, I understand, from CNN. He
a
5 tweeted some substance of your testimony here today.
6 A I don't know how that was possible because I've
7 been jn here with you the whole time.
8 a That's what I was goi ng to ask you. Have you
9 s poke n

l0 A lots of people in and out, so I

There's been
ll suppose you should ask your colleagues if somebody's been
t2 talki ng to CNN.
l3 a So, just for the record, you have not spoken to
t4 Manu Raju sjnce you've been here today?
l5 A I have not had my telephone. I have been in your
16 fu11 and I have not met with Manu Raju in the bathroom
17 here. And I think you can attest you saw me in the bathroom.
l8 And they have had full custody of me at all times.
19 a And j ust one last questj on, ma'am: Have you
20 directed anyone on your behalf to speak with Mr. Raju about
2t your testj mony?

22 A No. I don' t know who Mr . Ra j u 'is.

23 a Thank you.
24 A I also as you know, I didn't have a written
And
25 testimony, and I have just been subject to your questions,

UNCLASS I E]ED
 UNCLASS T FIED 408

I and I djd not know what you were going to ask me.
2 MR. BITAR: Thank you for that.

3 DR. HILL: Although I did suspect that you might ask me

4 about was I Anonymous, because my attorney here I decided
5 to get ahead of it picked up some threatening phone calls.
6 So there you are.
7 MR. BITAR: And just to be clear, the committee is not

8 in any way suggesting, I would hope, that you or anybody

9 around you has been, quote/unquote, leaking any information.

l0 I am not suggesting that at at1.
I'lR. BREWER: No, I

ll just want to get the facts, that you have not spoken to Mr.

t2 Raju or directed your attorney or anyone on your behalf to

13 speak to Mr. Raju.
14 DR. HILL: That i s correct.
l5 MR. BREWER: Thank you. I thi nk we' re ready , yes .

16 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

t7 a I just have a few, but I do want to go back. We're

t8 almost done.
t9 A Okay.

20 a Honestly, you djd say You

21 A He hasto get a p1ane. He's already, you know, I

22 think had his of f ice he sa'id if he didn't appear outside,
./.) hi s office, he i ntends to

24 a Wet1, we appreciate you guys' willingness to stay

25 here and to stay late and to answer all of our questions.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 409

I It's been a long day. And your -- I think, as one of the

2 Congressman said, your recatl and attention has been

J remarkable, and we are greatly appreci ative.

4 I want to go back to this somewhat unusual circumstance
5 regarding Kash Patet. Am I correct that he had no
6 i nvolvement i n the Ukrai ne portfol j o?

7 A Apart from, you know, whatever interaction there

8 would have been, you know, on the U.N. and other kind of
9 front. I mean
l0 a In what way would that have manifested?
t1 A I'm trying to actually think. At the time, I
t2 thought, wel1, what 'involvement does he have? You know, i s
l3 he the point person in I0A for Ukraine? And I asked one of
t4 my colleagues who interacted wjth the I0A on a regular basis.
l5 l'4R. BITAR: For the record, can you clarify I0A?

l6 DR. HILL: 0h, sorry, the International 0rganizations

t7 and I've forgotten what the acronym stands for.
l8 International 0rganjzations and Agencjes. I mean, basically,
19 the directorate that covers the United Nations and other
20 multilateral organjzations, and covers human rights and at
21 different points also dealt with, you know, our responses to
22 public health crises and foreign assistance and things like
23 this as we11.
24 MR. GOLDMAN: And that was his directorate?
25 DR. HI LL: I t was hi s di rectorate. I mean, agai n , to be

UNCLASS ] EIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 410

1 very clear, I didn't really know him very we11. I'd seen him
2 in a couple of meetings, but then there would be you know,
J large meet'ings like th'is, where everyone would be invited. I
4 was not aware that he had was runni ng poi nt on any 'issues
5 related to this.
6 MR. BITAR: And just to clarify again for the record,

7 you're not suggesting he was the senior djrector for that

8 di rectorate, ri ght?
9 DR. HILL: No, he's not. He was not the senior
l0 d'i rector.
ll MR. BITAR: So he was a d'i rector among several?

t2 HILL:
DR. He wasa director at that tjme, among
l3 several. And I had more interaction with two other, you
t4 know, directors in that directorate.
15 MR. JORDAN: Dr. Hi11, you used the term "distro." Is
l6 that stri bution or --
di
t7 DR. HILL: Distribution 1ist, I'm sorry.
l8 MR. J0RDAN: I just want to make sure. I figured that
t9 was the case.
20 HILL: That's a shorthand for when you, you know,
DR.
2t are kind of sending I'm sure you do it here internally,
22 you know, various distribution 1jsts. But I didn't usually
23 send those out. 5o, again, you know, I was kind of also
24 worried about what kind of documents, you know, might have
25 been, you know, sent, beyond talking points for meetings. I

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 411

I mean, again, I -- to be honest, I'm a bit surprised that

2 you've raised his name, because beyond after going to talk to
J Charlie Kupperman, I mean, I hadn't done anything to kind of
4 follow up on this again.
5 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

6 a bjt surprised to hear that the Pres'ident

We're a
7 thought he was the Ukra"ine di rector . So that's why we' re
8 tryi ng to fi gure out
9 A So was I. That was why I went to speak to Charlie
l0 Kuppe rman .

ll a Right. No, I understand the course of action you

t2 were taking and that you did take, and I understand that
l3 there was no follow-on to you from the Deputy National
14 Securi ty Advi sor who handted employment matters. What I'm
l5 tryi ng to understand 'is what hi s actual role was at that
t6 t'ime .

t7 A I'm not entirely c1ear. I just basically asked my

l8 staff to fjnd out: Was he being asked to be the point person
l9 withjn the agency for that directorate for any partjcular
20 reason on Ukraine?
2t a And what was the answer?

22 A As far as they could tel1, no.

23 a Had your Ukrai ne di rector , I thi nk i t's Alex
24 Vindman, had he
25 A He had never spoken to him beyond seeing him in a

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 412

I meeting. And it was the same wjth most of my colleagues.

2 Others knew him, but didn't know that he was thought he
J was a perfectly nice person and interacted with him. They
4 were just as surprised as I was.
5 a And just to be clear, you were the senior director
6 overseeing, among other countries, Ukraine?
7 A Correct.
8 a So in
9 A a lot of di rectorates have a poi nt person for
And
10 Ukrai ne, you know, 'in def ense i ssues , f or example. I
ll mentioned before that Alex Vindman was initially supposed to
t2 be covering a whole gamut of defense issues that 'intersected
l3 with Russi a. And, you know, obvi ously, defense i ssues are
t4 very much related to Ukraine, given the fact that there's a
t5 war going on between Russian proxies and the Ukrainian
l6 forces. And then it was determined, as part of the

t7 streamlining, that most of those defense issues would be

l8 wi thi n our defense di rectorate.

t9 So, you know, there would be interactions with the
20 people 'in our defense directorate on issues related to this
2l and, you know, representatives coming from international
22 economics if there was, you know, something purporting to the

z) Ukrainian economy. So there were people who had withjn their

24 bundle of responsi bi 1 i ti es i ssues that would pertai n to
25 Ukrai ne or other countri es.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 413

I [7:].5 p.m.l
2 BY MR. GOLDMAN:

J a But would all of that information flow ultimately

4 through you on up the chain?
5 A Normally. That's why i t attracted my attenti on.
6 And it's also because the Exec Sec staff member clearly
7 thought that thi s r,,,as reporti ng through me.
8 a Ri ght. But I 'm j ust tryi ng to understand that.
9 Even if he were to have had some sort of involvement with
l0 Ukrai ne from another di rectorate, that i t stj 11 , ulti mately,
ll in normal channels, will get funneled up through you, on up
t2 the chai n

t3 A Normally. Although, you know, I'm sure I

t4 I and others wi11, you know, recal1 those often
l5 jurisdictional spats between directorates, particularly if
t6 somethi ng was overlappi ng.
l7 This happened repeatedly with CT, or the
l8 Counterterrorjsm Directorate, that they felt that they ought
t9 to have, you know, for example, the direct reporting on an
20 i ssue that fet 1 i nto thei r pu rvi ew.

21 And we had a few disputes sometimes between some of our

22 d'irectors and the directors about who had responsibility,
CT
23 you know, for a particular issue.
24 a But you knew what they were doing on those
25 di sputes.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I PIED 414

I A I dld know what they were doing, correct.

2 a So can you give us an assessment of how unusual it
3 was that, as you understood j t, someone outs'ide of your
4 directorate was providing information to the President about
5 Ukraine? Had that happened about any of your countries that
6 you oversaw in your 2-L/2 years there?
7 A Yeah, I think you know, normally, there was
8 atso, you know, a very extens'ive clearance process. So
9 anything that was going to the President would have been, you
l0 know, fu11y vetted and cleared, you know, across the NSC
ll di rectorate i f there'd been a request. And, normally, the

t2 request would've come through Ambassador Bolton.

l3 a And let else. If something
me ask you something

t4 were to come through other channels, related to Ukraine' on

l5 up through Charlie Kupperman or Ambassador Bolton, would you

16 have expected them to loop you in on it and ask you about it?
t7 A I thjnk it would depend on the nature of the
l8 material. I mean, if it fel1 into the purview of, say' our
t9 cyber and it might have been, you know, related to something
20 that was classified and that, you know, perhaps I was not
2t read into, then, you know, it's possible that I would not
22 necessarily have known about that. But, in this case, this
23 seemed to be talking about some routine materials.

24 O And just to be c1ear, this was --

25 A And, again, I d1d not want to put the Exec Sec

UNCLASSIEIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 4ls

I person, who was totally a staff member, in a d"iffjcult

2 posi ti on. They

J a Understood.
4 A clearly were just relating to me this request or
5 just thinking that I already knew and were giving me a
6 heads-up.
7 a Relating the request from the President?
8 A just were, you know, kjnd of I think
That they
9 they thought they were reminding me that the President, you
l0 know, wanted to speak to the Ukraine director about the
11 materi als.
t2 a OkaY.

13 A And just to give me a heads-up and to say that, you

t4 know, they might be contacting Kash. And that's when,

l5 obvi ously , I thought , whoa, okay.

t6 a When you mentioned this to Charlie Kupperman, d'id
17 he

l8 A He was surpri sed.

t9 a I was goi ng to say, d'id he know about thi s at all?
20 A He did not.
21 a 0kay. Did he indicate to you whether he understood
22 that Ambassador BoIton knew of this at all?
23 A He indicated that Ambassador Bolton d'id not know
24 about this as well. He acted very surprised.
25 a And that seems is that outside of the normal

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 4t6

I ty Councj 1?
operati ng procedures wi thi n the National Securi
2 A Yes. This was unusual, which is why I flagged it.
J a 0kaY.

4 A I mean, there have been cases of, you know, general

5 mistaken identity, you know, in the past that have been not
6 parti cularly a bi g deal . But thi s i s, of course, happeni ng
7 in this context 'in which all kinds of other things are go'ing
8 on as wel1.
9 a And just to be clear, you don't believe this is a
10 case of mi staken i denti ty.
ll A No. I mean, it was clear -- I mean, Kash is not a
t2 usual name. And Kash i s not A1ex.

l3 a 0h.

t4 A I mean, i t wasn't clear to me, though, that

l5 everybody 'i n Exec Sec would know who Alex Vi ndman was anyway.
t6 I yes, h€'d been on the delegation as a representative,
mean,
t7 but he wasn't, you know, someone who was particularly
l8 well-known.
t9 a During your 2-plus years there, how frequently did
20 the President ask to meet with any directors on any of the
2l countries that you oversaw?

22 A Not on any of my countries, he had not.

23 a Never.

24 A not. But it's possible that he had asked

He had
25 for other people. I mean, we had people with, you know,

UNCLASS I FTED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 417

I various specific areas of expertise on other jssues that he

2 could easily have asked for and I wouldn't know about that.
J But he had not on any of my other staff members at
4 high 1eve1s would request a director to attend a meeting, you
5 know, given the serious nature of meetings, and a number of
6 our di rectors did go to, you know, high-1eve1 meetings and
7 sit in with them. And, often, if I wasn't there, one of our
8 dj rectors would go.
9 a But not the President?
l0 A They might be there in the context of a
ll Presidential head of state meeting'if I --
12 a Sorry. I just meant the President had never --
l3 A No.
t4 a spec i f i ca1 Iy requested

l5 A Never.
l6 a a di rector wj thi n any of your portfolios.
t7 A Not in my portfolio, he had not.
18 a Okay. And did you I would imagine it was
t9 relatively important for you to understand what jnformation
20 the President was reviewing related to Ukraine, given that
21 that's part of your portfolio.
22 A That's correct, which is why I took jt to Charlie
23 Kupperman.

24 a And did you ever figure out what it was?

25 A I did not.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 418

I a After having brought it the first tjme, djd you go

2 back and make a subsequent request, given the importance for
J you to understand what the President was seeing related to
4 Ukra i ne?

5 A Wel1, I started to be concerned around this, that

6 then it was obviously, you know, material that was not part
7 of the national securi ty process. And i f
8 a What do you mean bY that?
9 A We11, obviously, it wasn't related to the i-ssues
l0 that we were working on. It had to be something eIse. And
1l then, you know, as I expressed Chartie had already I'd
t2 already expressed to Charlie Kupperman my concerns about the
13 Gi uf iani accusati ons , and I had no i dea whether th'is was

t4 related to this or to any other issue. Again, I don't want

r5 to speculate. But I was confident that if I needed to know
t6 what this was, Charlie Kupperman would te11 me and would
t7 i nform me.

l8 a And he did not.

t9 A He did not.
20 a Are you aware of whether Kash Patel ever met wi th

2l Rudy Gi u1 i anj ?

22 A I do not know.
23 a How about wi th M'ick MulvaneY?

24 A I don't know that ei ther.

25 a And Ambassador Sondland?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 419

1 A I also don't know that.

2 a And so, after that initial conversation with
J Charlie Kupperman, you heard nothing else about this?
4 A I, at one point later on, asked Charlie Kupperman,
5 you know, what was generally going on with Kash Pate1, and he

6 told me that he was going to be transferred to

7 Counterterrori sm.

8 a And did you understand that there was a reason for

9 that?
l0 A I inferred from that that it was to basjcally in
il response to what had happened.
t2 a Was that perceived how was that jn response?
l3 A He said to me that that was more fitting with the
t4 issues that he was interested in, that Patel was interested
t5 i n. I mean, agai n, 1ook, these are personnel matters.

16 That's
t7 a Ri ght.
l8 A normally handled by Charlie Kupperman. And Kash
t9 Patel was not in my directorate. And I flagged my concern.
20 I also djd not want to start, you know, jumping down the
21 throat of the Exec Sec staff person, who clearly had just
22 told me something that they did not realize, you know, I d'id
23 not know. And I immediately went upstairs to flag it.
24 O Are you aware of whether any other United States
25 Government offic'ia1s ever engaged any Ukrainian officials in

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 420

any way to request that they initiate these investigations

2 that Rudy Gjuliani was and President Trump referenced on
J the J u1y 25th call?
4 A I'm not aware of that, no.

5 a Okay. Are you aware whether any Congressmen or

6 Senators were involved at all in this effort?
7 A I 'm not . I mean , I 've only read, you know, what ' s
8 been reported in the press most recently about some of the
9 involvement jncluding CongreSsman Sessions. I was Surprised.
l0 a Related to Parnas and Fruman?
11 A Correct. And Ambassador Yovanovi tch. I mean ' I
t2 djd not expect that that was, you know, the originating
13 source for the pressure against her.
t4 a Uh-huh.
l5 And is there anything more about Mr. Mulvaney's role in
l6 th'is whole Ukrai ne i ssue i n connecti on wi th , you know,
t7 Mr. Gi uli an"i 's ef f orts?
l8 A Not beyond what I've already told you.
t9 a Okay.

20 You, obviously, left July 19th. And you've exhaustively

2t answered our questions today, and we are very appreciat'ive of

22 that. You've mentioned repeatedly concerns that you had
23 about, in particular, Mr. Giuliani and his efforts.
24 When you read the call transcript of July 25th, the call

25 record, which you must have done just a couple weeks ago, did

UNCLASS]FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 421

I it crystallize in your head in any way a better understanding

2 of what was transpiring while you were there?
J A In terms of providing, you know, more information
4 wi th hi ndsi ght, unfortunately, yes.

5 a And i n what way?

6 A The specific references, also juxtaposed with the
7 release of the text messages by Ambassador Volker you
8 know, what I sajd before rea11y was kind of my worst fears
9 and ni ghtmares, 'in terms of , you know, there bei ng some ki nd
10 of effort not just to subvert the national -security process,
1l but to try to subvert what real1y should be, you know, k'ind
t2 of, a diplomatic effort to, you know, kind of, set up a
13 Presidential meeting.
t4 a Thi s may

l5 A There seems to be an awf ul Iot of people 'involved

t6 in, you know, basically turning a White House meeting jnto
t7 some k'ind of asset.
l8 a What do you mean by "asset"?
19 A We11, something that was being, you know, dangled
20 out to the Ukrai n'ian Government. They wanted the Wh'ite House
2t meet'ing very much. And thi s was ki nd of layi ng out that i t
22 wasn't just a question of scheduling or having, you know, the
23 national security issues worked out, that there were all of
24 these alternate d'iscuss'ions goi ng on behi nd.
25 a And you have discussed the July LOth meeting where

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 422

1 Ambassador Sondland 'ind'icated

that. We've gone through the
2 Kurt Volker text on July 25th. You've now read the
J transcript of the Presidential call between President Trump
4 and President Zelensky.
5 Would you agree this doesn't seem to be a one-off; this
6 seemed to be a fairly considered campaign over a period of
7 time?

8 A it certainly dovetails with the activity that

We11,
9 we started to see after the ouster of Marie Yovanovitch, of
l0 Masha Yovanov'itch. So, f or fle , l'lasha Yovanovi tch's ouster

l1 was some kind of tipping point or turning point.

t2 a And thj s wasn't
l3 A Because it was after she was removed from her
14 position that you started to see, you know, more of this
15 acti vi ty.
l6 a And, even then , I bel i eve you sa1d that you

t7 understood, at least from Ambassador Yovanovitch, that she

l8 was told that the President had ordered her removal. Is that
t9 right?
20 A She didn't tell me that at the time when I saw

2t her

22 a I'm sorry.
23 A May 1st. She was being discreet, but she told

24 me that there had been a lack or a loss of confidence in her

25 posit'ion and that, although they told her that she wasn't

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 423

I bei ng removed for cause, her positjon was no longer

2 tenable - -
3 a But

4 A and that she had wrap up her she stated thi s

5 in her public testimony.

6 a Ri ght. And Deputy Secretary Su11 i van told you,
7 though, that the State Department was quite supportive of her
8 and jt had nothing to do with her work performance.
9 A That' s cor rect .

l0 aSo
ll A I was also surprised to read in her pubfic
And
t2 testimony that there'd been a pressure campaign, that she'd
l3 been told there was a pressure campaign going back to the
t4 summer of 20L8.

l5 a 0kay. We11, Rudy Giuljani doesn't have the

t6 authority to remove the Ambassador, correct?
t7 A I don' t be1 i eve that he does. That's correct.
l8 a Right. So did you infer at the time who made the
19 decision to remove her?
20 A I actually inferred at the time that jt had been
21 made at the top of the State Department
22 a So you think it was Secretary Pompeo?
23 A jn response to, you know, obviously, concerns
24 that had been ra'ised against her which one could trace right
25 back to what Mr. Giuliani had been saying and he had been

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 424

I building up into a crescendo of criticism about her in that

2 period.
J a And now having read the call transcript, do you
4 have a different view of what occurred?
5 A Well
6 a The call record.
7 A We11, based on what I read in the transcript and
8 what she said in her testimony, which was obviously told to
9 her, then I have a different view we11, I have the view
l0 that we're now di scussi ng, that the Pres'ident asked f or her
ll to be removed.
t2 a OkaY.
l3 And I don't mean to belabor thjs, but Rudy Giufiani was
l4 not a government official. And so, did you have an
l5 understanding of for whom he was acting on behalf of?
l6 A I did not, actual1y. I mean, I was often worried,
17 'in 1i steni ng to h'im, that he was acti ng on hi s own behalf .

l8 a Ri ght. Now, I 'm sort of sayi ng, now that you ' re
19 looking back at the text messages, the call record, and
20 putting it together with a1I the meetings and other
2t interactions that you saw --
22 A I st'i11 have questions of whether he was acting on
23 his own behalf, particularly after the indictment of
24 Mr. Parnas and 14r. Fruman.

25 a Understood. But do

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 425

I A I think
2 a you also understand that the Pres'ident adopted a
a
J 1ot of Rudy G'iuliani 's views, to the extent they are Rudy
4 Gi ul i ani 's?
5 A of Rudy Gi u1i ani 's views
We11, given the drumbeat
6 on the televjsion, I think if you listen to that long enough,
7 you know, it kind of God knows what anybody would think,
8 getting back to, you know, questions that have been posed
9 before. He seemed to be, you know, basically engaged'in a
l0 concerted effort to propagate these vjews.
ll O Uh-huh.
12 A But I cannot say that this was all of the things
l3 that he was doing was at the direction of the President. I
t4 can' t say that.
l5 a But you did not'ice in the call transcript that the
16 Presjdent said several times that President Zelensky should
t7 speak with Rudy Giuliani, right?
l8 A I did.
19 a Sodid that give you an understanding
20 A But that suggests that Rudy Giuliani has all of the
2l i nformati on. I mean, agai n, he's bei ng di rected to talk to
22 Rudy Giuliani. And, you know, when we refer to the ellipses,
23 you know, the President isn't laying out in fu11 all of these
24 issues. So, you know, kind of , a 1ot of thjs information 'is
25 comi ng f rom Rudy j u1i ani , and Rudy Gi ul i an'i seems to be, i n
G

UNCLASS ] FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 426

I some fashion, orchestrating a lot of these discussions.

2 a If Ukraine actually did initiate these

J i nvesti gatjons, who would they have benefi ted?

4 A , they mi ght have benef i ted Mr . Gi u1 i ani and
We11

5 his business colleagues just as much as anyone else.

6 a How so? An investigation into Joe Biden, how would
7 that have helped
8 A It's an investigation, but it wasn't just into
9 that. There was investigat'ions writ 1arge. So if there's
l0 upheaval in the Ukrainian energy sector and people are
ll removed, perhaps this gives the opportunity for these
t2 i ndi vi duals and other i ndi vi duals to get i nvestments or

13 lucrative board posi tions.

t4 a Did President Trump mentjon the energy sector or
l5 corruption in the energy sector in the July 25th call?
16 A He doesn't seem to have done so. I mean, he refers
17 to directly, as I stated but, overall, we were again,
l8 there have been lots of references to energy sector and to
19 corruption in the energy sector. And, technically, Burisma
20 is part of the energy sector in Ukraine.
2t a Right. But you understood as we discussed, you
22 understand Rudy Giulian'i and, c1ear1y, President Trump's v jew
23 of the Burisma to the extent that they wanted an
24 investigation related to the Bjdens?
25 A I see what was in the transcript, but I'm also

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 427

I referring to all of the discussions that were out there in

2 public on the television and all the statements by
J Mr. Giuliani. They seemed to cover a 1ot of ground and a 1ot
4 of terri tory. I thi nk i t's enti rely possi b1e and, agai n,
5 I 'm presumi ng that thi s 'is what you' re all tryi ng to get to
6 the bottom of that many things were being put onto thjs
7 set of i ssues. Thi s i s
8 a So i t's not j ust one thi ng.
9 A This is a bundling of a number of jssues.
l0 a So am I correct i n understand'ing that there could
ll be a number of different interests that are
t2 A l"ly view, jn looking at this, js that individuals,
r3 private indivjduals, like Mr. G'iuliani and his busjness
t4 associ ates, are tryi ng to appropri ate Presi denti al power or
l5 the authority of the President, given the position that
t6 14r. Giuliani js in, to also pursue their own personal
t7 i nterests.
18 a But the President was wjlling to provide the
l9 Presjdentjal power in that JuIy 25th ca11.
20 A Wel1, that's the Juty 25th ca11, but before that it
2l seems to me that there was a lot of usurpation of that power.
22 a But you do agree that jn that July 25th call the
23 President was

24 A That's what it seems to suggest.

25 a OkaY.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 428

I A And, agai n, f 'm readi ng that i n a context 'in whi ch,

2 you know, I've been lookingat other information and I

J don't have a complete picture of what transpired between when
4 i left and when the call was made and then subsequently to
5 all the information that we're seeing out in the press as
6 well . I 'm learni ng thi ngs from the press, i f i ndeed all of
7 thi s i s accurate, for the fi rst time.
8 O R'ight. I understand that.
9 And I guess the f j na1 questi on I have i s, you 'indi cated
l0 earlier on today that this was sort of your worst nightmare
11 and that these requests for investigations appear to be
t2 political in nature. Is that accurate?
l3 A Correct. My worst n'ightmare js the politicization
t4 of the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine and, also,
l5 the usurpation of authori ties, you know, for other people's
t6 personal vested interests.
t7 a ght. But whose
Ri

l8 A And there seems to be a large range of people who

l9 were looki ng for these opportuni ti es here.
20 a If the Ukra'ine I thi nk you used thi s term dug
2l up dirt on Joe Biden, whose potitical prospects would that
22 assi st?
23 A Well, depending on how it plays out, that could
24 assist a wide range of PeoPle.
25 a Potentially. 1s it going to assist Rudy Giuliani's

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] F] ED 429

I political campaign, or is it going to assist President

2 Trump's?
J A Well, again, it depends on how this all plays out.
4 At this particular -- look, this is now, kind of everybody
5 could be damaged by all of this, which basically gets back to
6 my point. Everybody's campaign could be severely damaged by
7 how this plays out now. 0r it could be benefited.
8 I thjnk what you're saying is, was the intent to promote
9 the campaign of President Trump. Yes. But you're asking the
l0 question, a1so, about how this might play out.
lt a That was rea11y just the former, but I understand
t2 what you ' re say i ng.

t3 Can I have L mi nute?

l4 All ri ght. I thi nk we' re done here. I don' t know i f

l5 you guys have anything.
t6 MR. CASTOR: Who was the staffer in the Exec Sec that
17 brought up Kash Patel?
l8 DR. HILL: I'11 be honest, I actuatty can't remember.

l9 MR. CAST0R: 0kay.

20 DR. HILL: Because it was one of the front office
2t NR. CASTOR: Thank you.
22 DR. HILL: staff, and i t wasn't someone who i t was

23 just simply they were relaying to me a piece of

24 MR. CASTOR: Thank you.
25 DR. HI LL : - - i nformatj on . And I honestly can' t

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS T FIED 430

1 remember.

2 NR. JORDAN: Doctor, who's on this distribution list

) that you reference? I don't know how that operates and how
4 that works.
5 DR. HILL: Wel1, it's usually for, you know, meetings
6 related to Ukraine. So if we're having one of these
7 interagency meetings at the directors level or, you know,
8 kind of, a poli tical coordination commi ttee, you would add on
9 everybody who you thought would be, you know, related to this
l0 i n some way.
l1 MR. J0RDAN: And would the ind'ividuals --
t2 DR. HILL: So I to parse through and see, you
asked them
13 know, what individuals were on and then to see what it would
t4 be about fo11ow-on materi a1s.
15 just to be kind of clear about this, I mean' a 1ot
So,
t6 of these distribution ljsts are on our classifjed System, not
t7 just on our unclass system. And sometimes they have attached
18 to them a 1ot of background materials.
l9 MR. JORDAN: That was my next question.
20 HILL: And thjs gets back to our, you know, concerns
DR.
2t about leaking in the past. I mean, you asked me about this
22 question about CNN. Just an enormous amount of our material,
23 before you've even had a meeting, is out on CNN or Politico
24 or Buzzfeed. And I would lose my mind, sometimes, before
25 routine meetings by the fact that, before I'd even started

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 431

I the meeting, of the background material with some of the

some

2 deli berations already seemed to be somebody publi shi ng i t.

a
J |'4R. JORDAN: Yeah. No, I've
4 DR. HILL: So, you know, I mean, obviously, you've been
5 fami l i ar wi th that, and I 'm sure i t' s an occupati onal hazard
6 for people here as we1l.
7 MR. JORDAN: It sure'is.
8 DR. HILL: So I started to worry about, you know, kind
9 of: Were materials that were just meant for the interagency,
10 you know, for people, that were deliberative drafts of, you
1l know, policy memorandum going backwards and forwards, you
t2 know, that weren't intended for, you know, kjnd of, other
l3 people, being distributed or information that was attached to
t4 that?
l5 But, in actual fact, when I looked at this, there'd been

l6 very ljttle information that we'd been sending out that

l7 wasn't, you know, ki nd of, fai r1y routi ne i n these documents.

l8 Okay. That was my question. 5o the

t"lR. JORDAN:
t9 djstribution list is not just to individuals telling them
20 about a schedute or a meeting. It's also some material that
2l i s actually bei ng transmi tted
22 DR. HILL: That's right, that they need to use to
23 prepare for the and, often, it would be sent, you know, to
24 i ndividuals in different di rectorates to prepare thei r senior
25 director or themsetves, if they were just attending, you

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 432

I know,to basically, like we're doing here, you know,

2 exhibit A, the Politico thing, or the transcript, for
a
J example.
4 MR. JORDAN: Right. And was Mr. Patel on the
5 distribution list that was receiving this information?
6 DR. HiLL: In some cases, he was on the larger
7 distributive list for his directorate.
8 MR. J 0RDAN : 0kay .

9 DR. HILL: And, in some cases, he was there with a few

l0 other people from h'i s dj rectorate, perhaps because, agai n, i f
ll some of the meetings overlapped with things that he was

t2 working on, or there had also been a lot of changeover,

13 agai n , 'in the di rectorate, so there were someti mes j ust two

t4 or three di rectors
15 getting the information that
MR. JORDAN: So was he

l6 he was getting the same information that everyone else was

t7 gett i ng?
18 DR. HiLL: From what I'm recalling, I think that was the
t9 case.

20 MR. JORDAN: Okay. So just like everyone else on the

2t d'istribution list, he was getting that
22 DR. HILL: That's right.
23 MR. J0RDAN: -- exact same information
24 DR. HILL: And, as I said, I went --
25 MR. JORDAN: -- at the exact same time in the

UNCLASS 1 FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 433

I meet i ngs

2 DR. HI LL : Cor rect .

J l'lR. J0RDAN: -- everything the same?

4 DR.HILL: But as you're looking back, you know, over --
5 and I'm looking back on my schedule, there weren't a lot of
6 other -- there weren't a lot of meetings taken, but there's a
7 lot of background materials. 5o I also wanted to know from
8 Alex and others if there was some other djstro list that they
9 had for other communicat"ions for materials. Basically, you
10 know, directors often have their own distro people that
ll they' re worki ng wi th.
t2 MR. JORDAN: I guess my concern was, you said I think
l3 a littler earf ier you said you were concerned about the
t4 material he may have and may present to whomever he was
l5 presenti ng i tto 'in whatever meeti ng. And I 'm j ust tryi ng to
t6 f igure out, if he's on this same d'istribution list and he's
t7 getting it just like everyone else and he's getting the same
l8 material, why would you be concerned about the material he'd
l9 be presenting in April, May
20 DR. HILL: We11, because I wasn't sure when they
2t referred to materials, I thought, what on Earth materials
22 could they be talking about? So I wanted to see, js there
23 any way that any of these background materials that were

24 being prepared updates on Ukraine, in other words

25 could've been in the mix and then were being given off to

UNCLASSI FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 434

I Exec Sec? Because they weren't being prepared for the Exec
2 Sec or to be handed on, certainly, to the President. I mean,
J it would do something'in a totally djfferent nature if you're
4 preparing a background briefing for the President or a
5 background briefing for Ambassador Bolton. They do it in a
6 very di fferent way, i f I 'm prepari ng a background bri efi ng
7 MR. J0RDAN: 0kay.

8 HILL: -- for a routjne d'irectors meeting, wh'ich

DR.
9 might have, you know, all of the comments of the d'i rectors,
l0 you know, back and forth
1l MR. J0RDAN : Yeah.

t2 DR. HiLL: I thought to myself, you know, what

And
l3 materials could this be?
14 MR. JORDAN: Yeah. So, just to be clear, though,
15 Mr. Patel is on the same distributjon ljst as everyone else
t6 on the list and getting the same material.
t7 DR. HILL: That's correct.
l8 MR. JORDAN: 0kay.

t9 DR. HILL: But then again, I'ffi trying to figure out, why

20 would that material and what could that material be that

2l could be getti ng

22 MR. JORDAN: Thank you.

23 DR. HILL: -- you know, sent up to the President?

24 MR. ZELDIN: The next piece of evidence what's the

25 next number?

UNCLASS I EIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 435

1 HILL: And, again, just to be very cIear, I did not

DR.
2 know what that material would be. I did not know at any
J time, I was not told, what that material was that was sent to
4 the Presi dent.
5 MR. J0RDAN:I wasn't asking about that. I was asking
6 about what was sent to Mr. Patel was exactly what everyone
7 else was getting.
8 DR. HILL: That's correct.
9 MR. J0RDAN: Got i t.
l0 IMi nori ty Exhi bi t No. 5
1l Was marked for
fi cati on. l i denti

12 MR. ZELDIN: Dr. Hi11, we're passing around exhibjt

l3 No. 5. This is I'11 wait for a second untjl it gets
14 di stri buted.
l5 This is.a May 4th, 2018, letter sent to Mr. Lutsenko
16 from three Democratic United States Senators. Are you

l7 f ami 1i ar wi th th'is letter?

l8 DR. HI LL: I 'm not , actual ly.
19 MR. ZELDIN: You have never seen this letter before?
20 DR. HI LL: I that I have, no.
don ' t be1 i eve
2t I'lR. ZELDIN: 0kay. Thi s i s a letter that three
22 Democratjc United States Senators sent to the prosecutor
23 general at the time in Ukraine, demandr'ng that Ukrajne assist
24 with the Robert Mueller probe targeting the President.
25 DR. HILL: Was this letter made public? Was it sent to

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 436

I the NSC and the public offices?

2 l"lR. ZELDIN: I don't know the distro of the letter,
J which is
4 DR. HILL: Right. Because I --
5 MR. ZELDIN: one of the reasons why I wanted to ask.

6 DR. HILL: -- have not seen this letter before.

7 MR. ZELDIN: Okay.

8 Did any of the people in the NSC ever articulate to you

9 any anti -Trump pol i ti ca1 posi ti ons?

l0 DR. HILL: They did not, no.

1l MR. ZELDIN: Do you befieve that it was appropriate for

t2 the Ctinton campaign and the DNC to hire Christopher Steele
t3 to create the dossier against the Trump campaign?
t4 DR. HILL: As I understand, they didn't hire him
15 directly. I don't have any personal knowledge about how he
t6 was hired. I don't know that he was hired directly by the
t7 DNC. Was he?
18 MR. ZELDIN: We11, they hi red a Iaw fi rm, Fusion GPS.

l9 1t was through an intermediary, but the money originated from

20 the Clinton campaign and DNC.

2l But if you're not familiar with the source of funding,
22 1et' s put that asi de .
23 DR. Hi LL : No, I 'm not. I 'm not fami 1 i ar wi th that.
24 |\,lR. ZELDIN: Funding aside, do you think it is
25 appropriate for Christopher Steele to have been hired as a

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIE D 437

I foreign spy to be collecting jnformation from foreign

2 governments to gain an advantage against the Trump campaign?
J DR. HILL: We11, he's a former forei gn spy. But,
4 nonetheless, a foreign national. I don't believe it's
5 appropriate for him to have been hired to do this. And,
6 again, I thjnk I already expressed my shock and surprise when
7 I learned that he had been i nvolved i n th'is.
8 MR. ZELDIN: We've spoken about Burisma a lot today.
9 Are you famifiar wjth the fact that Hunter Biden was paid for
l0 thi s posi ti on w'ith Buri sma?
ll HILL: I remember seeing the reports about this when
DR.
t2 he was first taken onboard. I was stj11 at the Brookings
13 Institution, and I remember there were press reports about
t4 this.
l5 MR. ZELDIN: Has his employment with Burisma come up at
l6 all in of your official government posjtions?
any
t7 DR. HILL: It did not, apart from the di scussion wi th
l8 Amos Hochste'in where he i nf ormed me that some of these

19 d'iscussions in Ukraine were centered around Burisma, and he

20 remjnded me that that Hunter Biden
Burisma was the company
2l sat on the board of. And, as you may also recal1, Amos
22 Hochstejn had expressed concern about that when that
23 appointment went through jn the course of his own official
24 dut'ies.
25 MR. ZELDIN: Do you know Hunter Biden?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 438

I DR. HILL: I dO NOt.

2 t4R. ZELDIN: Are you awareof any experience or

n
J qualifications that he would have for that position?
4 DR. HILL: I am not aware. I don't know him.
5 MR. ZELDIN: And you worked with Vice Presjdent Joe

6 Biden at all in of your offjcial capacities?

any
7 DR. HILL: When I was the National Intelli gence 0ffi cer

8 for Russia and Eurasia in the first year of the 0bama

9 administration, yes, I mean, in the same context as I worked
l0 with Vi ce Presi dent Cheney f or the 3 years of the Bush
ll administration that I was NI0. I was often asked to do
t2 briefings.
l3 MR. ZELDIN: When did your official interactions with
t4 Vice President Biden end?

l5 DR.HILL: In November of 2009 when I returned to

l6 Brookings after spending my t'ime as the National Intelligence
t7 0ff i cer .

18 MR. ZELDIN: So the remainder of the Obama

t9 administration you were out of the United States Government.
20 DR. HILL: That's correct. I was, as an expert, i nvi ted
2l to a couple of dinner briefings on Russia hosted by Vice
22 President Biden, but that's the totali ty of my i nteractions.
23 MR. ZELDIN: I t' s been wi dely reported that he doesn' t

24 have Ukraine experience, he doesn't have energy experience

25 DR. HiLL: Who are we referring to?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 439

I MR. ZELDiN: Hunter Biden.

2 DR. HILL: 0h, Hunter Biden.
J MR. ZELDIN: Sorry. Hunter Biden
4 DR. HI LL: Yeah.
5 MR. ZELDIN : i t' s been wi dely reported he doesn ' t
6 have any energy experience, doesn't have any Ukraine
7 experience, but was hired by Burisma, which is a -- 1et me
8 d i gress a m'inute .

9 From your knowledge of Burjsma, are they a corrupt

l0 c ompany ?

1l DR. HILL: I don't know a 1ot about Buri sma, I'11 be

t2 f rank.
13 ar wi th Zlochevsky?
MR. ZELDIN: Are you fami 1j
t4 DR. HILL: I'm not very f amiliar with him e'ither, just
l5 more in a general sense.
l6 MR. ZELDIN: Are you famjliar with the investigations
t7 into Burismaor Zlochevsky?
18 DR. HILL: I was aware that there were investigations
l9 underway, yes.
20 MR. ZELDIN: And these were cor rupti on i nvesti gati ons

2t into Burisma and Zlochevsky?

22 HiLL: And into the particular individual. So,
DR.
23 agai n, the fact that there i s i nvestigations into corruption
24 in the energy sector in Ukrajne, as well as Russia or many
25 other countries, is not a surprise.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I EIED 440

1 And, a1so, on this point, I have to also say there were

2 an awful 1ot of people with political connections and not
a
J expertise on particular issues that were being h'ired by all
4 ki nds of ent'iti es.
5 MR. ZELDIN: It's been widely reported, as I started to

6 state, wjth regards to a lack of energy experience

7 DR. HILL: Right.
8 MR. ZELDIN: with a lack of Ukraine experience, he

9 was paid at least $50,000 a month. There are reports that

l0 his company he has a partner were paid a substantially
1l hi gher fi gure.
t2 Vice President Joe Biden was the point man for the Obama

t3 adm strati on w'ith Ukrai ne. Be'ing the poi nt man f or the
j ni

t4 Obama administration, what power comes with that, as far as

l5 purSestrings, as far as funding that United States provides

l6 to Ukrai ne?
17 DR. HILL: The Vice President didn't have a role in
18 that . I mean, thi s i s, agai n , the determi nati on of Congress
l9 and also of the State Department and Defense Department and
20 others. I mean, the Vice President has no role in
21 determi ni ng the pursestr i ngs . The 0ff i ce of Management and
22 Budget do as wel1.
23 MR. ZELDIN : Are you fami 1 i ar
24 DR. HILL: And Vice President Pence also wanted to play

25 a role on Ukrai ne i n thi s admi ni strati on.

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS ] FIED 441

I MR. ZELDIN: To that poi nt, are you f ami 1i ar w'ith a

2 video from January 20L8 where Vice President Biden spoke

a
J about his efforts to have Prosecutor General Shokin fired?
4 Have you seen that video?
5 DR. HILL: I have not seen that video.
6 MR. ZELDIN:Okay. That video I won't ask a question
7 di rectly to that. I'11 ask a di f f erent quest'ion. But f or
8 background, that v"ideo, Vice President Biden is speaking
9 about his efforts, threatening Ukraine with the loss of
10 $1 billion if they didn't fire Shokin, and then they
ll i nstantly fi red Shoki n.

t2 But the question is, you're saying that the Vjce

l3 President doesn't have the ability to be delegated any
l4 authority from a President to make those types of threats?
t5 DR. HILL: To make those types of threats? You were
t6 talki ng about money earl i er.
17 MR. ZELDIN: Does a Vice President have the power to
l8 make a threat to a foreign government of the loss of United
t9 States support?
20 HILL: if he is being asked to do that on the behalf
DR.
21 of the government, on behalf of the President or the State
22 Department and others.
23 So, when I was workingin the Bush administration, Vice
24 Pres'ident Cheney was the heavy on all of these i ssues. And
25 he certainly issued ptenty of threats to a whole range of

UNCLASS ] EIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 442

I that, you know, I was pri vy to,

countri es, i ncludi ng Russi a,
2 at the direction or the request of other parts of the
J government.

4 I thi nk, you know, putt'ing f orward the i dea that, you
So
5 know, there could be forfeited an assistance and that Vice
6 President Biden was conveying that information on behalf of
7 the government, wel1, yes, of course, he could do that. But
8 he does not make the determination about funding.
9 1'4R. ZELDIN : Do you have any concerns about any member

l0 of the United States Government being delegated the authority

il to make a threat if their son is receiving $50,000 a month
t2 f rom

l3 DR. HILL: I think you might be

t4 MR. ZELDIN: a company targeted by an open

l5 DR. HILL: starti ng to go into some very dangerous
16 terri tory
t7 |'4R. sorry. Let me f inish the quest'ion.
ZELDIN: I'm
l8 DR. HILL: -- at the moment for everybody.
t9 MR. ZELDIN: I'm sorry. Do you think that it would be
20 appropriate for a -- do you have any concern with a Vjce
2t President being delegated the authority to make a threat like
22 that if their son js receiving $50,000 a month from an entity
23 of that foreign country being targeted by having an open
24 i nvesti gati on?

25 DR. HiLL: I think that there js a problem with

UNCLASSIFIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 443

I perceptions of conflicts of jnterest and ethics for any chjld

2 of any senior officjal to be involved in anything that their
J parents are involved in, period. So this goes not just to
4 Hunter Biden and Vice President Biden but across the board.
5 And I think, getting back to the question that
6 Congressman Raskin asked about before about corruption and

7 perceptions of it, th'is is exactly the problem we have right

8 now in our politics. The rank and file have to sign all
9 kinds of ethical agreements to make sure that members of our
l0 family are not involved in anything that we are involved in
ll or to recuse ourselves.
12 And across the board, Members of Congress, the Senate, I
l3 mean, this is what you spend your time looking at. Vice
t4 Presidents, Presidents, Secretaries of 5tate, Secretaries of
15 Commerce, Secretarjes of Transportation, Secretaries of
t6 Interior I could just go on should not have their
t7 chi ldren j nvolved i n anythi ng that they' re i nvolved i n as
l8 well.
t9 that's why I 'm sayi ng 'it's a dangerous terr j tory,
And
20 because I'm not going to start on giving the long ljst of
21 things that I personally think are a real problem.
22 MR. ZELDIN : There was an open i nvesti gati on 'into
23 Burisma at the time of that trip that Vice President Biden
24 made to Ukraine and that President Trump was concerned with.
25 Are you aware of that?

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 444

I |.4R. G0LDMAN: Do you have any support

2 DR. HILL: I wasn't aware of the information too. I
J wasn't in the government.
4 t"lR. W0LOSKY: Congressman , she wasn' t i n the government .

5 DR. HILL: NO, ANd ]'M

6 MR. ZELDIN: Actual1y, the question was I 'm sorry.
7 Excuse me. The question was, are you aware of that? And if
8

9 HILL: The answer i s no. Because I'm also not aware

DR.
10 of all of this timeline, in terms of the issues that you're
ll rai si ng here.
t2 MR. ZELDIN : 0kay.
l3 DR. HILL: I was not I wilI be, you know, qulte open.
l4 I was not monitoring and following exactly what Vice
t5 Pres'ident Biden and Hunter Biden were doing in thi s time
l6 peri od .
t7 MR. ZELDIN: Well, 1et me ask you what you do know.

18 With regards to Burisma, do you know when that investigation

t9 was closed?
20 HILL: I do not. And as I said, when Amos Hochstein
DR.
2l came in to talk to me again about this and mentioned Burjsma,
22 I had to get him to remind me again about why Burisma was
23 significant. In the back of my mind, I knew that there was
24 some issue with Burisma, but it had not come uP, up until
25 then, at any poi nt i n the work that I was doi ng i n the

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I F]ED 445

I adm'i ni strati on .

2 MR. ZELDiN: Okay. Do you know if the case against

J Burisma was closed at any time?
4 DR. HILL: From what I have read and been told, that the
5 case was closed or dropped or that the case stopped.
6 MR. ZELDIN: What do you know about when that case

7 WAS

8 HILL: I don't know when that was stopped. I mean,

DR.
9 again, I'11 just say that I had to be reminded by Amos
10 Hochstei n about why Buri sma was s'igni f i cant. I remembered,
ll from when I was at the Brookings Institution, reading about
t2 Hunter Biden being appointed, thinking this was not a bright
l3 idea, and then I did not continue to fo11ow this issue for a
l4 long period of time.
l5 So it came up again in the context of a1t the things
l6 that we're discussing basically around the time that Masha

t7 Yovanovitch was removed from her position. My knowledge 'is

t8 more general, about the state of the Ukrainjan energy sector.
19 My knowledge in depth is really about Russia and Russia's
20 energy sector.
2l NR. ZELDIN: Are you aware of the case the crimina1
22 investigation against Zlochevsky?
23 DR. HILL.: I
that there had been one. But,
was aware
24 again, I d'idn't ask for any deta jls of th'is in the position
25 that I was in, because 1t did not seem relevant to the work

UNCLASS I FIED
 UNCLASS I FIED 446

that we were doing.

2 in the NSC, my job was to coordinate. And
And, again,
J the real action was being taken, in terms of our Ukrainian
4 policy and implementation, by the State Department, the
5 Embassy, the Defense Department, and the Department of
6 Energy.

7 I'4R. CASTOR: I thi nk we ' re al l done .

8 DR. HILL: You're sure?

9 MR. CAST0R: Thank you so much.

l0 DR. HILL: You don't want to conti nue?

ll MR. GOLDMAN: Dr. H'i11, on behalf of Chai rman Schi f f ,

t2 I'd just ljke to thank you again for coming in and answering
l3 all of our questions.
t4 DR. HI LL : Thank you . Thank You.
l5 MR . G0LDl"lAN : We a re ad j ou rned .

l6 [Whereupon, at 7:55 p.m. , the deposi tion was concluded. ]

t7

l8

19

20

2t

22

23

24

25

UNCLASS ] FIED