Fiona Hill and David Holmes may have been the final two witnesses to appear in a week loaded with blockbuster testimony, but had they been the only witnesses, the case for the impeachment of Donald Trump would have still been utterly compelling.
Right from his opening statement, Foreign Service officer Holmes laid out the timeline of events in Ukraine from the perspective of someone on the ground in Kyiv. The result is narrative that should be required reading for every schoolchild being taught the history of his impeachment in the years and decades ahead.
That narrative starts with the appearance on the stage of a force that distorted policy and threatened the critical relationship between Ukraine and the United States.
Beginning in March 2019, the situation at the Embassy and in Ukraine changed dramatically. Specifically, the three priorities of security, economy, and justice, and our support for Ukrainian democratic resistance to Russian aggression, became overshadowed by a political agenda being promoted by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a cadre of officials operating with a direct channel to the White House.
Through the remainder of his statement, Holmes details how that “cadre,” including Gordon Sondland, Giuliani, and the now-indicted founder of the company Fraud Guarantee, Lev Parnas, worked to twist arms in Ukraine, enforcing a policy of placing political demands above the security of either nation.
And Holmes’ narrative of a diplomatic mission hijacked for domestic political purposes was reinforced by the testimony of Fiona Hill, which provided the perspective of a career professional in the White House watching as the normal channels were torn apart.
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Hill noted, “U.S. support for Ukraine—which continues to face armed Russian aggression—has been politicized.” Hill and Holmes, both apolitical professionals with no party affiliation and a history of service under both Republican and Democratic administrations, were the best examples of the people who had tried to hold together a critical relationship even as Giuliani and Sondland worked to collect on Trump’s thoughtless political demands. They were also the perfect witnesses to the events and how they were impacting not just the lives of diplomats, but America’s reputation and security.
Much of what they covered in their paired narrative—Giuliani’s monthslong effort to suborn testimony from former officials known to be corrupt, Trump’s demands that Ukraine cough up manufactured dirt on both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, repeated meetings in which the specific requirements of Trump’s political arm-twisting were made clear—had already been discussed by previous witnesses before the committee. But both Holmes and Hill were able to provide fresh details to explain areas that had been outside the view of previous witnesses, and to deepen the emotional impact of the events with their firsthand accounts. Trump lobbed a hand grenade. These were the people who watched the explosion and dealt with the aftermath.
Coming out of that hearing was even more information to show that what Trump did wasn’t “common” or “normal,” no matter how many times Republicans attempted to make it seem that way.
No day in the hearing better framed the difference between Team Trump and Team America than sweating Republicans yelling at an utterly composed Fiona Hill, and Hill’s generous, thoughtful responses. On the one side were anger, chicanery, and nonsense; on the other, a professional who was willing to take it on the chin, and keep her chin up, to deliver the message America needs.
Now we can only hope America heard it.