Eric Ciaramella, the alleged whistleblower, was the name Fiona Hill could not recall
When former National Security Council official Fiona Hill testifed before the House Intelligence Committee, she said that she could not remember the name of the Ukraine director when she joined the White House.
That person was Eric Ciaramella, the career CIA analyst who is alleged to be the Ukraine whistleblower.
Hill was White House NSC senior director for European and Russian affairs, a position Ciaramella held in an acting capacity while still Ukraine director, for a brief period immediately before she took the post.
Ciaramella, 33, is now a deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia on the National Intelligence Council under President Trump’s director of national intelligence, the Washington Examiner previously reported.
According to the released transcript of Hill's deposition, which took place during closed-door proceedings, Republican counsel for the House Oversight Committee Steve Castor prompted Hill to name her predecessors and NSC officials who handled the Ukraine portfolio.
She said: “My predecessor at the NSC, well, there would have been two predecessors, because this was an amalgamation of two bureaus. The immediate predecessor would have been Celeste Wallander for Russia, Central Asia, I guess, but probably not Ukraine."
Castor asked who had the Ukraine portfolio prior to Army Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, who also testified before the committee. "Catherine Croft, who was the Ukraine desk officer at the State Department and then went to work with Ambassador VoIker," Hill responded.
Castor asked, "And what was the time frame that she had the Ukraine portfolio?"
Hill, 54, replied: "Up until the summer of 2018. And before her it was oh, I can't remember who was before her. There were several changes of directorates in the time that — of directors in the time that I was there."
At this point, Hill appeared to become frustrated with the line of questioning and told Castor, "Look, and I'm sorry to get testy about, you know, this back and forth, because I'm really worried about these conspiracy theories, and I'm worried that all of you are going to go down a rabbit hole, you know, looking for things that are not going to be at all helpful to the American people or to our future election in 2020."
In a previous hearing, Castor had asked William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine: "Does a person by the name of Eric Ciaramella ring a bell for you?" Taylor answered: "It doesn't." When pressed further if he was sure he never communicated with Ciaramella, Taylor answered, "Correct."
Post a Comment