GOP congressmembers blamed Ukraine for election hacking. Russia's been trying to make that happen for years.

(Image credit: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP via Getty Images)

published 22 November 2019

Republican congressmembers have seemingly fallen right into Russia's trap.

As impeachment hearings continued throughout the week, Republicans tried to defend President Trump by incorrectly claiming Ukraine was just as involved in hacking efforts into the 2016 U.S. election as Russia. Impeachment witness Fiona Hill even called them out for this "fictional narrative," and as The New York Times reports, it's a false storyline Russia has been trying to cook up for years.

In recent weeks, U.S. intelligence leaders met with senators and their aides for "a briefing that closely aligned with Dr. Hill's testimony," informing the legislators "Russia had engaged in a yearslong campaign to essentially frame Ukraine as responsible for Moscow's own hacking of the 2016 election," the Times reports via three American officials. It's true that Ukrainians did engage in some forms of election meddling in 2016, but "they were scattershot efforts" in comparison to Moscow's, the Times continues.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

The briefing was held as Republicans formulated their strategy for defending Trump after he was revealed to have asked Ukraine for political favors. And yet it seems its lessons didn't make their way to Republicans in the House, who, during the past two weeks of impeachment hearings, doubled down on unproven claims that Ukraine had a physical server containing the hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee. And as Russian President Vladimir Putin literally said on Wednesday, he couldn't be happier that U.S. leaders are looking in the wrong direction.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox