Debunked Ukraine conspiracy theory is knocked down - again

A discredited conspiracy theory that blames Ukraine, and not Russia, for interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election reared its head again during the first day of public impeachment hearings into President Donald Trump’s alleged attempt to pressure Ukraine into investigating a political opponent. The server, they say Ukraine has it.” Trump added that he’d like to have Attorney General William Barr call “you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it.” THE FACTS CrowdStrike determined in June 2016 that Russian agents had broken into the committee’s network and stolen emails that were subsequently published by WikiLeaks. In the call, Trump mentioned Mueller’s “incompetent performance” and said “they say it started with Ukraine.” THE FICTIONS Ukraine and Russia have essentially been at war since Russia’s 2014 military intervention and annexation of Crimea. “If we take Trump’s words at face value, then it appears that the president of the United States is intellectually unable to distinguish between utterly outlandish conspiracy theories and solid intelligence assessments based on facts,” said Thomas Rid, a Johns Hopkins security studies professor. CrowdStrike said in a statement that it “provided all forensic evidence and analysis to the FBI.” It added: “We stand by our findings and conclusions that have been fully supported by the US Intelligence community.” A PREVIOIUS REFERENCE In October, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said the Trump administration’s decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine was linked to his demand that Kyiv investigate the DNC and the 2016 campaign.