4:45 p.m.: Hill said ‘good chance’ Russians had kompromat on Trump
Hill testified that there was a “good chance” Russia had kompromat, or compromising materials, on Trump during the 2016 election and told a conservative lawmaker that information gathered by the Kremlin is often “factual.”
Hill made the comment after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) referred to Russia using “propaganda to go after people” and asked, “Did it happen to the President in 2016, 2017?”
“I think that there’s a good chance that was the case,” Hill said. She added that “compromising material was being collected on a whole range of individuals,” including Hillary Clinton.
Jordan followed up: “You don’t think that in any way was accurate? You think it was this propaganda, this kompromat, this — that was contained in the now somewhat famous Steele dossier?”
The Steele dossier was a collection of memos of unverified allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia compiled for Democrats in 2016.
Hill said she was not “in a position to assess that” from her private capacity at the time but that she felt it should be “looked at and investigated, the kind of information that was being collected.”
Jordan said the episode was “example number one” of “propaganda being used to target a political figure.”
Hill repeated that the Russians were “targeting everybody” and told Jordan that the information they gather is often accurate.
“What the Russians do, again, is they get information that’s not just plausible but often is factual. That’s the way that they operate with a story. And then they will sprinkle into that disinformation,” she said.