Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman said during Tuesday's impeachment hearing that the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election is "a Russian narrative that President [Vladimir] Putin has promoted."
The big picture: The debunked conspiracy theory — frequently referred to as CrowdStrike, the security firm at its center — is based on the idea that Ukraine was complicit in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee to create false electronic records that Russia was behind the hacking.
- While it long swirled around right-wing media outlets, it took on international significance when CrowdStrike was mentioned by President Trump in his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The state of play: Vindman also stated that the U.S. intelligence community does not believe that the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory is accurate — and that it believes Russia was behind the election meddling in 2016.
Go deeper: Live updates from the Vindman-Williams impeachment hearing
