Fact check: Trump wanted Zelensky to publicly announce that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election, and they did so to help Hillary Clinton.

1. Summary of the results

The evidence confirms that Trump wanted Zelensky to investigate and publicly announce claims about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election ^[1]. Multiple intelligence sources and witnesses, including Fiona Hill, have characterized this narrative as a "fictional narrative" propagated by Russian security services ^[2]. Trump continued to promote these theories even after his own advisers dismissed them ^[3].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

There were some documented interactions between Ukrainian officials and the Democratic National Committee in 2016:

• Ukrainian officials worked with DNC consultant Alexandra Chalupa ^[4]
• Some efforts were made to disseminate information about Paul Manafort ^[5]

However, these activities were:

• Less sophisticated and coordinated compared to Russian interference ^[5]
• Far less impactful than Russian operations ^[4]

The American intelligence community has concluded that Russia actually engaged in a years-long campaign to frame Ukraine for the election interference ^[6].

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

Several parties had vested interests in promoting different narratives:

*Pro-Trump narrative beneficiaries:

• Trump and his allies used this narrative to undermine investigations into Russian interference ^[6]
• It helped deflect attention from Russia's role in the 2016 election

Counter-narrative beneficiaries:*

• Democratic Party officials, who wanted to highlight Russian interference
• Ukrainian government officials, who wanted to maintain support from both U.S. political parties

The original statement oversimplifies a complex situation by:

1. Not acknowledging that while some Ukrainian officials did take actions during the 2016 election ^[5], these were fundamentally different from the systematic Russian interference

2. Omitting that U.S. intelligence agencies and the Senate Intelligence Committee consistently concluded that Russia, not Ukraine, was responsible for significant election interference ^[2]