Vindman calls Ukrainian election interference conspiracy theory "a Russian narrative"

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