GOP Sen. Richard Burr: "Ukraine was for Hillary Clinton"

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) claimed without evidence to NBC News Monday that Ukraine favored Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election — comparing the allegation to Russian interference in the same race.

Every elected official in the Ukraine was for Hillary Clinton. Is that very different than the Russians being for Donald Trump?"

Why it matters: Republicans are using a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 presidential election to justify President Trump's decision to freeze congressionally approved aid to the country.

• That freeze is at the center of an ongoing impeachment inquiry against the president.

What they're saying: Burr stated that he doesn't "think there’s any question that elected officials in Ukraine had a favorite in the election."

• When asked if he would consider that as "meddling," Burr responded: "I mean, you’ll have to define meddling, but that was something that was publicly out there."
• "It was called meddling when it was just Russia had a preference on who would win. And I'm saying, you can't go any further than that until somebody investigates Ukraine, if you want to find out there was more that went on," Burr said.

Go deeper:

• Sen. John Kennedy doubles down on claims of Ukrainian interference
• Vindman calls Ukrainian election interference conspiracy theory "a Russian narrative"