Dr. Hill’s decision to be the president’s top adviser on Russia and Europe strained friendships, made her a target of conspiracy theories — and landed her in the center of the tumult over Ukraine.
WASHINGTON — Fiona Hill knew she was taking a risk in going to work for President Trump.
A British-born coal-miner’s daughter with a Ph.D. from Harvard, Dr. Hill is a respected Russia expert, former intelligence analyst and co-author of a 500-page book analyzing the psyche of its president, Vladimir V. Putin. So the prospect of working for a president who speaks admiringly of Mr. Putin and has expressed doubts that Russia interfered in the 2016 election gave her pause.
Her decision to join the National Security Council in April 2017 — and to stay for more than two years after Mr. Trump cozied up to Mr. Putin and publicly disparaged the nation’s intelligence agencies — strained friendships and made her a target of right-wing conspiracy theorists who spread rumors that she was a Democratic mole.
View the complete November 21 article by Sheryl Gay Stolberg on The New York Times website here.