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At a Thursday hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council senior director, won an outpouring of support for her powerful testimony slamming sexist double standards.

Hill, one of the nation's leading experts on Russian and Eastern European issues, left the White House earlier this year and testified about the efforts of certain members of the Trump administration to leverage the release of a nearly $400 million military-aid package to Ukraine in exchange for the Ukrainian government announcing investigations that would be favorable to Trump.

In particular, Hill testified that officials including Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, circumvented the interagency processes for conducting diplomacy with Ukraine and got in the way of the NSC's efforts, sidestepping the council and leaving its staff in the dark.

Hill holds multiple degrees in foreign affairs and history from Harvard University and has worked on Russian and Eastern European issues for decades. Sondland is a wealthy hotel executive who had no significant diplomatic experience when he was appointed in 2018 after donating $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee.

Hill recounted that in a July 10 meeting at the White House, she had to intercept Sondland and make clear to him that there should be no discussion of investigations with Ukrainian officials without first going through the proper diplomatic channels.

"I was actually, to be honest, angry with him," Hill said. "And I hate to say it, but often when women show anger it's not fully appreciated it's often pushed onto emotional issues, perhaps, or deflected onto other people."

Hill's measured, confident demeanor before the committee and her powerful testimony of being pushed aside and outflanked by a far less qualified male diplomat resonated with people across the internet. Many tweeted their support for Hill and made her name a trending topic.

Hill and David Holmes, a US diplomat in Ukraine, are sworn in to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. Andrew Harnik/AP

Later in her testimony, Hill said that she believed the smear campaign and eventual ousting of Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, were also motivated by sexism and that Yovanovitch's gender made her a target for attacks.

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The internet loved Fiona Hill blasting sexism in impeachment testimony - INSIDER