An apparent White House effort to press Ukraine for political help got so heated over the summer that former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton told an aide to inform White House lawyers, according to Fiona Hill, who testified to Congress on Monday.

The New York Times reported that Ms. Hill testified that Mr. Bolton told her to notify the top lawyer for the National Security Council about a “rogue” effort to push Ukraine to investigate Democrats by U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Trump lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

According to the report, Ms. Hill quoted Mr. Bolton as describing Mr. Giuliani as “a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up” and that he told her to tell White House lawyers that he is “not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.”

Ms. Hill, who testified Monday as part of Congress‘ impeachment inquiry into President Trump, had served on Mr. Trump’s national security team overseeing matters related to Russia and Ukraine.

Ms. Hill, who was the first former White House official to testify in the impeachment inquiry, appeared after she was subpoenaed by congressional Democrats, according to her attorney.

Mr. Sondland, who the administration blocked from testifying last week, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify later this week as Congress returns from recess.

House Democrats recently announced they were formalizing their impeachment inquiry into the president in light of a whistleblower complaint alleging that Mr. Trump improperly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Mr. Trump has denied the accusations.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.