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Expert after expert in the House impeachment inquiry testified about one key fact: That Ukraine had no role interfering in the 2016 elections to help Hillary Clinton. And one key witness sounded the alarm even louder.

“This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated by the Russian security services themselves," said Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, in testimony that reflects what US intelligence officials have privately told lawmakers in recent months.

But to House Republicans, that’s just a bunch of talk.

Asked after Hill’s testimony if he believed Ukraine interfered in the 2016 elections, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told CNN, “I think they did."

Remaining loyal to the President: Amid the impeachment fight where Trump is demanding loyalty from congressional Republicans, most are unwilling to break from the President – even on a matter that national security experts warn could help Russia in its efforts to undermine Ukraine.

Moreover, US intelligence officials who briefed senators in recent months have reiterated the point that Russia has been engaging in a years-long effort to shift the blame of Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election to Ukraine, a message that has been echoed during public testimony by Hill and other witnesses in the impeachment inquiry.

But even Republicans who have sat for the closed-door depositions before the impeachment probe refuse to accept the notion that Ukraine had no role in interfering in 2016. And amid Trump’s continued criticism of the country, some won’t even accept the idea that Ukraine is a “key strategic ally.”

“Okay, suddenly they’re a key strategic ally?” said Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and participated in numerous depositions in the impeachment inquiry. “I never heard that before the last eight weeks — never heard that Ukraine was a key strategic ally.”

Perry continued: “I'm not disputing that they are a key ally and a strategic ally, but it's just interesting how you phrase that in this context like they can't survive without a White House meeting.”