Who is Fiona Hill's husband Kenneth Keen? Finance expert got death threats during Donald Trump's 2019 impeachment
Remember Fiona Hill? The senior British-American foreign affairs specialist who served during President Donald Trump's regime and notably testified in the first impeachment inquiry against POTUS. From 2017 to 2019, Hill served as a deputy assistant to the president and senior director of European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council.
The diplomat is again in the headlines for her recent article in Politico, where she dubbed the US capitol attack as a ‘coup’, much to the ire of Trump supporters. "Trump disguised what he was doing by operating in plain sight, talking openly about his intent. He normalized his actions so people would accept them. I’ve been studying authoritarian regimes for three decades, and I know the signs of a coup when I see them,” she stated. She also claimed in the article that the storming of the Capitol building on January 6 was 'the culmination of a series of actions and events taken or instigated by Trump so he could retain the presidency that together amount to an attempt at a self-coup'. She then went on to list how she thinks Trump did it.
Hill is not afraid to speak her mind or criticize the powers that be, despite the consequences she may have had to face for it.
Hill's testimony against Trump
Hill resigned from office in July 2019 and formally testified against Trump in the impeachment inquiry in October 2019. She testified in a closed-door deposition before a committee of United States Congress, that lasted for over ten hours. Later, she testified publicly against Trump in November 2019. During her closed-door testimony, Hill admitted to receiving death threats at her home. She expressed serious concerns over the safety of her husband, Kenneth Keen.
Though for security reasons, Keen’s name was blacked out in the official transcript of Hill’s testimony, it was clearly evident that she was referring to her husband.
“My [blank] picked up a phone call to have someone call me obscenities to [blank]. [Blank] very nervous about me testifying as a result of that,” read an excerpt from Hill’s testimony transcript.
Who is Kenneth Keen?
Kenneth Keen mostly chose to remain out of the limelight, especially during the much-publicized impeachment inquiry. However, he has always been a strong pillar of support to his wife. Keen works as a Senior Partner and Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group.
Both Keen and Hill attended Harvard University to pursue their Master’s degrees in History, with focus on Russian studies. Before Harvard, Keen had attended Dartmouth College from 1984 to 1988 for an undergraduate degree in history, while Hill completed her Bachelor’s in Scotland at the University of St Andrews, before moving to the United States.
Hill and Keen met at Harvard
Hill met her future husband at the Harvard campus and probably connected over their shared interest in the Soviet Union. After graduating, Hill went on to earn a PhD in History from Harvard whereas Keen started as a public affairs manager at a pharmaceutical company. He completely changed the trajectory of his career thereafter, switching from History to marketing and finance.
Keen then attended Northwestern University for an MBA degree in Finance, Strategy, and Marketing. After completing his MBA in 2000, Keen joined Boston Consulting Group and worked hard to reach the top at the firm, currently donning the hat of the Senior Partner and Managing Director. Though Keen has always maintained a considerable distance from the media, he has accompanied his wife to official White House events on several occasions. He attended the April 2018 state dinner hosted by President Trump for visiting French President Emmanuel Macron. Keen is reportedly well-acquainted with Hill’s colleagues from during the Trump administration.
Hill and Keen presently reside in Washington, DC, where Keen heads his firm’s office and Hill is a senior fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe - Brookings Institution. They have a daughter who is about to turn 14 in March 2021. Their daughter attends the Sidwell Friends school-a private educational institution notably attended by former presidents’ children like Malia and Sasha Obama, Chelsea Clinton, Al Gore III, and President-elect Joe Biden’s grandchildren.