House Democrats are building a case that Trump attempted to extort a foreign leader, withholding desperately needed military assistance to Ukraine unless the country’s president announced investigations into Trump’s political rivals
If Democrats intend to make a public case that Trump attempted to shake down his Ukrainian counterpart, they will face pressure to address how the outright stonewall by Trump’s budget officials has impeded their effort to solve this mystery.
It’s possible that witness transcripts expected to be released in the coming days will shed more light on the missing link — particularly the testimony of Timothy Morrison, a top National Security Council official whom diplomats said was their highest-level contact in trying to pry loose the frozen aid.
In the absence of cooperation from OMB, impeachment investigators have so far been unable to showcase evidence directly linking Trump’s hold on aid and his demand that Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats. Gordon Sondland, the United States Ambassador to the European Union | Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images
“I always believed that suspending aid to Ukraine was ill-advised, although I did not know when, why, or by whom the aid was suspended,” Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, told investigators before saying he presumed the freeze was connected to Trump’s demand for investigations. That meeting triggered a follow-up of more senior officials on July 23. Yet again, there was unanimity that the aid should be released — and no understanding of what motivated OMB’s hold. Kent described “broad support” across the State Department, Pentagon and both parties in Congress.
Finally, on Sept. 11, after news of the hold had been public for two weeks, it was lifted, and the flow of aid resumed.
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