Trump Says He Withheld Ukraine Aid Over Dispute With Europe

[left-of-center2012]

President Donald Trump acknowledged that he ordered a halt to U.S. military aid to Ukraine, claiming he was frustrated that Europe wasn’t also contributing to the country’s fight with Russia-backed separatists.

Trump said Tuesday that he withheld the aid over a previously unknown dispute with Europe.

“My complaint has always been -- and I’d withhold again, and I’ll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine,” Trump said as he arrived at United Nations General Assembly. “Because they’re not doing it. It’s the United States. We’re putting up the bulk of the money and I’m asking why is that.”

On Monday, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the president threatened to cut off aid to Ukraine over calls for an investigation into largely discredited allegations against Biden and his son Hunter Biden.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-23/trump-says-he-didn-t-link-ukraine-aid-to-investigation-of-bidens?srnd=premium

[bearsfootball516]

1. Suuuuuuuuure. That MUST have been the reason...

[Polly Hennessey]

2. Making it up as we go along,

are we.

[Hugin]

3. If the aid money was appropriated, he has no part in it's transfer.

The fact it was withheld is in itself against the Constitution.

It's not a prerogative of the Executive Branch to allocate funds.

Oh, and by the way, how come he brings up his objections after the fact? Only after he's been caught in his quid-pro-quo.
If forcing the Europeans to put forward more money, he should have said so very publicly.

[spanone]

4. A Liar.

[RGTIndy]

5. I still think the Ukraine call could be an attempted smokescreen

Not that it didn't happen, and not that it isn't serious on its own, but I have a feeling the leaks about the content of the whistleblower complaint have come from Trump and they are attempting to create a narrative about Biden. I would not be surprised to learn that the thrust of the complaint was elsewhere. Particularly that it involves Trump giving up our Russian spy to Putin. If you look at that timeline whole thing. Coats fired, call to Putin about "wildfires", Trump requests list of all our spies. Trump makes weird comment about not trusting foreign spies. Our Russian spy in the Kremlin is suddenly extricated and Russian media names the spy. That just seems like the kind of thing that would freak out the intelligence community more than Trumps political dirty tricks in Ukraine. So I'm more interested in the complaint than the transcript of the Ukraine call.

[Midnight Writer]

6. I'm with you. Congress needs to see the actual whistleblower's complaint, as mandated by law.

[kentuck]

7. Yeah, that's the ticket!

Took him three days to come up with that one.