Trump Said to Have Frozen Aid to Ukraine Before Call With Its Leader
Trump Said to Have Frozen Aid to Ukraine Before Call With Its Leader
The revelation came as leading congressional Democrats demanded that the administration turn over documentation about the matter and calls for impeachment grew.
By Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Fandos, Michael Crowleyand Kenneth P. Vogel at the NY Times
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/us/politics/trump-un-biden-ukraine.amp.html
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President Trump personally ordered his staff to freeze more than $391 million in aid to Ukraine in the days before he pressed the new Ukrainian president to investigate the Democrats’ leading presidential candidate, two senior administration officials said Monday.
Mr. Trump issued his directive to Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, who conveyed it through the budget office to the Pentagon and the State Department, which were told only that the administration was looking at whether the spending was necessary, the officials said.
The timing of the decision to block the aid and Mr. Trump’s personal involvement, which were first reported by The Washington Post, add vital new elements to the raging debate over the president’s effort to persuade Ukraine to examine unsubstantiated corruption allegations involving former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden.
The revelation came as leading congressional Democrats demanded that the administration turn over documentation about the matter. Even before news of Mr. Trump’s involvement in freezing the aid, a flood of Democrats had said that the president’s actions could warrant impeachment.
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