Exclusive: Unredacted Ukraine Documents Reveal Extent of Pentagon's Legal Concerns

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.justsecurity.org/67863/exclusive-unredacted-ukraine-documents-reveal-extent-of-pentagons-legal-concerns/

by Kate Brannen
January 2, 2020

“Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold.”

This is what Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), told Elaine McCusker, the acting Pentagon comptroller, in an Aug. 30 email, which has only been made available in redacted form until now. It is one of many documents the Trump administration is trying to keep from the public, despite congressional oversight efforts and court orders in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation.

Earlier in the day on Aug. 30, President Donald Trump met with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the president’s hold on $391 million in military assistance for Ukraine. Inside the Trump administration, panic was reaching fever pitch about the president’s funding hold, which had stretched on for two months. Days earlier, POLITICO had broken the story and questions were starting to pile up. U.S. defense contractors were worried about delayed contracts and officials in Kyiv and lawmakers on Capitol Hill wanted to know what on earth was going on. While Trump’s national security team thought withholding the money went against U.S. national security interests, Trump still wouldn’t budge.

Thanks to the testimony of several Trump administration officials, we now know what Trump was waiting on: a commitment from Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

</snip>

GREAT read - much more at link!

[Botany]

1. Trump was told by Pompeo, Esper, and Mulvaney what he was a doing in holding up ...

... aid to the Ukraine was illegal.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Yet, none of them will testify. Cowards.

[Botany]

3. Although their refusal to testify is very damning.

However we have the Republicans in the senate who do not want to hear that testimony
or see the un-redacted Mueller Report because "they" know what is contained in those
documents and testimony. We literally have the republicans working to keep power by
covering up crimes.


BTW The case and evidence put out by Adam Schiff's committee alone should be enough
hell, Trump admitted to the Ukraine crimes on the White House lawn to TV cameras.

[malaise]

4. IF they did nothing wrong

why are they trying to hide the fucking documents.
Lock them the fuck up!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. they like the jury ...

[malaise]

9. LOL

Happy New Year

[H2O Man]

5. Recommended.

Very important.

[malaise]

10. For more reasons than one

Don't dare hold up those defense contractors'money - one day we may thank them for the leaks.

[dalton99a]

7. Kick

What is clear is that it all came down to the president and what he wanted; no one else appears to have supported his position. Although the pretext for the hold was that some sort of policy review was taking place, the emails make no mention of that actually happening. Instead, officials were anxiously waiting for the president to be convinced that the hold was a bad idea. And while the situation continued throughout the summer, senior defense officials were searching for legal guidance, worried they would be blamed should the hold be lifted too late to actually spend all of the money, which would violate the law.

The emails also reveal key decision points, moments when senior officials hoped the hold might be lifted. This includes Vice President Mike Pence’s September meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which a senior defense official expected would resolve the funding issue, raising the question: Why? What was supposed to come out of that meeting that would pave the way for Trump to lift the hold? What was Pence expected to communicate?

But, the hold wasn’t immediately lifted after Pence’s meeting with Zelenskyy. Instead, the president finally released the money on Sept. 11, just as the whistleblower complaint was about to break into the open.

[pwb]

8. Yea this is going to be a very bad year for Republicans. And they deserve every bit.

McConnell did all this to trump. They screwed each other and it feels pretty good to me.

[Baked Potato]

11. All these people hate Government, so they strive to make it dysfunctional

But, they love that big government paycheck.

[Duppers]

12. Big K&R