President Trump held up U.S. military aid to Ukraine as part of an attempt to strong-arm the country into investigating his political rivals, a top White House official admitted Thursday, stunningly contradicting the administration’s previous talking points. Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney unexpectedly took to the White House press podium to effectively acknowledge for the first time that there was a quid pro quo involved in the Ukraine scandal that sparked the House impeachment investigation. Advertisement “The look-back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation,” Mulvaney said when asked why Trump froze nearly $400 million in security aid to Ukraine days before his infamous July 25 phone call with the President Volodymyr Zelensky. “And that is absolutely appropriate,” Mulvaney added. The “look-back” Mulvaney mentioned refers to a debunked right-wing conspiracy theory claiming anti-Trump Ukrainians tried to help Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and made up evidence that Russian operatives stole and disseminated Democratic emails during the 2016 election to boost Trump’s election efforts. At the center of that dubious theory is a baseless claim that the Democratic National Committee computer server hacked by Russia is being hidden by a company in Ukraine called CrowdStrike. There is absolutely no evidence to support the so-called CrowdStrike theory, which is seeking to undermine faith in the U.S. intelligence community’s unanimous conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump and hurt Clinton. But that hasn’t stopped Trump and his allies from propping up the unfounded claims — and even asking Ukraine to investigate them. Until Thursday, Trump and his officials had denied that there was a quid pro quo involved in the president’s decision to hold up the U.S. security assistance to Ukraine, which the eastern European country relies on to stave off Russia’s invasion of Crimea. But Mulvaney flipped the script completely and shrugged when asked whether what he described didn’t in fact amount to a quid pro quo in which Trump used the sorely needed security assistance as leverage to get Ukraine to investigate his baseless 2016 claims. “We do that all the time with foreign policy,” Mulvaney said. He continued, “Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” On the July call, Trump asked Zelensky to investigate his 2016 theory as well as similarly baseless allegations that Joe Biden used his vice presidential pulpit to shield his son, Hunter, from being prosecuted on corruption charges in Ukraine during the Obama administration. Even though Trump specifically mentioned Biden on the Zelensky call, Mulvaney sought to make a distinction that Trump’s freeze on security aid only related to the requested investigation into the CrowdStrike claims, not any corruption claims about the former vice president
White House admits Trump held up U.S. aid for Ukraine as part of quid pro quo push for investigation
President Trump held up U.S. military aid to Ukraine as part of an attempt to strong-arm the country into investigating his political rivals, a top White House official admitted Thursday, stunningly contradicting the administration’s previous talking points. Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney unexpectedly took to the White House press podium to effectively acknowledge for the first time that there was a quid pro quo involved in the Ukraine scandal that sparked the House impeachment investigation. Advertisement “The look-back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation,” Mulvaney said when asked why Trump froze nearly $400 million in security aid to Ukraine days before his infamous July 25 phone call with the President Volodymyr Zelensky. “And that is absolutely appropriate,” Mulvaney added. The “look-back” Mulvaney mentioned refers to a debunked right-wing conspiracy theory claiming anti-Trump Ukrainians tried to help Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and made up evidence that Russian operatives stole and disseminated Democratic emails during the 2016 election to boost Trump’s election efforts. At the center of that dubious theory is a baseless claim that the Democratic National Committee computer server hacked by Russia is being hidden by a company in Ukraine called CrowdStrike. There is absolutely no evidence to support the so-called CrowdStrike theory, which is seeking to undermine faith in the U.S. intelligence community’s unanimous conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump and hurt Clinton. But that hasn’t stopped Trump and his allies from propping up the unfounded claims — and even asking Ukraine to investigate them. Until Thursday, Trump and his officials had denied that there was a quid pro quo involved in the president’s decision to hold up the U.S. security assistance to Ukraine, which the eastern European country relies on to stave off Russia’s invasion of Crimea. But Mulvaney flipped the script completely and shrugged when asked whether what he described didn’t in fact amount to a quid pro quo in which Trump used the sorely needed security assistance as leverage to get Ukraine to investigate his baseless 2016 claims. “We do that all the time with foreign policy,” Mulvaney said. He continued, “Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” On the July call, Trump asked Zelensky to investigate his 2016 theory as well as similarly baseless allegations that Joe Biden used his vice presidential pulpit to shield his son, Hunter, from being prosecuted on corruption charges in Ukraine during the Obama administration. Even though Trump specifically mentioned Biden on the Zelensky call, Mulvaney sought to make a distinction that Trump’s freeze on security aid only related to the requested investigation into the CrowdStrike claims, not any corruption claims about the former vice president
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