U.S. diplomat Gordon Sondland says Ukraine aid should not have been delayed
President Trump withheld roughly $400 million in aid to Ukraine earlier this year in part to push its new government to investigate Democrats, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Thursday, a stunning confirmation that hits directly at the center of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
In a July 25 phone call, Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a “favor:” to help investigate the Democrats’ 2016 server as well as the business activities of his potential 2020 rival, former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens. The request came as Zelensky was expressing a desire for more U.S. military assistance and the chance to meet Trump in person, something that would enhance Zelensky’s political credibility.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, , said Mulvaney’s comments shouldn’t be surprising because the administration routinely asks foreign governments to do something in exchange for contact with the administration. “We have those types of expectations of our allies,” Gaetz said. “I asked the president: ‘What do you want from Ukraine?’ The president responded, ‘Nothing. There is no quid pro quo,’” Sondland recounted. “The president repeated: ‘no quid pro quo’ multiple times. This was a very short call. And I recall the president was in a bad mood.”Advertisement
Sondland’s testimony was in defiance of earlier attempts by the State Department and White House to block his appearance on Oct. 8, according to Sondland and his lawyers. House Democrats leading the inquiry then issued him a subpoena. “We strongly believed that a call and White House meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelensky was important and that these should be scheduled promptly and without any preconditions,” Sondland said in the statement. “We could abandon the goal of a White House meeting for President Zelensky ... or we could do as President Trump directed and talk to Mr. Giuliani.”
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