White House budget official appears for testimony on Ukraine aid hold amid impeachment inquiry
A senior White House budget official appeared for testimony Saturday morning before House impeachment investigators — a significant crack in President Donald Trump’s firewall that has prevented Democrats from learning critical details about the decision to freeze nearly $400 million of military aid to Ukraine.
Mark Sandy’s closed-door appearance alone was a breakthrough for Democrats, who have struggled to obtain testimony about what other officials have described as an order by the president to withhold the U.S. military assistance meant for Ukraine. Democrats have blamed the nagging mystery on an all-out blockade by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which has fought relentlessly to spurn requests and subpoenas seeking documents and witness testimony.
Sandy is a career non-political official at OMB and is expected to face questions about why the congressionally appropriated military aid was halted and how the decision was implemented — two key blind spots for Democratic investigators as they seek to make the case that Trump ordered the hold on the military aid and refused a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until the country would publicly commit to investigations of Trump’s political rivals, in particular former Vice President Joe Biden.
Officials who have already appeared before investigators — including Laura Cooper, who oversees Russia and Ukraine policy at the Pentagon — have testified that a senior OMB official announced the hold on aid during a secure video conference on July 18, setting off a scramble within the State Department, Pentagon, National Security Council and Joint Chiefs of Staff as officials sought to learn why the hold had been placed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-budget-official-appears-for-testimony-on-ukraine-aid-hold-amid-impeachment-inquiry/ar-BBWRmJT?li=BBnbcA1
