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As House Democrats lay out their case, Trump's campaign and White House offer a different narrative
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/22/house-democrats-lay-out-their-case-trumps-campaign-white-house-offer-different-narrative/
By Philip Bump
Jan. 22, 2020 at 4:47 p.m. EST
<snip>
“Ukraine received aid without announcing any investigations. The standard, temporary hold was lifted in September.” Democrats allege that Trump pressured Ukraine and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce investigations that would politically benefit Trump. To do so, Democrats argue, he declined to finalize a White House meeting that Zelensky desired and placed a hold on military and security aid to the country that lasted from early July to mid-September.
It is true that much of the aid was provided to Ukraine without the announced investigations. It’s also true that the aid was released only after public attention had been drawn to the hold and only after it had been alleged that Trump was holding the aid to try to force Ukraine to launch the investigations. It is not a defense against kidnapping charges to say that you released your prisoner before you got the ransom.
As witnesses during the impeachment inquiry testified, this was also not a “standard” hold. Mark Sandy, the official with the Office of Management and Budget charged with implementing the hold, testified that it was unusual in his lengthy experience.
“Ukraine has been clear there was no pressure for them to do anything.” Various Ukrainian officials have, indeed, said that they weren’t pressured by Trump, though Zelensky himself did so only somewhat grudgingly when he and Trump first met at a United Nations event in September. The War Room tweet quotes the tail end of his comments then, but not his earlier effort to deflect the question.
David Holmes, a staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, explained in his testimony why Ukraine would both have understood the pressure they were under — and not wanted to cross Trump by saying so publicly.
</snip>
By Philip Bump
Jan. 22, 2020 at 4:47 p.m. EST
<snip>
“Ukraine received aid without announcing any investigations. The standard, temporary hold was lifted in September.” Democrats allege that Trump pressured Ukraine and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce investigations that would politically benefit Trump. To do so, Democrats argue, he declined to finalize a White House meeting that Zelensky desired and placed a hold on military and security aid to the country that lasted from early July to mid-September.
It is true that much of the aid was provided to Ukraine without the announced investigations. It’s also true that the aid was released only after public attention had been drawn to the hold and only after it had been alleged that Trump was holding the aid to try to force Ukraine to launch the investigations. It is not a defense against kidnapping charges to say that you released your prisoner before you got the ransom.
As witnesses during the impeachment inquiry testified, this was also not a “standard” hold. Mark Sandy, the official with the Office of Management and Budget charged with implementing the hold, testified that it was unusual in his lengthy experience.
“Ukraine has been clear there was no pressure for them to do anything.” Various Ukrainian officials have, indeed, said that they weren’t pressured by Trump, though Zelensky himself did so only somewhat grudgingly when he and Trump first met at a United Nations event in September. The War Room tweet quotes the tail end of his comments then, but not his earlier effort to deflect the question.
David Holmes, a staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, explained in his testimony why Ukraine would both have understood the pressure they were under — and not wanted to cross Trump by saying so publicly.
</snip>
Good point-by-point knockdown of the WH's talking points.
