Trump instructed administration to withhold military aid for Ukraine days before call with president: report
By Zack Budryk - 09/23/19 10:41 PM EDT
President Trump instructed acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to place a hold on nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine shortly before a phone call in which he allegedly tried to persuade the nation’s president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Officials with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for which Mulvaney also serves as director, passed the order on to the Defense and State departments in mid-July at an interagency meeting, according to the Post, citing three senior administration officials.
OMB officials told the Pentagon and State Department that Trump had “concerns†about the necessity of spending the money and instructed them to simply tell lawmakers that the aid was being held due to an “interagency process,†which continued for nearly two months before the funds were released earlier this month, according to the newspaper.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/462715-trump-instructed-admin-to-withhold-military-aid-for-ukraine-days
