"A federal judge last month ordered the two agencies to hand over records regarding the withholding of military aid as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Center for Public Integrity. The center published the documents late Friday and is also in the midst of a lawsuit to have the documents unredacted.
According to the documents, shortly after President Trump's now-infamous July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, White House aides were tasked with halting the $391 million of military aid.
Trump’s phone call with Zelensky, and the withholding of aid, is at the center of the impeachment proceedings that began in the House and will now move to the Senate in the new year.
The obtained documents contain emails sent by senior White House official Michael Duffey. Duffey, a Trump appointee, works through the OMB and is responsible for overseeing national security money.
"Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration's plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, please hold off on any additional DoD obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process," Duffey wrote to OMB and Pentagon officials on July 25.
"Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction," Duffey added.
The freeze of the aid apparently raised eyebrows at the OMB and other government agencies, with many worried that the delay of aid would make it hard for the assistance to go through before Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.
For example, Department of Defense Comptroller Elaine McCusker mentioned in a Sept. 5 email what she called an "increasing risk of execution."
On Sept. 11, Duffey informed McCusker that the aid was being released. McCusker, through email, asked Duffey what caused the holdup. The first part of Duffey's response is redacted, but he went on to say that he was "glad to have this behind us."
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/475600-trump-aides-tasked-with-carrying-out-ukraine-funding-freeze-shortly
So a few hours after the Trump-Zelensky call, where Trump made clear he wanted the "favor" of Ukrainian investigations that would aid his re-election, his WH minions were making sure that any military aid to that country was frozen until Trump personally OKed it.
What a fantastic coincidence! Or maybe, just maybe, Trump was making sure that Zelensky knew the consequences IF he didn't do the Donald a "favor".
@no1marauder saidDuffey is one of the witnesses that Senate Democrats have asked to be called in the coming impeachment trial:
"A federal judge last month ordered the two agencies to hand over records regarding the withholding of military aid as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Center for Public Integrity. The center published the documents late Friday and is also in the midst of a lawsuit to have the documents unredacted.
[b]According to the documents, shortly ...[text shortened]... ybe, Trump was making sure that Zelensky knew the consequences IF he didn't do the Donald a "favor".
"Schumer has sent a letter to McConnell in which he asks the Republican leader to call four witnesses who refused to testify before the House impeachment committees.
The witnesses Schumer has asked for all have direct knowledge of Trump administration decisions concerning the holdup of aid to Ukraine and the requests for investigations of the Bidens and of the origins of the Russia investigation.
They are: Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff; John Bolton, former national security adviser; Michael Duffey, associate director for national security, Office of Management and Budget; and Robert Blair, senior adviser to Mulvaney.
Schumer also proposes that the Senate issue subpoenas "for a limited set of documents that we believe will shed additional light on the administration's decision-making regarding the delay in security assistance funding to Ukraine and its requests for certain investigations to be announced by the government of Ukraine," per the letter obtained by Axios."
https://www.axios.com/chuck-schumer-senate-impeachment-trial-mcconnell-4c19166d-9044-4b21-ba6b-05ef7bb7e90c.html
For some strange reason, Moscow Mitch, who is sure that the Donald did nothing wrong whatsoever, doesn't want to hear from officials with first hand knowledge of his actions that would surely totally vindicate him.
It's all quite puzzling.
@no1marauder saidWhy yall write about this old news, do you know what is going on. ?? . How bout the guy at FBI who has been outed as changing an email-recital from the CIA? Had he not done that, that one email would have caused the FISA-gate to never happen. He is a criminal and should go to jail. The Trump haters, even before he as elected, did all this. This all allowed the wire-tap of Trump.
Duffey is one of the witnesses that Senate Democrats have asked to be called in the coming impeachment trial:
"Schumer has sent a letter to McConnell in which he asks the Republican leader to call four witnesses who refused to testify before the House impeachment committees.
The witnesses Schumer has asked for all have direct knowledge of Trump administration decisi ...[text shortened]... hand knowledge of his actions that would surely totally vindicate him.
It's all quite puzzling.
You sure you dont want to come over to our side? You will be happy, and, ( you libs aren't used to this word)...you will be REAL successful ! Productive! Ouch!!! You're thinking, Shluldnt someone else do your producing???
@averagejoe1 saidThere was no "wire-tap of Trump".
Why yall write about this old news, do you know what is going on. ?? . How bout the guy at FBI who has been outed as changing an email-recital from the CIA? Had he not done that, that one email would have caused the FISA-gate to never happen. He is a criminal and should go to jail. The Trump haters, even before he as elected, did all this. This all allowed the wire-t ...[text shortened]... REAL successful ! Productive! Ouch!!! You're thinking, Shluldnt someone else do your producing???
"Old news"? It seems pretty relevant to what is going on now i.e. Moscow Mitch is trying to circumvent the Constitution by not having an actual impeachment trial. It looks like Duffey has specific knowledge of Trump's actual motivations in freezing the Ukrainian military aid and the Donald doesn't want him to tell the American People. Why do you think that is?
I keep thinking about this quote from the e-mail:
"Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction," Duffey added.
IF the hold was based on what Trump has claimed i.e. a commitment for the Ukrainians to fight "corruption" and as a wedge to get more funding from the EU nations, why would it be so "sensitive"?
@averagejoe1 saidYup !!
Why yall write about this old news, do you know what is going on. ?? . How bout the guy at FBI who has been outed as changing an email-recital from the CIA? Had he not done that, that one email would have caused the FISA-gate to never happen. He is a criminal and should go to jail. The Trump haters, even before he as elected, did all this. This all allowed the wire-t ...[text shortened]... REAL successful ! Productive! Ouch!!! You're thinking, Shluldnt someone else do your producing???
Give Trump a mulligan because the economy is doing great !
Where was that narrative when Clinton got impeached.
The Clinton administration was running a better economy than today.
Yes, he balanced the budget (even a surplus).
You know what that is, right ?
Not like the economy today. Running on a line of credit and overheating.