November 24, 2019
THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:
Confidential White House review turns up emails showing extensive effort to justify Trump's decision to block Ukraine military aid (The Washington Post, 25 Nov, 2019)
A confidential White House review of President Donald Trump's decision to place a hold on military aid to Ukraine has turned up hundreds of documents that reveal extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal, according to three people familiar with the records.The research by the White House Counsel's Office, which was triggered by a congressional impeachment inquiry announced in September, includes early August email exchanges between acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House budget officials seeking to provide an explanation for withholding the funds after Trump had already ordered a hold in mid-July on the nearly US$400 million in security assistance, according to the three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 24, 2019 4:17 PM