Millions in military aid at center of impeachment hasn't reached Ukraine

[babylonsister]

Millions in military aid at center of impeachment hasn’t reached Ukraine
By Molly O’Toole, Sarah D. Wire
Dec. 12, 2019
3:53 PM
WASHINGTON —


More than $20 million of the Pentagon aid at the center of the impeachment fight still hasn’t reached Ukraine.

The continued delay undermines a key argument against impeachment from President Trump’s Republican allies and a new legal memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Initially, Trump directed officials to withhold roughly $400 million in assistance to Ukraine as he and aides pressured its new government under President Volodymyr Zelensky to open investigations into Trump’s political rivals. The White House released the hold on the aid in September, but not before sparking a whistleblower complaint that led to the impeachment inquiry.

On Thursday, as lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee debated articles of impeachment, Republicans on the panel continued to assert that Trump did not abuse his power because the aid was released before Ukraine’s new government announced any investigations.

“They got the money on Sept. 11,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said of Ukraine in the Thursday hearing. “That’s what happened. You can make up all the things you want, but those are not the facts.”

But $20.2 million of the Pentagon’s $250-million portion of the aid has yet to reach Ukraine and remains in U.S. accounts, according to the Department of Defense and Senate aides.

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https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-12-12/millions-in-military-aid-at-center-of-impeachment-hasnt-reached-ukraine