Ukraine aid released after federal lawyers said Trump freeze was illegal: report
It wasn’t Donald Trump who released the first of Ukraine military aid, but the State Department after lawyers determined that the White House freeze on the funds was illegal, several sources have told Bloomberg.
The information severely undercuts Trump’s insistence that there was no military aid quid pro quo when he pressed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July phone call to launch a groundless investigation into his political rival Joe Biden and his son. Trump has pointed to the fact that he released the aid before a probe was begun. But Bloomberg now reports that he was no longer in control of disbursement when the money was released.
The OMB — headed by Mick Mulvaney, who is also the acting White House chief of staff — continues to argue that distribution of the funds, which had been approved by Congress, was up to the agency. “At no point was this pause inappropriate, let alone illegal,” OMB spokeswoman Rachel Semmel told Bloomberg Saturday.
Story continuesTrump has claimed he was the one who decided to release the money after a plea from GOP Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. “He called up, ‘Please let the money go,’” Trump said.
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