Pentagon Official Testifies Trump Directed Freeze on Aid to Ukraine
Laura Cooper, the top Pentagon official overseeing U.S. policy regarding Ukraine, told House impeachment investigators last month that President Donald Trump had directed the relevant agencies to freeze aid to Ukraine, according to a transcript of her testimony released Monday.
Cooper, during Oct. 23 testimony before the three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into Trump's Ukraine dealings, testified that she and other Pentagon officials had answered questions about the Ukraine assistance in the middle of June — so she was surprised when one of her subordinates told her that a hold had been placed on the funds after an interagency meeting in July, NBC News reports.
“I got, you know, I got a readout from the meeting — there was discussion in that session about the — about OMB [Office of Management and Budget] saying that they were holding the Congressional Notification related to” Ukraine, Cooper testified, according to the transcript.
Cooper said that she attended a meeting on July 23, where "this issue" of Trump's "concerns about Ukraine and Ukraine security assistance" came up. She said the president's concerns were conveyed by acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Days later, on July 26, she testified that she found out that both military and humanitarian aid had been impacted.
Asked if the president was authorized to order that type of hold, Cooper said there were concerns that he wasn't.
Photo Credit: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
from NBC New York - Top Stories https://ift.tt/33DBfPJ
No comments: