The Trump administration has released a stash of heavily redacted documents about the withholding of military aid to Ukraine just two minutes before the deadline.
As the Senate continued to block attempts to subpoena official records for Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, 192 pages of emails were disclosed under a Freedom of Information request.
The inconvenient truth for Democrats:
America’s Ukraine policy got “stronger” under @realDonaldTrump than it was under President Obama.pic.twitter.com/88ZzpBLueI
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) January 22, 2020
They include communications between budget officials on the day of the president’s phone call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenksy to press for an investigation into his Democrat rival Joe Biden.
American Oversight, the non-profit organisation that requested the documents, said that some of the records have not been given to the US Congress for its impeachment investigation.
“President Trump’s lawyers stood in the Senate on Tuesday arguing that documents are totally unnecessary for the impeachment trial, but these documents give lie to that entire position,” said executive director Austin Evers.
Witnesses a threat to national security?
Whistle blowers also a threat?
Perhaps democracy itself is a threat to national security.It's time to get rid of @realDonaldTrump.https://t.co/nbV90nF8Z7
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) January 22, 2020
“Despite the Trump Administration’s obstruction and the rhetoric at the trial, the public can now see even more evidence of the president’s corrupt scheme as it unfolded in real time.
“The volume of material released, and the volume of material still secreted away, only highlights how much the administration has withheld from the House, the Senate, and the American public.”
The documents were released in response to a request to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for “directives and communications that may relate to any effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate one of President Trump’s political opponents as part of an effort to give the president an electoral advantage”.
They begin with an email drawing attention to a news story about the Pentagon’s plans to send $250m in military aid to Ukraine on 19 June 2019.
Further documents reveal a series of communications involving OMB officials, including acting director Russell Voight and associate director Michael Duffey, as well as deputy under secretary of defence Elaine McCusker, who raised questions about the freeze of funding.
– The Independent
