Trump withheld Ukraine military aid despite 'unanimous' support from his government, Fox News reports
It is still unclear why President Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military and other aid to Ukraine from mid-July until Sept. 11 — he has given shifting explanations, none of which seem to hold much water — but it was his decision, and he acted alone, Fox News reported Sunday. The Pentagon, State Department, and Trump's National Security Council were "unanimous" in their support for giving Ukraine the aid, approved by Congress in the spring, Fox News' Chris Wallace reported Sunday. He also had some news on Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer.
Giuliani has said the State Department asked him to intercede in Ukraine — and his saved text messages apparently helped prompt the State Department's official Ukraine envoy, Kurt Volker, to resign on Friday — but Fox News reports that Giuliani was working "off the books" with two other pro-Trump lawyers, Joe DiGenova and wife Victoria Toensing, to dig up Ukraine dirt on Joe Biden. The Trump administration wasn't involved, and only Trump knows the details of what the three lawyers were doing, Wallace said.
Toensing denied that she and DiGenova were working with Giuliani, calling Fox News' reporting "categorically false," and Giuliani told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that he "didn't work with anybody to try and get dirt on Joe Biden," insisting it was handed to him. Wallace responded: "We stand by our story."
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DiGenova, interestingly, is a frequent Fox News guest, and last week he was an instigator of a rhetorical flame war between the news and opinion sides of Fox News, calling Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano a "fool" for saying Trump committed a crime in his Ukraine call. Given this schism and other considerations, Fox News' leadership is reportedly trying to figure out how the typically pro-Trump network will navigate the looming impeachment inquiry into Trump's actions. This appears to be a point for the news side.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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