Report: White House review turns up emails about withholding Ukraine aid

Mick Mulvaney.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

In response to the House impeachment inquiry against President Trump, the White House Counsel's Office started a review of his decision to freeze military aid to Ukraine, and discovered hundreds of documents showing efforts after the fact to justify the move, three people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

Congress approved nearly $400 million in security aid for Ukraine, but Trump ordered a hold on it in mid-July. The impeachment inquiry is focusing on whether Trump held the aid, which Ukraine needed to fight off Russian military aggression, in exchange for Ukraine launching investigations into his political rivals.

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Mulvaney sent the email a few days after the White House Counsel's Office learned that an anonymous CIA official had complained about Trump's July 25 call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, when he asked him to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, as well as an unfounded theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.

Just one person from the OMB has testified as part of the impeachment inquiry, career official Mark Sandy. People familiar with his deposition said he told lawmakers the delay in aid was highly unusual, and he had never before seen political appointees in the OMB become involved in reviewing an aid package. Read more about the review — and why White House lawyers are concerned some documents could embarrass Trump — at The Washington Post.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.