The White House is shielding emails related to Trump's involvement with Ukraine aid freeze, court filing reveals


A court filing late Friday night revealed the Justice Department has two dozen emails related to President Trump's involvement in freezing military aid to Ukraine, CNN reports.
The filing was released just a few hours after the Senate voted against calling additional witnesses to testify during Trump's impeachment trial. The Trump administration is reportedly still blocking their content from the public and has kept them away from Congress, but the court filing is the first time the administration has publicly acknowledged the emails' existence.
A lawyer for the Office of Management and Budget wrote to the court that the emails should remain private because they describe communication by Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, or Trump's immediate advisers "regarding presidential decision-making about the scope, duration, and purpose of the hold on military assistance to Ukraine."
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The aid freeze is the focal point of Trump's impeachment trial, which looks sure to end in an acquittal next week after the witness vote all but sealed the deal. Democrats allege he made the aid contingent upon Ukraine announcing investigations into Trump's domestic political rivals. Read more at CNN.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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