- Title: White House acknowledges strings attached in Trump withholding Ukraine aid
- Date: 17th October 2019
- Summary: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MICK MULVANEY ENTERING BRIEFING ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MICK MULVANEY SAYING: "I was--, I was involved with the process by which the money was held up temporarily. Three issues for that: the corruption in the country, whether or not other countries were participating, the support of Ukraine and whether or not they were cooperating in an ongoing investigation with our Department of Justice." WHITE FLASH MULVANEY LISTENING AS REPORTER (OFF CAMERA) SAYS, "What you just described is a quid-pro-quo. It is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the into the Democratic server happened as well. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MICK MULVANEY SAYING: "We do we do that all the time with foreign policy. We were holding up money at the same time for what was it, the northern triangle countries." WIDE OF MULVANEY AT LECTERN MULVANEY LISTENING AS REPORTER (OFF CAMERA) SAYS, "On the call, the president did ask about investigating the Bidens. Are you saying that the money that was held up, that had nothing to do with the Bidens?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MICK MULVANEY SAYING: "No, the money held up had nothing to do with Biden, there's no --- that was the point I made to you." WHITE FLASH MULVANEY LEAVING BRIEFING ROOM
- Embargoed: 31st October 2019 19:45
- Keywords: Donald Trump Ukraine Joe Biden Mick Mulvaney aid
- Location: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1HLHDZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A top White House official on Thursday (October 17) acknowledged that U.S. President Donald Trump held back military aid for Ukraine earlier this year in part to pressure Kiev to look into allegations about the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told a news conference that such action was appropriate and said it was part of Trump's larger concerns about corruption in Ukraine.
"I was involved with the process by which the money was held up temporarily, Mulvaney said, adding that it was due to concerns about "corruption in the country" and whether "they were cooperating in an ongoing investigation with our Department of Justice."
Mulvaney's reference to 2016 refers to a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine and not Russia interfered in the U.S. election that year and that a Democratic Party computer server was being held somewhere in Ukraine.
Asked about such transactions being a "quid pro quo," he told reporters: "We do that all the time with foreign policy." Quid pro quo is a Latin phrase that means exchanging a favor for a favor.
Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate U.S. politics are at the heart of a congressional impeachment probe into whether the president acted inappropriately in using U.S. foreign policy to seek to impact his re-election.
Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, are examining Trump's request to the president of Ukraine to dig up information on former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, and his son Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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