OMB witness told Schiff’s impeachment committee WHY aid was withheld, and it wasn’t over a quid pro quo

by The Right Scoop

Adam Schiff had OMB’s Mark Sandy to testify in his secret committee hearings and during his line of questioning he explained why he’d been told that there was a hold on the Ukraine aid.

The transcripts weren’t released until yesterday and Lee Zeldin was quick to point out what Sandy said:

Here’s the portion of the transcript quoted by The Daily Wire:

Question: Between July 19th and July 22nd, including July 22nd, did Mr. Duffey provide you any explanation as to why the President wanted to place a hold on Ukraine security assistance?

Sandy: No.

Question: Did you ask?

Sandy: Yes.

Question: And what was the response?

Sandy: He was not aware of the reason.

Question: To the best of your recollection, what precisely did he say to you when you asked for the reason for the President’s decision to place a hold on security assistance?

Sandy: That he was not aware.

…

Question: Did Mr. Duffey say that he was going to try to get additional information as to the reason for the hold?

Sandy: Yes. He certainly said that if he got additional information he would share it with us.

Question: At any point in time, from the moment that you walked into the [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility] to anytime in history, has Mr. Duffey ever provided to you a reason why the President wanted to place a hold on security assistance?

Sandy: I recall in early September an email [from Mike Duffey] that attributed the hold to the President’s concern about other countries not contributing money to Ukraine.

…

Question: Was this the first time that you heard that the hold might be about some sort of concern that other countries are not providing sufficient support to Ukraine?

Sandy: We had received information requesting — sorry. We had received requests for additional information on what other countries were contributing to Ukraine.

It’s important to note that Sandy doesn’t remember the exact day in early September he received the email from Duffy, who is a political appointee to OMB. He was asked if the email occurred before September 9th, the day Congress announced their investigation into the fake whistleblower complaint. Sandy initially said yes it was before, noting he remembered it being early September. But a few moments later he amended his testimony to say he didn’t want to inadvertently provide false testimony and said he couldn’t remember if it was before or after September 9th.

In related news, it’s being reported that Trump knew about the whistleblower complaint before he released the aid to Ukraine…

President Trump was briefed about the whistleblower complaint prompted by his dealings with Kiev before the White House lifted a hold on more than $391 million in aid to Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter.

The president was briefed about the complaint in August by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and John Eisenberg, an attorney with the White House National Security Council, the people said. The complaint triggered the impeachment inquiry by Democrats in the House, which Trump has dismissed as a hoax.

This isn’t surprising considering the DOJ had the complaint. But I don’t think it proves the narrative Schiff is trying to sell the public, that the only reason Trump released the aid was because he’d been ‘caught’ by the whistleblower and Congress.

Because here again, nobody else knew there was a quid pro quo because Trump had not communicated that there was one, nor had any of his White House staff. If Democrats could establish there was a quid pro quo, then this would mean something. But you can’t say this proves something that all have testified never happened.


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