Yesterday evening the Washington Post came out with an article saying Trump withheld money from the Ukraine before he spoke with the new president. The suggestion here is a quid pro quo, which the media desperately wants to find even though the Wall St. Journal said there was none.
Trump responded to this at the UN this morning:
Trump on report that U.S. withheld aid from the Ukraine: "Those funds were paid, were fully paid. My complaint has always been, and I withhold again, will continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine." https://t.co/LOlwhKc8Ve pic.twitter.com/2IaNqS0KHN
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 24, 2019
President Trump says he blocked money to Ukraine a week before call with Ukrainian leader because he "wanted other countries to put up money." https://t.co/LOlwhKc8Ve pic.twitter.com/3k0wqrtAz0
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 24, 2019
"I think it's ridiculous, it's a witch hunt," Trump says about call for impeachment amid reports on his call with Ukrainian president.
"When you see the read out of the call, which I assume you will at some point, you'll understand. That call was perfect" https://t.co/hoRkR2sa3O pic.twitter.com/WWyZbUKx23
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 24, 2019
In short, Trump said he withheld the money a week before his call with the Ukrainian president because he wanted to push other countries in Europe to give more to Ukraine. He also added that the money was fully paid to Ukraine.
Interestingly enough, Fox News said this morning that they had confirmed that Trump wanted the new Ukrainian president to end corruption before they just gave him 391 million dollars, as well as getting other allies to pony up more money:
Steve Doocy: The report about Trump ordering Ukrainian aid withheld "doesn't look like good timing to a lot of people, but Fox News has confirmed that [Trump] wanted to make sure that the new president of Ukraine understood" how serious Trump was about ending corruption. pic.twitter.com/m1dDXIqwx3
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) September 24, 2019