Bill Taylor testified that an OMB official told him in a call that Trump directed Mick Mulvaney to freeze military aid to Ukraine.
Taylor said, “In a regular NSC secure video conference call I heard a staff person from the office of management and budget say there was a hold on security assistance to Ukraine but could not say why. Toward the end of an otherwise normal meeting, a voice on the call, the person was off-screen, said she was from OMB and her boss had instructed her not to approve any additional spending on security systems for Ukraine until further notice. I and others sat in astonishment. Ukrainians were fighting Russians and counted on not only the training and weapons but also the assurance of U.S. Support. All that the OMB staff person said was that the directive had come from the president to the chief of staff to OMB. In an instant, I realized that one of the key pillars of our strong support nor Ukraine was the regular policy channel was running contrary to the goals of longstanding U.S. policy.”
Video:
Bill Taylor testifies that Trump directed Mulvaney to freeze Ukraine military aid. #impeachmenthearings pic.twitter.com/AjdK0B5nK9
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 13, 2019
Taylor delivered the smoking gun. The White House has claimed that Ukraine’s military aid was not frozen. The White House claim is not true. Trump later claimed that the Ukrainians did not know about the aid freeze, but Taylor testified that Ukraine knew about the aid freeze in August. Taylor is a strong witness who has delivered the total story of what was going on behind the scenes.
The impeachment hearings are bad and getting worse by the second for Donald Trump.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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