Trump withheld military aid to pressure Zelensky, U.S. officials allege

U.S. President Trump told his acting chief of staff,
Mick Mulvaney, to hold back almost USD 400 mln in military aid for Ukraine at least
a week before the July 25 phone call in which he is alleged to have pressured
Ukrainian President Zelensky to investigate the son of former U.S. Vice
President Joe Biden, according to three senior administration officials who
spoke anonimously to the washingtonpost.com news site. The sources were
confirmed by The Associated Press by two people familiar with the private
conversations but not authorized to discuss them.

The sources said Trump had “concerns” and wanted to
analyze whether the money needed to be spent. Trump’s order to withhold aid is
likely to fuel suspicions on Capitol Hill that Trump sought to leverage
congressionally approved aid to damage Biden, who is among the leading
candidates to become the Democrat Party’s nominee in the 2020 presidential
elections, the washingtonpost.com reported early this morning. The relevation
comes as lawmakers clash with the White House over a related whistleblower
complaint made by an intelligence official alarmed by Trump’s actions.

One senior administration official said on Sept. 23
that Trump’s decision to hold back the funds was based on his concerns about
there being “a lot of corruption in Ukraine” and the determination to release
the money was motivated by the fiscal year’s close on Sept. 30, the
washingtonpost.com news site said. There was concern within the administration
that if they did not spend the money, they would run afoul of the law, this
official said, noting that eventually, Trump gave permission to release the
money. The official denied there was any link between blocking the aid and
pressing Zelensky into investigation the Biden, stating, “It had nothing to do
with a quid pro quo.”