Donald Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani (File)

New detail is published of Donald Trump’s “quid pro quo”: cutting off security assistance to Ukraine until Kyiv announced investigations to tarnish Trump’s political rivals and to cover up Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election.

Trump ordered the freeze of $391 million in State and Defense Department assistance days before his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy seeking the investigations, including of Presidential candidate Joe Biden. The incident sparked a formal complaint from a CIA officer, leading to House hearings and the impeachment of Trump on December 18.

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The New York Times lays out the convergence between two political paths: the campaign from November 2018 of Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani for the investigations, and Trump’s sudden interest in the security assistance.

In mid-June, Trump saw an article in the Washington Examiner that $250 million in Pentagon aid, for weapons such as sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, was soon to be delivered to Kiev.

A month earlier, Zelenskiy had taken office amid the ongoing Russian political and military campaign supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine. But Trump, fed by Giuliani, had told officials, “They are all corrupt, they are all terrible people.”

White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was Trump’s channel to implement the freeze. On June 19, his top aide Robert Blair instructed the Office of Management and Budget, “We need to hold it up.”

OMB official Mark Sandy said Michael Duffey, the top political appointee at the OMB, did not give a reason fro the suspension: “He didn’t provide an explicit response on the reason. He simply said we need to let the hold take place…and then revisit this issue with the president.”

On June 27, Mulvaney — aboard Air Force One with Trump en route to Japan — e-mailed his top aide Robert Blair about defying Congress’s authorization of the $250 million from the Pentagon and $141 million from the State Department:

I’m just trying to tie up some loose ends. Did we ever find out about the money for Ukraine and whether we can hold it back?

Blair replied, “Expect Congress to become unhinged.” He warned that it would bolster the impression of Trump’s favoritism of Russia.

Mulvaney, Blair, and Duffey have all defied subpoenas to testify in the House impeachment hearings, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to prevent them from appearing in Trump’s trial.

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The “Drug Deal”

Senior White House officials found out about part of Trump’s initiative on July 10. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland passed on a message from Mulvaney: Zelenskiy would be invited to the White House if the investigations were announced.

National Security Advisor John Bolton quickly halted the meeting. Deriding the “drug deal”, he asked National Security Council lawyers for guidance.

But it was only on July 18 that the officials learned of the link to the security assistance. As they met about Ukraine policy, a mid-level OMB staffer told them of Trump’s order.

“I and the others on the call sat in astonishment,” said William Taylor, the top US diplomat in Kyiv. “In an instant, I realized that one of the key pillars of our strong support for Ukraine was threatened.”

Only 90 minutes after the Trump-Zelenskiy call, Duffey commanded the Pentagon not to deliver the aid and to stay silent about the matter.

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Trump Holds Firm…Until The Complaint

Throughout August, as Giuliani — assisted by Sondland and US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker — stepped up pressure for Ukraine’s announcement of investigation, top-level officials tried to reverse the aid freeze.

Trump dismissed a memo from Bolton on August 16 seeking the reversal. In late August, Bolton, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo finally got a White House meeting to press their case.

They made no progress. Trump said he did not believe Zelensky’s efforts at reform.

Having expressed no interest in corruption within Ukraine before May — and, through Giuliani, having waged a months-long campaign of disinformation against US Ambassador to Kyiv Marie Yovanovitch, a noted proponent of anti-corruption programs — he said, “Ukraine is a corrupt country,” the president said. “We are pissing away our money.”

An appeal by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson also failed. Instead, Sondland reiterated to Ukrainian officials at the start of September: no military aid until the investigations were announced.

It was only when the press wrote of the formal complaint over the July 25 Trump-Zelenskiy call that Trump wavered.

On September 9, House committees announced that they would open hearings on the basis of the complaint.

Two days later, Trump told Republican Sen. Rob Portman that he would lift the freeze. White House staff scrambled to inform the Pentagon.