Key takeaways from our reconstruction of the effort by Trump to freeze aid approved by Congress for Ukraine: nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
Rob Blair, a top aide to Mulvaney, said in a June 27 email exchange not previously reported on that it could be held but that Congress would become "unhinged." nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
Some top aides are offering the defense that they didn't connect the aid freeze to the Giuliani-Biden investigations track. Mulvaney has told associates he stepped away when Trump would talk to Giuliani to protect his atty-client privilege nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
OMB, where top political appointees have embraced the role of finding ways to fulfill Trump's unorthodox policy desires, took the position early on that the aid wouldn't obligate for the most part until September, so there was time to figure out a process. nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
In August, DoD officials told OMB that $61 mill of the aid earmarked for DoD was going to obligate on Aug. 12. There was a scramble by Mulvaney's office to set up a conf call w WH counsel, Bolton and others. nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
The call never happened, but OMB officials believed DoD was inaccurately raising alarms about Aug 12 to force their hand to release the money. In the meantime, POTUS reaffirmed to aides he wanted to keep the hold on the money nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
The July 25 call with Zelensky was originally scheduled for July 20, a Saturday morning, but Bolton protested, saying it shouldn't take place just before the parliamentary elections. When he was reminded that NSC had recommended the call, Bolton said it was done to end ...
... the "incessant lobbying" from folks like Sondland that it take place. It was rescheduled for five days later. nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
Trump wanted to keep the hold on the aid through the G7, asking aids how much money EU nations gave to Ukraine and saying he planned to bring it up on his trip nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
At different points, OMB lawyers were in touch with OLC lawyers and WH lawyers. By end of summer, OMB lawyers were crafting a justification for holding the aid past Sept that Trump had constitutional authority to do it nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/…
