Thread by @weareoversight

BREAKING: "Final decision rests with POTUS."

New Ukraine emails released to American Oversight tonight reveal that Pompeo, Esper, and Bolton agreed Ukraine security assistance should "continue as planned."
americanoversight.org/final-decision…

The August 26, 2019, email from a senior career Pentagon official states that there was “no interagency review process with respect to the [Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative]” — contradicting what OMB officials repeatedly told DOD about the aid freeze americanoversight.org/final-decision…

On July 25, 2019 — the day of President Trump's infamous call with President Zelensky — a top OMB official emailed DOD that the administration planned to "review assistance to Ukraine" and directed the Pentagon to withhold further funds "pending direction from that process."

This was followed by a series of apportionment "footnotes," the formal method by which Ukraine aid was withheld, clearly stating that funds were not available: "to allow for an interagency process to determine the best use of such funds."
americanoversight.org/final-decision…

But a full month later, a senior Pentagon official wrote this:
"I've learned that there is no ongoing interagency review process with respect to USAI.... Final decision rests with POTUS."

This is the 10th set of Ukraine-related records that we've obtained since November in response to our #FOIA lawsuits — and not one of them was provided by the Trump administration to Congress during the impeachment inquiry.

See the full set of Ukraine records we uncovered from DOD tonight — updated with additional details and annotations from our team: americanoversight.org/final-decision…

Tonight a court held that Congress does not have the power to sue to enforce its subpoenas. That means #FOIA just became an even more critical tool for learning the truth — maybe the only one: slate.com/news-and-polit…