Donald Trump blocked Ukraine aid to force Kiev to investigate Democrats, Mick Mulvaney says
- Acting White House chief of staff tells critics to ‘get over it’, saying president’s actions were ‘absolutely appropriate’
- Mulvaney says Trump raised conspiracy theory about hacked DNC server being taken to Ukraine to hide evidence that Kiev, not Moscow, interfered in election
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Thursday that US President Donald Trump blocked nearly US$400 million in military aid to Ukraine in part to force the government in Kiev to investigate his political rivals, a startling acknowledgement after the president’s repeated denials of a quid pro quo.
Mulvaney defended the manoeuvre as “absolutely appropriate”.
“Did he also mention to me in the past the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely, no question about that. But that’s it, that’s why we held up the money,” Mulvaney said.
He was referring to a conspiracy theory that a hacked Democratic National Committee computer server was taken to Ukraine in 2016 to hide evidence that Kiev, not Moscow, interfered in the last US presidential election.
Mulvaney also said the military funds had been withheld because European countries were being “really, really stingy when it comes to lethal aid” for Ukraine.
But he characterised the decision to leverage congressionally approved aid as common practice, citing other instances in which the Trump administration has withheld aid to foreign countries and telling critics to “get over it”.