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Trump Ordered Freeze of Ukraine Aid Ahead of Call Under Democratic Scrutiny

VOA News

   U.S. President Donald Trump told his staff to withhold about $400
   million in aid to Ukraine days before a phone call with the country's
   leader that is at the center of a debate between Congress and the White
   House over a whistleblower complaint.

   Reports late Wednesday from the Associated Press, Washington Post and
   New York Times all cited multiple senior administration officials
   saying Trump froze the funding, and that the order was communicated to
   the State Department and Pentagon with the explanation that he was
   looking into whether the money needed to be spent.

   Earlier Wednesday, the leaders of three House of Representatives
   committees demanded Secretary of State Mike Pompeo turn over all
   documents related to the call Trump made to Ukranian President
   Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

   The Democratic chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and
   Oversight committees -- Elliot Engel, Adam Schiff, and Elijah Cummings
   -- set a Thursday deadline, the same day the intelligence committee is
   set to hear testimony from acting director national intelligence Joseph
   Maguire about the whistleblower complaint linked to the call.

   Trump is said to have pushed for an investigation into leading
   Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who
   served for years on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

   The three House members said in their letter the State Department has
   admitted that a senior Pompeo staffer directly helped set up meetings
   between Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Ukrainian officials days
   after the call.

   "By withholding these documents and refusing to engage with the
   committees, the Trump Administration is obstructing Congress' oversight
   duty under the Constitution to protect our nation's democratic
   process," they wrote.

   Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters Monday that he met several weeks ago
   with Zelenskiy, and that the Ukranian administration worried the aid
   cutoff "was a consequence for their unwillingness, at the time, to
   investigate the Bidens."

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