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Trump Administration Withheld Ukraine Military Aid 91 Minutes After Phone Call: Docs

A White House official wrote that “given the sensitive nature of the request,” the information should be “closely held.”

A White House Office of Management and Budget official emailed the Pentagon asking to “please hold off on” distributing military aid to Ukraine just 91 minutes after the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to newly released documents. The email, released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request by the Center for Public Integrity, also says that “given the sensitive nature of the request” the information should be “closely held.” In another email from June 19, the same official asked the Pentagon’s chief financial officer about the aid. “The President has asked about this,” the official wrote, also linking to an article that had appeared that day in the Washington Examiner discussing the funds. The June 19 email is the first indication that the White House was interested in the military aid to Ukraine, according to the Center for Public Integrity. The July 25 phone call, where Trump asked Zelensky to “do us a favor,” and the withholding of about $400 million in military aid played a central role in the Trump’s impeachment by the House.