{"articles":[{"reaction_config":[{"text":"Yes","color":"#624960","stance":"yes"},{"text":"Maybe","color":"#edb723","stance":"maybe"},{"text":"No","color":"#4ac6ec","stance":"no"}],"id":36510,"title":"The Latest: Mulvaney Admits, Walks Back, That Trump Withheld Ukraine Aid as Quid Pro Quo","html_content":"

by Countable's Trump Impeachment Coverage | 10.18.19

October 18th 2019:

The 30-second recap: A whistleblower complaint, which led to a House impeachment inquiry, accuses White House officials of trying to conceal \"politically sensitive\" information about President Donald Trump's July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky. During the phone call, Trump asked Ukraine's leader to \"do us a favor\" and work with Attorney General William Barr and Trump's personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, to \"look into\" former Vice President Joe Biden and his family.

228 House members currently support an impeachment inquiry.

Mulvaney Admits, Walks Back, That Trump Withheld Ukraine Aid as Quid Pro Quo

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said early Thursday that President Donald Trump effectively offered Ukraine a quid pro quo for military aid, asking the country to investigate “corruption” based on a conspiracy theory involving the Democratic National Committees’ hacked computer server.

“We do that all the time with foreign policy,” Mulvaney said, adding: “I have news for everybody. Get over it. There is going to be political influence in foreign policy. Elections have consequences.”

Before we get to Mulvaney’s denying Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine as part of a quid pro quo, here’s the full exchange from Thursday morning: \n

Shortened transcript:

Mulvaney: “Did [Trump] also mention to me in the past the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely, no question about that. But that’s it, and that’s why we held up the money.”

ABC NEWS' JONATHAN KARL: So the demand for an investigation into the Democrats was part of the reason that he ordered to withhold funding to Ukraine?

MULVANEY: The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. And that is absolutely appropriate.

KARL: That was a factor in withholding the money?

MULVANEY: Yeah. Which ultimately then flowed. ... We knew that that money either had to go out the door by the end of September or we had to have a really, really good reason not to do it — and that was the legality of the issue.

KARL: Let's be clear. What you just described is a quid pro quo. Funding will not flow unless the investigation into the Democratic server happened as well.

MULVANEY: We do that all the time with foreign policy. ... I have news for everybody. Get over it. There is going to be political influence in foreign policy. Elections have consequences.

Walk back

Later in the day, Mulvaney walked back his comments, saying in a statement that \"once again, the media has decided to misconstrue my comments to advance a biased and political witch hunt against President Trump.\"

“Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election. The president never told me to withhold any money until the Ukrainians did anything related to the server. The only reasons we were holding the money was because of concern about lack of support from other nations and concerns over corruption.”

“The money held up has absolutely nothing to do with Biden,” Mulvaney added.

Where we are in impeachment proceedings?

What do you think?

Do you support the impeachment probe? Do Mulvaney's comments influence your support - or condemnation - of a probe? Take action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

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