Comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference Thursday “should end this Democrat Scam,” President Trump says — if the Democrats and their allies in the media weren’t committed to it.
“The President of the Ukraine just stated again, in the strongest of language, that President Trump applied no pressure and did absolutely nothing wrong. He used the strongest language possible,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “That should end this Democrat Scam, but it won’t, because the Dems & Media are FIXED!”
The President of the Ukraine just stated again, in the strongest of language, that President Trump applied no pressure and did absolutely nothing wrong. He used the strongest language possible. That should end this Democrat Scam, but it won’t, because the Dems & Media are FIXED!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2019
In a “press marathon” Thursday, President Zelensky, the world leader on the other end of the line during the famous July 25 call that sparked the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, once again stressed that “there was no blackmail.”
As evidence, Zelensky pointed to the fact that his government didn’t even know that the U.S. was withholding $391 million in military aid until weeks after the call.
“There was no blackmail.” Ukrainian President Zelenskiy says he didn’t know U.S. military aid funds for Ukraine had been blocked until after his July 25 call with President Trump. pic.twitter.com/UwG46WeFmD
— Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (@RFERL) October 10, 2019
As BuzzFeed’s Stephen Miller reported last week, Zelensky’s government “was still checking its bank account for US aid for a month after the Trump call.”
“The Ukrainian government didn’t know it was being held up in Washington by Trump, according to the two Ukrainian officials,” Miller reported. “Nearly a month after the call — which Zelensky has since described as ‘good’ and Trump has called ‘perfect’ — the Ukrainian government was left stumped when they received word that the aid had in fact been suspended.”
“Ukraine finally learned about the holdup in late August, nearly a month after the call, according to Olena Zerkal, the deputy foreign minister who was acting minister at the time of the call,” Miller explained. “And they only found out from a ‘letter sent to us from our Washington Embassy’ that provided no explanation for the move, she said. Zerkal said she couldn’t remember the exact date of the letter, but it was before Politico broke the news of the holdup on Aug. 28.”
A U.S. official confirmed the timeline to BuzzFeed and noted that Ukraine wasn’t informed about the delay in aid because the administration expected to resolve the issue quickly.
According to The Washington Post, Trump ordered the aid to be withheld a week before the July 25 call. Trump has says that he ordered the aid to be withheld because the U.S. is attempting “to make sure that country is honest.”
“It’s very important to talk about corruption,” Trump said last week. “If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?”
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who is at the center of the impeachment inquiry, likewise used aid to force Ukraine to address corruption — at least that’s his explanation for his demand of the Ukrainian government to remove the prosecutor who investigated his son’s company.
Related: Ukraine President: We’re Ready To Investigate Ukraine’s Alleged Meddling In 2016 U.S. Election