U.S. Acknowledges Paper Trail on Trump’s Ukraine Role, CNN Says
U.S. Acknowledges Paper Trail on Trump’s Ukraine Role, CNN Says
(Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department, in a court filing late Friday, said it has two dozen emails related to President Donald Trump’s involvement in withholding millions of dollars in security assistance to Ukraine, CNN reported.
The filing, made in response to a lawsuit by the Center for Public Integrity, was the first official acknowledgment from the Trump administration of the existence of such emails.
The news came hours after Republicans in the Senate rejected Democrats’ efforts to call new witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial, which was centered on the president’s attempts to pressure Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival, and his son Hunter.
Friday’s Senate vote, which turned back an attempt to subpoena additional documents and witnesses in the case, is expected to result in the president’s acquittal next week.
CNN said a lawyer with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget wrote to the court that the emails, dated between June and September, describe “communications by either the President, the Vice President, or the President’s immediate advisers regarding Presidential decision-making about the scope, duration, and purpose of the hold on military assistance to Ukraine.”
A variety of new information has come to light since the Democratic-led House completed its inquiry into Trump’s Ukrainian dealings in December, energizing Democrats’ efforts to call for witnesses.
That includes reports a week ago of a soon-to-be-published manuscript by John Bolton. Trump’s former national security adviser reportedly wrote that Trump directly linked the release of $391 million in aid to Ukraine to politically-motivated investigations.
Democrats have said they plan to continue inquiries into Trump once the impeachment saga ends, including a focus on his conduct in dealing with Ukraine.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, Virginia Van Natta
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