Over $20 Million In Military Aid Meant For Ukraine Is Still Being Withheld

Not all of the military aid intended for Ukraine, the holding back of which is one of the issues at the heart of the impeachment of President Trump, has reached the country. Millions in Congress-sanctioned aid money is still sitting in Pentagon accounts, a new report says.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said this week that Ukraine “got the money on September 11. That’s what happened. You can make up all the things you want, but those are not the facts.” This is not entirely accurate though, according to a newly uncovered memo.

A memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget showed that $20.2 million of the $400 million allocated to Ukrainian military funding is still in Pentagon accounts and has yet to be transferred.

A Pentagon official said that the funds will be disbursed “as quickly as possible in accordance with contracting procedures and applicable law.” The roadblock here is linked to the need for the Pentagon to “reach out to prospective vendors to obtain updated pricing data.” Senate staffers, however, say that this is not a necessary step to adhere to the law and to release the funds.

Previously, several White House staffers resigned over concern that stalling the release of the money to Ukraine was not legal. Several other officials in the Trump administration, including the Pentagon, testified during the impeachment inquiry that they had raised concerns about this legal gray area as well.

This latest revelation may prove to be particularly damaging to President Donald Trump. He is currently the target of two articles of impeachment, one of which was drafted specifically with regard to Trump’s alleged intent to withhold Congress-allocated funds from Ukraine. House Democrats believe Trump sought to only release the funds after securing an agreement from the Ukrainian government to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden.

House Democrats have pointed out that while Trump authorized the release of military aid to Ukraine in 2017 and 2018, this changed when Biden began rising swiftly in the polls this year in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. Democrats claim Trump deliberately stalled the release of $400 in military aid as a bargaining chip to encourage Ukraine to investigate his political rival’s son.

Republicans have said that the delay in releasing the military aid was dependent on the Ukrainian government meeting certain goals in combating corruption. When those milestones were reached, the funds were released, they add. The White House memo, though, paints a somewhat different picture of the situation and will likely serve to boost Democrats’ push to impeach Trump.