Pelosi Pushes Back On GOP’s Talking Point On Delay Of Ukraine Aid

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during an event at the Atlantic Festival in Washington, DC on September 24, 2019. (Photo credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sent a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Monday that addressed President Donald Trump and his allies’ argument that Trump did nothing wrong because Ukraine eventually received the aid that the administration had frozen.

Pelosi argued against the “dangerous position” that the election ought to decide Trump’s fate rather than the House impeachment investigation, saying that Trump “is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections.”

“There are also some who say that no serious wrongdoing was committed, because the military assistance to Ukraine was eventually released,” she continued. “The fact is, the aid was only released after the whistleblower exposed the truth of the President’s extortion and bribery, and the House launched a formal investigation.”

On September 9, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson sent the House Intelligence Committee the whistleblower complaint about Trump’s infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Trump administration unfroze the congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine two days later on September 11.

Multiple State Department and White House officials testified that prior to the aid’s release, Trump and several diplomats had been pushing Zelensky to announce an investigation into 2020 candidate Joe Biden while the administration withheld both the aid and a White House meeting.

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  1. It is surprising this point even needs to be made, but I’m glad Pelosi is using her bully pulpit to do so. In polite company, if I see piles of stolen money in your garage, but you gamble it away before the police arrive, it doesn’t make you innocent of having stolen it in the first place. Well, even in impolite company, I suppose.

  2. Nothing like a strong woman pushing to get Fat Nixon back at Walter Reed.

    More please…

  3. OT. The paper LLC is owned by the Trump Org.

    So Trump makes bogus LLCs to lend himself money, thereby establishing a bogusly high credit rating. If the House gets the Mazars documents it may show, among other things, that Trump has been committing bank fraud for years.

  4. Trump “is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections.”

    Damn straight: it’s the bottom line and it has to be repeated again and again.
    Donnie’s demonstrated willingness to use the power of his office to corrupt the electoral system makes it impossible to compete against him on a level field, so he must not be given that opportunity again.

  5. Avatar for mec mec says:

    This point plus - “[a]ll roads lead to Putin.”

    p.s. I considered typing Pelosi’s quote in all caps, but figured that restraint would be more effective for the more discerning TPM audience.

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