Report: Pompeo Lifts Previously Unknown Hold On Economic Aid To Lebanon

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a press conference after a meeting with Turkish President, in Ankara, Turkey, on October 17, 2019. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Apparently there was even more aid to Lebanon that the Trump administration had been quietly withholding.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered the release of $115 million in economic aid to Lebanon on Thursday after the funds had been frozen for a month, Bloomberg reported.

Four unnamed sources told Bloomberg that U.S. Agency for International Development deputy administrator Bonnie Glick froze the aid after she had spoken with Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates and “hardliners in Congress,” in Bloomberg’s words.

The report marks a second time in less than two weeks that congressionally approved aid to Lebanon was revealed to have been delayed, then abruptly released by the Trump administration.

On December 2, the administration finally gave Lebanon the $105 million in military aid that the Office of Management and Budget had been withholding for months without explanation.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for spin spin says:

    Musta come up with some dirt on Biden…

  2. I’m gonna go out on a limb and call Pompeo a pompous, puffed up prick!

  3. I’m guessing everyone who receives aid from the US is in the same boat.

  4. this timeline

  5. the guilty trying to avoid the sunshine once again.
    Get the details and let the sunshine again on this crime fest.
    make for some good GOP super spin moments.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

60 more replies

Participants

Avatar for discobot Avatar for realzealman Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for bluinmaine Avatar for carlosfiance Avatar for inversion Avatar for sniffit Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for danny Avatar for cd Avatar for ottnott Avatar for science_fundie Avatar for darcy Avatar for ronbyers Avatar for benthere Avatar for jtx Avatar for tiowally Avatar for spin Avatar for aussiecat Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for dogmaalsocatma Avatar for gargoyle Avatar for Akimbo Avatar for AM_PM

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: