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)
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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.

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