Trump Denies Withholding Ukraine Aid In Exchange For Biden Probe, Undermining Giuliani

President Donald Trump (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump denied Monday that he withheld $250 million in aid for Ukraine as leverage to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to churn up dirt on Hunter Biden and, by extension, former Vice President Joe Biden.

“I did not make a statement that you have to do this or I won’t give you aid,” Trump said, according to pool reports. “I didn’t put any pressure on them whatsoever … Joe Biden and his son are corrupt.”

It has been confirmed that Trump spoke on the phone with Zelensky about Biden, and that the aid was held up around the same time, but not yet that the two are connected. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Monday that he couldn’t say “100 percent” that Trump didn’t threaten to withhold the money on a phone call between the two leaders in late July.

Trump has been giving lip service to wanting the transcript from the call released. But he told the assembled reporters Monday that it wouldn’t set a “great precedent” to release the transcript.

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Notable Replies

  1. Headlines containing his lies bolsters him.

    The headline should note the president said something dubious. That is all.

  2. Avatar for fgs fgs says:

    He’s not asking to churn up dirt, but to fabricate the appearance of dirt. Your own editor said so this morning.

  3. Did he use the word “sir”?

  4. “I did not make a statement that you have to do this or I won’t give you aid,” Trump said, according to pool reports. “I didn’t put any pressure on them whatsoever …

    In this case, past performance is a guarantee of future results.

  5. Boy, I sure do trust this Trump feller to be telling the truth, he hasn’t lied to us yet or changed his story since this whole whistleblower sham came up…

    Signed, Trump’s base

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