Ukrainian officials knew for months that President Donald Trump was withholding key military aid to their country over demands that Ukraine investigate Trump’s political rival and 2020 candidate Joe Biden, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. Instead, top Ukrainian officials reportedly knew of the aid freeze as early as the first week of August ― just days after Trump requested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden during a July 25 phone call. If Ukraine’s government knew of the delayed aid in August, it would blow a significant hole in the Trump administration’s denial that the president engaged in misconduct. According to a whistleblower and testimony to Congress, Trump and his allies pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden’s actions in Ukraine as vice president and his son Hunter’s business connections in the country. SAUL LOEB via Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands during a meeting in New York on Sept. 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Source: Huffington Post October 23, 2019 19:07 UTC