just last week on December 9, President Zelensky met with President Putin to discuss and negotiate an end to the war. President Zelensky's team was "discouraged by the absence of expected support" from President Trump in advance of that meeting, "as well as the lack of follow-through from the White House on a promised Oval Office meeting.[1] Moreover, the next day, on December 10, President Trump hosted the Russian foreign minister in the Oval Office.[2]
In addition, although the majority of the military and security assistance was ultimately released, certain of the funds to Ukraine remain unobligated, [3] and, moreover, in order to ensure that Ukraine "did not permanently lose $35 million of the critical military assistance frozen by the White House," Congress had to pass a provision to ensure that the military assistance could be spent.[4] "As of November 2019, Pentagon officials confirmed that the $35 million in security assistance originally held by the President and extended by Congress had still yet to be disbursed," and would not provide an explanation for the delay.[5]
The evidence thus demonstrates that President Trump used the powers of his office to make Ukraine an offer it had no real choice but to accept: Help me get re-elected or you will not get the military and security assistance and diplomatic support you desperately need from the United States of America. In other words, under these circumstances, it is understandable that President Zelensky has sought to serve his national interest by avoiding any statement or confession that might offend President Trump and also demonstrate his own weakness in dealings with the United States and on the world stage. But the record supports only one conclusion. President Trump took advantage of Ukraine's vulnerability and used his high office to solicit and pressure Ukraine to announce criminal investigations into a United States citizen. These investigations would clearly help President Trump's re-election campaign and harm a political opponent.
In exercising official power to obtain a personal benefit, the President acted with motives forbidden by the Constitution. The first article of impeachment thus states: "President Trump engaged
- ↑ Kenneth P. Vogel & Andrew E. Kramer, Ukraine's Leader, Wiser to Washington, Seeks New Outreach to Trump, N.Y. Times (Dec. 13, 2019).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Molly O'Toole & Sarah D. Wire, $35 Million in Pentagon Aid hasn't Reached Ukraine, Despite White House Assurances, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 11, 2019.
- ↑ Ukraine Report at 145. Notably, "Ms. Cooper testified that such an act of Congress was unusual—indeed, she had never heard of funding being extended in this manner." Id.
- ↑ Id.
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