Trump Claims He Blocked Military Aid to Ukraine Because He Wanted ‘Other Countries to Put Up Money’

Donald Trump has admitted that he withheld American aid to Ukraine in the days before the call where he pressured the Ukrainian president into investigating the Biden family.

Before Trump delivered his speech to the United Nations on Tuesday, he scoffed at “witch hunt” calls for his impeachment, which have been renewed in light of the whistleblower report on his conversations with President Volodymyr Zelensky. When asked why he blocked aid before the Zelensky call, Trump answered that it was because “I want other countries to put up money.

“I think it’s unfair we put up the money,” Trump continued. “Then people called me and said ‘let it go’ and I let it go. But we paid the money. The money was paid, but very importantly, Germany, France, other countries should put up money, and that’s been my complaint from the beginning.”

The timeline surrounding the Trump administration’s freeze on military aid has been at the root of many questions surrounding the “urgent” whistleblower report on the president’s call with Zelensky. Reports have suggested that the Office of Management and Budget held back approximately $400 million just before Trump asked Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, for their respective dealings with the country.

Watch above, via CNN.

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