But the article claims that Trump, in a fit following the phone call with Zelinsky ordered the hold. Below is a cut-and-paste that clearly places the hold ahead of the phone call, which is my primary point about the accuracy of the AP timeline. Of course it makes no sense to punish Ukraine over European aid levels for Ukraine.
"thanks to reports in the Washington Post and New York Times this week, we now have a little more information.
Mick Mulvaney, the dual-hatted acting White House chief of staff and director of the Office of Management and Budget, told leaders at the State Department and Pentagon in mid-July that Trump wanted the money withheld because he had “concerns” about the aid’s necessity. Those departments were instructed to inform members of Congress with questions about the delay that the money was coming but that its disbursement had been held up by “interagency process.” Those questions did come, but lawmakers received little information.
That timing is important, since Mulvaney’s announcement came about a week before Trump and Zelensky spoke on the phone. What makes matters worse, some say, is that the directive came from the president himself — meaning Trump may have used the new delay as leverage to extract something from his Ukrainian counterpart.
Trump has changed his story about why he personally withheld the military support at least twice. On Monday, Trump told reporters that his decision was due to concerns about corruption in Zelensky’s new government. But asked a similar question on Tuesday, Trump’s talking point suddenly changed: now he said he’d withheld the aid out of frustration that European countries were not doing enough to support Ukraine themselves.
“My complaint has always been, and I’d withhold again, and I’ll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine, because they’re not doing it,” Trump told reporters ahead of his speech to the United Nations General Assembly."
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