Pentagon Policy Chief in Ukraine-Aid Case Exits Under Pressure

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Bloomberg

John Rood has stepped down as the top policy official at the Defense Department, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The senior Pentagon official had faced pressure to resign from key figures who lost confidence in his ability to carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda, according to multiple administration officials who requested anonymity to speak about Rood’s departure.

Rood was under secretary of Defense for policy, a post he held since January 2018. He was the official who certified in May to Congress that Ukraine was eligible to receive $250 million in security assistance. That aid was temporarily blocked by the White House, a decision at the center of Trump’s impeachment.

CNN reported earlier this month that Rood warned Defense Secretary Mark Esper against withholding military aid to Ukraine in an e-mail on July 25, the same day Trump asked the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a phone call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pentagon-policy-chief-in-ukraine-aid-case-exits-under-pressure/ar-BB109YDg?li=BBnbfcL

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

1. "That aid was temporarily blocked by the White House"

No, it was not blocked by the "White House." It was blocked by an individual -- Donald Trump -- who abused his power to let him get some sort of political advantage in the 2020 election. For this he was impeached.

Saying it was blocked by the White House is as euphemistic as saying Fluffy "had to be put to sleep" when the dog was killed.

It's also as euphemistic as saying that Trump "exaggerates," "makes misstatements of facts," "didn't clearly state," when the correct term is "lie." Thank you, Lawrence O'Donnell, for using this term from the very beginning: "Trump lies."