Democrats predicted Trump would make aid to states contingent upon political demands. Experts say he’s proving them right

During President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Democrats warned that he could tie aid to individual states in the U.S. to political demands — not unlike tying military aid to Ukraine to an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. And a tweet posted by Trump on Twitter on Wednesday is being cited by reporters as proof

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted that he would be meeting with Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the White House — and he demanded that New York State cease all investigations of him. The president posted, “I’m seeing Governor Cuomo today at The White House. He must understand that National Security far exceeds politics. New York must stop all of its unnecessary lawsuits & harassment, start cleaning itself up, and lowering taxes.”

Kyle Cheney, after seeing that tweet, wrote, “Trump suggests his treatment of New York is related to their lawsuits aimed at his businesses/personal conduct.” And in a separate tweet, Cheney posted, “This is actually the precise scenario that House Democrats warned of during the impeachment trial: What if Trump conditioned federal aid to a state on a personal political demand?” Continue reading.