In preparation for this week’s public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry, Republicans circulated a few of their favorite talking points. Unsurprisingly, they’re filled with lies. Here’s the truth:
REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT:
REALITY:
- It’s about a lot more than the White House’s own summary of the call: Trump’s pressure campaign started well before and continued well after July 25, 2019.
- February 2019: Indicted Giuliani associates pushed the then-president of Ukraine to announce investigations in exchange for a state visit.
- May 2019: Giuliani associate Lev Parnas told the incoming government it had to announce investigations or Pence would not attend Zelensky’s inauguration and aid would be frozen.
- May 2019: Zelensky and advisers were worried about how to handle Trump and Giuliani’s pressure campaign and how to stay out of U.S. domestic politics.
- August 2019: Trump envoys pushed for a statement announcing investigations, even drafting language for Ukraine to use.
- September 2019: Ukrainian officials decided the military aid was more important than staying out of U.S. politics and made plans for Zelensky to announce the investigation on CNN.
- Sondland literally told Ukraine the aid was being withheld until Ukraine announced investigations.
- Ambassador Sondland’s testimony: “I said that resumption of the U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anticorruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”
- Trump himself directed the withholding of the aid.
- Bill Taylor’s testimony: “The directive had come from the president.’”
REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT:
THE TRUTH:
- Zelensky felt so much pressure from Trump that he was eventually willing to go on CNN to announce the investigations Trump wanted.
- New York Times: “Finally bending to the White House request, Mr. Zelensky’s staff planned for him to make an announcement in an interview on Sept. 13 with Fareed Zakaria, the host of a weekly news show on CNN.”
- Ukraine needed U.S. support and military aid. Withholding it endangers Ukrainian lives.
- Bill Taylor testimony: “Over 13,000 Ukrainians had been killed in the war, one or two a week. More Ukrainians would undoubtedly die without the U.S. assistance.”
- And again, it’s about a lot more than the White House’s own summary of the call.
REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT:
THE TRUTH:
- Ukraine knew by at least early August that the aid had been frozen, and were told to reach out to Mulvaney to address it.
- Washington Post: “According to Catherine Croft, a Ukraine specialist at the State Department, the Ukrainians ‘found out very early on’ that the funds had been frozen — a decision the Office of Management and Budget made at Trump’s behest and circulated to other government officials on July 18.”
- New York Times: “In fact, word of the aid freeze had gotten to high-level Ukrainian officials by the first week in August, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times.”
- And, once again, it’s about a lot more than the White House’s own summary of the call.
REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT:
THE TRUTH:
- The hold on aid was lifted after political pressure.
- September 3: A bipartisan group of Senators wrote to Mulvaney to express concerns over the hold on Ukraine aid.
- Conveniently, the freeze was lifted just days after Congress became aware of the whistleblower complaint.
- September 9: ICIG Michael Atkinson alerted Adam Schiff and Devin Nunes to the existence of the whistleblower complaint.
- September 10: Adam Schiff demanded acting DNI Joseph Maguire forward the whistleblower complaint as required by law.
- September 11: The White House lifted its hold on military aid to Ukraine.