Political Quotes

“Mr. Chief Justice, I submit a question to the President's counsel. The CHIEF JUSTICE. Thank you. The question from Senator Sinema to President's counsel is this: The administration notified Congress of the hold of the Northern Triangle countries' funds in 2019, announced its decision to withhold aid to Afghanistan in September 2019, and worked with Congress for months in 2018 regarding funds being withheld due to Pakistan's lack of progress meeting its counterterrorism responsibilities. In these instances, the receiving countries knew the funds were being withheld to change behavior and further publicly-stated American policy. Why, when the administration withheld the Ukraine security assistance, did it not notify Congress, or make Ukraine or partner countries publicly aware of the hold and the steps needed to resolve the hold? Mr. Counsel PHILBIN. Mr. Chief Justice, Senator, thank you for the question. I think that, in all of those instances that were listed in the question, it was clear that withholding the aid was meant to send a signal. It was done publicly, and it was meant to send a signal to the country. I think that in the testimony before the House here, Ambassador Volker made clear that he and others hoped that the hold would not become public because they did not want there to be any signal to the Ukrainians or to others.…”