Political Quotes

“Mr. Chief Justice, I submit a question to the desk. The CHIEF JUSTICE. Thank you. The question from Senator Romney is for the counsel for the President: On what specific date did President Trump first order the hold on security assistance to Ukraine and did he explain the reason at that time? Mr. Counsel PHILBIN. Mr. Chief Justice, Senator, thank you for the question. I don't think that there is evidence in the record of a specific date--the specific date--but there is testimony in the record that individuals at OMB and elsewhere were aware of the hold as of July 3, and there is evidence in the record of the President's rationale from even earlier than that time. There is an email from June 24 that has been publicly released. It was publicly released in response to a FOIA request that is from one DOD staffer up to the Chief of Staff of DOD-- excuse me, sorry--from the Chief of Staff down to a staffer from DOD relating on the subject line: POTUS follow-up. Follow-up from a meeting with POTUS, President of the United States, explaining questions that had been asked about Ukraine assistance, which were specifically: What was the funding used for, i.e., did it go to U.S. firms; who funded it; and what do other NATO members spend to support Ukraine? So from the very beginning, in June, the President had expressed his concern about burden-sharing, what do other NATO members do. Similarly, in the July 25 transcript, there was--the President asked President Zelensky specifically.…”