Trump only ever gave two different explanations as to why he withheld the Ukraine aid.Both of these excuses are provably invalid. Here is why...
- Because he had to make sure there was no corruption in Ukraine
- Because Europe was not giving enough to Ukraine
- In today’s testimony Daniel Goldman pointed out the Ukraine aid was conditioned upon predetermined “anti corruption benchmarks” specified by the legislation. He then said “In May the Department of Defense certified that Ukraine was making the necessary progress to merit the aid."
- Since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, Europe has been the number one aid contributor to Ukraine. In fact, EU aid nearly doubles that of the united states.
“The European Union is the largest donor to Ukraine, and Ukraine is the largest recipient of EU macro-financial assistance to any non-EU country. The European Union has given, on average, over $710 million (€650 million) per year to the country since 2014—almost twice as much as the United States average. “ ref.
So if his first excuse is no good, and his second excuse is also no good, Why did he hold up the aid?