Trump staffer confirms aid tied to inquiry
Some advisers surprised by acting chief of staff's statements
WASHINGTON — White House and Justice Department officials were angered Thursday after a news briefing by acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in which he said President Donald Trump did nothing inappropriate, but seemed to confirm that Trump's dealings with Ukraine amounted to a quid pro quo.
One Trump adviser called it “totally inexplicable.”
“He literally said the thing the president and everyone else said did not happen,” the adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation frankly.
One person who spoke to Trump said, however, that he was pleased with Mulvaney's performance.
Mulvaney also caught the Justice Department by surprise when he asserted that Ukraine's “cooperating in an ongoing investigation with our Department of Justice” was connected to aid money being withheld. A department official said, “If the White House was withholding aid in regards to the cooperation of any investigation at the Department of Justice, that is news to us.”
The official also disputed that the White House made the Justice Department aware of the July phone call between Trump and Ukraine's leader immediately after it occurred, saying the department wasn't aware of the call until mid-August.
A third outside official said it was incredible that in the middle of an impeachment inquiry and the chaos in Syria
that the White House would also invite another emoluments issue.
“Clearly, they just don't care anymore,” this person said.
But a person close to Mulvaney said the reaction inside the West Wing had been “positive,” and this person disputed the notion that Mulvaney admitted there was any sort of corrupt quid pro quo.
Amid a busy day of developments, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif., refused to put a timeline on the impeachment process Thursday, declining to say whether she agrees with the assessment of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that the House would vote by Thanksgiving, setting up a Senate trial late this year.
“The timeline will depend on the truth line,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol.
Democrats had planned to block a Republican-drafted resolution to censure House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D- Calif. But lawmakers put off consideration of the measure in light of the death Thursday Rep. Elijah Cummings, D- Md., who members of both parties praised during speeches on the chamber's floor.
Cummings was the House Oversight and Reform Committee chairman and a leading figure in the Trump impeachment inquiry. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the second-highest-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, will become the panel's acting chair, according to a senior Democratic leadership aide.
The resolution on Schiff, introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., takes issue with Schiff's remarks at a Sept. 26 hearing. Schiff embellished the transcript of the July phone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
Schiff later said his remarks were intended as parody and that Trump and others who have criticized him should have recognized that. Pelosi praised Schiff's work in the impeachment inquiry in a Thursday news conference, saying, “I value the way he is conducting this.”
Meanwhile, Gordon Sondland, the U. S. ambassador to the European Union, told House impeachment investigators Thursday that President Donald Trump urged him to work with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on matters related to Ukraine.
The revelation came as Sondland, a key figure in the probe, appeared behind closed doors to testify about Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden at a time when nearly $400 million in military aid was being withheld.
“He directed those of us present at the meeting to talk to Mr. Giuliani, his personal attorney, about his concerns,” Sondland said. “It was apparent to all of us that the key to changing the president's mind on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani.”
Later, at a combative session in the White House briefing room, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged that the Trump administration held up U.S. military aid to Ukraine in part due to the president's request for that country to investigate a Democratic National Committee server.
“We do that all the time with foreign policy,” Mulvaney said when asked about criticism that the administration's dealings with Ukraine amounted to a quid pro quo.
People familiar with the president's thinking have told The Washington Post that Trump has come to suspect the DNC server hacked by Russian intelligence agents in 2016 may have been hidden in Ukraine.
Mulvaney maintained that Trump's request of Ukraine was unrelated to Biden, even though Trump mentioned the former vice president in his July phone call with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump left the White House shortly before 11 a.m., to head to Dallas for a “Keep America Great Rally.” In recent weeks, he has used such events to air grievances about the impeachment process and the Democrats who are leading it. He has several events scheduled in Texas before the rally Thursday night.
The rally comes a day after Pelosi and other top Democrats walked out of a meeting with Trump at the White House after the president disparaged Pelosi. It was the first time they had come face-to-face since Pelosi launched the impeachment inquiry.