By Tony O'Riley-
The Pentagon official responsible for the Defence Department’s military aid program has testified to the impeachment hearings about emails sent from Ukranian officials about a delayed military package from the U.S government.
The official, Laura Cooper, told the House Intelligent Committee that emails reveal efforts by Ukrainian officials requested the delayed aid package from the WhiteHouse on July 25. This was the same day as President Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Cooper- the deputy assistant secretary of defence for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia- told the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday that members of her staff had recently brought to her attention the emails, showing the Ukrainian embassy was asking about the delay far earlier than originally thought.
In the second half of the recent dramatic impeachment hearings, Adam Schiff said Hale witnessed the “smear” campaign against former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and pushed the State Department to release a statement supporting her.
“Hale pushed to get the State Department to put out a ‘robust full-page statement of defence and praise’ for Ambassador Yovanovitch, sadly to no avail,” Schiff said. “That silence continues today.”
Schiff went on to confirm that the military assistance package to Ukraine that was delayed over the summer was eventually lifted on September 11 and Ms Cooper was personally “involved in efforts to understand and reverse the suspension,” He said:
“All of the agencies responsible for Ukraine policy supported security assistance and advocated for the lifting of the hold.” “The only dissenting voice was OMB, who was following the orders of President Trump. And still no good explanation for the hold was provided.”
Adam Schiff concluded the hearing by accusing the president of hypocrisy. “We’re supposed to believe that Donald Trump is a great corruption fighter…let’s look at his words and deeds”, he said.
As the hearings concluded for Wednesday, the committee set upon the review of Republican requests for subpoenas to compel the testimony and documents from Hunter Biden, the Democratic National Committee and the whistleblower.
Image: CNN