Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was deeply involved in the White House’s dealings with Ukraine, coordinating more with diplomats and other administration officials than previously known, according to a report in The Washington Post.
The Post reports that Mulvaney worked closely with diplomats Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry at a time when the White House was pressuring Kiev to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of the leading contenders to face President Trump in the 2020 election.
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However, current and former officials told the Post that Mulvaney played a large role in the unfolding crisis. The Post’s reporting confirms one Democratic lawmaker’s report coming out of closed-door testimony on Tuesday.
Officials told the Post that Mulvaney often met with Sondland and that details of their conversations were kept from then-national security adviser John Bolton and others who had expressed concerns about the White House’s efforts regarding Ukraine.
Mulvaney also allowed meetings between Trump and Giuliani as Giuliani publicly discussed his efforts to lobby Kiev into investigating conspiracy theories about the 2016 election and dig up dirt on Biden.
According to the report, Mulvaney also, at Trump’s behest, put a hold on nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in the weeks before Trump held a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he pressured him to work with Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr to investigate Biden, a phone call that has, in part, triggered the House’s impeachment investigation.
Mulvaney reportedly told staff that the money to Kiev could be turned on and off without legal repercussions, though some questioned the legality of putting the aid on hold.
Officials told the Post that the shadow campaign to get Kiev to politically benefit Trump could not have been conducted without Mulvaney’s facilitation of meetings and blocking the aid.
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JUST IN: Mulvaney helped organize controversial Ukraine meeting: report https://t.co/jLXwL8bLxm pic.twitter.com/FNOJMrqOjb
— The Hill (@thehill) October 16, 2019
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