Saudi FM calls Indian, Pakistani counterparts to discuss developments    Al Hilal thrash Gwangju to reach AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Saudi Arabia cracks down on fraudulent Hajj campaigns, urges pilgrims to use official channels    Nammos Amala Resort to open soon with Saudi-Greek designs    Saudi Arabia completes 674 Vision 2030 initiatives, achieves 93% of KPIs as ninth-year milestone marked    Literature Commission inaugurates Saudi Pavilion at Muscat Book Fair    Saudi Minister of Culture holds talks with his Costa Rican counterpart in Jeddah    Alkhorayef praises advancements in Al-Kharj food industries sector    MHRSD: 80% of recruitment offices are non-compliant with regulations    At least 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza    Teenage girl killed in French school stabbing attack    Trump claims meeting with China after Beijing denies any trade negotiations    GACA chief chairs 16th meeting of the Steering Committee on aviation's strategy    Saudi Theater Commission launches its Work and Learn Project in UK    The season has begun — and one comment shook us all    Jennifer Lopez dazzles in Jeddah with a Formula 1 performance    Saudi Arabia open to expanded 64-team World Cup in 2034, says sports minister    Average life expectancy in Saudi Arabia rises to78.8 years    Film Commission launches 'Cinema' initiative to enhance content    Famed Philippine film star Nora Aunor dies at 71    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



White House aide's words on Ukraine upend impeachment strategy, rattle allies
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 18 - 10 - 2019

A top White House aide's suggestion that President Donald Trump wanted a political favor from Ukraine in exchange for military aid upended the administration's impeachment strategy and left Republican allies flummoxed and frustrated.
White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Thursday that Trump's decision to withhold $391 million in aid to Ukraine was linked to his desire for an investigation by Kiev into a debunked theory that a Democratic National Committee (DNC) computer server was held in Ukraine.
After weeks in which the president argued that the impeachment probe against him was illegitimate because he had not improperly sought political favors, Mulvaney's comments, which he subsequently sought to walk back, seemed to undermine the core arguments that Trump and his advisers have made against the effort to oust him from office.
"Unless your ultimate goal is to get to the impeachment vote sooner rather than later, I don't see how that helps," said one former administration official with ties to the White House.
"I don't think it's damning in and of itself, but it's another piece of the puzzle that the Democrats are building and another incident that they can point to of using American foreign policy for private political gain," he said.
One of Trump's fellow Republicans, US Senator Lisa Murkowski, was quoted in media reports as saying: "You don't hold up foreign aid that we had previously appropriated for a political initiative. Period."
Democrats in the House of Representatives are holding hearings over concerns that Trump improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. The House could vote on impeachment later this year, which would trigger a trial in the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans.
The confirmation of a quid pro quo, or favor for a favor, would help bolster Democrats' arguments that Trump misused his office.
Mulvaney later accused the media of misconstruing his comments. But his remarks at the White House, made while the president was traveling in Texas, tied action on the DNC server to the decision about the aid.
"Did he also mention to me ... the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely. No question about that. But that's it. And that's why we held up the money," Mulvaney said in the White House briefing room after explaining that Trump had also been concerned that European nations were not providing lethal aide to Ukraine.
Later in the day, in an effort to conduct damage control, Mulvaney said the withholding of aid was related strictly to Trump's concerns about corruption and the fact that other nations were not providing financial support to the country.
"Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election. The president never told me to withhold any money until the Ukrainians did anything related to the server," he said in a written statement released by the White House.
Democrats have zeroed in on Trump's July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which he asked for "a favor" to look into the server as well as the California-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which was hired by the DNC in 2016 to investigate hacking of Democratic emails that it later determined was done by Russia.
The DNC server issue is a discredited claim that Ukraine and not Russia interfered in the 2016 US election and that a Democratic Party computer server was being held somewhere in Ukraine.
"It looks like the White House is so desperate they are finally resorting to the truth. The problem is the truth is an admission of the crime," Democratic Representative Peter Welch said about Mulvaney's initial comments.
"The fact that he said that openly is either a brazen admission or they just don't know the law," said Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi.
Republicans, for their part, expressed concern about the White House's strategy of getting its messaging across.
"Whether or not there's any wrongdoing is one thing, but ... the lack of a coordinated messaging effort has made it much more complicated," said another former administration official, who noted that Mulvaney was unlikely to have conducted the briefing without Trump's blessing.
The president said he had confidence in his acting chief of staff.
Mulvaney said in the same briefing that the White House had not set up a "war room" to address the impeachment inquiry because Trump had done nothing wrong.
"Just because you've done nothing wrong does not mean you do not need a dedicated committed group of support staff dedicated to making sure that the American people understand that this is a witch hunt and why," said one Republican with ties to Trump.
"The president cannot do everything by himself. He needs ... a dedicated team to help him through this." — Reuters


Clic here to read the story from its source.