Trump denies Bolton claim about Ukraine aid

reporter 1222 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 09:39:56 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – US President Donald Trump has denied he told former national security adviser John Bolton that unless Ukraine investigated his political rivals, military aid to Kyiv would be frozen.

According to a New York Times report on Sunday, Bolton writes in his forthcoming book that Trump said he wanted to keep frozen $391 million in aid to Ukraine until Kyiv officials helped with a probe into his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Trump, however, denied wrongdoing in a trio of tweets early on Monday, saying, “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens.”

“In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book,” Trump said.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives opened an impeachment inquiry in late September after a whistle-blower complaint filed to congress claimed that Trump had pressured the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to investigate Biden, and his son, Hunter, who had business interests in Ukraine.

Trump is currently facing an impeachment trial over the charges of abusing power and obstruction of Congress.

On Monday, the president claimed he released the military aid to Ukraine “without any conditions or investigations – and far ahead of schedule.”

The aid, however, was not released until after news reports came out describing the freeze, and that not all of the $391 million was distributed before the end of the fiscal year.

In his tweets, the president also pointed to his administration providing Ukraine with anti-tank Javelin missiles and an afterward meeting he had with Zelensky at the United Nations.

“I also allowed Ukraine to purchase Javelin anti-tank missiles. My Administration has done far more than the previous Administration.”

Ukraine ordered the purchase of the weapons a couple of weeks before a controversial phone call between Zelenskiy and Trump.

On October 3, the US State Department approved the possible military sale to Ukraine of 150 Javelin anti-tank missiles and two additional missile launchers, worth approximately $39.2 million.

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Trump’s private fury over impeachment spills into the public

reporter 1222 — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 07:30:14 +0000

When President Donald Trump erupted in rage during two appearances Wednesday, it foreshadowed a dark and unsettled impeachment season ahead. Iran News covers the story of Trump’s fury over impeachment told by CNN.

There was little strategy evident as Trump railed against Democrats and the media during public events with Finland’s president. And there were few new answers that might help alleviate the situation he finds himself in after asking a foreign counterpart to investigate a political rival.

“This is the greatest hoax. This is just a continuation of what’s been playing out since my election,” Trump said during an East Room press conference that became progressively more heated as Trump faced questions about his predicament. “This is a fraudulent crime on the American people.”

As one reporter, Jeff Mason of Reuters, repeatedly pressed Trump on what he wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to do with regard to former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, the President grew irate — without answering the query.

Mason told CNN’s Erin Burnett later Wednesday on “Erin Burnett OutFront” that “it’s a legitimate question,” saying that Trump’s frustration didn’t appear to be a strategy but rather a sign of irritation.

Trump is “just upset and frustrated by how the impeachment inquiry is now going,” Mason said. “He lashes out at journalists, he lashes out at the media in particular, when he feels under pressure, when he feels frustrated — I think that’s what he did today.”

“If he wants to say that he was not looking for the President of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, despite what it says in that transcript, then he needs to say that or he needs to explain it, and he hasn’t done that,” Mason added.

Trump made no effort to veil his unbridled disgust at the crisis engulfing his presidency during two appearances at the White House on Wednesday. And he confirmed the fears of many of his allies: that the upcoming fight will consume him as he battles to clear his name.

As Democrats sped up their impeachment inquiry over the past week, Trump remained mostly quiet, at least in public. On Wednesday, he broke his silence furiously.

Trump administration aides have been worried for days that the President hasn’t grasped the enormity of what he is facing him in the impeachment inquiry. But he has begun lashing out privately, saying Democrats are focused on “bullshit” — a complaint he took public in all-caps on his Twitter feed Wednesday.

In recent days, Trump has taken on a more combative stance, people familiar with his mood say. His appearances on Wednesday stood in sharp contrast to his last extended comments on the matter, which came during an uncharacteristically low-key news conference in New York last week.

Trump’s fury came as Democrats on Capitol Hill ramped up their efforts, warning the White House to expect a subpoena demanding documents related to Trump’s handling of Ukraine.

The House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, who has become the subject of Trump’s ire, warned against potential witness intimidation or “incitement to violence.” He said obstruction of justice could be added to any articles of impeachment.

“We’re not fooling around here,” Schiff told reporters.

Trump responded in the Oval Office, declaring Schiff should be looked at for “treason” for dramatizing a version of the Ukraine call last week.

“It should be criminal. It should be treasonous. He made it up; every word of it, made up,” Trump said seated next to the visiting Finnish leader, who sat mostly expressionless.

Whether the President’s new public demeanor means he will now take aides up on their offers to form an impeachment response team or hire new lawyers remains to be seen. Trump has grown upset at reports he’s looking to stand up an impeachment “war room,” believing they make him look weak.

Instead, Trump has adopted the same approach he took toward the Russia investigation: seek to discredit the investigators while painting himself a victim of a bureaucracy gone rogue.

Trump’s allies have expressed concern at that approach. For starters, Trump has already released enough damaging information — in the form of his Ukraine call transcript and the whistleblower complaint — for the American public to form their own opinions of the situation.

And while Trump at least sought to project the appearance of a presidency-as-normal during Robert Mueller’s probe, he is making no such attempt now. He has written off any further cooperation with Democrats while the impeachment inquiry proceeds, claiming they are unfocused. And he’s shown an inability to ignore the crisis in public.

Part of Trump’s fury is rooted in his belief following the conclusion of Mueller’s investigation that he was in the clear, according to advisers. The new investigation only continues the clouds of inquiry that have followed Trump his entire presidency.

“I get three days of peace, and I’m walking into the United Nations, going to meet with the biggest leaders in the world, and I hear about the word impeachment. I said, what did I do now?” Trump said during his news conference on Wednesday.

Part of Trump’s irritation at the impeachment matter has centered on its ties to his foreign policy. Trump has long been sensitive about appearing politically weak to his foreign counterparts, something he vented about during the Mueller investigation. Now, it’s precisely those interactions with world leaders that are coming under scrutiny.

As he hosted Sauli Niinisto, the Finnish president, at the White House, Trump made passing attempts to underscore the diplomacy he was conducting — and the impropriety of his looming impeachment on the act of being president.

“I’m sorry to bother you with this, Mr. President, because we have other things to talk about,” Trump said in an aside during his Oval Office appearance.

But even the visiting Finns couldn’t help but be intrigued at Trump’s plight. When it came time to ask Niinisto a question, a reporter in his press corps inquired: “I have to ask what kind of favors has Mr. Trump asked from you?”

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Trump denies Bolton claim about Ukraine aid

Trump’s private fury over impeachment spills into the public