Budget official testimony undermines impeachment defense on freezing Ukraine aid

A career budget official undercut one of the White House's arguments for freezing $400 million in security aid to Ukraine, according to a newly released transcript.

Mark Sandy, a career official in the Office of Management and Budget, said that the White House did not tell his office that the aid was being frozen over concerns about other countries' contributions until months after the hold was put in place. Sandy described deep dissatisfaction within the OMB after the hold was put in place, including questions being raised about the legality of the freeze and the resignations of officials who expressed concerns about the move.
White House officials -- including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney -- have said that one of the key reasons US security assistance to Ukraine was held up in July was because other countries in Europe were not providing enough assistance to Kiev. But Sandy testified that he was only given that explanation in September, when the White House first asked OMB for information about what other countries were contributing, according to a transcript of the closed-door deposition released by House Democrats on Tuesday.
"I recall in early September an email that attributed the hold to the President's concern about other countries not contributing money to Ukraine," Sandy said, adding that the email came sometime before September 9, when he was asked to "puIl together the data" on the contributions.