Blue Falcon: The U.S. has provided about $1.5 billion in military support to Kiev between 2014 and this past June, according to the Congressional Research Service. And Trump’s temporary cut off of the aid represented a significant setback for the country.
The Trump administration initially told Congress it was releasing the aid to Ukraine on February 28, 2019. It repeated that assertion to Congress again on May 23, 2019 but failed to explain to lawmakers — both publicly and to the lawmakers who approved the aid — exactly why the funds were withheld. Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn’t get a straight answer from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper over the summer on why the aid hadn’t been dispersed yet.
On July 25, 2019, there was a call between Trump and Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. According to a memorandum of the call released by the White House, Zelenskiy asked to buy American-made Javelin anti-tank weapons, and Trump asked Zelenskiy to help him work with U.S. officials to investigate political rivals.
But then on September 11, the Trump administration suddenly disbursed the money.
