WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine was linked to his demand that Kyiv investigate the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. It was a shifting new explanation about events at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.
The Thursday admission from acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney undercut the president’s position that there was no quid pro quo during Trump’s phone call with the Ukraine president that sparked the House investigation. Mulvaney claimed his comments were misconstrued, but the sudden turn of events had immediate fallout.