House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sent a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Monday that addressed President Donald Trump and his allies’ argument that Trump did nothing wrong because Ukraine eventually received the aid that the administration had frozen.
Pelosi argued against the “dangerous position” that the election ought to decide Trump’s fate rather than the House impeachment investigation, saying that Trump “is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections.”
“There are also some who say that no serious wrongdoing was committed, because the military assistance to Ukraine was eventually released,” she continued. “The fact is, the aid was only released after the whistleblower exposed the truth of the President’s extortion and bribery, and the House launched a formal investigation.”
On September 9, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson sent the House Intelligence Committee the whistleblower complaint about Trump’s infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Trump administration unfroze the congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine two days later on September 11.
Multiple State Department and White House officials testified that prior to the aid’s release, Trump and several diplomats had been pushing Zelensky to announce an investigation into 2020 candidate Joe Biden while the administration withheld both the aid and a White House meeting.
