Politics
Associated Press
The Pentagon in a file photo from 2008.
- Pentagon funds totalling $35 million earmarked for military aid for Ukraine have yet to be released, the Los Angeles Times reported.
- The funds are part of a $400 million military aid package to Ukraine frozen by President Donald Trump, a move being probed by the House impeachment probe.
- Much of the aid has now been distributed, but the last $35 million has not. The Pentagon declined to explain why.
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More than $35 million in Pentagon aid to Ukraine is yet to be released, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times, citing government documents.
The sum is part of the congressionally-approved $400 million aid package the Trump administration froze earlier this year, which Democrats are probing as part of their impeachment investigation.
Several witnesses in the inquiry have testified that the aid was withheld as part of a bid to pressure Ukraine to announce a probe into Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden, in a move that Democrats say constitutes an impeachable abuse of power by Trump.
Republicans have claimed that Ukraine did not know the aid had been withheld, so withholding it could not have been part of a pressure campaign.
Most of the package, which was distributed by the State Department, was released in September 2019, after reports emerged of a whistleblower complaint about Trump's demand in a July 25 phonecall with Ukraine's president that he launch a probe of Biden.
The Pentagon in a statement to the Times confirmed that the $35 million, earmarked for "grenade launchers, secure communications and naval combat craft," had not been released, but declined to say why.
Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Carla Gleason told the publication the funds will be distributed "over the next several weeks."