Trump takes credit for sending military aid to Ukraine, ignoring he was impeached for trying to withhold nearly $400m of security assistance
- Donald Trump took credit for sending military aid to Ukraine during a speech on Saturday night.
- Trump's first impeachment focused on him withholding nearly $400 million of military aid from Ukraine.
Former President Donald Trump took credit for sending military aid to Ukraine at his South Carolina rally on Saturday night, ignoring that his first impeachment centered on him putting nearly $400 million of it on hold.
Trump boasted to a crowd at Florence Regional Airport that he was solely responsible for sending Javelins to Ukraine, adding that the shoulder-fired precision missile systems are "so effective" against tanks.
"Biden didn't," he claimed.
President Joe Biden's administration has authorized $1.2 billion in weapons for Ukraine in the past year, officials said, per The New York Times.
During the first week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States and NATO sent more than 17,000 anti-tank weapons, including Javelins, to Ukrainian forces, the newspaper reported.
"That was all sent by me, all of it," Trump claimed at the South Carolina rally, referring to shipments of Javelins and other military equipment.
Trump reluctantly agreed to provide Ukraine with $47 million worth of lethal weapons in December 2017, which included 210 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 37 launchers. He initially resisted the sale, according to Foreign Policy, only agreeing to complete the sale in March 2018 once aides had persuaded him it would be good for the American economy.
He stipulated that the weapons had to be kept in western Ukraine, away from conflict zones.
Trump's brag that he is solely responsible for sending military aid to Ukraine seemingly ignores that he withheld nearly $400 million of congressionally-approved security assistance to the country.
Trump was impeached in 2019, relating to his efforts to dangle military aid when persuading Zelensky to launch politically motivated investigations against the Biden family ahead of the 2020 election.
In a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, 2019, Trump acknowledged that he discussed investigating the family of his political rival, explicitly mentioning the sale of Javelins, Insider's John Haltiwanger previously reported.
Insider contacted Trump for comment on Sunday morning but did not immediately receive a response.