Pentagon official Laura Cooper testified to impeachment hearings Wednesday that her office received two separate emails about the hold-up in security assistance for Ukraine on July 25 – the same day as Trump’s infamous call with the Ukrainian president.
The Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary’s evidence appears to undercut a key claim by Donald Trump’s defenders, that Ukraine did not know about the hold-up of $400 million in aid, and that therefore there was no ‘quid pro quo.’
Democrats seized on it as a fresh revelation which strikes a new blow to Trump’s defense.
It came after Trump’s hand-picked ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, dropped bombshell after bombshell in hours of testimony in which he said there was a quid pro quo – that Ukraine would not get a White House meeting without investigating ‘Burisma’; that he was ordered to talk to Rudy Giuliani; that Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence both knew about a link between ‘investigations’ and military aid; and that investigating Burisma meant the Bidens, which would benefit Trump.
At a session which started more than three hours later than planned, Cooper provided new information that she said she learned form her staff following her earlier closed door deposition.
She said that on July 25th her staff got two emails, one from the State Department stating that the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Ukrainians were asking about security assistance.
New bombshell: Laura Cooper said her staff were asked by the Ukrainians on the day Donald Trump called Ukraine’s new president what had happened to their aid, which had been held up earlier that month
Call: Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Donald Trump on July 25. Now Laura Cooper says her staff were asked what had happened to their aid that same day
State Department official David Hale arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019, during a public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trump’s efforts to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Another email stated the Hill – meaning staff working for lawmakers – and the Ukrainian knew about the foreign assistance situation. Both emails came in the afternoon.
‘The Hill knows about the FMF situation and so does the Ukrainian embassy,’ the second email said, Cooper testified. FMF stands for ‘Foreign Military Financing,’ the government term for aid to foreign countries.
The 25th is the day when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky brought up his interest in getting Javelin missiles on a phone call with the president, and Trump asked for a ‘favor’ including investigations and mentioned Joe Biden specifically.
Cooper testified she did not recall receiving those emails. She said she never talked to the president but heard from people she doesn’t recall that ‘the president was concerned about corruption. That was all I ever heard.’
‘I heard that the president had directed the Office of Management and Budget to hold the funds because of his concerns about corruption in Ukraine,’ she said.
Under oath before the House Intelligence Committee, Cooper said she received emails on July 25 saying that both the Ukrainian embassy in Washington and the House Foreign Affairs Committee were asking about the assistance.
‘I would say that, specifically, the Ukrainian embassy staff asked, ‘What is going on with Ukrainian security assistance?’ Cooper said.
Asked by Representative Adam Schiff if the Ukrainians had been ‘concerned,’ Cooper replied, ‘Yes, sir.’
Trump is accused of improperly withholding aid and a summit with Zelensky as he pressed Ukraine to launch an investigation into his domestic rival Joe Biden.
Trump in the phone call asked Zelensky for ‘a favor.’ Trump’s defenders have argued, in part, that his effort was not improper as Ukraine did not know about the holdup.
Kurt Volker, the US pointman on Ukraine, has said that he was not aware of the aid freeze until Politico ran an article in late August.
Cooper said that her staff received the emails on July 25 and that she had not been personally briefed on them until she conducted research in preparation for her congressional appearance.
She had earlier testified in a deposition behind closed doors and had not known then about the emails, she said Wednesday.
Mike Quigley, a Democrat, said that Cooper’s evidence suggested ‘there is untold information out there that is being blocked.’
The Pentagon and State Department are both resisting subpoenas from the Intelligence Committee.
Pressed by Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas, Cooper said she couldn’t state specifically that the emails were about the ‘hold’ as opposed to foreign assistance generally.
‘I don’t want to speculate on what it means,’ she said. But she said Ukrainians tended to call about ‘specific things’ not just ‘generally checking in on their assistance package.
‘Ms. Cooper, your testimony today destroys two of the pillars of the president’s defense and one justification for his conduct,’ said Rep. Eric Swallwell of California. ‘First pillar: no harm no foul, the Ukrainians didn’t know that the hold was in place … Second pillar, this president was a real champion of anti-corruption,’ he said.
Her testimony came hours after U.S. ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland testified there was a ‘quid pro quo’ linking a White House visit to investigations the president and Rudy Giuliani were demanding.
Sondland also said he concluded $400 million in military aid to Ukrain was also part of the ‘logjam’ he was trying to fix.
Cooper also added: ‘Sometime during the week of August 6-10, a Ukraine officer told a member of my staff a Ukrainian official might raise concerns about security assistance in an upcoming meeting.’
Lethal force: Javelin missiles, seen in use by the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan in 2011, were sent to Ukraine as anti-tank weapons
Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, testified she did not recall receiving those emails. She said she never talked to the president but heard from people she doesn’t recall that ‘the president was concerned about corruption. That was all I ever heard.’
‘I heard that the president had directed the Office of Management and Budget to hold the funds because of his concerns about corruption in Ukraine,’ she said.
Adam Schiff, in his opening statement, stated that ‘no good explanation of the hold was provided’ for holding up the aid.
Rep. Devin Nunes once again dwelled on process and blasted Democrats for not providing proper notice of how questioning would get handled. ‘The American people are getting a skewed impression of these events,’ he groused. He accused Democrats of ‘petty tricks,’ saying: ‘Just this morning they called a break in the hearing in order to press their absurd arguments to TV cameras.’
She said she met with U.S. Ukraine envoy Kurt Volkwer on August 20. ‘It was my inference that that would lift the hold on Ukraine security assistance,’ she said, in testimony in line with ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, who also testified he made his own conclusions about the linkage. He agreed it was like ‘two plus two equals four.’
Under questioning from Conaway, Cooper acknowledged the delay in funding, which was provided after the House announced its investigation, would be limited. ‘There was no shortfall in equipment deliveries that were expected within that time frame,’ she said. ‘There was no shortfall in equipment deliveries that were expected within that time frame.’
The policy expert told Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California, ‘I do not know what triggered the release of the funding.’
Top State Department official David Hale testified about the removal of U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Rep. Denny Heck of Washington called Pompeo’s silence on the issue a ‘betrayal’ of his agency.
‘She should have been able to stay at post and continue to do the outstanding work,’ said Hale. He called the ambassador, who lawmakers say got ‘smeared’ by a campaign driven by Rudy Giuliani, a ‘an exceptional officer doing exceptional work.’ He agreed with Heck’s words that she got smeared and served with ‘grace and dignity.’
Cooper made clear she did not get her information from the president, as Sondland testified he sometimes did.
‘In a series of interagency meetings, I heard that the president had directed the Office of Management and Budget to hold the funds because of his concerns about corruption in Ukraine. Let me say at the outset that I have never discussed this or any other matter with the president and never heard directly from him about this matter.’
President Trump weighed in with a tweet Wednesday night. ‘If this were a prizefight, they’d stop it!’ he wrote.