On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump spent most of his early “executive time” retweeting items that, notably, had appeared before the impeachment inquiry testimony of Ambassador William Taylor on Tuesday, but eventually Trump staked out a new, fingers-clutching-the-edge-of-the-cliff position in his own defense. There can be no quid pro quo, declared Trump, because neither Taylor nor other witnesses have said that the Ukrainians knew that aid was being withheld.
Trump’s fallback position represents an extraordinary retreat. It would seem to acknowledge the indisputable fact that he was withholding military aid—a fact for which Trump has provided multiple, mutually exclusive excuses—and it would absorb the idea that Taylor and others knew that this aid was being withheld in order to gain the investigations that Trump sought.
There are only a few problems with this. First of all, of course the Ukrainians realized that the military aid had not appeared. Because it hadn’t appeared. The Pentagon publicly cleared the aid package approved by Congress on May 23, saying that Ukraine had met its obligations both in fighting corruption and in seeking democratic reforms. But the money and arms did not arrive. No one is more aware that money has not arrived than the person waiting for the check.
Instead, on the same day the Pentagon cleared the aid package approved by Congress, Trump and Mick Mulvaney convened a meeting at the White House and put “the three amigos”—Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland, and Rick Perry—in charge of getting a public declaration of the investigations Trump wanted. Even without the results of the multi-hour Q&A sessions with Taylor, Ambassador Gordon Sondland, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, special envoy Kurt Volker, and former White House adviser Fiona Hill, this is absolutely clear and unquestioned. The text already available from opening statements makes it clear that all three of the “amigos,” especially Sondland, not only understood their charge but were also very upfront in their efforts to extract the announcement Trump wanted.
Trump is left counting on his ability to extort Ukrainian officials into saying what he wants as the last line of defense against claims that he spent the entire summer ... extorting Ukrainian officials into saying what he wanted. Which is darkly funny, and might even throw a lifeline to Republicans still looking for some means of saying, “No he didn’t.” It might—except even the testimony we already have stomps all over Trump’s last-gasp defense.
In text messages exchanged by Trump’s own team, there is this little sequence:
Volker: Most important is for Zelensky to say he will help investigation—and address any specific personal issues—if there are any.
[...]
Sondland: Looks like POTUS call tomorrow. I spoke directly to Zelensky and gave him a full briefing. He’s got it.
Both of those texts were six days before Trump actually spoke to Volker. Exactly what was it that Zelensky was briefed on and “got,” if it was not the need to say what was requested? That’s not the only text from that same day.
Volker: Good. Had breakfast with Rudy this morning. Teeing up call with [Zelensky aide] Yermak Monday. Must have helped. Most important is for Zelensky to say he will help investigation—and address any specific personal issues—if there are any.
When it comes to what Trump wanted from Zelensky, Trump's actions could not have been clearer. These statements are only reinforced by the testimony already made public showing the constant actions of the team composed of Volker, Sondland, and Perry working with Giuliani to extract the announcement Trump wanted. The requests were made blindingly clear to Ukrainian officials.
What was equally clear was that Ukraine did not have its military aid. No one needed to tell Ukrainians the aid was not in their hands. They knew this. They could watch Russian forces crashing through the Donbass region and know that they didn’t have what was necessary to fight back.
The public announcement that the funds had been cleared by the Pentagon came in May. But there was no aid in June. No aid in July. There was still no aid in August, when Trump’s team was still grinding home its demand that it get the announcement Trump wanted.
Sondland: I think POTUS really wants the deliverable.
Volker: But does Yermak know that?
Sondland: Yep.
There was still no aid throughout the rest of August, as Ukrainian forces faced increasing attacks from Russia and Russian forces massed along their border. From Zelensky on down, everyone in the Ukrainian government was painfully aware that they did not have the strategic aid they had been promised.
By mid-July, the holdup of the aid was already so alarming to Pentagon officials that they began looking at ways the money might be freed from Trump’s hold. That same month, a group of congressmen wrote to the Office of Management and Budget asking Mulvaney to explain why aid had not been released. The whistleblower complaint may not have been visible until September, but these congressional letters certainly were visible.
Ukraine absolutely knew that the assistance package had been approved by Congress and cleared by the Pentagon, and was being held by the White House. Trump’s hold on the package was visible to the Pentagon, it was visible to Congress, it was visible to diplomatic teams. It was certainly visible in August: Complaints about Trump’s hold on the aid were regularly appearing in the press.
“Ukraine didn’t know” may be Trump’s last line of defense. It’s also the silliest. Trump may be able to use continued pressure to keep Ukrainian officials from talking, but that doesn’t mean the truth isn’t obvious.