The White House Office of Management and Budget made its first official move to withhold military aid to Ukraine on July 25, the same day President Donald Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by phone, according to a summary of OMB documents produced by the House Budget Committee.
The OMB documents also show that while that first letter to withhold the apportionment of the funds was signed by a career official, subsequent letters to freeze the aid were signed by a political appointee, Michael Duffey, the office's associated director for national security programs. Duffey has refused to testify before House impeachment investigators despite being served with a subpoena on Oct. 25.
CNN first reported on the timing of the official hold on Ukraine aid.
The OMB documents were provided to the House Budget Committee after the panel's chairman, John Yarmuth, D-Ky., and House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., sent the administration a letter on Sept. 27 requesting information about the agency's involvement in withholding of aid, including nearly $400 million in assistance for Ukraine.
