Trump calls for conditioning Ukraine aid on congressional Biden probes

Donald Trump is pulling out that old chestnut of withholding military aid to Ukraine until the US government releases every supposed scrap of evidence against his chief political rival, Biden. The last time he tried this, he was impeached for this troubles. Does he really think it's going to work out any better for him this time around? Keep in mind this is the same guy who, at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, said it was "genius" for Putin to invade Ukraine.

Former president Donald Trump called on congressional Republicans to withhold military support for Ukraine until the Biden administration cooperates with their investigations into the president and his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

The demand, delivered at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, echoed Trump’s conduct at issue during his first impeachment, when Trump withheld aid from Ukraine while pressuring the country’s president to announce an investigation of Biden.

“Congress should refuse to authorize a single additional shipment of our depleted weapons stockpiles … to Ukraine until the FBI, DOJ and IRS hand over every scrap of evidence they have on the Biden Crime Family’s corrupt business dealings,” Trump said at the rally. He added that any Republican lawmakers who didn’t join the effort should face primary challenges, a tactic he used last year to unseat Republicans who voted to impeach him for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Ammar Moussa responded Saturday: “Just like when he was impeached, Trump is using aid to Ukraine to play politics, which only serves to benefit one person: Vladimir Putin.

Trump calls for conditioning Ukraine aid on congressional Biden probes

And suggesting that congressional Republicans who don't go along with this blackmail scheme should be primaried? That seems like a very bad idea, particularly in Democratic-leaning districts held by Republicans, where a more MAGA-friendly nominee would likely lose the general election. It's clear that for Donald Trump it is all about him, his party and the country and its foreign policy be damned.

Former President Trump called for a pause on all aid to Ukraine until several federal agencies provide “every scrap” of evidence they have on alleged “corrupt business dealings” from President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

Trump said at a rally in Erie, Pa., on Saturday that Biden has been “dragging” the country into conflict with the war between Russia and Ukraine and referenced the copy of the unverified tip that congressional Republicans released last week purporting to show evidence of a scheme to bribe Biden.

The form included secondhand allegations that the Bidens were sent millions of dollars from the CEO of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which was being investigated by the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma at the time.

Biden, while serving as vice president in the Obama administration, argued that Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was corrupt and should be fired, threatening to withhold $1 billion in funding for Ukraine unless he was dismissed.

No hard evidence has been shown to demonstrate that Biden pushed for Shokin to be fired to help his son, but Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly alleged a bribery scheme occurred.

Trump urges pause on Ukraine aid until agencies turn in ‘every scrap’ of evidence in Biden probe

Put a hold on military aid to Ukraine at this crucial time in the conflict on the basis of an unverified secondhand tip of possible, but unproven bribery accusations against the current president? Seems a guy with about 80 felony charges against him and more soon to come down the pike really has no leg to stand on in this matter -- particularly because he was impeached once for such a blackmail scheme. It just goes to show how desperate and scared Trump about his deepening legal woes. The guy is running for president, so he should be talking about his policies on improving the country; instead, he rolls out his blackmail Ukraine military aid scheme 2.0, which creates more political problems for the rest of the Republican Party during this election cycle.

It's also rich that a former president who refused to cooperate in multiple investigations of himself and has been accused of and even charged with obstructing justice in said investigations, both when he was president and after his term was over, is so upset about the pace of the investigation of his chief political rival. But then projection has always been his thing.

However you might feel about Trump and Biden, is this really a good look for Trump, to be attempting to influence military aid to Ukraine while it is at war with one of the US's prime adversaries? Being that the Trump DOJ and FBI did not find sufficient reason to pursue this investigation concerning allegations against Biden during the Trump administration, does it really make sense for Trump to be hammering on this issue now, and threatening to primary Republicans who don't go along with his blackmail scheme? When else has there ever been an attempt to hold US foreign policy hostage over domestic partisan politics? And when else has a presidential candidate attempted to make the election all about himself, to the detriment of the rest of his party? But then when has the US ever had a presidential candidate with over 80 felony indictments hanging over him?

when else has a presidential candidate attempted to make the election all about himself, to the detriment of the rest of his party?

Hillary Clinton.

When else has there ever been an attempt to hold US foreign policy hostage over domestic partisan politics

Seriously ?

a reply to: DAVID64

You quoted Hillary talking about partisan political gain then posted a clip of Biden talking about getting US government foreign policy done. Do people who post that clip know it just make them look like a fool?

a reply to: Pyle

Do people who post that clip know it just make them look like a fool?

do people that call others fools who post a video that point out that a former /sitting vice president bragging and laughing about withholding funds allotted to loan / aid a country basically by blackmail, if they don't fire the prosecutor and stop investigation of his son and the reason he is sitting on a board, realize how big a ignorant fool they are especially after hunters irs deal has fallen through.

sad and pitifully ignorant.

Fyi - China has Biden blackmailed too.

Congress is attempting to stop him from sending our oil reserves to China.. But he is not stopping.

It really does show his desperation.

It’s time for the cowards in the republican party to stand up to this fool.

a reply to: MrInquisitive

Biden weaponizing the FBI and DOJ?

Trump weaponizing the use of the military?

originally posted by: carewemust
Fyi - China has Biden blackmailed too.

Congress is attempting to stop him from sending our oil reserves to China.. But he is not stopping.

That’s odd, I remember about a year ago you were implying Biden was too hawkish on China.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Yet you’ve made countless declarations in an as a matter of fact way that Biden is a Chinese puppet. When pressed, you never provide evidence even though you state it as already determined.

Now, there’s no question Biden has skeletons in his closet, and probably profited from international deals. But how can people complain about Russia gate when they’ll gladly do the same for the other side? This is why politics is such a reality show in America, people gladly play along when their side is winning and cry foul when they watch the other side take a go for a bit… even though they’re both the same.

Doesn’t Trump have business interests in China? Hotels, he has an active bank account there, hell, his MAGA gear is made there, ironic. Does that make him an agent of China? No. Was he an agent of Russia who he was harder on than Obama? Of course not.

You can’t complain about opinion piece punditry demanding they have a more bullet proof argument for years only to do the same thing.

a reply to: BernnieJGato

What Trump did and what Biden did are two different things.

Trump trying to stop congressional approved money that did not have any preconditions to distribution in order to get a personal favor for his presidential campaign.
vs
Biden doing a job as directed by President Obama with the support of Congress and foreign governments as part of a condition of the aid.

These things are not the same.

I wish ATS's "Deny Ignorance" still meant something in the Trump area.

originally posted by: carewemust
Fyi - China has Biden blackmailed too.

Congress is attempting to stop him from sending our oil reserves to China.. But he is not stopping.

The US has been exporting oil to China for decades. US oil exports actually took a noticeable uptick under Trump as soon as he took office. US oil exports to China also reached the highest they've ever been under Trump in May of 2020.

www.eia.gov...

Why is this suddenly an issue for Biden right now?

originally posted by: Pyle
a reply to: BernnieJGato

What Trump did and what Biden did are two different things.

Trump trying to stop congressional approved money that did not have any preconditions to distribution in order to get a personal favor for his presidential campaign.
vs
Biden doing a job as directed by President Obama with the support of Congress and foreign governments as part of a condition of the aid.

These things are not the same.

I wish ATS's "Deny Ignorance" still meant something in the Trump area.

it's starting to look a lot like Joe withheld that money to get the prosecutor who was looking into Burisma fired. Burisma, the company that recently claimed it paid 10 million to the Bidens so they would protect them. But we can pretend none of that means anything because of Trump. I wish folks who rail on about "Deny Ignorance", had the tiniest of clues what "Ignorance" is.

originally posted by: 1947boomer

originally posted by: carewemust
Fyi - China has Biden blackmailed too.

Congress is attempting to stop him from sending our oil reserves to China.. But he is not stopping.

The US has been exporting oil to China for decades. US oil exports actually took a noticeable uptick under Trump as soon as he took office. US oil exports to China also reached the highest they've ever been under Trump in May of 2020.

www.eia.gov...

Why is this suddenly an issue for Biden right now?

You mean when he sold off our SPR to lower the price of gas to make his midterms go more in his favor? I know when I learned about the SPR, they taught us it was there to be a political tool whenever needed.

originally posted by: DAVID64

when else has a presidential candidate attempted to make the election all about himself, to the detriment of the rest of his party?

Hillary Clinton.

When else has there ever been an attempt to hold US foreign policy hostage over domestic partisan politics

Seriously ?

You sort of have a point about HRC, in that she ran a piss-poor campaign, and tried to use identity politics to her benefit, causing the down ticket campaigns to fair badly. Unlike Trump, however, she wasn't threatening to have incumbent Democrats primaried because they weren't doing her political bidding during the campaign. If she even knew about the CrossFire Hurricane investigation, she sure wasn't coming out publicly and speaking about it, and demanding that all of the information gathered in it should be released.

As for that Biden video, I don't know what on earth that has to do with my statement, "When else has there ever been an attempt to hold US foreign policy hostage over domestic partisan politics?". Biden was talking about using US aid leverage to get Ukraine to can corrupt judges and investigators. That all falls under foreign policy; had nothing to do with US domestic politics. And I thought it was Trump and all the Ukraine bashers who like to talk up how corrupt Ukraine is, yet somehow the Obama administration's attempt to force Ukraine to clean up its act is somehow considered a bad thing.

Honestly don't understand how that video was supposed to make your argument undermining my statement. Talk about a self-own.

originally posted by: BernnieJGato
a reply to: Pyle

Do people who post that clip know it just make them look like a fool?

do people that call others fools who post a video that point out that a former /sitting vice president bragging and laughing about withholding funds allotted to loan / aid a country basically by blackmail, if they don't fire the prosecutor and stop investigation of his son and the reason he is sitting on a board, realize how big a ignorant fool they are especially after hunters irs deal has fallen through.

sad and pitifully ignorant.

The matter is more complicated than that, and the timeline needs to be understood.

In 2014, Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company helmed by Mykola Zlochevsky who previously served in the government of Ukraine’s Russia-friendly former president, Viktor Yanukovych. At the time, Joe Biden was helping lead the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy. Some U.S. officials raised concerns internally about the business relationship. And The New York Times wrote in a 2015 editorial that Hunter undermined his father’s Ukraine work by sitting on Burisma’s board.

While Hunter was on Burisma’s board, his father — along with a host of European allies — pushed the Ukrainian government to oust prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Shokin’s office had been investigating Burisma, and Joe Biden indicated that Ukraine wouldn’t receive a financial aid package until Shokin was out. So the Ukrainian government — which has long relied heavily on Western aid — fired him.

Biden wasn’t alone in pushing for Shokin’s ouster; a host of European allies and international institutions also called for his removal. No evidence has emerged that Hunter Biden ever pushed his father to seek Shokin’s firing. But Trump’s allies charged that the vice president pushed for Shokin’s firing to protect the company linked to his son.

The Burisma board, a laptop scandal and struggles with addiction: What to know about Hunter Biden’s legal troubles

At the time Shokin was ousted, the Burisma investigation had been closed for a while -- by Shokin, his predecessor and his successor. Biden did not ask for Shokin's ouster while he was investigating Burisma.

Was Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin prosecuting Burisma?
CLAIM
Trump said that the Ukrainian prosecutor Joe Biden had pushed to oust, Viktor Shokin, was "prosecuting" the company where Hunter Biden sat on the board, Burisma.

CONCLUSION
Shokin was not prosecuting Burisma.

EVIDENCE
While there had been an investigation of the company, Shokin's former deputy, Vitaliy Kasko, has said that it was dormant at the time of Joe Biden's intervention. (The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, George Kent, testified in Trump's impeachment inquiry that Shokin was corrupt; the US and its allies had made a coordinated effort to oust him.)

Link

Ukrainian prosecutors and anti-corruption advocates who were pushing for an investigation into the dealings of Burisma and its owner, Mykola Zlochevskiy, said the probe had been dormant long before Biden leveled his demand.

"There was no pressure from anyone from the United States" to close the case against Zlochevskiy, Vitaliy Kasko, who was a deputy prosecutor-general under Shokin and is now first deputy prosecutor-general, told Bloomberg News in May. "It was shelved by Ukrainian prosecutors in 2014 and through 2015," he added.

Activists say the case had been sabotaged by Shokin himself. As an example, they say two months before Hunter Biden joined Burisma's board, British authorities had requested information from Shokin's office as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering by Zlochevskiy. Shokin ignored them.

Kaleniuk and AntAC published a detailed timeline of events surrounding the Burisma case, an outline of evidence suggesting that three consecutive chief prosecutors of Ukraine -- first Shokin’s predecessor, then Shokin, and then his successor -- worked to bury it.

"Ironically, Joe Biden asked Shokin to leave because the prosecutor failed [to pursue] the Burisma investigation, not because Shokin was tough and active with this case," Kaleniuk said.

Ukrainian prosecutors have described no evidence indicating that Biden sought to help his son by getting Shokin dismissed -- and have suggested that they have not discovered any such evidence.

But there is a long list of Western organizations, governments, and diplomats, as well as Ukrainian anti-corruption groups, that wanted to see Shokin fired.

They include the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the U.S. government, foreign investors, and Ukrainian advocates of reform.

Why Was Ukraine's Top Prosecutor Fired? The Issue At The Heart Of The Dispute Gripping Washington

So, in fact, the Obama administration -- not Biden, the VP, who was only acting as the US point person in the matter -- wanted Shokin out on account of his corruption, and various European nations and international institutions did as well. Are you really going to claim that all of these countries and institutions wanted Shokin removed on account of the son of the US VP?

originally posted by: carewemust
Fyi - China has Biden blackmailed too.

Congress is attempting to stop him from sending our oil reserves to China.. But he is not stopping.

How about the real story?

Q: Is the Biden administration selling crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to other countries?

A: The oil is sold to eligible companies that make the highest offers. Some of the companies are U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, and some that purchased oil have then exported a portion to buyers overseas. Exports increase the global supply and still help with U.S. gas prices, experts told us.

Did Biden sell oil from our Strategic Oil Reserve to China and other countries in 2022?

The Biden administration is trying to increase the global supply of crude oil and reduce gasoline prices by tapping the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve – the federally owned stock of emergency crude oil. About 1 million barrels of crude oil from the reserve are being made available each day for sale to the highest bidding company. Some of the companies have then chosen to export some of the oil to countries around the world, including China.

In a July 5 article, Reuters reported: “More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency reserves release to lower domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices hit record highs.”

Refiners around the world use crude oil to make gasoline and other fuels.

The article, which also said that the “export of crude and fuel is blunting the impact” of President Joe Biden’s moves “to lower record pump prices,” has prompted several readers to ask FactCheck.org about the sales.

However, because the price of gasoline depends largely on the cost of crude oil, which is mostly based on global supply and demand, experts told us that oil sold from the reserve does not need to stay in the U.S. to bring down gasoline prices.

“Whether it stays in the United States or goes somewhere else is less important than does it succeed in changing the global balance of supply and demand, because that’s what drives the price,” Mark Finley, a fellow in energy and global oil at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, told us in an interview.

And since Congress lifted a nearly 40-year ban on most U.S. crude oil exports in 2015, the Department of Energy, which maintains the stockpile, cannot dictate whether companies can export oil purchased from the petroleum reserve, the department said in an email.

Even before that expansive ban was lifted, the U.S. had been exporting at least some crude oil and petroleum products to China and other nations for years.

“The Administration’s use of the SPR is exactly what it was created to do: to address the significant global supply disruptions,” the Energy Department argued in an email responding to our questions about the sales. “Putin’s war on Ukraine destabilized global supply and the emergency sales are meant to provide supply certainty and act as a bridge until domestic production increases, in turn help to mitigate the cost increases for American families.”

However, the Department of Energy said that U.S. subsidiaries of foreign energy companies have long been eligible to place bids on SPR oil.

Prior to 2015, “it was unlikely any product delivered to the winning bidder was exported outside the US,” the department’s email said. But that changed after the broad export ban on U.S-produced crude oil was lifted that year.

“U.S. companies are permitted to place bids on SPR crude oil; DOE cannot dictate what selected bidders will do with the SPR crude oil after delivery,” the department explained.

So, Biden was not directing oil to be sold to China. What he did was allow some of the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) to be sold off during high oil prices in order to deflate those prices. And some of it ended up going to Asia, as well as Europe. And you know what happens when oil prices drop again, the US government buys back oil to restock the SPR.

And why was all of this done? Because the Russian invasion of Ukraine had destabilized oil prices. Biden's actions were to reduce increased gas prices at the pump -- for Americans as well as consumers globally. This was an inflation fighting effort, it had nothing to do with being blackmailed by China. And if China has blackmailed Biden, why has he affected the microchip ban on China, and helped to build back up the US's own microchip industry?

As usual @CWM, you make some unsubstantiated claim against Biden, but don't back them up with any facts. In fact, you ignore the facts of the matter.

originally posted by: Itherael
a reply to: MrInquisitive

Biden weaponizing the FBI and DOJ?

Trump weaponizing the use of the military?

How about providing some actual evidence of Biden weaponizing the DOJ and FBI? And don't bother with anything having to do with the Trump investigations of Jan. 6 or the Mar-a-Lago documents. Those are about actual crimes, yours and other MAGA-types defending Trump notwithstanding.

I provided you a quote of Trump trying to weaponize/hold hostage US foreign aid.

Still waiting for any Trump defender to respond to how this is a good look for Trump politically, unless you are against aid to Ukraine in the first place. And that threatening to primary incumbent Republicans in blue or purple districts will likely hurt the GOP in the general election.

You can throw whatever whataboutism turd at the wall and hope it sticks, but the bottom line is that Trump's calling for this withholding of military aid to Ukraine until he gets what he wants regarding the Biden investigation(s), and threatening incumbent Republicans who don't get on board is not a smart political move, and just shows his narcissism and willingness to bring down the GOP with him in the next election. It also shows that the GOP helped to create this monster, and it seems very late in the game to do anything about it, as their continued lying and making excuses for Trump has convinced the GOP villagers that Frankencandidate is their savior and incapable of having committed any crimes.