The scheme that Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump have been running in Ukraine deserves to be getting more attention, and lately it has been. Three House committees are now investigating the scam in which both Giuliani and Trump have been leaning on Ukrainian officials in an effort to get them to claim that Vice President Joe Biden is under investigation. Which he definitely is not. As part of this plot, Trump has even been holding up military aid to Ukraine to place pressure on the new pro-Western government.
The New York Times reports that Trump has folded on this part of the scheme after the idea of withholding aid from a U.S. ally created outrage on both sides of the aisle. Trump had been claiming that he was delaying the aid while waiting for a Pentagon review. The truth was that the Pentagon had finished the review even before Trump issued the hold. How obvious was Trump’s blackmail effort? So obvious that one of those who went to tell him to let it go was Lindsey Graham.
Halting the flow of U.S. support has put an incredible strain on the new administration in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky ran for president on a platform of bringing his country closer to Western Europe and eliminating corruption. But it was exactly elements of the previous corrupt, Russia-leaning government who had been the subject of outreach from Trump and Giuliani. After it was clear that he was no longer welcome in Kiev, Giuliani even traveled to Madrid to make it clear to a Ukrainian official that they needed to play ball in giving Trump what he wanted if they expected to have the support package.
Zelensky is an outsider, a former comedian who has been compared to Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert for his sharp, and funny, criticism of the outgoing regime. His new government has been welcomed by both Ukrainians and by neighboring countries, but with Russia already occupying Crimea and not just supporting rebellion against the Ukrainian government, but directly placing troops in other provinces, the need for American assistance was critical.
The delay of the aid package seemed not only aimed at pressuring the new administration into cooperating in the scheme to smear Biden, but also designed to please Trump’s pal, Vladimir Putin.
The delay by Trump, and the messages Zelensky has been receiving from Trump’s White House since he took office, have generated what Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy described as near panic in Ukraine over the faltering relationship with the United States, and concern over America’s commitment to helping fight further encroachment by Russia.
If Trump didn’t mean to dangle Ukraine in front of Russia in the hopes of either getting what he wanted on Biden, or delivering a big prize to Putin, he certainly did a good job of making it look like that’s what he was doing.