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Washington (CNN) - The president of the United States, Donald Trump, asked the interim White House secretary, Mick Mulvaney, to suspend millions of military aid to Ukraine about a week before a call with the president of that country in the who pressured him to investigate the son of former vice president Joe Biden, two senior US government officials said Monday.
Trump was mainly concerned about "corruption" in Ukraine and that Europe assumed a greater financial burden of defense support for that country, according to one of the officials.
- Trump on the transcription of his call with President Ukraine: "Maybe they see it, maybe not"
There is no evidence of irregularities by Joe or Hunter Biden.
The Washington Post was the first to report that Trump told Mulvaney to suspend almost $ 400 million in military aid for Ukraine.
Citing three senior administration officials with knowledge of internal deliberations, the newspaper said that, in mid-July, officials from the Office of Administration and Budget transmitted Trump's request to the Pentagon and the State Department at an inter-agency meeting.
According to the newspaper, administration officials were told to tell lawmakers that the delay in aid was the result of an "inter-institutional process," without giving more information.
The news of Trump's order to withhold aid from Ukraine before his July 25 call can generate questions - and speculation - about the president's motive in doing so.
On Friday, CNN reported that Trump pressed during the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter, according to a person familiar with the situation. That call was part of the complaint of an informant submitted to the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, another person familiar with the situation told CNN.
Trump said Sunday that he actually talked about Biden with the president of Ukraine, at a time when that country was waiting for the US aid package, but denied doing anything wrong.
The growing controversy has led Democrats in the House of Representatives to a "turning point" in the indictment while the party assesses how to respond to the incident. The president of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who sharpened her rhetoric over the weekend, is not yet committed to moving forward with the procedures of political trial, although she keeps the door open.
CNN's Manu Raju contributed to this report.
Joe BidenUkraine
