Senate Democrats are urging Defense Department to probe military aid delays to Ukraine following the allegations that President Donald Trump made an attempt to “make the aid conditional on an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter,” The Hill reported.
Trump claimed that the delay was a result of concerns of corruption in Ukraine. However, a letter from the Pentagon indicated the department had certified the nation had taken action against corruption.
“The delay would appear to have hindered the Department’s statutory obligation to provide security assistance to Ukraine at a critical moment, and raises serious questions about whether DoD officials were involved in any scheme to target a political opponent,” Sen. Richard Durbin wrote in a letter to DoD Acting Inspector General Glenn Fine.
“As a result, it is imperative that your office pursue a thorough review of DoD’s potential role in these allegations, and provide your findings to the congressional defense committees in a timely manner,” he added.
The letter asks Fine to determine the answers to several questions, including why the Pentagon failed to execute funding in a timely manner, whether the Pentagon was told to slow or halt the dispersal of the funds, and whether anyone in the Pentagon was aware of any requests to halt the funds that were connected to “a political consideration by the President and his senior staff.”
The allegations have led to an outpouring of support for impeachment proceedings from congressional Democrats who had demurred on the subject before this week, including Durbin himself, the number-two Senate Democrat. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry Tuesday afternoon.
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