What the Biden administration learned from past presidents about military aid to Ukraine

Ali Rogin:

Donald Trump brought another kind of ambiguity. As he embraced Putin, his administration armed Ukraine, selling kyiv hundreds of Javelin anti-tank missiles in 2018.

The following year, Ukraine was to receive nearly $400 million in military aid, including money for more weapons. But Trump blocked it, setting in motion the events that led to his first impeachment. In a phone call in July 2019, newly elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was – and I quote – “almost ready” to buy more Javelins.

Trump replied, “I would like you to do us a favor, though,” asking Zelenskyy to investigate his alleged presidential opponent Biden and his son Hunter, who had had business in Ukraine.

Trump and his aides defended the hold.

Mick Mulvaney, former acting White House chief of staff: We do this all the time with foreign policy.