Not long after acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney publicly admitted President Trump's decision to hold up aid to Ukraine was partly linked to his wish for Ukraine to launch an investigation based on a baseless conspiracy theory about the 2016 Democratic National Committee hack, Mulvaney walked back his comments.

The theory pins the hack on Ukraine, not Russia. Mulvaney made his initial remarks on Thursday in front of reporters, during a televised press conference. It was a surprising acknowledgement, as Trump has repeatedly denied engaging in any quid pro quo. Mulvaney said this was something "we do all the time," and anyone with a problem should "get over it." Almost immediately, Trump's legal team distanced the president from Mulvaney, with Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow saying the president's "legal counsel was not involved" in the press conference.

In his follow-up statement, Mulvaney said "there was never any condition on the flow of aid related to the matter of the DNC server," and tried to shift the blame for his words onto the media, claiming they were misconstrued to "advance a biased and political witch hunt against President Trump." Catherine Garcia