Ukrainian officials knew for months that President Donald Trump was withholding key military aid to their country over demands that Ukraine investigate Trump’s political rival and 2020 candidate Joe Biden, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. The report, based on interviews and documents the Times obtained, directly contradicts Trump’s claim that there could not have been an improper quid pro quo arrangement because Ukrainian officials did not know the United States was withholding $391 million in military aid. Instead, top Ukrainian officials reportedly knew of the aid freeze as early as the first week of August ― just days after Trump requested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden during a July 25 phone call. If Ukraine’s government knew of the delayed aid in August, it would blow a significant hole in the Trump administration’s denial that the president engaged in misconduct. According to a whistleblower and testimony to Congress, Trump and his allies pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden’s actions in Ukraine as vice president and his son Hunter’s business connections in the country. The report could also give more fuel to impeachment proceedings after a week that already included the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, testifying that Trump had indeed held up aid to force Ukrainian officials to target the Bidens.

SAUL LOEB via Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands during a meeting in New York on Sept. 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.