Pentagon official Laura Cooper testified on Wednesday at the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry, and one reporter says that she largely corroborated the damning testimony delivered by ambassador Bill Taylor.

Kate Brannen, the managing editor at Just Security and a former reporter at Foreign Policy and Politico, says her sources claim that Cooper told House investigators that “there was unanimous support from Trump’s Cabinet and the interagency to supply Ukraine with security assistance” but “the White House withheld it anyway.”

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Even more damning, reports Brannen, Cooper testified that “she was made aware of a quid pro quo between the security assistance and a commitment from Ukraine to investigate the Bidens” and she said that the Pentagon “made it clear to the White House that by withholding funds without congressional authorization, it was at risk of violating the law.”

Cooper this week defied instructions from the Department of Defense to not cooperate in the House impeachment probe, and she testified even though Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) disrupted her hearing by storming into the SCIF located in the House of Representatives.

Read Brannen’s full threat on Cooper’s testimony below.

2. Providing security assistance to Ukraine is in the interests of the United States. Withholding it is not. — Kate Brannen (@K8brannen) October 24, 2019

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