Laura Cooper is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs. Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson are both advisors to Ambassador Kurt Volker on Ukraine policy.



Their testimony reveals how

President Trump’s month-long pressure campaign compromised U.S. national security and was intended to give Trump the advantage in the 2020 election.

• Laura Cooper testified that the hold on military aid “would weaken a strategic partner” [Ukraine] and “makes it much more difficult for them to negotiate a peace on terms that are good for Ukraine.” She added that providing the aid was in the U.S. national interest and “It’s in our interest to deter Russian aggression elsewhere around the world.”



• Cooper and Croft testified that President Trump, through OMB, directed the freeze on $400 million in critical military aid for Ukraine, against the judgment of career officials in DOD, State and other relevant agencies.



• According to Croft, an OMB officer “reported that the White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, had placed an informal hold on security assistance to Ukraine. The only reason given was that it came at the direction of the President.” She said she “had never heard of OMB injecting itself into a purely policy discussion or decision-making process.”

• Croft testified that the Ukrainians knew early on about the hold on the aid and testified that two Ukrainian officials approached her quietly in the July or August timeframe, before the hold had been made public.

• Cooper also testified that, during a meeting on August 20, 2019, with Ambassador Kurt Volker, he strongly implied that the hold on assistance might be resolved if Ukraine was willing to issue a statement related to election interference.