Speaking to reporters at the UN on Tuesday, President Trump changed his position on why Ukraine military aid was withheld, and also confirmed that he intends to continue to withhold the money.



Trump had been presenting this, as recently as yesterday, as aid being withheld over concerns about Ukrainian corruption, saying his concern about the corruption was totally appropriate, and not directly related to Joe Biden.



The new story is that the aid was frozen long before he even talked to Ukraine about Biden or corruption, and that he was mad that Europe wasn’t paying more of the overall cost of aid to the Ukrainians.



“I said, ‘Hold it up. Let’s get other people to pay,'” Trump told the reporters. Trump says that while Ukraine’s funds were fully paid he intends to withhold again and continue to withhold until either European or other nations come forward to pay for it.



That the US was withholding aid to Ukraine was a source of anger among many in Congress, who believe that any military aid to Ukraine is necessarily against Russia. Early reports were that the administration doubted that the aid would benefit US interests.



After the aid was freed up it seemed the issue was over, but it again become an issue when the scandal surrounding Trump’s conversation with Ukraine’s president grew.

Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz