Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says his comments about the Trump administration’s decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine have been misconstrued.

Mulvaney issued his statement after the president’s outside legal counsel tried to distance itself from Mulvaney’s earlier comments at a press briefing.

Mulvaney now says there was “no quid pro quo” between Ukrainian military aid and that country’s willingness to investigate the 2016 U.S. election.

Mulvaney adds that Trump never told him to withhold money until the Ukrainians took action related to a server Democrats used in the 2016 election.

At an earlier briefing, Mulvaney had directly cited questions about the DNC server as a reason that money for Ukraine was being held up.

Trump, for his part, says he still has “a lot of confidence” in Mulvaney.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC.