Since House Democrats launched an impeachment impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump’s attempt to extort Ukraine and subsequently charged him with abusing the power of the presidency, his allies have insisted he is innocent because the quid pro quo deal never happened, and Ukraine ultimately got its military aid without announcing an investigation into Joe Biden. That defense, of course, misses the point entirely, which is that Trump tried desperately to extort Ukraine, he just wasn‘t successful. How desperately, you might ask? Freezing-aid-91-minutes-after-asking-Volodymyr-Zelensky-for-a-favor desperately, it turns out.

The Washington Post reports that Michael Duffey, a senior budget official with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, emailed Pentagon comptroller Elaine McCusker and others at 11:04 a.m. on July 25—about an hour and a half after Trump’s call with Zelenksy concluded—asking them to “hold off” on sending aid to Ukraine. During the phone call, Zelensky mentioned getting anti-tank missiles from the United States, at which point the president responded that he needed a favor and immediately proceeded to lay out why the Bidens were supposedly corrupt. In his email, Duffey added that “given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute the direction.”

While the White House has insisted that Duffey’s request—and the note to keep it on the down low—were much ado about nothing, documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity suggest otherwise:

The emails also show that some Pentagon officials were concerned that withholding the aid from Ukraine, which relied on the money to defend itself against Russian aggression, was ill-advised policy and potentially unlawful. Mark Sandy, a career budget official who testified before the House Intelligence Committee during last month’s impeachment hearings, told lawmakers he was concerned that withholding the aid Congress had approved could be a violation of the Impoundment Control Act. The 1974 law restricts how a president can suspend congressionally approved funds. Sandy testified that two budget officials resigned in part because of frustration over the freeze, a sentiment that was shared within the Pentagon, according to the emails.