The Democrats' witnesses explained that it is not unusual for foreign aid to be paused or even withheld. Ambassador Taylor testified that U.S. aid to foreign countries can be paused in various instances, such as a Congressional hold.[1] Ambassador Volker testified that foreign assistance can be delayed for a multitude of reasons and that "this hold on security assistance [to Ukraine] was not significant."[2] Ambassador Volker elaborated during his public testimony:
Q. Ambassador Volker, you testified during your deposition that aid, in fact, does get held up from time-to-time for a whole assortment of reasons. Is that your understanding?
A. That is true.
Q. And sometimes the holdups are rooted in something at OMB, sometimes it's at the Defense Department, sometimes it's at the State Department, sometimes it's on the Hill. Is that correct?
A. That is correct.
Q. And so, when the aid was held up for 55 days for Ukraine, that didn't in and of itself strike you as uncommon?
A. No. It's something that had happened in my career in the past. I had seen holdups of assistance. I just assumed it was part of the decisionmaking process. Somebody had an objection, and we had to overcome it.[3]
Ambassador David Hale, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, agreed that U.S. taxpayer-funded aid has been paused from several countries around the world for various reasons and, in some cases, for unknown reasons.[4] Ambassador Hale elaborated:
We've often heard at the State Department that the President of the United States wants to make sure that foreign assistance is reviewed scrupulously to make sure that it's truly in U.S. national interests, and that we evaluate it continuously, so that it meets certain criteria that the President has established.[5]
Ambassador Hale explained that the NSC launched a review of U.S. foreign assistance to ensure U.S. taxpayer money was spent efficiently and to advance "[t]he principle of burden sharing by allies and other like-minded states."[6] Dr. Hill, the NSC's Senior Director for Europe, testified that as she was leaving NSC in July 2019, "there had been more scrutiny" to assistance:
- ↑ Taylor deposition, supra note 47, at 170-71.
- ↑ Volker transcribed interview, supra note 60, at 78-80.
- ↑ Impeachment Inquiry: Ambassador Kurt Volker and Mr. Timothy Morrison, supra note 8.
- ↑ "Impeachment Inquiry: Ms. Laura Cooper and Mr. David Hale": Hearing before the H. Perm. Sel. Comm. on Intelligence, 116th Cong. (2019).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Id.
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