President Trump acknowledged that he held up nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine that had been authorized by Congress, but said he did so because he believes European countries should be paying their share.
“Other countries should also pay because, frankly, it affects them more. I mean, that’s a barrier. That’s a wall between Russia and the UK. And they don’t pay,” Trump said during a meeting Tuesday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the United Nations. “And why are they not paying? Why is it always the United States that’s paying?”
Earlier, when Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived at the UN before his address to the world body, Trump said he was concerned about corruption in Ukraine.
“I’d withhold again. And I’ll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine,” he said, calling out Germany and France.
Reports citing a whistleblower complaint say Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to launch an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s dealings in the Eastern European country.
Trump, during the meeting with Johnson, said he was irked that the US was shouldering most of the financial burden.
”So I said, ’Hold it up. Let’s get other people to pay.’ And then everybody called me: ’Oh, please can we pay?,’” Trump said, adding that there was never a quid pro quo with the Ukrainian leader.
The aid to Ukraine was released on Sept. 12.
But Trump said what the former vice president did was a “horror.”
Biden, the front-runner among Democratic presidential candidates, has denied he did anything wrong when he warned Ukraine in 2016 that the US would cancel $1 billion in aid unless the country got rid of its top prosecutor.