Thursday, January 02, 2020

The Interesting Bits



Hours after Trump concluded his infamous July 25 call with Zelenskyy, during which he asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden, Duffey sent an email to top senior defense officials, which was released in full to the Center for Public Integrity. The letter advised the Pentagon to suspend any future military aid for Ukraine.

“Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration’s plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, please hold off on any additional DOD obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process. I understand that DOD will continue its planning and casework during this period and that this brief pause in obligations will not preclude DOD’s timely execution of the final policy direction.

We intend to formalize the pause with an apportionment footnote to be provided later today.

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. Please let me know if you have any questions.”

McCusker followed up in an email to OMB asking if this had gone through the Defense Department’s general counsel, indicating an early concern about the legality of these actions. When it released this email to the Center for Public Integrity, the Justice Department redacted this simple question from McCusker.
Gee, I wonder why?  And again:

As August began, the Defense Department had told OMB and the White House its concerns about the legality of the hold and how, as the clock ticked toward the end of the fiscal year, it would become increasingly difficult for the Pentagon to spend the Ukraine funding in time. If it wasn’t all spent by Sept. 30, in violation of the law, the money would return to the U.S. Treasury, in what is known as an “impoundment.” While pressure was mounting as the month began, that red line had not yet been crossed, but it would be soon.

On Aug. 6, Duffey sent McCusker an email telling her he planned to extend the hold on the Ukraine funding by reinserting the same footnote into the budget document. The footnote still noted that the pause would not prevent the Defense Department from spending the money before the fiscal year ended, if the hold was lifted.

McCusker wrote back asking to whom Duffey spoke to confirm that the additional pause would not affect the ultimate execution of the program.

“Good catch,” Duffey wrote back and then asked with whom he should check in.

On Aug. 9, McCusker wrote to senior OMB officials, including Sandy and Duffey:

“As we discussed, as of 12 AUG I don’t think we can agree that the pause ‘will not preclude timely execution.’ We hope it won’t and will do all we can to execute once the policy decision is made, but can no longer make that declarative statement.”

The Pentagon’s warning: We’re running out of time.

The Justice Department chose to black this out when it released the email last month:
Cover up?  What cover up?

On Aug. 12, understanding that the hold on Ukraine funding was going to be extended again, McCusker sent Duffey proposed language to be included in the next footnote to reflect the growing risk to the program. It read:

“Based on OMB’s communication with DOD on August 12, 2019, OMB understands from the Department that this additional pause in obligations may not preclude DOD’s timely execution of the final policy direction but that execution risk increases with continued delays.” (emphasis added)

But the next time the hold was extended, the footnote did not include any text that indicated the growing risk to the funding — the language that the Defense Department thought should be included. It was also redacted in the documents publicly released last month. 
Barr's DOJ is as crooked as a dog's hind leg:

But tension began to build between the Defense Department and OMB toward the end of August as the funding hold complicated all of the contractual processes that needed to take place in order to buy the equipment for Ukraine. OMB was pushing the Defense Department to micromanage down to the lowest level — the field contracting offices — in an apparent effort to buy time and keep the process on track even though the hold was upending everything. The Pentagon was growing frustrated.

On Aug. 20, OMB issued another footnote, extending the hold through Aug. 26. It did not include any language flagging the growing risk.

In an Aug. 21 email to her DOD colleagues, McCusker notes that members of the House Appropriations Committee traveled to Ukraine earlier that month and sent the Pentagon a request for information regarding the funding.

On Aug. 26, Duffey let McCusker know that the funding hold was being extended again.

McCusker responded, “What is the status of the impoundment paperwork?”

To which Duffey, replied, “I am not tracking that. Is that something you are expecting from OMB?”

McCusker: “Yes, it is now necessary — legal teams were discussing last week.”

The Justice Department redacted McCusker’s side of this exchange.  
Shit starts to meet fan:

In an email to Duffey later that morning, McCusker’s frustration is palpable. For starters, DOD still hasn’t gotten the footnote extending the hold, so technically the Pentagon should start obligating the money. Plus, Mark Paoletta, OMB’s general counsel, “appears to continue to consistently misunderstand the process and the timelines we have provided for funds execution,” McCusker said. (Again, this detail was redacted by the Trump administration in its court-compelled FOIA release.)

"Trump administration" there means DOJ.

There's a lot more.  It's a freaking coverup, from top to bottom.  Ukraine knew about the funds being withheld, the withholding violated several laws, people were freaking out.  And Trump doesn't want you to know about any of it.


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