‘Get over it’: Trump chief of staff confirms president froze Ukraine aid in part over political investigation

Donald Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has appeared to confirm that the president withheld military aid to Ukraine at least partly in order to press for an investigation into his political opponents.

The president is facing impeachment - and possible removal from office - for allegedly abusing his position by pressuring a foreign leader to dig up or even manufacture dirt on Joe Biden, one of the frontrunners to be the Democratic candidate in next year's election.

In a phone call to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Trump also referred to a conspiracy theory that a hacked server belonging to the Democratic National Committee was in Ukraine.

The White House has angrily denied withholding military aid to Ukraine in return for political dirt in any "quid pro quo".

But responding to questions from reporters at the White House on Thursday, Mr Mulvaney said of the president: "Did he also mention to me in the past that the corruption that related to the DNC server? Absolutely, no question about that. But that's it and that's why we held up the money."

Asked whether that constituted the kind of quid pro quo the White House has denied, Mr Mulvaney said: "We do that all the time with foreign policy."

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