Rand Paul, Ron Johnson defend Trump over Ukraine aid
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) continued to defend President Trump on Sunday in light of the House impeachment inquiry.
In an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Paul told host Chuck Todd that Trump had "every right to withhold aid" from Ukraine if he believed there was corruption in the country. Paul argued that presidents have always circumnavigated Congress and withheld aid from countries for different reasons, including suspicions of corruption.
WATCH: @SenRandPaul says "it is a big mistake for anybody to argue quid pro quo," and "there is always contingencies on aid" #MTP
"Every politician in Washington other than me, virtually, is trying to manipulate Ukraine to their purposes" pic.twitter.com/fVGR8D2UKY— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 10, 2019
The famously non-interventionist senator went on to say that basically everyone in Washington on both sides of the aisle besides himself was trying to get something out of Kyiv, so he's not quite sure where the quid pro quo line should be drawn.
Similarly, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union that he was sympathetic to Trump's concerns over Ukrainian corruption, reiterating that was the primary reason for withholding aid.
“I remain sympathetic with President Trump’s legitimate concerns about the corruption [in Ukraine]… He’s been very consistent in his conversations with me and others that, that was his reason for withholding funding,” GOP Sen. Ron Johnson says. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/eCVb2w8IB7
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) November 10, 2019
Of course, Democrats would argue that Trump and his allies seemed to be far more invested in getting Ukraine to investigate Trump's political rivals stateside than any Ukraine-specific corruption cases.
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