Trump missed call on Ukraine aid to play golf on day whistleblower complaint was filed: report

President Donald Trump missed a conference call with top officials about his order to freeze military aid to Ukraine to play golf with professional player John Daly on the same day that the whistleblower complaint which triggered his impeachment was filed.  Trump’s decision set off a frenzy behind the scenes as some aides scrambled to justify the move, while others pushed to change his mind, according to an extensive New York Times report detailing what happened inside the administration following the president’s directive.Advertisement:  Trump first asked to freeze the aid in June. The order led Russel Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, to search on Google for a right-wing Washington Examiner article, which appears to have prompted Trump’s decision.  Trump aide Robert Blair warned acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to “expect Congress to become unhinged” if the administration blocked aid appropriated by lawmakers. He also arguesd that the president's move could “fuel the narrative that Mr. Trump was pro-Russia,” according to The Times.  Blair’s warning did not stop the aid freeze nor did pleas from Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then-national security adviser John Bolton at a previously unreported Oval Office meeting, according to the report.Advertisement:  As Trump resisted pleas from his own Cabinet officials, lawyers at the Office of Management and Budget reportedly hatched a previously unreported argument that Trump's role as commander in chief of the armed forces “would simply allow him to override Congress on the issue.”  While White House lawyers attempted to come up with a legal justification for the move, Trump continued to communicate with his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who was leading a search for damaging information on former Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine. Mulvaney repeatedly left the room when Trump would speak with Giuliani, leaving him with limited knowledge of Trump’s efforts in Ukraine, according to the report. Mulvaney did not learn about Trump’s infamous July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on which he pressed his European counterpart for an investigation into Biden, until weeks later.  The decision led to much confusion behind the scenes as aides struggled to find a legal way to block aid which was required to go to Ukraine. Mike Duffey, a Mulvaney ally and top political appointee at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), pressed then-acting OMB Director Mark Sandy to attach a footnote to a routine budget document temporarily blocking the aid. Sandy was concerned about the move, because it might violate a federal law the prevents the administration from blocking congressionally-approved funding, according to the report.Advertisement:  The hold set off alarm bells inside the administration. In July, multiple administration sources reached out to the House Foreign Affairs Committee to inform them of the hold,

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