Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s “legitimate concerns” about corruption in Ukraine, saying he’s been “consistent” about that priority.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Johnson was grilled on his August conversation with Trump about the withholding of military aid to Ukraine.
“I remain sympathetic with President Trump’s legitimate concerns about the corruption in Ukraine when you provide hundreds of million dollars of hard-earned American taxpayer dollars you want to make sure it is not corrupt,” he said. “He's been consistent that is the reason for with holding the funding.“
Johnson said in his Aug. 31 call to Trump about releasing the aid, Trump was also “consistent.”
"I was trying to get him to give me the clearance to tell President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy the aid was going to be provided,” he said. “And so when I asked him that, he was, again, very consistent"
“I have to point out, I found out about the withholding, or the hold up, about the end of August, August 28th or 29th and the funding was released by September 11th.”
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