Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that the reason Democrats were talking about impeaching him is because removing him is the only way they could win in the 2020 election. The president told reporters that he was leading in the polls, despite the fact that he is trailing in most polls to several progressive candidates.
During the same speech, Trump also admitted that he withheld aid to Ukraine before pressuring the country’s leader to investigate the leading Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden. According to NBC News , the president blamed other European countries, saying that the U.S. had paid more than they had to support Ukraine, so he had held up funding.
While speaking with reporters at the U.N., he explained that he withheld funds because he wanted other nations to offer more support, but he also said that the funding was released to the country. He failed to mention that the money was only released after the news leaked that it was being withheld and both the public and Congress reacted with pressure to release the aid.
“As far as withholding funds, those funds were paid,” Trump said. “They were fully paid. But my complaint has always been — and I’d withhold again, and I’ll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine, because they’re not doing it.”
He went on to say that Germany, France, and other European nations need to contribute more funding to assist Ukraine.
“I think it’s unfair that we put up the money. Then other people call me. They said, ‘Oh, let it go.’ And I let it go. But we paid the money, the money was paid.”
After days of controversy and White House denials over allegations that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure that country to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, Trump finally admits he withheld funds from Ukraine and says “I’d withhold again.” pic.twitter.com/fY3VIISKQo
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) September 24, 2019
Trump then turned to address the reports that there’s a growing call for his impeachment in the U.S. He claimed that the move was the only way Democrats could prevent him from being re-elected, stating that he was leading in the polls. However, according to The New York Times , he actually trails in most polls.
“I’m leading in the polls and they have no idea how to stop me,” Trump said. “The only way they can try is through impeachment.”
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Trump has said that he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in order to address corruption in the country, saying that he just wanted to be sure that if he released funding it wouldn’t be going to a country that would use it in corrupt ways.
