michael duffey
OMB ukraine
ntbcw/ sean Duffy, both WI? both GOP?
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https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/trump-ordered-pentagon-to-delay-ukraine-aid-less-than-2-hours-after-zelensky-phone-call-foiad-emails
no lnx
Trump ordered Pentagon to delay Ukraine aid less than 2 hours after Zelensky phone call: FOIA’d emails
Written by News Corpse, Daily Kos December 22, 2019
The fact that Donald Trump has now been impeached (despite what the loons on Fox News say), hasn’t slowed the discovery of new evidence of his guilt. This is one of the reasons that it’s so important to ensure a comprehensive consideration of the Articles of Impeachment when they get transmitted to the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knows this, and so do the vast majority of Americans who favor a full and fair hearing, including witnesses and document production.
The impeachment controversy has sparked as epic battle between Pelosi and the Senate’s GOP majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has already announced that he has no intention of conducting a fair hearing and will be “taking his cues” from White House lawyers. In the meantime, new evidence has already emerged that appears to be profoundly damaging to Trump:
Chuck Schumer
SenSchumer
This email from Michael Duffey—approximately 90 minutes after President Trump’s call with the president of Ukraine—is all the more reason why we need Duffey and others to testify in a Senate trial.
The “sensitive nature”? What is that about?
A screenshot of the email from Michael Duffey]
That’s right. Less than two hours after Trump got off the phone with President Zelensky of Ukraine, he ordered the Defense Department to withhold military aid to a country that was being invaded at the time by Russia. The order included a directive to keep it quiet due to it’s “sensitive nature.”
Trump is fond of telling everyone to “read the transcript” of his phone call with Zelensky. He’s tweeted that demand 29 times in the past few weeks. Most recently, yesterday. He is referring to reading the notes made in a memo that describes his conversation with Zelensky. And he is apparently too oblivious to recognize that the memo actually confirms that he conditioned military aid on Zelensky’s promise to help him smear Joe Biden. What Trump said, in response to Zelensky’s inquiry about the aid, was…
“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”
That’s a textbook quid pro quo. Trump then talks about getting some information related to a debunked conspiracy theory about a computer server that belonged to the Democratic National Committee. But he quickly segues from that to explicit requests for dirt on Joe Biden:
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with [Rudy Giuliani and] the Attorney General [William Barr] would be great … so if you can look into it.”
This new memo was acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Center for Public Integrity.It is among the documents that the White House had previously refused to surrender to congressional investigators. There are many more that Trump continues to withhold. And he is still refusing to allow his staff to give testimony.
But if there’s one thing this memo proves, it’s that there is a real need to continue probing this criminal president and the accomplices in his administration. And when the Senate takes up the impeachment, they must permit the introduction of new evidence and testimony from relevant witnesses. The truth will likely come out eventually, anyway. But if Republicans in Congress allow Trump to deny access to it at this stage, they will be held accountable by both the courts and the voters.
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https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/white-house-hiding-documents-revealing-officials-waved-red-flags-over-reasons-for-withholding-ukraine-aid-report/
no lnx
White House hiding documents that show officials waved red flags over reasons for withholding Ukraine aid: report
White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney speaks with reporters Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House.
Written by Matthew Chapman / Raw Story December 21, 2019
On Saturday, The Daily Beast reported that the White House is blacking out documents that could reveal more about whether low-level officials at the Office of Management and Budget were concerned that President Donald Trump’s scheme to withhold military aid from Ukraine was illegal.
“The administration so far has declined to release copies of its internal communications about this vital issue — the legality of what Trump had ordered,” reported The Beast. “On Friday, in 146 pages of new documents provided to the Center for Public Integrity under a court order, the Justice Department blacked out — for the second time — many of the substantive passages reflecting what key officials at the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget said to one another.”
At issue is a federal law known as the Impoundment Control Act. Under this law, the White House must release funds appropriated by Congress, and cannot withhold them without a clear reason under law communicated to Congress. There was a September 30 deadline past which point failure to release any of the funds would be illegal — and while the delay ultimately did not hit that deadline, OMB officials worried that the longer they waited, the more difficult it would be to follow the law. At least two resigned rather than carry out the suspension.
“In an email on July 25, for example, as a senior OMB political appointee named Michael Duffey told the Pentagon’s comptroller about the aid halt, he said, ‘Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute the direction,'” reported The Beast. “Throughout this period, the reason for the aid halt was rarely discussed, even within the government. In an email on Sept. 11 — the day the funding halt finally ended — OMB official Edna T. Falk Curtain told a senior defense official that ‘I still have no insight on the rationale for the hold.'”
You can read more here.
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Another Wisconsinite[ron j?] is reportedly tangled up in the probe into President Donald Trump's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate his opponent Joe Biden.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Michael Duffey, a politically appointed Office of Management and Budget official, was given authority by the White House to keep aid to Ukraine on hold after career budget staff members questioned the legality of delaying the funds.
Duffey previously served as executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
"While career civil servants put an initial hold on the aid, Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs in OMB, was given the authority for continuing to keep the aid on hold after the career staff began raising their concerns to political officials at OMB, according to people familiar with the matter," the newspaper reported.
Subscribe to our On Wisconsin Politics newsletter for the week's political news explained.
Duffey also began overseeing the process for approving and releasing funds for other foreign aid and defense accounts, according to the report.
Trump's order to withhold nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine in July is at the heart of House Democrats' move to launch an impeachment inquiry into allegations that Trump used U.S. foreign policy powers to benefit himself politically.
Some sources told the Wall Street Journal that Duffey "took on the role because he was new to the job and wanted more insight into the apportionment process."
But his involvement was not typical.
"The involvement of a political official like Mr. Duffey in the apportionment process is unusual, according to several former OMB officials," the report said.
RELATED: Bice: State GOP names new top staffer
Duffey, 41, left Wisconsin's Republican Party in December 2016 when he was named to then-President-elect Donald Trump's national security team at the Pentagon. He joined the administration when another prominent Wisconsin politician, Reince Priebus, was Trump's chief of staff. Priebus held that post until July 2017.
A native of Wauwatosa, Duffey held a number of high-level campaign positions in Wisconsin, including state director for John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.
Duffey also worked in Washington, D.C., for the U.S. Department of Defense. He served as the agency's liaison to the White House for then-President George W. Bush.
In July 2015, he took overas the day-to-day manager of the state Republican Party, replacing Joe Fadness, the former executive director.
Duffey is the grandson of longtime Milwaukee Braves announcer Earl Gillespie, said John Gillespie, Duffey's uncle and the host of the TV fishing show "John Gillespie's Waters & Woods."
Duffey didn't respond to a request for an interview.
Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS or Facebook at facebook.com/mary.spicuzza.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/10/ex-wisconsin-republican-party-leader-linked-to-giuliani-associates-indicted-and-arrested/
Michael Duffey, a politically appointed Office of Management and Budget official and former director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, is tangled in the new probe against President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal.
As the *Milwaukee Journal Sentinel*noted, the Wall Street Journal found that Duffy was given authority by the White House to hold up the Ukraine aid that President Donald Trump was allegedly holding until Ukraine agreed to help find dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.
“While career civil servants put an initial hold on the aid, Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs in OMB, was given the authority for continuing to keep the aid on hold after the career staff began raising their concerns to political officials at OMB, according to people familiar with the matter,” The Journal reported.
Duffy oversaw the process for approving and releasing the funds for foreign aid.
According to allegations, Trump withheld nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine over the summer. When he spoke to the newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, Zelensky said that he was grateful for the past support of Ukraine in the area of defense.
“We. are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps,” Zelensky said. “Specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes.”
“I would like you to do us a favor though,” Trump said according to the notes of the call released by the White House.
According to the Journal, putting a political person in charge of such an operation is not a typical decision.
“The involvement of a political official like Mr. Duffey in the apportionment process is unusual, according to several former OMB officials,” the report said.
Duffy resigned from the Wisconsin Republican Party in 2016.
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https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/10/ukraine-impeachment-inquiry-white-house-authority-michael-duffey-who-led-wisconsin-gop/3930233002/
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Impeachment inquiry involves Michael Duffey, who led ...
https://www.jsonline.com › story › news › politics › 2019/10/10 › ukraine-...
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How Wisconsin's D.C. delegation has reacted to Ukraine ...
https://www.jsonline.com › story › news › politics › elections › 2019/10/04
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White House political appointees overrode career staffers ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com › world › national-security › 2019/10/10
2 days ago - ... OMB to freeze military aid to Ukraine in mid-July, a week before President ... Duffey is a former leader of the Wisconsin Republican Party and ...
WSJ: Ukraine Aid Was Transferred to Political Appointee ...
https://www.motherjones.com › kevin-drum › 2019/10 › wsj-ukraine-aid-...
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Ex-Wisconsin Republican Party leader linked to Giuliani ...
https://www.rawstory.com › 2019/10 › ex-wisconsin-republican-party-lead...
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Trump, in August Call With GOP Senator, Denied Official's ...
https://www.wsj.com › articles › trump-administration-used-potential-meetin...
Oct 4, 2019 - A Republican senator said he was told by an American diplomat in August that the ... President Trump's efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate former Vice ... aides to make military aid to Ukraine contingent on a new probe by Kyiv, Mr. Johnson said. ... the Wisconsin senator recalled in an interview Friday.
Missing: duffy | Must include: duffy
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Trump budget office political hire controlled freeze on Ukraine ...
https://www.politico.com › news › 2019/10/10 › trump-ukraine-aid-freeze...
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Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson says Trump ...
https://www.chicagotribune.com › midwest › ct-nw-ron-johnson-trump-uk...
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WH Gave Trump-Appointed OMB Official Authority To Prolong ...
https://talkingpointsmemo.com › News
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Complete List: Who Supports an Impeachment Inquiry Against ...
https://www.nytimes.com › politics › trump-impeachment-congress-list
Oct 3, 2019 - Note: There are two vacancies in the House: Representative Sean Duffy, Republican of Wisconsin, ... the president of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. ... [2020 Democrats on Trump Impeachment: Ukraine Call Is a ..... continuing economic growth and rebuilding the U.S. military,” said a ...
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