Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Monday seized on an explosive New York Times report detailing the Trump administration's effort to withhold aid to Ukraine in calling on key White House officials to testify during the Senate impeachment trial, reports Politico.
"This new story shows all four witnesses we Senate Democrats have requested were intimately involved and had direct knowledge of President Trump's decision to cut off aid in order to benefit himself," Schumer said at a news conference in New York City.
Schumer was referencing White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, White House Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey and Robert Blair, assistant to the president and senior adviser to Mulvaney.
"And when you combine these new revelations with the explosive emails from Michael Duffey released last weekend, it makes the strongest case yet for a Senate trial to include the witnesses and documents we have requested," he added.
The emails showed Duffey told the Pentagon to withhold Ukrainian military aid just hours after Trump's July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart.
The Times report detailed what happened behind the scenes at the Pentagon, White House and within the State Department in the nearly three months following Trump's phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensiky.