House Republicans defended White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney over his seeming admission President Trump did something wrong or even illegal during a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During a White House press briefing Thursday, Mulvaney told reporters, “The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the things that he was worried about in corruption with that nation, and that is absolutely appropriate,” in response to questions about the phone call.
Mulvaney later clarified his statement to say that he did not mean that a quid pro quo occurred. House Republicans on Friday said the attacks on the former South Carolina congressman are unfounded.
“I think Mick was very clear in cleaning up the statement, that there was no quid pro quo,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California at a news conference. “You have the transcript, the proof.”
[Read: ‘He clarified it’: Trump on Mulvaney backtrack after admitting to quid pro quo]
North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Walker made a similar argument.
“They’re going to leave scorched earth in the path, but that’s what the American people chose when they elected President Trump,” Walker said.
“Calling something illegal just because you don’t like his style, I think is something I think most Americans will obviously reject,” Walker added.
New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin argued the president was only following federal law when he spoke to Zelensky.
“First, it is U.S. law and it is U.S. policy top-down throughout the U.S. government that our aid to the Ukraine requires certifications from our government that Ukraine is making progress in their anti-corruption efforts,” Zeldin said. “This is a policy that goes back long before President Trump is the president. It spans multiple state prosecutors in Ukraine. It spans multiple presidents of Ukraine.”
But New Jersey Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, like most Democrats, does not believe that Zelensky was unaware that the aid to his country was being withheld while talking to Trump on the phone on July 25.
“He knew very well that a relationship with President Trump, which he very much wanted and needed, depended upon satisfying the president’s grievances, as expressed through Rudy Giuliani about the 2016 election and the Bidens,” Malinowski said.
New York Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Mulvaney’s comments from Thursday illustrated “the evidence of wrongdoing by Donald Trump continues to hide in plain sight. We have the rough transcript of President Trump’s phone call to the Ukrainian president, pressuring him to target an American citizen for political gain.”
