Acting US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker told lawmakers he did not know whether President Donald Trump had withheld assistance from Ukraine to force it to investigate the actions of one of his political rivals, two sources familiar with the matter said. Testified in closed session, the day before yesterday, before the committees of foreign affairs, intelligence, supervision and reform in the House of Representatives at Congress.
The sources quoted Reeker as telling lawmakers that he had no information about the possibility of withholding US security assistance to Ukraine to pressure Kiev to launch investigations that could benefit Trump in the campaign for the presidential election in 2020 as some have claimed, adding that Reeker knew of the withholding of aid but did not know why.
At the end of the hearing, the head of the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, told reporters that the deputies were making rapid progress in the investigation, and declined to mention a date for the next step that the commissions might take to open the hearings to the public.
As part of the investigation, lawmakers are investigating whether Trump withheld $ 391 million in security assistance until President Volodymyr Zelinsky announced his commitment to an investigation, as well as the assumption that Ukraine, not Russia, intervened in the 2016 US presidential election. After participating in the hearing, Reeker's statements corroborate previous testimony received by the committees.