共和党参议员兰德·保罗周日坚称，唐纳德·特朗普施压乌克兰调查其政治对手的努力并没有“交换条件”，但他辩称，总统“完全有权拒绝援助”

　　代表肯塔基州的保罗说:“如果你不被允许向腐败的人提供援助，援助总会有意外情况发生。”在采访中和全国广播公司的会见新闻界。他认为前总统巴拉克·奥巴马也拒绝了对乌克兰的援助。

　　这位共和党议员说:“但总统以前也曾因腐败而拒绝援助。”。“我认为说‘哦，他在得到他想要的东西之前拒绝援助’是错误的。”好吧，如果它是腐败的，而且他相信有腐败，他完全有权拒绝援助。"

　　“我认为任何人争论‘交换条件’，[或者‘他没有交换条件’，都是一个很大的错误。”我知道政府是这么认为的。我不会提出那个论点。保罗说:“我认为华盛顿的每一位政治家，实际上除了我之外，都在试图操纵乌克兰达到他们的目的。”。

　　“他们都在做。他们都试图操纵乌克兰进行某种调查，要么结束调查，要么开始调查，”他辩称。

　　保罗断言奥巴马拒绝了对乌克兰的援助表述不准确2014年发生的事情。当时，俄罗斯支持的分离主义叛军刚刚控制了东欧国家的部分地区，发动了一场持续至今的内战。奥巴马政府确实批准了对该国5300万美元的军事援助，但决定不提供致命的援助，试图在支持乌克兰的同时平衡与俄罗斯的紧张关系。

　　白宫没有提供武器，而是提供乌克兰车辆、巡逻艇、防弹衣、夜视镜和人道主义援助。特朗普上台后，确实向乌克兰提供了标枪导弹；然而，这些都附有警告，他们无法使用在持续的内战中。

  　　奥巴马决定停止对乌克兰的致命援助和特朗普决定暂时停止近4亿美元的军事援助之间的另一个重大区别是，奥巴马的决定不是基于希望对其国内政治对手进行调查。特朗普政府内部的许多可信证人现已作证称，去年夏天，总统推迟了对乌克兰的援助，以此作为“交换条件”，让乌克兰展开调查被拆穿的索赔民主党人在2016年总统选举中与乌克兰人合谋，领先的民主党总统候选人乔·拜登对国家腐败，以保护他儿子亨特在那里的商业交易。

　　民主党众议员吉姆·希姆斯也出席了会见新闻界在保罗跟随共和党参议员出现在节目中时，他瞄准了保罗的主张。

　　“让我们非常清楚，美国总统要求，勒索一个脆弱的国家去做他的政治投标，去追求他的政治对手与乔拜登执行政策或希拉里克林顿对她的总统对手做反对派研究没有任何关系，这是完全不同的事情，总统做的是错误的，是可以弹劾的，”康涅狄格州的国会议员说。
 

RAND PAUL INSISTS TRUMP 'HAD EVERY RIGHT TO WITHHOLD AID' TO UKRAINE, ARGUES 'QUID PRO QUO' DOESN'T MATTER

　　Republican Senator Rand Paul insisted on Sunday that there was not a "quid pro quo" involved with Donald Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, but argued that the president "had every right to withhold aid."

　　"If you're not allowed to give aid to people who are corrupt, there's always contingencies on aid," Paul, who represents Kentucky, said during an interview with NBC's Meet the Press. He argued that former President Barack Obama had also withheld aid to Ukraine.

　　"But also presidents have withheld aid before for corruption," the GOP lawmaker said. "I think it's a mistake to say, 'Oh, he withheld aid until he got what he wanted.' Well, if it's corrupt and he believes there to be corruption, he has every right to withhold aid."

　　"I think it's a big mistake for anyone to argue 'quid pro quo,' [or] 'he didn't have quid pro quo.' I know that's what the administration's arguing. I wouldn't make that argument. I would make the argument that every politician in Washington, other than me virtually, is trying to manipulate Ukraine to their purposes," Paul said.

　　"They're all doing it. They're all trying to manipulate Ukraine to get some kind of investigation, either end an investigation or start an investigation," he argued.

　　Paul's assertion that Obama had withheld aid to Ukraine inaccurately represented what happened back in 2014. At the time, Russian-backed separatist rebels had just taken control of parts of the Eastern European nation, launching a civil war that continues to the present day. Obama's administration did approve $53 million in military aid to the country, but decided against offering lethal assistance, in an attempt to balance tense relations with Russia while also supporting Ukraine.

　　Another big difference between Obama's decision to withhold lethal aid to Ukraine and Trump's decision to temporarily withhold nearly $400 million in military assistance, was that Obama's decision was not based on wanting investigations against his domestic political rivals. Numerous credible witnesses from within Trump's administration have now testified that the president held back aid to Ukraine this past summer as a "quid pro quo," to get the country to launch investigations into debunked claims that Democrats conspired with Ukrainians during the 2016 presidential election, and that leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had acted corruptly toward the country to protect his son Hunter's business dealings there.

　　Democratic Representative Jim Himes, who also appeared for an interview on Meet the Press, took aim at Paul's claims as he came on the show following the GOP senator.

　　"Let's be very clear, the president of the United States demanding, extorting a vulnerable country to do his political bidding, to go after his political opponent has nothing to do with Joe Biden executing the policy or Hillary Clinton doing opposition research on her presidential opponent those are radically different things and what the president did is wrong and impeachable," the congressman from Connecticut said.