SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine and Mr. Trump in New York last year. The Trump administration is selling sophisticated anti-tank missiles, called Javelins, to Ukraine. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
With Weapons Deal on the Line, Ukrainian MP Admits Government Ended Cooperation With Mueller Probe to Keep Trump Happy
"In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials," said Ukrainian member of parliament and ally of President Poroshenko. "We shouldn't spoil relations with the administration."
May 02, 2018
New reporting by the New York Times on Wednesday strongly suggests that the government of Ukraine has ended its cooperation with the ongoing probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged interference in the 2016 elections due to concerns that further involvement with the investigation could potentially imperil a weapons deal it wants the Trump administration to approve.
The Times reporting centers around multiple investigations by the Ukrainians focused on dealings inside the country by former top Trump aide Paul Manafort, now under indictment in the U.S. for money laundering and other schemes. Manafort, of course, has featured prominently in the Mueller probe.
According to the newspaper:
The cases [involving Manafort's dealings] are just too sensitive for a government deeply reliant on United States financial and military aid, and keenly aware of Mr. Trump's distaste for the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, some lawmakers say.
The decision to halt the investigations by an anticorruption prosecutor was handed down at a delicate moment for Ukraine, as the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country sophisticated anti-tank missiles, called Javelins.
Ukraine MP Volodymyr Ariev--described as an ally of President Petro O. Poroshenko, opendly admitted the government's intention was to put investigations what he described as "the long-term box."
"In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials," Ariev told the Times. "We shouldn't spoil relations with the administration."
The reporting also notes that Ukrainian law enforcement may also have dinged the Mueller probe in other ways, including by allowing "a potential witness to possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to leave for Russia, putting him out of reach for questioning."
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
New reporting by the New York Times on Wednesday strongly suggests that the government of Ukraine has ended its cooperation with the ongoing probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged interference in the 2016 elections due to concerns that further involvement with the investigation could potentially imperil a weapons deal it wants the Trump administration to approve.
The Times reporting centers around multiple investigations by the Ukrainians focused on dealings inside the country by former top Trump aide Paul Manafort, now under indictment in the U.S. for money laundering and other schemes. Manafort, of course, has featured prominently in the Mueller probe.
According to the newspaper:
The cases [involving Manafort's dealings] are just too sensitive for a government deeply reliant on United States financial and military aid, and keenly aware of Mr. Trump's distaste for the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, some lawmakers say.
The decision to halt the investigations by an anticorruption prosecutor was handed down at a delicate moment for Ukraine, as the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country sophisticated anti-tank missiles, called Javelins.
Ukraine MP Volodymyr Ariev--described as an ally of President Petro O. Poroshenko, opendly admitted the government's intention was to put investigations what he described as "the long-term box."
"In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials," Ariev told the Times. "We shouldn't spoil relations with the administration."
The reporting also notes that Ukrainian law enforcement may also have dinged the Mueller probe in other ways, including by allowing "a potential witness to possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to leave for Russia, putting him out of reach for questioning."
New reporting by the New York Times on Wednesday strongly suggests that the government of Ukraine has ended its cooperation with the ongoing probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged interference in the 2016 elections due to concerns that further involvement with the investigation could potentially imperil a weapons deal it wants the Trump administration to approve.
The Times reporting centers around multiple investigations by the Ukrainians focused on dealings inside the country by former top Trump aide Paul Manafort, now under indictment in the U.S. for money laundering and other schemes. Manafort, of course, has featured prominently in the Mueller probe.
According to the newspaper:
The cases [involving Manafort's dealings] are just too sensitive for a government deeply reliant on United States financial and military aid, and keenly aware of Mr. Trump's distaste for the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, some lawmakers say.
The decision to halt the investigations by an anticorruption prosecutor was handed down at a delicate moment for Ukraine, as the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country sophisticated anti-tank missiles, called Javelins.
Ukraine MP Volodymyr Ariev--described as an ally of President Petro O. Poroshenko, opendly admitted the government's intention was to put investigations what he described as "the long-term box."
"In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials," Ariev told the Times. "We shouldn't spoil relations with the administration."
The reporting also notes that Ukrainian law enforcement may also have dinged the Mueller probe in other ways, including by allowing "a potential witness to possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to leave for Russia, putting him out of reach for questioning."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.