Former national security adviser John Bolton's bombshell account of being told directly by Donald Trump that he wanted aid to Ukraine halted until the country helped him with investigations into the Bidens and 2016 has apparently jogged the memory of acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney—as in, the other memory. "Nor did Mr. Mulvaney ever have a conversation with the President or anyone else indicating that Ukrainian military aid was withheld in exchange for a Ukrainian investigation of Burisma, the Bidens, or the 2016 election," Mulvaney's lawyer, Bob Driscoll, said in a statement Monday.
That's a fascinating recollection from Mulvaney, who took it upon himself last fall to personally hold a White House briefing in which he confirmed that those investigations had indeed been the source of the aid freeze to Ukraine. “The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that [Trump] was worried about in corruption with that nation,” Mulvaney told reporters on Oct. 17, calling that concern "absolutely appropriate.” But Mulvaney didn't stop there. He made the connection between the investigations Trump sought into the DNC server and the aid freeze even more explicit later in the briefing.
“Did he also mention to me in passing the corruption related to the D.N.C. server?” Mulvaney said, referring to Trump. “Absolutely. No question about that. ... And that’s why we held up the money.”
No question about it. Oops. Not according to the other Mulvaney. Now he never had that conversation with Trump, or anyone else for that matter.
It's not the first time Mulvaney has backtracked on the most memorable press conference he will likely ever give in his lifetime. Mulvaney's memory was also refreshed just hours after giving that October press conference, when he issued a statement denying everything he had just said in front of the White House press corps as the TV cameras rolled.
"The president never told me to withhold any money until the Ukrainians did anything related to the server,” Mulvaney said in a statement.
That's his story—well, his second story—and he's sticking to it!