Fox News anchor Chris Wallace took White House counselor Kellyanne Conway to task on Tuesday for earnestly arguing that it was merely a “coincidence” that President Donald Trump released aid to Ukraine after Congress learned of a whistleblower complaint.
During a break in Fox News’ Tuesday evening Senate impeachment trial coverage, Wallace noted that the president held up congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine, releasing it only once it was about to be publicly known that he had pressured the country to investigate his political opponents.
“The timing is clear,” the Fox anchor noted, prompting Conway to assert that Wallace was “looking at causation but it could be coincidence.”
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After the senior Trump adviser said the White House knew about the whistleblower complaint weeks before lifting the hold on aid, Wallace pushed back that Congress only found out a couple of days beforehand.
Conway, for her part, attempted to do her trademark deflection, causing Wallace to call her out for “pivoting off” his questions.
“It was September 9th, September 10th the story breaks, now the Democrats know about the whistleblower and are going to begin an investigation and then on September 11th or 12th, the president releases the aid,” he added. “You’re saying it’s a coincidence?”
“Yes! Why wouldn’t it be?” Conway credulously replied. “And nobody has presented any evidence that it wasn’t and nobody has presented any evidence that the president ever intended to not get Ukraine that aid and in fact they have it.”
She went on to dismiss the notion that the White House was holding either the military aid or official meetings with Trump over the Ukrainian president’s head, saying that they “fulfilled that request.”
