The Democratic Letter to Ukraine

In May 2018, three Democratic senators wrote to the Ukrainian prosecutor general, asking about a news report that he had frozen four Ukrainian investigations involving Paul Manafort to avoid angering President Donald Trump. Republicans have called the letter a “threat” to withhold support for aid to Ukraine, saying it’s similar to what critics have charged Trump did.

There’s no explicit “threat” to take any actions in the letter. Whether there’s an implied threat involving U.S. support of Ukraine is a matter of opinion, but politicians have gone too far in claiming the Democratic letter is “the same kind of stuff they’re accusing Trump of,” in the words of Sen. Rand Paul.

Republicans have adopted this talking point to counter Democratic accusations that Trump withheld military assistance to Ukraine