The Times article detailed actions by Mr. Mulvaney and other top White House aides, including John R. Bolton, the national security adviser at the time, and Mr. Blair, an adviser to Mr. Mulvaney. Those three men, as well as other Trump administration officials, have been barred by the White House from testifying before Congress despite subpoenas that have been issued.
The article described unreleased email exchanges involving Mr. Mulvaney and Mr. Blair, showing them aware that the president’s order would open him to criticism. The article also disclosed that Mr. Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper appealed to Mr. Trump in late August to release the aid, but he declined to do so.
And the article showed that the president reiterated his desire to keep the hold in place throughout the summer, as officials at the Office of Management and Budget — which had embraced the role of finding ways to make Mr. Trump’s policy demands a reality — searched for a legal justification to maintain the freeze. Officials at the agency had conversations at various points over the summer with the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department and the White House Counsel’s Office about the existence of the hold, The Times found.
By September, lawyers at the Office of Management and Budget had begun drafting an argument that, under his commander-in-chief authority, Mr. Trump had the right to ignore the congressional mandates around the Ukraine aid based on existing circumstances that could affect diplomatic efforts, The Times found.
These events, which were not revealed during House testimony or in the House’s impeachment report, demonstrate why the Senate must have its own witnesses, Mr. Schumer said on Monday.
“This story makes the choice even clearer: Will the Senate hold a fair trial, or will it enable a cover-up?” he said. “President Trump, if you are so confident you did nothing wrong, why won’t you let your men testify?”
Mr. Schumer was one of several key congressional Democrats who pushed on Monday for the Senate to hear from witnesses like Mr. Mulvaney, Mr. Bolton, Mr. Blair and Michael Duffey, an official at the Office of Management and Budget.