President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal just deepened after the New York Times exposed emails from White House budget official Michael Duffey showing that Trump moved to freeze military aide shortly after asking President Zelensky for a favor during his July 25th phone call.

During the phone call, Trump demands a favor from Zelensky in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid Ukraine needs to fight Russian military aggression and goes on to brag about removing Ambassador Marie Yovanovich before asking for an investigation into former Vice-President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

The attempt to bribe Ukraine is the reason why the House of Representatives impeached Trump by passing two articles of impeachment, including one for abuse of power and the other for obstructing Congress.

Now, new emails have come to light adding further details to Trump’s crimes.

Just 90 minutes after the phone call, Trump official Michael Duffey sent an email to the Pentagon to freeze the funding, presumably to force Zelensky to bow down to Trump’s demands.

According to the New York Times:

The emails add to public understanding of the events that prompted the Democratic-led House to call for Mr. Trump to be removed from office. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress along a party-line vote after documents and testimony by senior administration officials revealed that he had withheld $391 million in aid to Ukraine at the same time that he asked for investigations from the Ukrainian president that would benefit him politically.

The email raises further questions about the process by which Mr. Trump imposed the hold on the military aid, and the link between the hold and the requests he made of Mr. Zelensky in the telephone call, which prompted concern among national security officials with knowledge of the conversation.

Indeed, even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pointed out that Duffey had been subpoenaed to testify in the House but refused to comply. This email makes it clear that his testimony should be sought by the Senate as well.

Trump would only release the aid after the whistleblower came forward to expose his scheme. Until then, he spent weeks trying to force Zelensky into finding dirt on the Bidens. Again, this evidence only bolsters the case to impeach and remove Trump from office. There’s a reason why Senate Republicans are scared of bringing in witnesses to testify. Because if they do, the testimony they hear would force them to convict as more Americans come to support his removal.

Featured Image by Mike Scavino via Wikimedia Commons /Public Domain