Ocasio-Cortez calls for urgent action on Trump-Ukraine: ‘This is an emergency’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called for the House Judiciary Committee to take action immediately in the wake of reports that President Trump withheld funds to Ukraine and pressured the country’s president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, calling the accusations “an emergency.”  

“Yes, this is an emergency. We don’t have the luxury of time w/ another committee,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Tuesday. “Judiciary has been investigating& putting the pieces together for months. Impeachment belongs there.”

Yes, this is an emergency. We don’t have the luxury of time w/ another committee.

Judiciary has been investigating& putting the pieces together for months. Impeachment belongs there.

We must honor jurisdiction, historical precedent,& work done + allow Judiciary to move forward. https://t.co/CM0gXN7T1i

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 24, 2019

The freshman lawmaker was responding to conservative commentator and vocal Trump critic Bill Kristol, who said he has suggested a “possible select committee” on the allegations against Trump but is “now advised by people who know the Hill well that this could mean complexity and delay.”

{mosads}Trump has been the subject of renewed scrutiny following the first reports last week that a phone call he shared with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was the subject of an intelligence community whistleblower complaint over concerns about a “promise” that Trump may have made. 

Subsequent reports indicated that Trump had pressured Zelensky to open an investigation into Biden, the Democratic presidential front-runner, or his son Hunter.

Trump confirmed Tuesday that he did withhold funds from Ukraine, arguing that he wanted other European nations to contribute in defense funding.

“I want other countries to put up money. I think it’s unfair that we put up the money. Then people called me and said, ‘Oh let it go,’ and I let it go,” Trump told reporters at the United Nations.

Trump has confirmed that he raised Biden on the call, but he has denied that there was any quid pro quo involving the aid.

In 2016, Biden called for a top prosecutor in Ukraine to be dismissed who was investigating a natural gas company in which Hunter Biden served on the board. Joe Biden has alleged that the prosecutor was corrupt.

More than a dozen new Democratic lawmakers have supported impeachment efforts since Monday as more reports emerge surrounding the call.