By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Michael Duffey, who in President Donald Trump’s first administration asked the military to withhold aid to Ukraine, to be undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.
On the day that one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s top aides visited Washington, the Senate voted 51-45, along party lines with Trump’s fellow Republicans backing the nominee, to confirm Duffey as the official overseeing the Pentagon’s weapons programs.
Democrats sought testimony from Duffey during Trump’s first term as president after an email showed him, in his role as a senior White House official in the Office of Management and Budget, directing the Pentagon to withhold security aid for Ukraine that had been approved by Congress.
The inquiry, which led to Trump’s first impeachment, focused on Trump’s request that Zelenskiy investigate the president’s political rival, Joe Biden, the former Democratic vice president who would defeat Trump in the 2020 election.
Democrats who impeached Trump said he had withheld the aid to put pressure on Zelenskiy’s government to agree to an investigation.
Trump denied wrongdoing, accusing Democrats of seeking to overturn his 2016 election victory. Most congressional Republicans called the impeachment process unfair.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump was elected to his second term as president in November 2024.
In his second term, Trump has put intense pressure on Ukraine – including by briefly halting military aid – to come to the bargaining table with Russia. Those efforts have so far not yielded a ceasefire or significant progress toward a broader peace deal.
Duffey’s confirmation vote came the same day that Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, arrived in Washington together with the first deputy prime minister and other government officials.
Yermak was expected to meet with U.S. officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of Congress.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Don Durfee and Matthew Lewis)
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