The president needs better legal counsel, as do the American people. The current impeachment illusion is based on a pandemic mirage. The nation has been hypnotized to believe that $391.5 million for Ukraine was held back, frozen, slow-walked, canceled, or subject to a nefarious threat by Trump. Wake up, America. Every penny of Ukraine monetary aid, the alleged carrot dangled before Zelensky, was spent on time, according to law, before, during, and after the July 25 call.
The Department of Defense certified Ukraine reforms in a May 23, 2019 letter from John C. Rood to Congress, but this certification was only necessary to release the second $125-million tranche. Read the letter. The tables therein refer to that $125 million as "Tranche 2." So what happened to the first $125 million? It was already spent on Ukraine before the July 25 phone call with Zelensky.
On February 28, Rood wrote to Congress about the first $125 million. He informed Congress the Pentagon was going ahead with this money for Ukraine. It was spent by July to defend Ukraine from Russian aggression. This is the real reason why neither Zelensky nor any other Ukraine official knew that assistance was "held up." The money was flowing freely to them, never subject to nefarious Trump subterfuge. How do I know this? It's hiding in plain sight.