there was no quid pro quo
{{Short description|Phrase used by Donald Trump}}
"There was no quid pro quo" was a phrase frequently employed by Donald Trump and his supporters in reference to the Trump–Ukraine scandal during the first impeachment of Donald Trump, denying that a quid pro quo extortion attempt had taken place.{{Cite web |last=Santucci |first=Jeanine |date=18 October 2022 |title=How the Trump White House's messaging evolved on whether there was a Ukraine quid pro quo |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/18/trumps-ukraine-scandal-there-quid-pro-quo-answer-keeps-changing/4011781002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215192731/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/18/trumps-ukraine-scandal-there-quid-pro-quo-answer-keeps-changing/4011781002/ |archive-date=December 15, 2022 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Rachel |date=October 26, 2019 |title=From Simple Exchange To Shakedown: The Evolution Of 'Quid Pro Quo' |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/10/26/773506497/from-simple-exchange-to-shakedown-the-evolution-of-quid-pro-quo |url-status=live |access-date=2022-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215193213/https://www.npr.org/2019/10/26/773506497/from-simple-exchange-to-shakedown-the-evolution-of-quid-pro-quo |archive-date=December 15, 2022}}
History
After Bill Taylor wrote to then-ambassador Gordon Sondland,"...I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign" on September 8, 2019, Sondland asked Trump "What do you want from Ukraine?", to which Trump responded by saying "Nothing. There is no quid pro quo."{{Cite web |last=Kanefield |first=Teri |title=Opinion {{!}} 'No quid pro quo?' Why Trump's impeachment defense sounds a lot like his Mueller defense |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/no-quid-pro-quo-why-trump-s-impeachment-defense-sounds-ncna1070866 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215192805/https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/no-quid-pro-quo-why-trump-s-impeachment-defense-sounds-ncna1070866 |archive-date=December 15, 2022 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=NBC News |date=23 October 2019 |language=en}}{{Cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Aaron |last2=Hudson |first2=John |title=Trump's envoy to testify that 'no quid pro quo' came from Trump |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trumps-envoy-who-denied-quid-pro-quo-now-says-he-isnt-certain/2019/10/12/4abe0902-bc19-44e8-8c38-9aa35c544859_story.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219041909/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trumps-envoy-who-denied-quid-pro-quo-now-says-he-isnt-certain/2019/10/12/4abe0902-bc19-44e8-8c38-9aa35c544859_story.html |archive-date=December 19, 2022 |access-date=December 15, 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post}}{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=David A. |date=2019-10-22 |title=William Taylor Delivers the Smoking Gun |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/taylors-testimony-confirms-ukraine-quid-pro-quo/600520/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215192803/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/taylors-testimony-confirms-ukraine-quid-pro-quo/600520/ |archive-date=December 15, 2022 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}
Trump first publicly used the term on September 22, 2019, speaking to reporters about his phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.{{Cite web |last=Wolf |first=Zachary B. |date=2019-10-23 |title='No quid pro quo': How Trump wants to sidetrack impeachment {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/23/politics/trump-quid-pro-quo-ukraine/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215192805/https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/23/politics/trump-quid-pro-quo-ukraine/index.html |archive-date=December 15, 2022 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=CNN |language=en}} On September 25, at a press conference in New York, Trump again denied extortion of Ukraine by saying "I didn’t do it. There was no quid pro quo."{{Cite web |last=Stracqualursi |first=Veronica |date=2019-09-26 |title=Quid pro quo: What it means {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/26/politics/quid-pro-quo-trump-ukraine-call/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215191840/https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/26/politics/quid-pro-quo-trump-ukraine-call/index.html |archive-date=December 15, 2022 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=CNN |language=en}}
On October 17, 2019, Mick Mulvaney, then-White House Chief of Staff, said in a press meeting: "Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election."{{Cite web |last=Wu |first=John Fritze, David Jackson and Nicholas |title=Mick Mulvaney acknowledges Trump held up aid to pressure Ukraine, then rows back |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/17/mick-mulvaney-says-ukraine-aide-held-over-us-domestic-politics/4009147002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215192805/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/17/mick-mulvaney-says-ukraine-aide-held-over-us-domestic-politics/4009147002/ |archive-date=December 15, 2022 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}
Press interpretation
Some newspapers, including NBC and CNN, have characterized Trump's use of the phrase as a means of sidetracking the charges actually levied against him: abuse of power. A quid pro quo was established early in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump.{{Cite news |last=Phillips |first=Amber |title=Ambassador Taylor lays out how he understood the quid pro quo |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/13/bill-taylor-lays-out-how-he-understood-quid-pro-quo/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028140048/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/13/bill-taylor-lays-out-how-he-understood-quid-pro-quo/ |archive-date=October 28, 2020 |newspaper=Washington Post}}
References
{{reflist}}
- Qiu, Linda (2019-10-18). [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/us/politics/quid-pro-quo-trump.html "15 Times Trump and His Allies Claimed 'No Quid Pro Quo"]. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-15. [https://web.archive.org/web/20221215192806/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/us/politics/quid-pro-quo-trump.html Archived] from the original on December 15, 2022.
Category: First impeachment of Donald Trump
Category: Political corruption investigations in the United States