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Article snippet: House Democrats late Thursday released text message exchanges between several Trump administration officials that they argued underscored the administration's efforts to pressure Ukraine to pursue investigations into MORE's political rivals. The text message exchanges show administration officials indicating that a meeting between the Ukrainian president and Trump was contingent on investigations requested by the U.S., and in one case raising concerns about the delay of military aid for Ukraine. The exchanges broadly highlight the extent to which the Trump administration pushed for Ukraine to take up investigations related to the 2016 election and former Vice President MORE, a leading Democratic presidential contender. The issue is at the heart of House Democrats' impeachment inquiry against Trump. "These text messages reflect serious concerns raised by a State Department official about the detrimental effects of withholding critical military assistance from Ukraine, and the importance of setting up a meeting between President Trump and the Ukrainian President without further delay," the Democratic chairs of three House panels wrote in a letter to colleagues. “He also directly expressed concerns that this critical military assistance and the meeting between the two presidents were being withheld in order to place additional pressure on Ukraine to deliver on the President’s demand for Ukraine to launch politically motivated investigations,” they added. House Intel... Link to the full article to read more