Article snippet: The Pentagon is working to distance itself from the controversy surrounding MORE's communications with Ukraine that has plunged Washington into an impeachment crisis. Department officials in the past week have sought to avoid the political fray, downplaying the administration’s holdup of military aid to Ukraine and preemptively ordering employees to turn over for preservation any documents and communications having to do with it. Questions remain about whether the Pentagon was involved in or even aware of the decision to withhold the money. Officials have declined to answer questions, citing the confidentiality of conversations between the department and the White House. Pentagon officials also have insisted there is a “solid working relationship” between the two. “It looks bad in one sense to be out of the loop,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “It looks good in another sense because then they aren’t implicated themselves in any chicanery,” he added. Democratic lawmakers backed by an internal whistleblower's report allege Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a July 25 call to investigate his political rival, 2020 presidential candidate and former Vice President MORE. Nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine was being withheld at the time, and while the whistleblower's report said the individual was not certain of the connection, text messages between Trump administration officials that were released this... Link to the full article to read more