Article snippet: WASHINGTON — The view among the national security officials was unanimous: Military aid to Ukraine should not be stopped by the White House. That was the testimony of Laura Cooper, a Defense Department official, whose deposition was released Monday in the House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. ‘‘My sense is that all of the senior leaders of the U.S. national security departments and agencies were all unified in their — in their view that this assistance was essential,’’ she said. ‘‘And they were trying to find ways to engage the President on this.’’ Cooper told investigators that soon after that meeting of national security officials at the White House, she was visited by Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, who explained there was a ‘‘statement’’ that the Ukraine government could make to get the security money flowing. It was the first she had heard of the quid pro quo that is now the central question of the impeachment inquiry — the administration’s push for the Ukraine government to investigate Trump’s political rivals. ‘‘Somehow an effort that he was engaged in to see if there was a statement that the government of Ukraine would make,’’ said Cooper, an assistant defense secretary, ‘‘that would somehow disavow any interference in U.S. elections and would commit to the prosecution of any individuals involved in election interference.’’ House Democrats are moving forward with the first live, public hearings of the impeachment inquiry th... Link to the full article to read more