American diplomats who had pushed for the Trump administration to restore security funding to Ukraine were advised by the White House to play down the release of the money when it was finally approved, documents show.
“Keep moving, people, nothing to see here …” Brad Freden, the State Department’s acting deputy assistant secretary overseeing issues in Europe and Eurasia, wrote in a Sept. 12 email obtained by The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/europe/ukraine-aid-trump.html
And of course there is this part, which we all know about:
William B. Taylor Jr., the top American envoy in Kiev, wrote in a Sept. 9 text message that it was “crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” In response, Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, wrote that “the President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo’s of any kind.”
Mr. Sondland then suggested that the conversation continue by telephone, rather than by text. On Tuesday, the Trump administration blocked Mr. Sondland from testifying to the House in the impeachment inquiry.
yes, I think this does rise to the level of an impeachable abuse of office