Government Watchdog Claims Trump Admin Broke Law in Withholding Ukraine Aid
The Government Accountability Office has reported that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld aid to Ukraine.
According to The Hill:
The Trump administration’s decision to freeze the release of security assistance to Ukraine violated the law, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report.
AdvertisementThe independent watchdog said in an opinion issued Thursday that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld the appropriated funds last summer not as a programmatic delay but in order to advance the president’s own agenda.
By doing so, the watchdog concluded, the White House violated what’s known as the Impoundment Control Act (ICA).
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the report said. “OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA)…Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”
The Office of Management and Budget pushed back on these findings claiming that the White House used its “apportionment authority to ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent consistent with the President’s priorities and with the law.”
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About The Author
I can not understand the difference between Biden when VP stating to the Ukraine’s that if they did not fire the prosecutor that was investigation local corruption, he would withhold the aid and Trump’s accusation that he did the same thing. I would suspect that the Pres. of our country, would want to investigate the Uk.’s corruption policies before sending over our dollars to a corrupt country. We would feel used when the funds were spent on corrupt enterprises. Just so happens that Biden’s son, and possibility the obuma administration were the receivers of the corrupt dispersements. Why would Biden object to a full investigation of the situation? Go figure.
The GAO has been the oligarchy’s mouthpiece since its creation!
Rape, Pillage,Plunder; America, You’ve Been Had!
How much more before you stand up to those who have made the following lessons learned facts?
1. The American people are the most effectively lied to people in modern times thanks primarily to the American political class, the American bureaucracy, the American media, and American academia.
2. Arrogance coupled with ignorance equals stupidity.
3. The greatest threats to the American people are the corrupt and/or incompetent politicians/bureaucrats/academicians found at every level of government/academia, and the majority of the American so-called media.
4. Most of the politicians/bureaucrats/academicians I have encountered during my years as a soldier/cop I most kindly refer to as; self-serving, witless, cowards.
5. The American Profession of Arms and our brothers/sisters in blue have failed to protect the American people from all of their enemies, both foreign and most especially domestic.
Soldier/Cop/Grunt, Retired
PS These lessons learned were first presented to a gathering of Americans in 1989. The only positive change to the American political environment since then has been the arrival of one, Donald J. Trump! Since D.J. Trump took office I have added two more lessons learned thanks to the overall behavior of the parties highlighted in lessons learned 1-3 above. Seems approximately 25% of the American population has declared war on the rest of the nation!
6. After carefully watching the whole of the political class since Donald J. Trump walked down that escalator in Trump Tower to date, I can say without reservation that most of the group will sell their souls and our bodies just to remain in power. (Added 2019)
7. Want to see what the United States of America will look like if the left takes control of the government? Take your pick, New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or the complete package; California. (Added 2019)
Rape, Pillage,Plunder; America, You’ve Been Had!
How much more before you stand up to those who have made the following lessons learned facts?
1. The American people are the most effectively lied to people in modern times thanks primarily to the American political class, the American bureaucracy, the American media, and American academia.
2. Arrogance coupled with ignorance equals stupidity.
3. The greatest threats to the American people are the corrupt and/or incompetent politicians/bureaucrats/academicians found at every level of government/academia, and the majority of the American so-called media.
4. Most of the politicians/bureaucrats/academicians I have encountered during my years as a soldier/cop I most kindly refer to as; self-serving, witless, cowards.
5. The American Profession of Arms and our brothers/sisters in blue have failed to protect the American people from all of their enemies, both foreign and most especially domestic.
Soldier/Cop/Grunt, Retired
PS These lessons learned were first presented to a gathering of Americans in 1989. The only positive change to the American political environment since then has been the arrival of one, Donald J. Trump! Since D.J. Trump took office I have added two more lessons learned thanks to the overall behavior of the parties highlighted in lessons learned 1-3 above. Seems approximately 25% of the American population has declared war on the rest of the nation!
6. After carefully watching the whole of the political class since Donald J. Trump walked down that escalator in Trump Tower to date, I can say without reservation that most of the group will sell their souls and our bodies just to remain in power. (Added 2019)
7. Want to see what the United States of America will look like if the left takes control of the government? Take your pick, New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or the complete package; California. (Added 2019)
When you have a President who could care less about the laws of this USA, and does not understand that Article 2 of h Constitution does not give him unlimited power to do as he pleases. Now when Trump'[s own agencies disagree with him he tries to replace them with YES people, and like Bolton supposedly told Trump when he was leaving that installiong YES people in the Cabinet positions would get him impeached and you see where it is now, a mark on Trump’s recorde that will be there for ever.
ROBERT, YOU HAVE CONGRESSPEOPLE WHO HAVE ABANDONED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE JUST FOR THE SAKE OF TRYING TO BRING DOWN A PRESIDENT THEY DON’T LIKE. I DON’T CARE FOR TRUMP’S PERSONALITY, HOWEVER HE IS A REALLY GOOD PRESIDENT, AND DOES NOT DESERVE THE TREATMENT HE HAS RECEIVED FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. OPEN YOUR EYES. —
I assume you are referring to B. Obama, who is certainly guilty of all these offenses.
Stop being a sheeple Robbie. Take some time to think for yourself. Try listening to a y-tube channel… X22 Report. I challenge you to listen to a week of Dave’s channel, with an open mind. May you wake up to the truth and stop believing the communist traitors that are working to keep you in their matrix of lies!
The goa is full of dog schitt right up to their ears. It is the duty of the President to ensure that our aid money is going to what it was meant for — Trump broke no f*****g law. Another worthless dirtbag demoSCUM agency that needs to be done away with. Better check the bank accts.(all accts) of every member of that agency.
Amazing…that anyone would believe this tripe, but some will believe this “Watch Dog.”
The TIMING of this “Watch Dog” report…being made public…puts it 100% QUESTIONABLE.
———-
The documented record……….refutes this claim, and I will stand with that!!
“Scalise Spins Facts on Security Aid
By Robert Farley
Posted on November 19, 2019
Rep. Steve Scalise spun two keys facts about Ukrainian aid to defend President Donald Trump against accusations that Trump withheld that aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate the alleged Ukraine interference in the 2016 U.S. election, as well as former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Scalise claimed, “The law required that before any taxpayer money go to Ukraine, the president had to ensure that they are rooting out corruption, which ultimately they did.” Actually, the law required the Defense Department to certify that substantial progress had been made toward fighting corruption before releasing some of the money. That was done in May.
Scalise argued that Trump did nothing wrong because “Ukraine got the money.” It’s true that the aid was released, but only after diplomats privately and the media publicly had begun to raise questions with Trump officials about the aid being tied to investigations, after the House intelligence committee officially learned about the existence of a whistleblower complaint, and after three House committees announced investigations into whether Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, tried to pressure Ukraine into conducting “politically-motivated investigations.”
The comments by Scalise, the House Republican whip, came during an occasionally contentious interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”
Early in the interview, Wallace got right to the heart of the impeachment issue: whether Trump suspended that aid simply as a tactic to get Ukraine to open an investigation into the Bidens.
Scalise argued that the legislation appropriating the aid specifically required Trump to ensure that Ukraine was “rooting out corruption.” And, he said, the aid was released when Trump was convinced Ukraine was meeting that obligation.
Scalise, Nov. 17: And in fact part of what Congress appropriated had language attached to it that required that the administration make sure that Ukraine’s rooting out corruption because there were elections during that same period you just mentioned and Zelensky got elected on a platform of rooting out corruption, which we are glad about, but nobody really knew if that was what he was going to follow through on because of Ukraine’s history of corruption. The law required that before any taxpayer money go to Ukraine, the president had to ensure that they are rooting out corruption, which ultimately they did. And the money was released and then he got — he got the money he needed.
Later, he said, “President Trump released the aid after he made sure, by law, by the way, and then Pelosi voted for that law, Schiff voted for the law that requires that he ensure that corruption is being rooted out before taxpayer money goes to a country like that.
The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019 passed the House 359-54 on July 26, 2018, with 139 Democrats voting in favor of it. And as Scalise said, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence committee, both voted for it.
The law did tie Ukrainian aid to a determination that Ukraine was making substantial progress toward reducing corruption. And according to the law, that determination was left to the Pentagon in coordination with the State Department.
Since 2017, the National Defense Authorization Act has stated that no more than half of the aid to Ukraine could be released until certification by the secretary of defense that “substantial actions” have been taken to decrease corruption. (See the fiscal 2017 law section 1237 and amendments to the 2019 law section 1246.)
NDAA, Section 1237 (c)(2): The certification described in this paragraph is a certification by the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State, that the Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions to make defense institutional reforms … for purposes of decreasing corruption, increasing accountability, and sustaining improvements of combat capability enabled by assistance. … The certification shall include an assessment of the substantial actions taken to make such defense institutional reforms and the areas in which additional action is needed.”
Source: https://www.factcheck.org/2019/11/scalise-spins-facts-on-security-aid/
O.K., give the White House the same slap on the wrist that you would have given Obama in the same situation. Then forget it as you would have done during the past administration.
This group is not telling the truth, just like the LYING DEMOCRATS. Evidence proves, beyond a doubt, that it is the DEMOCRATS who consistently break our Constitution and Laws. The unlawful impeachment hearings is an example of how the DEMOCRATS are following Russia and Hitler’s way, not by our Constitution and Laws at all. Nancy Pelosi is showing what a liar and Traitor she is to AMERICA. No honest person would listen to these evil Democrats in Washington, DC. They should be ashamed of themselves for being so GREEDY, for money and Power.
Did the GAO have anything to say about what Biden actually admitting to on video tape, that he threatened Ukraine with withholding several billion dollars if they didn’t get rid of the prosecutor that was investigating his son, Hunter?
That is a great question Glenn! I want to see their doc’s on what Biden’s have done in Ukraine!
Glen Lego: That is different that Bidden did it because he is a Democrat going nowhere and Trump has made the Democrats the fools they are! So have to pick on Trump and not Biden!
It is my understanding the funds were not sent right away because of corruption in a foreign country that needed to be investigated before our American Funds went to the wrong hands!
Linda, you are correct. UK has always been a ‘rogue’ country – it’s their nature. NO ONE stood up to them – they just did what they wanted to do and damn the rest of world. Corruption, kick-backs, and thugs – now we have a President who won’t tolerate their bullying and holding their feet to the fire. By doing so, he has revealed the depth of their corruption that just so happens to ‘uncover’ the American ‘partners in crime’. So the GAO is also now part of it!!
Governmental Arrogance & Obfuscation = today’s GAO