WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government's watchdog agency said Thursday a White House office violated federal law in withholding security assistance to Ukraine.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report that the Office of Management and Budget violated the law in holding up the aid. The freeze is at the center of the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
The independent agency, which reports to Congress, said OMB violated the Impoundment Control Act in delaying the security assistance Congress authorized for Ukraine for “policy reasons,” rather than technical budgetary needs.
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” wrote the agency's general counsel, Thomas Armstrong, in the report.
OMB has argued the hold was appropriate and necessary.
“We disagree with GAO's opinion. OMB uses its apportionment authority to ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent consistent with the President's priorities and with the law," said OMB spokeswoman Rachel Semmel.
Trump was impeached last month on charges of abusing his power for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rivals, as he was withholding the aid, and for obstructing Congress' ensuing probe. The Senate is set to begin its trial on Thursday.
Russia says it will relocate naval exercises off the coast of Ireland after Dublin raised concerns about them amid the tense dispute with the West over expansion of the NATO alliance and fears that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine.
he Australian government has pledged to spend another 1 billion Australian dollars ($704 million) over nine years on improving the health of the Great Barrier Reef after stalling a UNESCO decision on downgrading the natural wonder’s World Heritage status.
President Joe Biden visited the collapsed bridge in Pittsburgh that fell just hours before his previously scheduled trip to promote his infrastructure package — a new law that aims to prevent just such disasters.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden have added a cat to their pet family. The cat's name is Willow, and she's a 2-year-old, green-eyed, gray, and white tabby from a Pennsylvania farm.
Denmark’s government says it will scrap most pandemic restrictions next week, even as neighboring Sweden has extended its own measures for another fortnight.
The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it plans to begin raising its benchmark interest rate as soon as March, a key step in reversing its pandemic-era low-rate policies that have fueled hiring and growth but also escalated inflation.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer confirmed that he will retire at the end of the high court's current term.
A conservation group is turning over a historic redwood grove on the Northern California coast to descendants of the original Native American inhabitants.
A California city has voted to require gun owners to carry liability insurance in what's believed to be the first measure of its kind in the United States.
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