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.
Stocks are swinging back down in early trading Wednesday after more signs piled up showing just how severely the coronavirus outbreak is damaging the economy.
Elizabeth Warren endorsed Joe Biden on Wednesday, becoming the last of the former vice president's major Democratic presidential rivals to formally back him.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was cutting off U.S. payments to the World Health Organization during the coronavirus pandemic, accusing the organization of failing to do enough to stop the virus from spreading when it first surfaced in China.
Part of the stimulus package to aid small businesses, the Paycheck Protection Program has hit a bottleneck, according to Brock Blake, CEO of
Tatyana Popkova, chief strategy officer for the health system, talked to Cheddar about how the innovative medical center was designed to take on challenges such as a patient surge from a pandemic.
Stocks are ending with solid gains on Wall Street Tuesday as the market turns its attention to how and when authorities may begin to lift business shutdowns and limits on people's movements imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Former President Barack Obama endorsed his Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, for president Tuesday.
Kay Sears, VP and GM of Military Space for Lockheed Martin described the final frontier as a "warfighting realm," to Cheddar at Satellite 2020.
President Donald Trump is asserting that he is the ultimate decision-maker on how and when to relax the social distancing guidelines put in place to fight the new coronavirus.
Fintech companies have long touted their ability to bank the unbanked, but the coronavirus pandemic is giving them a chance to put their money where their mouths are.
