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.
Canada plans to ban all single-use plastic products such as bags, straws, cutlery, and plates by 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday.
The major pharmaceutical maker Insys Therapeutics filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, less than a week after the company agreed to pay $225 million to settle federal charges related to bribing doctors to prescribe opioid painkillers.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, June 10, 2019.
Trump strikes a solemn and respectful tone during his formal speech at Normandy, but not before a blistering attack on his political adversaries.
U.S. employers added just 75,000 jobs in May, a sharp decline from the month prior and a far cry from what economists were expecting.
Progressive advocacy groups across the country are ramping up pressure on federal lawmakers to open an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Nearly a decade since the Arab Spring uprisings, social media use in the region has declined dramatically.
Following several days of critical attacks on Puerto Rico from President Trump and his administration, Puerto Rican radio host Julio Ricardo Varela says Trump is "racist" but the tension between the U.S. and the island territory runs much deeper.
As many as 33 states and D.C. have legalized recreational or medical cannabis, but businesses and individuals in those states are technically violating federal law. The proposed legislation would resolve that discrepancy and still allow states without blocking states that want to keep marijuana prohibitions.
With just nine months until California implements the strictest data privacy law in the nation, the vast majority of businesses operating in the state are not compliance ready, a new report found.
