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.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018.
The man who spent years behind the lens during President George H.W. Bush's time as president remembers him as a man of honor. David Valdez, chief official White House photographer from 1989 to 1993, reminisced about his years observing the former president on Cheddar Monday, just days after Bush passed away at age 94.
President Trump is opening himself up to allegations of obstruction by publicly dangling a pardon in front of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, "Proof of Collusion" author Seth Abramson told Cheddar on Monday.
President Trump lauded his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires as "extraordinary" after the two sides agreed to a pause in tariff increases for 90 days. But Hagar Chemali, CEO of Greenwich Media Strategies, said investors shouldn't start the ticker tape parade just yet.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Dec. 3, 2018.
Stock markets and the federal government will close on Wednesday as the U.S. marks a national day of mourning for George H.W. Bush, the 41st president. Bush died at his home in Houston Friday night. He was 94.
Michael Cohen's latest revelations about President Trump's ties to Russia have left the U.S. leader isolated at the G20 summit and "looking like a petulant child" on the world stage, Rick Wilson, author of "Everything Trump Touches Dies," told Cheddar Friday.
Call it the "sandwich generation" ー people, often women, in their 30s and early 40s juggling demanding careers and increasing demands of caring for aging parents. Those are some of the stories Emmy Award-winning journalist Laura Ling is hoping to highlight in her podcast "Everyday Bravery."
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Nov. 30, 2018.
Ignorance is a major impediment in the effort to reverse climate change, said the former chief sustainability officer for the Obama administration. “I think lot of it is lack of awareness, these are topics that a lot of energy nerds like myself have been thinking of for a long time," Christine Harada, the president of i(x) Investments told Cheddar on Wednesday.
