From when Trump / Ukraine:
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for an opinion on the legality of President Trump’s decision to hold up Ukraine aid.
Van Hollen sent a letter on Monday to Gene Dodaro, the GAO comptroller general, outlining why he believes Trump’s decision violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA), which restricts a president’s ability to withhold funds appropriated by Congress.
“The Administration has failed to even state a legal reason under the ICA for its withholding of security assistance for Ukraine, and the evidence refutes the Administration’s stated reasons,” Van Hollen wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Hill ahead of its release.
“The Administration must be held accountable for its
violations of the ICA, or we will open the floodgates for this and future Administrations to violate the ICA with impunity,” Van Hollen continued.
The GAO announced last month that it was probing Trump’s decision to delay $400 million in security assistance to Ukraine. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has said it followed the correct procedures in holding the funding, which was released in mid-September.
Oh and this key language from that article:
Van Hollen said in his letter that under the ICA, a president has to notify Congress if they want to claw back or freeze funding already passed by lawmakers. But, “not only did the President not notify Congress of a deferral or rescission,” Van Hollen noted that the Defense Department told Congress twice that the funds would be obligated.
He added that Trump’s “corrupt purpose” for delaying the aid does not meet the ICA’s definition of a “programming delay,” in which an agency can temporarily delay obligating money as they prepare to implement a program.
“It should be clear that the corrupt purposes identified by the House impeachment inquiry for withholding Ukraine aid violated the ICA,” Van Hollen wrote.
They had the kickback scheme going even then, and weren’t about to let Trump spoil the party.
Could that also apply to Biden's canceling the construction of the southern border wall after Congress had approved $1.375 billion for its building?
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