WATCH: Joe Biden Brags About Rigging The Ukranian Political System
Posted on 01/16/2020 7:57:13 AM PST by Swordmaker
The Trump administration violated the law by withholding appropriated security assistance to Ukraine, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday in a report.
The independent watchdog said the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld the appropriated funds last summer.
The report said U.S. law “does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law.”
“Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the [Impound Control Act],” GAO said.
The withholding of the aid is central to the ongoing impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
--This breaking news report will be updated.
Agree 100% with your post. Sad to see conservatives be so divided on this. It’s exactly what the Dems want. Fighting amongst ourselves instead of on offense against them.
Graham should have the dirtbag GAO honcho in front of his committee at 9 am monday and under oath. This is a transparent partisan political stunt. That Graham will not do that is 100% on him and the GOP Senate. Nobody else to blame for their do-nothingness.
Or, it is not worth his time to be concerned with such a losing gambit
all gop votes to acquit and maybe 2 or 3 rats
Corrupt Federal Government Organizations - bump for later....
“GAO decisions do not come out of thin air. WHO are the people (Names and faces) who did this. Inquiring minds want to know.”
Pelosi, Schiff, to name a few...
“Obama broke the law in Bergdahl release deal, GAO report says” https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Politics-Voices/2014/0825/Obama-broke-the-law-in-Bergdahl-release-deal-GAO-report-says
This comes out today? All orchestrated. I’m beginning to think that Trump is going to be removed from office and there’s nothing that can prevent it. CNN and the talking heads will run with this, the majority of American’s will think it’s 100% true as stated, Trump is done, period.
Just F@#$
The updated article now reads:
The Trump administration’s decision to freeze the release of security assistance to Ukraine last year violated federal law, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report Thursday.The independent watchdog said the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld the appropriated funds last summer, not as a programmatic delay but in order to advance the president’s own agenda.
Doing so, the watchdog concluded, violates the Impoundment Control Act, a law that governs Congress's role in the federal budget process.
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the report says. “OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). ... Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”
The decision by the White House to withhold nearly $400 million in U.S. aid to Kyiv as the country fights pro-Russia separatists is at the center of impeachment proceedings in Congress against President Trump.
The report's release comes as the GOP-controlled Senate is expected to set a time on Thursday for the House impeachment managers — who will be arguing the case to impeach and remove Trump before the Senate — to formally exhibit the articles of impeachment accusing Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The procedure comes one day after the Democratic managers silently marched the two articles over to the Senate, kickstarting the Senate trial into Trump’s contacts with Ukraine.
Democrats, who impeached Trump on the two charges last month, allege that he dangled the promise of aid and a White House meeting as leverage to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 political rival, and Biden's son Hunter.
They say the White House then sought to obstruct their impeachment inquiry by blocking the testimony of any current and former White House officials, while asserting absolute immunity over their testimony.
Check the background.
An Obama appointee made this decision. The OMB says they are wrong. Says delays in disbursements are normal in these situation. OMB is actually the people that manages disbursements
Just another example of the total political corruption of the Democrat Fascist party. Any judgement by a Democrat appointee of this sort in the last 3 years, Judicial or otherwise, has been overturned by higher authority as being merit-less
It looks like an extreme stretch by the GAO, which is far from non-partisan. Under their logic there would be essentially no circumstance where the executive branch could even delay payment of foreign aid that had been appropriated by the congress. So, using their logic, once the congress votes to fund some overseas aid the aid gets sent regardless of events that might occur in the area of foreign policy. That's an absurd interpretation of the law.
Under the GAO interpretation, the executive branch would be forced to send previously appropriated military aid to a country even if, for example, the foreign government was ousted by rebels and replaced with a marxist dictatorship. Does anybody really think that is what the law requires?
Of course not, we're just seeing more Democratic party nonsense in their never ending efforts to attack President Trump.
Check the background.
An Obama appointee made this decision. The OMB says they are wrong. Says delays in disbursements are normal in these situation. OMB is actually the people that manages disbursements
Just another example of the total political corruption of the Democrat Fascist party. Any judgement by a Democrat appointee of this sort in the last 3 years, Judicial or otherwise, has been overturned by higher authority as being merit-less
Good analogy. Thanks. So, as we all can see, the GAO’s only power rests with whether the real PTB chooses to do anything about it.
Check the background. Law does NOT say they have to be dispersed immediately, says they have to be dispersed “by the end of the fiscal year. They were so this GAO announcements is pure partisan drivel without a shred of fact to it.
An Obama appointee made this decision. The OMB says they are wrong. Says delays in disbursements are normal in these situation. OMB is actually the people that manages disbursements
Just another example of the total political corruption of the Democrat Fascist party. Any judgement by a Democrat appointee of this sort in the last 3 years, Judicial or otherwise, has been overturned by higher authority as being merit-less
But the MSM got the headline they wanted.
Yes, and once the whistleblower came out and said the felony was being committed they released the money. How can that be a crime?
But rescission is for permanently cancelling the spending of allocated or budgeted funds, it is not for just a hold on spending. There is no requirement there for involvement on a hold. There’s whole procedure for rescission, but not for a temporary hold.
On other thing I have noted before is that this particular law, especially where foreign aid is concerned, has never been tested for constitutionality. I think it would fail. It’s not constitutional. This is Congress putting its policy on Foreign Policy when the Constitution very plainly makes the President the controller of foreign policy, not a committee of 535 in Congress.
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