The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) violated US law by blocking congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine, the US General Accountability Office (GAO) said in a ruling on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2020) The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) violated US law by blocking congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine, the US General Accountability Office (GAO) said in a ruling on Thursday.
"OMB told GAO that it withheld the funds to ensure that they were not spent 'in a manner that could conflict with the President's foreign policy,'" the congressional auditing agency said in its ruling. "The law does not permit OMB to withhold funds for policy reasons."
The impeachment of President Donald Trump by House Democrats is based on allegations that he withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to pressure Kiev to investigate for corruption 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden.
The GAO ruling appears to undermine a key claim by Trump defenders that the president broke no law because the approved funds for Ukraine were eventually released. Moreover, the ruling comes with Senate impeachment trial slated to begin on Tuesday.
The ruling said OMB withheld $214 million appropriated by the Defense Department for security assistance to Ukraine - a sum less than the $400-million figure widely cited by lawmakers. However the ruling also said an additional $168 million may have been improperly blocked.
The ruling cites the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 as the applicable law.
"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 GAO said. "OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA)," the ruling said. "The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA."
The ruling also criticized both OMB and the Defense Department with failing to provide OMB with information requested and necessary to complete its probe.
