WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2020) A Government Accountability Office (GAO) legal ruling that the Trump administration violated US law in withholding approved military aid for Ukraine illustrates the need to introduce additional evidence of presidential wrongdoing in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
"This reinforces again the need for documents and eyewitnesses in the Senate [trial]," Pelosi said during a press conference on Thursday.
In a ruling issued shortly before Pelosi spoke, GAO issued a ruling concluding that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) illegally blocked funds for Ukraine that had been approved by Congress.
The House decision to impeach President Donald Trump was based on allegations that the US president froze aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate for corruption political rival and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Since the House voted to impeach the president in December, new documentary evidence indicates that the Trump administration surveilled former US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yavanovich, according to letters, phone records, notes and computer flash drives obtained from Ukrainian-American buisnessman Lev Parnas.
Ukraine has launched its own investigation of the surveillance allegations, according to media reports.
Parnas, who worked with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in a separate and unofficial investigation of Biden's oversight of Ukraine policy during the Obama administration, has been indicted on charges of making illegal campaign contributions.
Democrats are demanding that the upcoming Senate trial include new evidence from Parnas, while Republicans want a quick trial without the introduction of documents and witnesses testimony.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, saying the impeachment is another political witch hunt by Democrats to reverse the results of the 2016 presidential election.
