The White House budget office violated the law when it froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report
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Trump’s decision to withhold millions in military aid, which he reversed in September after House investigators began probing the move, is at the heart of the articles of impeachment the House passed last month, and it will be a central allegation in the Senate’s impeachment trial that begins Thursday.
The GAO report also states that OMB and the State Department “failed” to provide all of the information that was necessary for its investigation. That decision will likely fuel Democrats’ arguments in the Senate trial that Trump has attempted to obstruct Congress’ ability to investigate the Ukraine matter and that he’s been engaged in a coverup.
Van Hollen sent the letter one week after the House voted to impeach Trump on Dec. 18, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for using his office and federal resources to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rivals and then resisting a House investigation. The administration released its hold on Sept. 11, just hours after a whistleblower complaint about the matter was circulating around the government, and after House committees began investigating Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his efforts in Ukraine to spur Trump’s desired investigations.
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