GAO reviewing Trump administration freeze on Ukraine military aid

Congress’ nonpartisan watchdog stated Thursday it's reviewing the Trump administration’s choice this summer time to hold up tons of of hundreds of thousands of dollars in army assist for Ukraine to decide whether or not officials violated appropriations regulation by not notifying Congress of the maintain.

POLITICO first reported the freeze placed on $250 million in funds meant to assist Ukraine deter Russian aggression, despite the money already having been appropriated by Congress again in August.

The maintain, which numerous administration officials have steered in testimony was conditioned on Ukraine agreeing to launch investigations into Trump’s political rivals, is on the heart of the continued impeachment probe within the House.

Phrase of the hold was reportedly handed down from Trump in July, days earlier than Trump spoke on the telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and requested for investigations into the Biden family and events surrounding the 2016 election.

The White House then acquiesced to bipartisan strain and eliminated the maintain weeks later, after it came to mild.

Trump has provided differing explanations for pausing the help, saying at first that he needed to make sure Ukraine was sufficiently addressing problems with corruption earlier than claiming he needed other European allies to step up their very own assist contributions. But phrase of Trump slow-walking the help got here simply earlier than the sum was set to expire on the end of the fiscal yr, and raised alarms on Capitol Hill, at the State Department and within the Pentagon, which stated it supported the help package deal.

A spokesman for the Government Accountability Workplace confirmed that the agency is reviewing whether or not the administration violated appropriations regulation by failing to inform Congress of the development after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) requested the evaluate during a Senate Finances Committee hearing last week.

Chuck Young, GAO’s managing director of public affairs, stated the company doesn't yet have a time-frame for completing the assessment. The assessment is a request for a authorized opinion moderately than an investigation, as a result of the company doesn't have subpoena or enforcement power.

In last week’s listening to, Van Hollen asked Comptroller Basic Gene Dodaro to outline what kind of recourse Congress would have if the chief branch violated appropriations regulation by declining to notify lawmakers, even when the cash ended up being spent.

“At Sen. Van Hollen’s urging, the GAO is wanting into this crucial situation — an necessary improvement following this troubling transfer by the Administration,” stated Bridgett Frey, Van Hollen’s spokeswoman, noting that the Price range Committee additionally “voted yesterday on a bipartisan basis to strengthen the Impoundment Management Act and ensure we forestall this abuse in the future.”

Marianne Levine contributed to this report.

Article originally revealed on POLITICO Magazine

Src: GAO reviewing Trump administration freeze on Ukraine military aid
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