Trump's Ukraine Aid: Legal Or Illegal?

In 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the Trump administration broke the law by withholding military aid to Ukraine. The GAO is a non-partisan federal watchdog agency that works for Congress. The withholding of funds was in violation of the Impoundment Control Act, which limits a president's power to withhold money that has been allocated by Congress. The decision to freeze the aid was directed by the president himself, and during the House impeachment inquiry, administration officials testified that they had raised concerns about its legality. The funds were only released after the block on the aid became publicly known, sparking a congressional probe that led to Trump's impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House.

Trump broke the Impoundment Control Act by withholding Ukraine aid

In 2019, the Trump administration withheld military aid to Ukraine, which had been approved by Congress. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the withholding of funds was a violation of the Impoundment Control Act (ICA).

The ICA, enacted in 1974, outlines the procedures that the President must follow to reduce, delay, or eliminate funding in an account. It was passed in response to President Nixon's refusal to release funds for programs he opposed, despite their Congressional approval. The Act reasserted Congress' power of the purse, and established a process to prevent the President and other government officials from unilaterally substituting their funding decisions for those of Congress.

The ICA divides impoundments into two categories: rescissions and deferrals. In the case of the Ukraine aid, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cited "a policy reason" for withholding the funds. However, the GAO report stated that "a policy reason is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act" to withhold funds appropriated by Congress. The report further emphasized that the Constitution "specifically vests Congress with the power of the purse," and that Trump, like all other presidents, "is not vested with the power to ignore or amend any such duly enacted law."

The ICA requires that the President promptly notify Congress of any withholdings of budget authority and abide by the outcome of the congressional impoundment review process. In the case of Ukraine, the Trump administration failed to follow this procedure, and the funds were only released after the block became publicly known, sparking a congressional probe.

The aid was withheld to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden

In 2019, the Trump administration withheld military aid to Ukraine, which had been approved by Congress. The aid was withheld while Trump pressured Ukraine's new president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Trump's administration broke the law by freezing the approved funds. The Impoundment Control Act, enacted in 1974, limits a president's power to withhold money that has been allocated by Congress. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated that the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) violated the law by freezing the funds for a "policy reason".

The decision to freeze the aid was directed by Trump himself, and administration officials testified that they had raised concerns about its legality. The GAO report said that the OMB cited "a policy reason" for withholding the funds, but that "a policy reason is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act" to withhold funds appropriated by Congress.

The aid was only released after the block became publicly known, sparking a congressional probe that led to Trump's impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House.

The Government Accountability Office deemed Trump's actions illegal

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) deemed that the Trump administration broke the law by withholding congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine. The GAO's report came a day after the House of Representatives sent articles of impeachment of President Donald Trump to the Senate for conduct related to withholding aid to Ukraine.

The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 limits a president's power to withhold money that has been allocated by Congress, requiring approval from the legislative branch to do so. The Trump administration's withholding of funds was deemed illegal by the GAO as it was done "for a policy reason", which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act.

The GAO report stated that the "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 also highlighted that the Constitution "specifically vests Congress with the power of the purse", and that Trump, like all other presidents, "is not vested with the power to ignore or amend any such duly enacted law".

The GAO's ruling was described as a "bombshell legal opinion" by Senator Chris Van Hollen, who had requested the office to review the hold. The report demonstrated "without a doubt" that "the Trump Administration illegally withheld security assistance from Ukraine", and that the publicly available evidence also shows that the President himself ordered this illegal act.

Trump's actions led to his impeachment

In 2019, a whistleblower complaint revealed that then-US President Donald Trump had withheld military aid from Ukraine in an attempt to pressure the Ukrainian government into investigating his political rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden. Trump's actions were in violation of the Impoundment Control Act, which restricts the circumstances in which a president can defer spending funds. The act was passed in 1974 to limit a president's power to withhold money that has been allocated by Congress.

The Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan federal watchdog agency, stated that the White House Office of Management and Budget broke the law by withholding the funds "for a policy reason". The decision to freeze the aid was directed by Trump himself, and during the House impeachment inquiry, administration officials testified that they had raised concerns about its legality.

Trump's withholding of the funds was part of a broader effort to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. election. This included a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during which Trump urged him to investigate the Bidens and a conspiracy theory involving a Democratic National Committee server.

Trump's actions led to a formal impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives, which ultimately voted to impeach him on charges of abusing the power of his office and obstructing Congress. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate.

Trump's White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, confirmed the aid was withheld to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Democrats

In October 2019, Mick Mulvaney, Trump's then-acting White House Chief of Staff, confirmed that military aid to Ukraine had been withheld in part because of the president's desire for the country to investigate an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for hacking Democratic Party emails in 2016.

Mulvaney's statement was the first time a White House official had conceded that Trump set up a quid pro quo scenario in which money approved by Congress for Ukraine was used as leverage. Hours after his remarks drew bipartisan criticism, Mulvaney issued a statement saying the money was withheld chiefly over concerns about corruption and a lack of aid from other nations.

In a White House press conference on October 17, 2019, Mulvaney said:

> "The corruption related to the DNC server — absolutely, no question about that. But that's it. And that's why we held up the money."

Mulvaney also said that the White House often threatened to withhold foreign aid to pressure a country to change a policy, in this case, to fight corruption. He noted that the White House had previously threatened to withhold money from Central America over immigration policies.

However, Mulvaney's comments were contradicted by text messages and testimony from other government officials, as well as a May letter from the Defense Department approving the release of funds to Ukraine and certifying that the country had taken "substantial actions to make defense institutional reforms for the purposes of decreasing corruption, increasing accountability, and sustaining improvements of combat capability enabled by U.S. assistance."

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the Trump administration broke the law by withholding congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine "for a policy reason." The Impoundment Control Act, enacted in 1974, limits a president's power to withhold money that has been allocated by Congress, requiring approval from the legislative branch to do so.

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