Office of Management and Budget slapped down GAO claim Trump’s Ukraine aid delay was illegal
01/16/2020 / By JD Heyes
Democrats and their allies in the Deep State and the wholly compromised “mainstream media” are pulling out all the stops in their ongoing effort to depose our duly elected president, Donald Trump.
Like a script and at the moment House Democrats were walking two articles of impeachment against the president over to the Senate as the Constitution proscribes, the Government Accountability Office conveniently released an eight-page report claiming that Trump’s slight delay in delivering military aid to Ukraine last year was “illegal.”
Mind you, the GAO could have issued this opinion months ago — shortly after an alleged “whistleblower” claimed the president inappropriately sought a “quid pro quo” with the Ukrainian government: ‘Investigate Joe and Hunter Biden or I won’t give you the aid!’
In fact, Trump never made that demand and, as U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland testified under oath, the president specifically said he did not want a “quid pro quo” from Ukraine — he “wanted nothing.”
At best, and this is a loose reading of the transcript in question involving a July 25, 2018 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump merely suggested he look into Joe and Hunter Biden’s involvement in Ukraine. And there’s nothing illegal about that.
In fact, if someone wants to claim that a U.S. leader threatened Ukraine with a quid pro quo, they could very credibly claim that Joe Biden is guilty of same, and by his own admission.
Nevertheless, after the GAO came out with its legal opinion Thursday, it was followed up with a separate opinion from the Office of Management and Budget, which actually disperses foreign aid funds. And the OMB says the GAO is full of it. (Related: The complete Hillary-Ukraine connection: Official investigating leak of Manafort financial records to help her win in 2016.)
As reported by Breitbart News:
In the memo to GAO, which works for Congress, the OMB begins by explaining that it often holds up funding to federal agencies in the regular course of business under its apportionment authority, often for reasons as mundane as making sure funding is being spent efficiently.
However, there are different methods of holding up funds. One is “deferral,” which is still subject to the provisions of the Impoundment Control Act, which requires the president to inform Congress.
No, the timing of this report isn’t suspicious at all…
Another way funds can be withheld is “programmatic delay,” when the president withholds funds as he’s developing policies surrounding the funds. In the case of a “deferral,” that runs counter to Congress’ instructions and intent, a programmatic delay actually works in favor of congressional intent. The OMB notes further that both methods have long and legitimate histories.
In its memo to the GAO, the OMB explained that the Ukraine hold of a few months was a “programmatic delay.”
“It was OMB’s understanding that a brief period was needed, prior to the funds expiring, to engage in a policy process regarding those funds,” the memo stated. “OMB took appropriate action, in light of a pending policy process, to ensure that funds were not obligated prematurely in a manner that could conflict with the President’s foreign policy.”
In a footnote, the OMB further stated that at times the Executive Branch has held up funding past the statutory deadline at the request of Congress.
“OMB is aware of instances in which Members of Congress demanded that agencies withhold funds for months— and even years—beyond the period required by statute for reasons wholly unrelated to the purpose of the appropriation,” the agency said.
So, in short, the president did nothing wrong, despite what a very well-timed accusation from Deep State faceless figures in the federal bureaucracy claimed.
The least GAO could have done is made its accusations months ago after the alleged whistleblower told his story to congressional investigators, when it might have had more credibility.
Instead of waiting the day impeachment articles get transmitted to the Senate.
Sources for this article include:
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