The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recognized that the delay of military aid to Ukraine, something arranged by President Donald Trump, is illegal.
"Today, GAO issued a legal decision concluding that the Office of Management and Budget violated the law when it withheld approximately $214 million appropriated to DOD for security assistance to Ukraine. The President has narrow, limited authority to withhold appropriations under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. OMB told GAO that it withheld the funds to ensure that they were not spent “in a manner that could conflict with the President’s foreign policy.” The law does not permit OMB to withhold funds for policy reasons", reads the message on the GAO website.
In late June, the U.S. Senate approved the draft law on the defense budget for 2020. It stipulated allocation of 300 million dollars-worth military aid for Ukraine. Trump postponed it on the day of his telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in July 2019. During the conversation, Trump repeatedly insisted that Ukraine look into the activity of Burisma gas extraction company; this is where Hunter Biden, the son of Trump's adversary, ex-Vice President Joe Biden used to work. The mentioned phone call caused a huge outrage in the media and the international community. In September 2019, the U.S. Congress launched the impeachment procedure against Trump.
