Last Updated on December 13, 2019
A month’s old legal memo from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) newly surfaced Wednesday, showing the Ukraine aid at the heart of the Democrat Impeachment demands against President Donald J. Trump, was being scrutinized for legal reasons.
The memo by Mark Paoletta in response to a request from the U.S. Government Accountability Office over why the aid had been delayed, was shaking the confidence of voters, over the foundation of the Democrat’s claims that Trump acted with selfishness to withhold the aid for personal reasons.
“This memo is documentary record stuff, it shows scrutiny over foreign aid that both the Obama and Bush administration never showed for foreign aid. This is a routine move from OMB. The Government Accountability Office says this is perfectly allowed as contentious as the situation in Ukraine is and has been,” said Raheem Kassam, co-host of the War Room: Impeachment Podcast.
According to the Memo, “For decades, OMB has routinely used its apportionment authority to prevent funds from being used,” Paoletta wrote, according to the Washington Post, who broke the story.
“Often, in managing appropriations, OMB must briefly pause an agency’s legal ability to spend those funds for a number of reasons, including to ensure that the funds are being spent efficiently, that they are being spent in accordance with statutory directives, or to assess how or whether funds should be used for a particular activity,” Paoletta said in the Memo.
“So, there was no withholding aid and forcing a meeting. The legal memo shows that the aid was a question mark before the phone call,” said Jason Miller, former communications director for Trump 2016 campaign and co-host of the War Room program.
“The Memo is dated five weeks before the Zelinsky phone call, Miller said.
This is the part of the sham process that is so stunning and this [Memo] should be part of the discussion between McConnel and Trump about a Senate trial. This needs to come to light. Trump can be fully exonerated,” said Stephen Bannon, Chairman of Citizens of the American Republic, and host of the program.
The Hill reported, “The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) asserts in a new legal memo that aid to Ukraine was withheld to review if the country complied with U.S. policy, not as a political move to block Congress’s spending decision.
OMB extended a temporary hold eight times in August and September, the Post reported. The memo reportedly says the last hold was on Sept. 10 and the money was released almost immediately after.”
Kassam said, “The memo says that they were investigating what allies were doing and giving and that is part of the anti-corruption bill for Ukraine.”
Miller talked about the reputation of Ukraine, and the reason for the anti-corruption stand, “they are the third most corrupt country in the world and the IMF is withholding aid because they don’t know how it will be spent. Remember the NDAA mandates anti-corruption efforts aid going to Ukraine.”
“The details are where the truth comes out,” Bannon said, “as more facts come out, people will be more disgusted with where Democrats spent their time”
“This [Memo] is another reason why even Moderate Democrats are increasingly uncomfortable with this impeachment. This is peak panic today,” Kassam said.
