Fox & Friends Suggests GAO Played Politics By Ruling Trump Broke Law With Ukraine Aid: ‘Coincidence…?’
Fox & Friends opened Friday’s program by updating its viewers on the latest goings-on in the impeachment proceedings of President Donald Trump.
To their credit, the famously pro-Trump program also reported on the findings of the nonpartisan United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) who ruled that Trump broke the law by withholding Ukrainian aid approved by Congress. However…the manner in which they covered this rather shocking news? Well, it fits with their long-established pro-Tump narrative. Shocker.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO) concluded on Thursday that the Trump administration illegally withheld aid from Ukraine in an effort to advance his own policy:
“In the summer of 2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld from obligation funds appropriated to the Department of Defense (DOD) for security assistance to Ukraine,” the U.S. GAO declared in a document. “In order to withhold the funds, OMB issued a series of nine apportionment schedules with footnotes that made all obligated balances unavailable for obligation.”
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA),” the Office continued, concluding, “The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”
Following a news report by Griff Jenkins, Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy noted how the GAO said that this administration broke the law regarding the aid to Ukraine, then added: “do you think it’s just a coincidence that that news would drop exactly the same day, the same trial started?”
Ainsley Earhardt added, “A senior administration official said they are doing this so they can insert themselves into the impeachment when there is so much media attention, because if you look at all the networks …and their coverage of the impeachment trial … they love to hear that they have determined that the president violated the law when it withheld that aid to Ukraine.”
She continued by adding “however the office of management and budget disagree with it. They say the president has a right to do this,” before Pete Hegseth pivoted back to more familiar footing interjecting “because it’s the impeachment that never ends and never will end!”
For the record, the Government Accountability Office has long been touted as a reliable nonpartisan watchdog that by both parties. That is until Trump’s political and media surrogates have taken issue with their findings.
Watch above via Fox News.
