Trump Responds To GAO Report Saying He Violated Law In Withholding Ukraine Aid

On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office issued its report on the White House temporarily freezing U.S. security aid allocated for Ukraine, concluding that President Trump violated the Impoundment Control Act by “substitut[ing] his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law.” Trump responded Friday morning by tweeting out a quote from Harvard Law’s Alan Dershowitz, who argues that the GAO has it “exactly backwards.”

“The [GAO] got it exactly backwards,” Trump tweeted, quoting Dershowitz, a self-described liberal who has frequently defended Trump over the course of his presidency. “Here’s what they said. The law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities to those Congress has enacted into law. It’s exactly the opposite. The Constitution does not allow Congress to substitute its own priorities for the foreign policies of the President.”