Trump violated federal law by blocking military aid to Ukraine

A report released on Thursday, 16, by a supervisory body of the United States House of Representatives said that President Donald Trump  violated a federal law by freezing military aid approved by Congress for Ukraine for "political reasons".

The Government Accountability Office corroborated one of the charges that Trump faces in his impeachment process: violation of Congressional Budget and Reimbursement Control law by overriding congressional approval for $ 400 million military aid to the Ukrainian government.

"Faithfully enforced law does not allow the president to replace his political priorities with those that Congress enacted in law," says the office's report, adding that the retention of value "was not pragmatic."

The freeze on military aid to Ukraine, which has been in civil war since 2014, came just days after the phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to pressure him to open an investigation against the son of the main pre-candidate Democrat to the White House, former Vice President Joe Biden.

The impeachment process was initiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shortly after the case was made public in September 2019. Several hearings with witnesses, closed and open to the public, showed how Trump and his key advisers, in addition to of his personal lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, endure to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden's family.

In late December, Congress approved the impeachment and on Thursday, 16, sent the case to the  Senate , where Trump's trial for the political crimes of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress began.

While the control agency's assessment is a setback for Trump, it is unclear how or even whether it will appear in the trial. Republicans, a majority in the House, can change the rules and choose whether new evidence or witnesses can be included throughout the Senate process.