After the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) declared that President Trump violated federal law by withholding military aid to Ukraine, the folks over at Law&Crime reached out to some legal experts to get their thoughts on the matter.
On Thursday, the GAO stated that faithful execution of the law "does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” adding that the Trump administration "withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted."
According to former New Jersey prosecutor and current Law&Crime Network host Bob Bianchi, the GAO's finding is "rather obvious from a constitutional perspective."
"Our Founding Fathers designed three branches of government to be checks and balances against one another," he continued. "Hence, when the executive branch fails to carry out the laws passed by Congress a constitutional breakdown occurs. The GAO finding is a reflection of the idea that the president can not unilaterally decide to ignore laws passed by Congress, a co-equal branch of government."
National security attorney Bradley P. Moss also weighed in, saying that "actual objective analysis clearly finds the President was breaking the law in his scheme to withhold aid to Ukraine."
”How much of this are Republican Senators willing to put up with before they say ‘enough is enough’?” Moss asked.
Read more legal opinions on the GAO's finding over at Law&Crime.