This week, the Government Accountability Office, essentially the federal government's rule enforcer and auditor, located in the Legislative branch, put out a decision that the Trump administration violated the law when it withheld funds from Ukraine that Congress had appropriated for that country. The law that was broken is the Impoundment Control Act, which says that the president can only hold back funds if he or she asks Congress to do so. The law itself is very clear on how the president is supposed to inform Congress by a "special message" that includes several conditions. Donald Trump, of course, didn't inform Congress at all.
By the way, the law was passed by overwhelming bipartisan margins in 1973 and 1974 before being signed by Richard Nixon, who was, you know, a Republican.
The GAO's decision is pretty starkly clear: "Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. In fact, Congress was concerned about exactly these types of withholdings when it enacted and later amended the ICA."
And it's fucking pissed at Trump and his Office of Management and Budget: "OMB and State have failed, as of yet, to provide the information we need to fulfill our duties under the ICA regarding potential impoundments of FMF [foreign military financing] funds...We consider a reluctance to provide a fulsome response to have constitutional significance. GAO’s role under the ICA—to provide information and legal analysis to Congress as it performs oversight of executive activity—is essential to ensuring respect for and allegiance to Congress’ constitutional power of the purse. All federal officials and employees take an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution and its core tenets, including the congressional power of the purse."
You got that? Trump violated the damn law and told Congress to go fuck itself, and the White House's refusal to allow for any oversight is simply shitting on the oath of office. Although, really, considering that Trump-humping GOP senators took an oath to be objective in the impeachment trial, oaths don't really carry any weight for these disloyal pig fellaters.
The other thing that the GAO's statement demonstrates is a truism that has held throughout Trump's entire career: almost always, when an objective legal entity looks at Trump and the law, Trump loses or has to settle. He nearly invariably is shown to be a fucking scumbag. Of course, frustratingly, while he's lost, he has never faced consequences worse than losing some money. Others, like Michael Cohen, have, but not Trump. Still, Trump's record with his major cases is simply one of failure and loss.
(Note: "Objectivity," of course, is totally subjective. I'm saying that it exists when it doesn't involve someone who is a Trump toady, lackey, appointee, or Fox "news" regular guest. "Objective" means "relatively untainted by Trump.")
You could go with the Trump University fraud (settled for a $25 million payout), the Trump Foundation case (settled for a $2 million payout, an admission of misuse of funds, and a shuttering of the damn thing), or maybe the casino lobbying case from 2000 (settled for a $250,000 fine to avoid criminal prosecution over illegal lobbying).
Here's the thing: you don't pay millions of dollars in a settlement if you think you're innocent. You pay it just to stop a case before shit gets worse. In other words, so you can skate.
If there is one reason that Trump is losing his tiny fucked mind over impeachment and the Senate trial is because, in the minutely small possibility that shit goes south for him and Republicans grow a conscience (or dread facing a public that turns against them), there isn't dick he can do. Hell, he's fucked if witnesses are called. And he knows this. But there is no settlement this time. No deal to be made other than him quitting, and even then the SDNY is ready to cuff him.
He also knows that he's already, to some degree, lost by not stopping impeachment. He will forever be tied to Clinton and, even though he wasn't officially impeached, Nixon (I doubt he knows who Andrew Johnson is). His worse fear is being a loser, being mocked or laughed at, and he's already a loser and an object of derision.
The point here is that if the Senate were to actually have a "fair trial," Trump would be fucked beyond fucked. That's what Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham and others have to prevent, and they'll likely be successful. I'm sure they'll come up with some way to calm down Romney, Murkowski, and other so-called "moderate Republicans." But there is always hope, however infinitesimal.
I just have to wonder: How fucking compromised do you have to be to wreck everything about the Constitution to support Donald fuckin' Trump? How low do you have to be? That's a question that we need answered some day.
