I thought Trump gave Ukraine every penny of aid it was promised - and all within the time prescribed by the law.
If so, what are these clowns going on about?
They are claiming that because the Department of Defense certified on May 23, 2019 that the Ukrainian military had done some things to be certified they had taken care of corruption in the procurement area, then the Aid could have been started being transferred then on a schedule made by bureaucrats. However, every bureaucrat in the Executive Branch is merely an advisor to the President, it is the President’s imprimatur that goes on every executive decision and every execution of anything that is done in the Executive Branch. They ADVISE the President, they don’t DIRECT the President. Just because some flunky somewhere down in the bowels of the Executive Branch decide spending was OK, does NOT obligate the President to spend it, but that is what the GAO is getting its LEFTIST panties in a wad about. They claim that Congress meant it should have been spent ASAP when corruption was certified taken care of. . . But that was only corruption in one area of Ukraine. The Pentagon was myopic about just the military corruption. There was still the overall government corruption.
The DOD had taken 210 days to do that certification, and in the meantime Ukraine had elected a new president who claimed to be anti-corruption in April. But by July, he had done NOTHING to show that he was inclined to oust corrupt politicians from their sinecures. The same people were in the same offices. President Trump put a hold on the aid until he could see some evidence that actually met the statutory requirement. Apparently what Zelensky was waiting for was the parliamentary election in mid-July. When his party won an overwhelming majority, Zelensky went to work replacing corrupt officials. Conversely, when President Trump received word from VP Pence and Senator Johnson that Zelensky HAD made major changes, Trump released the funds.