On Jan. 16, the day that President Trump’s impeachment trial formally began in the Senate, the Government Accountability Office released a “decision,” signed by its general counsel, that the White House Office of Budget and Management violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding Department of Defense U.S. Army Intelligence funds from Ukraine. The explanation is that “faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that the Congress has enacted into law.”

The reaction from Democratic Senators was dramatic, as one might expect. Sen. Chris Van Hollen called it a “bombshell landing just as we start the Senate trial.” Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said that “in 45 years here, I have never seen anything like this.” Both senators referred to the GAO as “nonpartisan.”