GAO finds Trump violated law by withholding congressionally appropriated funds for EV charging stations

“This legal decision affirms what we’ve long known: The president is breaking the law to block funding Congress passed on a bipartisan basis and that is owed to the American people — simply because he disagrees with it,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said in a statement. 

However, a White House budget office spokeswoman disagreed with GAO’s assessment and said the Transportation Department was “appropriately using” its authority to revoke the program. 

Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the EV program would be recalled. He accused the “Biden-Buttigieg Administration” of “wast[ing] time, money, and public trust” by failing to implement the program.

“The Biden-Buttigieg Administration failed miserably to deliver EV chargers despite their promises. Congress gave the Secretary the authority to issue program guidance and ensure money is being spent efficiently, and that’s exactly what we are doing,” Duffy said in a statement.

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The GAO’s findings come as its head, Gene L. Dodaro, shared that the agency has opened more than a dozen investigations into the Trump administration’s efforts to intervene with funding already approved by Congress. 

During Trump’s first administration, the GAO ruled that the administration had illegally stopped $400 billion in aid to Ukraine.