critical funds. three days later, on august 6th, duffy signs off on another letter for the white house budget office withholding the ukraine funds. then on the 9th, democrats on the appropriations committee in both the house and senate warned that withholding funds could be illegal. then duffy signs another letter withholding those funds. august 19th, democrats on the house and senate budget committees again warn the white house that withholding the aid for ukraine is illegal. on the 29th of august, duffy signs another letter holding back the aid. in mid-september, when the state department moved to release its part of the ukraine funding at the urging of national security adviser john bolton, even then, the white house office of management and budget held onto the money for another two weeks-plus, even though they had been warned multiple times in writing that withholding the money, the congressionally-approved money, is illegal.