Investigation: The Whistleblower
This is a comprehensive timeline of the antics involving the analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, President Zelenskyy, Rudy Giuliani and more.
It is a work in progress, like the other articles. The last time this article was updated was on February 21, 2020, with some additions of Kashyap Patel’s actions.
It is recommended that you have read, or will read, the following articles:
- “Investigation: Biden-Ukraine”
- “Spygate, Part #4: Foreign Intelligence” (specifically, the section marked “Ukraine”)
- “Spygate, Part #5: CrowdStrike”
- “Spygate, Part #10: Kimberlin and the Chalupas”
“The analyst had served on the National Security Council during the Trump administration and had been in the presence of the president. After returning to the CIA, his job required him to continue to participate in National Security Council meetings.”
[…]
“But the events he set in motion, and the evidence now driving them, have moved beyond the complaint he submitted three months ago. The CIA has taken security measures to protect the analyst, who has continued to work at agency headquarters on Russia and Ukraine issues.” — The Washington Post
In 1992, George Kent was employed in the foreign service.
In 2006, Fiona Hill was hired as an intelligence officer at the United States National Intelligence Council.
In 2009, Fiona Hill left her position as an intelligence officer at the United States National Intelligence Council and returned to the Brookings Institute.
On April 21, 2009, Values United was founded.
In May 2012, Suriya Jayanti was employed as a diplomat and foreign service officer at the United States Department of State.
On February 13, 2013, Fraud Guarantee was founded by Lev Parnas and David Correia.
In 2014, Kashyap Patel was employed at the United States Department of Justice.
In 2015, Charles Kupchan selected Eric Ciaramella to join his team at the National Security Council to work on Ukraine.
On February 5, 2015, Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy published the article “How aiding the Ukrainian military could push Putin into a regional war” in The Washington Post.
“The logic of sending weapons to Ukraine seems straightforward and is the same as the logic for economic sanctions: to change Vladimir Putin’s ‘calculus’. Increasing the Ukrainian army’s fighting capacity, the thinking goes, would allow it to kill more rebels and Russian soldiers, generating a backlash in Russia and ultimately forcing the Russian president to the negotiating table.
We strongly disagree.” — Fiona Hill, Clifford Gaddy, The Washington Post
On November 9, 2015, representatives of the Obama Administration, which includes Charles Kupchan, Melissa Rogers, Elizabeth Zentos, Eric Ciaramella, Christine Gottschalk, Laura Schultz, Jennifer Wistrand and M. Patrick Ellsworth, met with the representatives of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations, with Yaroslav Brisuk, Stephen Soroka, Oleksandr Trofymlyuk, Ari Shapiro, Jennifer Perrino, Alexandra Chalupa, John Jaresko and Peter Voitsekhovsky also in attendance.
In 2016, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman attended a Florida fundraiser for Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, where they met Trump.
In May 2016, Marie Yovanovitch was nominated to the position of Ambassador to Ukraine by President Barack Obama.
On July 27, 2016, Fiona Hill published the article “3 reasons Russia’s Vladimir Putin might want to interfere in the US presidential elections” in Vox.
In August 2016, Jayanti was hired as the Vice Consul at the United States Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
The same month, Yovanovitch was sworn in as the next Ambassador to Ukraine.
On August 28, 2016, Roman Olearchyk published the article “Ukraine’s leaders campaign against ‘pro-Putin’ Trump” in The Financial Times.
On October 18, 2016, a luncheon was hosted in honour of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, where Ciaramella attended the event as a guest of Vice President Joe Biden.
On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected as the next President of the United States, and his transition team started to move into the White House — as part of this effort, Ciaramella worked with the transition team, where he worked as the Acting Senior Director For European and Russian Affairs.
On January 11, 2017, Kenneth Vogel and David Stern published the article “Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire” in Politico.
On January 19, 2017, the Atlantic Council signed a cooperative agreement with Burisma Group.
Before February 14, 2017, Fiona Hill was offered the position of White House Senior Director For Europe and Russia by National Security Council Chief of Staff Keith Kellogg, having been selected by National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and K.T. McFarland.
In the spring of 2017, Kashyap Patel was employed as a senior staff member at the House Intelligence Committee.
On March 2, 2017, John Hudson published the article “Trump Taps Putin Critic for Senior White House Position” in Foreign Policy, which revealed the hiring of Fiona Hill to the Trump Administration, where she had replaced Eric Ciaramella at H.R. McMaster’s choice.
“Ciaramella’s NSC stint started during the Obama administration. Following Trump’s inauguration, he stayed on at the request of the Trump transition team, working as acting senior director for European and Russian affairs. After McMaster picked Russia expert Fiona Hill to permanently fill that position, he asked Ciaramella to join the front office staff for the remainder of his NSC tour, which was scheduled to end in late June.” — Foreign Policy
On March 10, 2017, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was hosted by the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council for a formal business luncheon in Washington, DC, which was attended by the Atlantic Council, Blue Star Strategies and Burisma Holding.
On March 28, 2017, Karen DeYoung published the article “Trump adds Russia scholar as a National Security Council director” in The Washington Post, which referred to Fiona Hill.
On April 6, 2017, Fiona Hill witnessed the 59 Tomahawk cruise missile attack on the Al Shayrat airfield in Syria while at Mar-a-Lago.
Between May 2017 — November 2017, Kashyap Patel spoke with Erik Prince.
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF: “When was the first time that you do recall you were contacted by the committee?”
ERIK PRINCE: “Kash Patel.”
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF: “And when was that? Kash Patel, a staff member of the majority?”
ERIK PRINCE: “Yes.”
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF: “And when did he contact you?”
ERIK PRINCE: “Some weeks ago. I would say weeks, not months.”
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF: “So, notwithstanding that our letter went out in May, the first time you recall being contacted by the committee was only weeks ago.”
ERIK PRINCE: “Yes.”
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF: “Did Mr. Patel ask you to produce documents in advance of your testimony?”
ERIK PRINCE: “No.”
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF: “What did Mr. Patel ask you to do then?”
ERIK PRINCE: “He just said to come in for an interview.” — Testimony of Erik Prince, November 30, 2017, United States House of Representatives
On May 10, 2017, Ciaramella sent an e-mail to Kelly.
“SCR08_000353 (5/9/17 White House Document, ‘Working Visit with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia’); SCR08_001274 (5/10/17 Email, Ciaramella to Kelly et al.). The meeting had been planned on May 2, 2017, during a telephone call between the President and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the meeting date was confirmed on May 5, 2017, the same day the President dictated ideas for the Comey termination letter to Stephen Miller. SCR08_001274 (5/10/17 Email, Ciaramella to Kelly et al.)” — Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Report, “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election”
“In May 2017, Ciaramella went ‘outside his chain of command,’ according to a former NSC co-worker, to send an email alerting another agency that Trump happened to hold a meeting with Russian diplomats in the Oval Office the day after firing Comey, who led the Trump-Russia investigation. The email also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had phoned the president a week earlier.” — RealClear Investigations
On June 11, 2017, Mike Cernovich published the article “Meet Eric Ciaramella — H.R. McMaster Appoints Susan Rice Ally to be his Personal Aide” in Medium.
At some stage after June 11, 2017, Ciaramella left the National Security Council and returned to the Central Intelligence Agency, although he was planning to leave regardless as he was on loan until the end of June 2017.
“The piece described Eric Ciaramella as ‘pro-Ukraine and anti-Russia’ and alleged, with no evidence, that he was possibly responsible for high-level leaks. The response to the piece included online threats of violence against Ciaramella, which contributed to his decision to leave his job at the National Security Council a few weeks early, according to two sources familiar with the situation.” — Foreign Policy
In July 2017, Kashyap Patel and Douglas E. Presley visited London on instructions from Damon Nelson, where they visited Christopher Steele’s offices at Orbis Business Intelligence and then visited his lawyer’s offices, although they failed to meet with Steele directly.
“Steele’s lawyer has been in contact with the House Intelligence Committee since the staffers’ visit, a congressional source said. That source also said it was a coincidence that Steele was meeting with his lawyer when the staffers visited, and that the investigators followed instructions from Washington not to speak to Steele himself.” — Politico
On July 5, 2017, Asawin Suebsaeng and Lachlan Markay, with contributions from Spencer Ackerman, published the article “Trump Aides Want Kremlin Critic in Putin Meeting” in The Daily Beast, which referenced Fiona Hill, who at the time was in Hamburg, Germany.
“‘If she [Hill] wasn’t there it would be pretty bad, this is the most momentous thing in her portfolio,’ said former Pentagon Russia policy chief Evelyn Farkas, who added that the only valid reason not to include Hill would be to make room for McMaster in a room with limited space.” — The Daily Beast
On July 10, 2017, Kate Brannen, Dan de Luce and Jenna McLaughlin published the article “Trump’s Trolls Are Waging War on America’s Civil Servants” in Foreign Policy.
In August 2017, Jayanti left her position as Vice Consul at the United States Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq and returned to Washington, DC.
On August 4, 2017, Ali Watkins published the article “Hunt for Trump dossier author inflames Russia probe” in Politico.
On August 8, 2017, Julian Borger published the article “Secretive search for man behind Trump dossier reveals tension in Russia inquiry” in The Guardian.
On September 18, 2017, Whistleblower Aid, actually known as Values United, debuted in Washington, DC with a media campaign which circled the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. Whistleblower Aid was founded by David Denny, John Tye, Lauren Bartlett, Lydia Bean and Mark Zaid, with Nusrat Choudhary also connected.
“‘I’m on record giving many speeches that I don’t think that’s all what Obama was doing. I don’t think that there was a war against whistleblowers. I don’t think he abused the Espionage Act. I don’t think all the people he prosecuted were whistleblowers. I’ve represented a number of people who were prosecuted under the Espionage Act and what the Obama administration did was just what any prior administration would have loved to have done and that was to go after leakers.” — Mark Zaid
In November 2017, Patel posted a series of Facebook photographs, which featured other people, at the White House bowling alley.
Between November 6–12, 2017, Patel created an internal memo for Representative Devin Nunes to push him to hold contempt of Congress charges against members of the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
On November 30, 2017, Fox News published the article “House lawyer urged contempt citations against DOJ, FBI over dossier ‘stonewalling’”.
The same day, President Trump tweeted: “The House of Representatives seeks contempt citations(?) against the JusticeDepartment and the FBI for withholding key documents and an FBI witness which could shed light on surveillance of associates of Donald Trump. Big stuff. Deep State. Give this information NOW!”
In December 2017, the Trump Administration approved the largest American commercial sale of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine worth $41.5 million.
On December 13, 2017, the Trump Administration informed leading Congressional committees of the $41.5 million weapons sale to Ukraine.
In 2018, Alexander Vindman joined the National Security Council after serving in the United States Embassies of Kiev and Moscow, and a stint as a Russia specialist for the Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff.
On January 30, 2018, Natasha Bertrand published the article “The Men Behind the Nunes Memo” in The Atlantic, which was about Kashyal Patel and Damon Nelson.
On February 1, 2018, President Trump decided to allow for the release of the Nunes memo, with two of its authors being Kashyap Patel, Andrew House and Damon Nelson, after accomodating requests from Director Christopher Wray and Director Dan Coats.
On February 2, 2018, the Nunes memo was released.
The same day, Katie Rogers and Matthew Rosenberg, with contributions from Doris Burke, published the article “Kashyap Patel, Main Author of Secret Memo, Is No Stranger to Quarrels” in The New York Times.
In April 2018, Fruman and Parnas potentially founded the organisation Global Energy Producers, LLC in Delaware.
On April 25, 2018, John Tye and Mark Zaid published the article “Robert Mueller’s Last Resort” in The New York Times.
On April 30, 2018, a dinner was hosted at Trump International in Washington, DC, within an exclusive suite known as Trump Townhouse, which was attended 15 people, including President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Jack Nicklaus III, Stanley Gale, Tommy Hicks Jr., Roy Bailey, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, where the topic of Ukraine was mentioned.
The same day, Patrick Radden Keefe published the article “McMaster and Commander” in The New Yorker.
On May 7, 2018, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that Giuliani does not speak on behalf of the Trump Administration with regards to foreign policy, in relation to his comments about Iran and North Korea.
“He speaks for himself and not on behalf of the administration on foreign policy.” — Heather Nauert
On May 9, 2018, Parnas and Fruman met with Representative Pete Sessions where they discussed Ambassador Yovanovitch and her animus towards President Trump.
“Parnas said neither he nor his partner was acting at the behest of anyone. Sessions said in an interview that he raised the issue of Yovanovitch in the meeting — not Parnas and Fruman. ‘I sought their input,’ he said.” — BuzzFeed News
The same day, Representative Pete Sessions sent a letter to Secretary Mike Pompeo to request the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch from her position due to her animus against President Trump.
On May 21, 2018, Parnas, Fruman, Tommy Hicks Jr. and Donald Trump Jr. had dinner in Thousand Oaks, CA.
On May 23, 2018, Jayanti attended a meeting about Ukraine business and energy sector development hosted by the US-Ukraine Business Council.
On May 27, 2018, Mark Zaid demanded and threatened that a Twitter user known as “Imperator Rex” unmask himself.
“Hey ‘Rex’, why don’t you reveal your identity instead of attacking someone while hiding? I’d love to have my intelligence and law enforcement clients see what they can find about your life. We can compare notes on our research efforts. What do you say? Game?” — Mark Zaid
On May 29, 2018, “Imperator Rex” was suspended by Twitter.
In the summer of 2018, Parnas and Fruman met with Giuliani.
On June 29, 2018, Gordon Sondland was confirmed by the United States Senate as the next Ambassador to the European Union.
On July 4, 2018, Tim Morrison sent an e-mail to co-workers that he was leaving the Republican House Defense Committee.
On July 8, 2018, Ambassador Sondland visited the European Union in Brussels, Belgium.
On July 9, 2018, Ambassador Sondland presented his credentials to President Donald Tusk.
The same day, Tim Morrison left his position as Policy Director for the Republican House Defense Panel as he was employed as the Senior Director For Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction on the National Security Council.
On July 16, 2018, Fiona Hill attended the bilateral summit between President Trump and President Putin, where she sat between Chief of Staff John Kelly and Secretary Pompeo during a working lunch at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland.
On July 24, 2018, Michael McFaul met with Fiona Hill and other government officials.
On July 25, 2018, the organisation CLC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission about donations to America First Action, Inc. by Fruman and Parnas made through Global Energy Producers, LLC.
On July 26, 2018, Bill Allison, Max Abelson and Shahien Nasiripour published the article “Trump’s Mysterious Super-PAC Donor Accused of Breaking Law” in Bloomberg.
Around August 2018, Fraud Guarantee engaged with Giuliani Partners, where Giuliani was hired as a consultant to provide legal advice on regulatory issues for $500,000.00. The monies were paid in September and October 2018 by Charles Gucciardo.
On August 1, 2018, Spencer Ackerman published the article “John Bolton Brings a Nuclear Superhawk Into the White House” in The Daily Beast, which was about Tim Morrison.
“In addition to his Hill victories, several tweets shared with The Daily Beast from Morrison’s locked account show that he enjoys owning the libs online. His Twitter avatar is a pin showing a red MAGA-style baseball cap reading MAKE DETERRENCE GREAT AGAIN. In one tweet last month, Morrison responded to a tweet from an arms controller about a push from U.S. mayors urging hte administration to lead an effort against nuclear war with ‘ hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.’”
“His friend Moore considers Morrison a workaholic whose face was often glued to his BlackBerry at social events. ‘It’s Saturday night, have a drink, laugh, tell a dirty joke, something that doesn’t have to do with nuclear weapons for a change,’ Moore said.”— The Daily Beast
TWE NOTE: Quotes added for levity to a lengthy article, because Tim Morrison sounds hilariously insane.
In September 2018, Jayanti was hired as the economics officer and 2nd secretary of energy and environment and the cyber unit chief at the United States Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine.
The same month, the organisation Ballad Partners wrote a cheque for $22,500.00 to Lev Parnas.
Between September 22–28, 2018, Giuliani visited Armenia on the invitation of Ara Abramyan, where he attended a technology conference.
On September 25, 2018, Alexander Nazaryan published the article “Fiona Hill, Trump’s top expert on Russia, is quietly shaping a tougher U.S. policy” in Yahoo! News.
“I’m glad Ambassador Bolton kept her on. She is there in the old Executive Office Building, right next to the White House, and I just assume, since she does come to work every day, and they are long days, that responsible officials are seeking her advice a lot of the time. The more they would take it, the better I would sleep at night.” — Strobe Talbott about Fiona Hill
On October 30, 2018, Burisma Group visited Ambassador Yovanovitch’s house in Kyiv, Ukraine.
In November 2018, Prosecutor General Lutsenko announced his resignation from the position.
The same month, Rudy Giuliani visited Kharkiv, Ukraine as part of his firm’s work to improve security in the city.
In late 2018, Parnas received a telephone call from an acquaintance in Ukraine to set up a meeting with Viktor Shokin. Parnas then reached out to Giuliani. After this, Parnas and Fruman set up a Skype meeting between Shokin and Giuliani, where Shokin mentioned the investigation into Burisma. Parnas and Fruman then set up a meeting between Giuliani and Prosecutor General Lutsenko.
In late 2018, Rudy Giuliani reached out to Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko to meet in New York.
In January 2019, Giuliani met with Prosecutor General Lutsenko in New York, in a meeting arranged by Parnas and Fruman, where they spoke over two days about Ukraine and its corruption, as well as Burisma, the investigation into Mykola Zlochevsky, and the loyalty of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, which included Prosecutor General Lutsenko providing evidence to Giuliani of the United States Embassy’s involvement to sway the election towards Hillary.
“Parnas and Fruman helped arrange meetings in New York between the prosecutor and Giuliani in January. Armed with documents from Ukraine, the prosecutor unloaded explosive evidence he claimed showed that Americans in the US Embassy in Ukraine had tried to rig the 2016 election in favor of Clinton. Lutsenko said officials at the US Embassy had pressured Ukrainian agents to leak entries from the ledger that showed the millions taken by Manafort.” — BuzzFeed News
The same month, Kent learned that Giuliani had reached out to the United States Department of State about the denial of a US visa for Viktor Shokin, and his attempt to contact the White House about it. The US visa was not approved for Shokin.
In February 2019, Giuliani and Parnas met with Prosecutor General Lutsenko in Warsaw, Poland, where Giuliani gave a speech at an anti-Tehran rally during a U.S. summit on Iran.
The same month, Parnas and Fruman met with President Petro Poroshenko on behalf of Giuliani.
The same month, Giuliani, Parnas and Fruman met with prosecutors in Kiev.
The same month, Ambassador Yovanovitch was informed by a Ukrainian official that Parnas and Fruman were working with Giuliani, where the official warned about her position.
On February 1, 2019, Jeremy Diamond and Jeremy Herb published the article “Author of controversial Nunes memo joining National Security Council” in CNN.
On February 4, 2019, Kashyap Patel left his position at the House Intelligence Committee and was employed at the National Security Council’s Directorate of International Organisations and Alliances, where he reported to Erin Walsh.
On February 26, 2019, Ambassador Sondland delivered remarks at a press conference at the U.S.S. Donald Cook in Odesa, Ukraine, with Kurt Volker and Ambassador Yovanovitch in attendance.
On February 28, 2019, the Trump Administration informed Congressional officials that tranches of military aid to Ukraine would be released.
In March 2019, George Kent and Phil Reeker attempted to shield Ambassador Yovanovitch from criticism by e-mailing Ulrich Brechbuhl and David Hale.
The same month, prosecutors in Kiev announced that they would investigate Ukranian officials accused of influencing the 2016 United States presidential election towards Hillary Clinton.
The same month, Fruman and Parnas met with Alexander Levin for the first time.
On March 1, 2019, Nahal Toosi published the article “Inside the Chaotic Early Days of Trump’s Foreign Policy” in Politico.
On March 5, 2019, Ambassador Yovanovitch criticised Ukraine’s record on corruption and called for the dismissal of the special anti-corruption prosecutor, Nazar Kholodnytsky.
In mid-March 2019, Giuliani became more visible in the media about Ukraine.
On March 20, 2019, John Solomon interviewed with Prosecutor General Lutsenko, who claimed that an immunity list was passed to him by Ambassador Yovanovitch, and that the Ukrainian prosecutors’ office would investigate 2016 interference by Ukraine.
The same day, The Hill published the article “Senior Ukrainian official says he’s opened probe into US election interference”.
“The U.S. State Department called the claim by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko an ‘outright fabrication’.” — Foreign Policy
The same day, President Trump tweeted: “‘John Solomon: As Russia Collusion fades, Ukrainian plot to help Clinton emerges.’ seanhannity FoxNews”.
The same day, Joe diGenova stated during Fox News’s “Hannity” that Ambassador Yovanovitch should be removed from her position.
“The current United States ambassador Marie Yovanovitch has bad mouthed the President of the United States to Ukrainian officials and has told them not to listen or worry about Trump policy because he’s going to be impeached.” — Joe diGenova
On March 21, 2019, the United States Department of State denied the existence of an immunity list passed by Ambassador Yovanovitch to Prosecutor General Lutsenko.
“‘The allegations by the Ukrainian prosecutor-general are not true and are intended to tarnish the reputation of Ambassador Yovanovitch,’ a State Department spokesperson told RFE/RL in e-mailed comments on March 21.
‘Such attacks redouble our resolve to help Ukraine win the struggle against corruption,’ the spokesperson added.” — RadioFreeEurope
The same day, Victoria Toensing tweeted: “The real collusion began in Ukraine. US Ambassador Marie #yovanovitch at USEmbassyKyiv pro #HillaryClinton and a #NeverTrumper.”
At some stage, Victoria met with Prosecutor General Lutsenko.
On March 24, 2019, Ryan Saavedra published the article “Calls Grow To Remove Obama’s U.S. Ambassador To Ukraine” in The Daily Wire.
The same day, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: “We need more Richard Grenell’s and less of these jokers as ambassadors. Calls Grow To Remove Obama’s U.S. Ambassador To Ukraine”.
On March 27, 2019, Kent sent an e-mail to colleagues about Prosector General Yuriy Lutsenko’s claim about the untouchables list.
“Olga Lautman, an investigator covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, told Newsweek that Lutsenko recently met with Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani in Washington, and that the efforts to create a narrative about people in Ukraine working to help Clinton and hurt Trump was coordinated with Republican leaders.” — Newsweek
At some point before April 2019, Marcus Cohen met with Zelenskyy’s campaign chairman, Ivan Bakanov, through a friend of a friend, then met with Zelenskyy at the campaign headquarters during the presidential campaign.
In spring 2019, Alexander Vindman became concerned about people attempting to create a “false narrative” about Ukraine.
“His heritage gave Colonel Vindman, who is fluent in both Ukrainian and Russian, unique insight into Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign; on numerous occasions, Ukrainian officials sought him out for advice about how to deal with Mr. Giuliani.” — The New York Times
In April 2019, Giuliani met with Prosecutor General Lutsenko.
“Giuliani told Newsweek that he last met with Lutsenko six weeks ago. ‘I have met with him. I interviewed him for two days in New York. I met with him once in Poland… and I may have met with him one other time in America, I don’t remember,’ Giuliani told Newsweek. ‘I may have just gotten coffee with him sometime when he was here.’” — Newsweek
The same month, Patel became involved in Ukraine-related issues while at the National Security Council.
“Patel said he was ‘never a back channel to President Trump on Ukraine matters, at all, ever. Never — no meetings, no shuttling of documents, no meetings in secret. Never happened. I have no idea where they got that from.’
And Patel, asked whether he has ever discussed Ukraine with the president, categorically denied this was the case.
‘Absolutely not. Not ever,’ he said.” — CBS News
In or after April 2019, Fiona Hill was informed by an aide at the White House’s executive secretary’s office that President Trump wanted to speak with Patel as the “Ukraine director” due to documents he had received about Ukraine. Hill raised concerns about Patel’s actions to John Bolton.
Starting on April 3, 2019, lobbyists from Signal Group Consulting LLC (a subsidiary of Wiley Rein), hired by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidential campaign through Marcus Cohen for $70,000.00 of his own money and without the permission of Zelenskyy, met or corresponded with 10 officials of the Trump Administration, which included Alexander Vindman, John Erath, George Kent, Brad Freden and Secretary Perry. Signal Group also contacted members of Congress, media organisations and think tanks.
On April 7, 2019, John Solomon published the article “Ukrainian to US prosecutors: Why don’t you want our evidence on Democrats?” in The Hill, which discussed a conversation Solomon had with Deputy Head of the Prosecutor General’s International Legal Cooperation Department, Kostiantyn Kulyk.
On April 12, 2019, Mark Duffy signed the Foreign Agents Registration Act form for Signal Group Consulting LLC.
The same day, Representative Steny Hoyer and Representative Eliot Engel sent a letter to Secretary Mike Pompeo to request for the United States Department of State to defend Ambassador Yovanovitch.
On April 15, 2019, Signal Group Consulting contacted Vindman via e-mail.
The same day, Bakanov flew to Washington, DC, where Bakanov met with Marcus and other employees of Signal Group Consulting LLC.
On April 16, 2019, Signal Group Consulting held a meeting with George P. Kent, Tyler Brace, Brad Freden, John Cooney, Kimberly Zapfel and Brian Roraff.
The same day, a dozen people attended a meeting, which included Marcus and Ivan Bakanov, which then led to dinner at BLT Prime in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. Bakanov then left Washington, DC.
On April 17, 2019, Signal Group Consulting held a meeting with Vindman, as well as a call and e-mail contact.
The same day, Bakanov then left Washington, DC.
Also on the same day, Fiona Hill held talks in Moscow with numerous Russian officials, which included Yuri Ushakov.
On April 21, 2019, President Trump spoke over the telephone with President-elect Zelenksyy.
On April 25, 2019, President Trump was interviewed by Sean Hannity.
“I would imagine [Barr] would want to see this. It sounds like big stuff, very interesting with Ukraine… but that sounds like big, big stuff and I’m not surprised.” — President Trump on Lutsenko
In late April 2019, Parnas and Fruman travelled to Israel to meet Ihor Kolomoisky, having been introduced through Levin, although the meeting did not go well, as Kolomoisky refused to assist the pair in meeting President-elect Zelenskyy.
In May 2019, Giuliani, Victoria and Parnas started to plan for a visit to Kiev to meet people with insights into the incoming Zelenskky Administration.
The same month, Ulrich Brechbuhl was hired at the United States Department of State as an adviser to Secretary Mike Pompeo.
The same month, President Trump requested that Vice President Pence should not attend the inauguration of President-elect Zelenskyy.
The same month, Alexander Vindman drafted a letter to congratulate President-elect Zelenskyy on his inauguration, which went unsigned by President Trump.
The same month, Parnas and Fruman travelled to Paris to meet with Giuliani and talk with Kholodnytsky.
Also the same month, Fiona Hill started to discuss with colleagues about Patel’s involvement in Ukraine issues and his communications with President Trump. Hill raised issues about Patel to Charles Kutterman, and removed Patel from e-mail distribution lists while warning her office to be careful with Patel despite never speaking with him.
“To the contrary, the spokesperson continued, Hill ‘testified she had been informed that Patel was providing information to the President on Ukraine as part of an alternate channel, and this call took place right around that time. If the White House had exculpatory documents of any kind, they would have turned them over instead of refusing to comply with our lawful and duly authorized subpoenas.’” — CBS News
In early May 2019, the United States Embassy in Kiev, which included Ambassador Yovanovitch, were informed that President Zelenskyy was looking for advice on how to handle President Trump and the upcoming 2020 presidential election. This led to three separate briefings with United States Department of State officials in Kiev and Washington, which included notes circulating between them.
Before May 7, 2019, Amos Hochstein informed Ambassador Yovanovitch of his reasons for attending a meeting on May 7 with President Zelenskyy.
On May 7, 2019, President Zelenskyy met with two top aides, Andriy Kobolyev and Amos Hochstein, which led to a conversation about their issues dealing with the White House.
After the May 7 meeting, Hochstein briefed Suriya Jayanti and Joseph Pennington about President Zelenskyy’s concerns, then travelled to Washington to meet Ambassador Yovanovitch. Before this meeting, Ambassador Yovanovitch had been recalled back to Washington.
“Hochstein, a former diplomat who advised Biden on Ukraine matters during the Obama administration, has also not been questioned in the impeachment proceedings.” — The Associated Press
The same day, May 7, Josh Rogin published the article “U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is recalled after becoming a political target” in The Washington Post, which was a choice by Ambassador Yovanovitch.
“According to an internal State Department management notice that I obtained, U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch will leave her post permanently on May 20, with no replacement in place and no nominations to fill that position. ‘We expect the Department to appoint a long-term Chargé d’Affaires to lead the mission until a new Chief of Mission is nominated and confirmed,’ said the notice, which was sent to all mission personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev. Incoming Deputy Chief of Mission Kristina Kvien plans to arrive in Kiev on May 28, and Joseph Pennington will continue to serve as chargé d’affaires and acting deputy chief through the transition period, the notice said.”
[…]
“… Another administration official said that Yovanovitch was given a choice whether to stay until July or leave early and she chose to leave early, due to ongoing political attacks.”— The Washington Post
On May 8, 2019, Abigail Tracy published the article “‘There Is No Other Reason’: Sources Blame the White House, and a Fox News-Fueled Conspiracy Theory, For the Sudden Ouster of Masha Yovanovitch” in Vanity Fair.
On May 9, 2019, Kenneth P. Vogel, with contributions from Zach Montague, published the article “Rudy Giuliani Plans Ukraine Trip to Push for Inquiries That Could Help Trump” in The New York Times.
On May 10, 2019, Giuliani announced that he had cancelled his planned trip to Kiev.
“I’m, convinced from what I’ve heard from two very reliable people tonight that the president [Zelenskyy] is surrounded by people who were enemies of the president [Trump], and people who are — at least [in] one case — clearly corrupt and involved in this scheme.” — Rudy Giuliani
The same day, Giuliani and Patel had a 25-minute telephone conversation. Giuliani then contacted an unidentified number for 17 minutes, then contacted Lev Parnas.
On May 11, 2019, Anna Nemtsova published the article “Ukrainians Slam Rudy Giuliani’s ‘Shameful Play’ to Meddle in Their Politics” in The Daily Beast.
The same day, Anton Troianovski, Josh Dawsey and Paul Sonne, with contributions from David L. Stern and Matt Viser, published the article “Trump’s interest in stirring Ukraine investigations sows confusion in Kiev” in The Washington Post.
Between May 13–19, 2019, Giuliani met with Andrii Telizhenko in New York for a few hours, where they discussed Washington and Ukraine.
Around May 14, 2019, President Trump apparently requested for Vice President Mike Pence to cancel a planned trip to Ukraine to attend the inauguration of President-elect Zelenskyy, although the trip was never officially scheduled.
On May 14, 2019, Serhiy Leshchenko claimed that Prosecutor General Lutsenko had deliberately lied to Giuliani.
“Ukrainian MP Serhiy Leshchenko claims that Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko deliberately lied to US President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on the ‘state of cases that are connected to [former head of Trump’s election campaign Paul] Manafort, the United States,’ and others.
Leshchenko, who was named by Giuliani as one of the people who made him cancel his Ukraine visit, told Hromadske that there was a conspiracy between Lutsenko and Poroshenko Bloc’s MP Boryslav Rozenblat in favor of the Republican party in the U.S., ahead of the 2020 presidential election, where Trump plans to run for the second term.” — Hromadske
The same day, Dmitry Anopchenko posted on Facebook an interview he had with Giuliani.
DMITRY ANOPCHENKO: “Mr. Giuliani, can you confirm that the visit to Ukraine was planned and really was cancelled? What are the reasons?”
RUDY GIULIANI: “I really was going to Ukraine on Monday-Wednesday, but cancelled the trip because I found that the president-elect was surrounded by people who have a history of dishonesty with the US president, in particular, the events in 2016 were discussed. One of them was convicted of illegally promoting and assisting in the election campaign of the opponent of President Trump, Hillary Clinton. And these people are among his key advisers. And when I discovered this, I said it openly. To here, in the United States, understand the situation in Ukraine.
After all, they openly spoke about this! And the president-elect Zelenskyy is now in the hands of people who have seriously opposed President Trump. It was they who organised the leak in the New York Times. They are probably determined to create problems for the President. I previously stated — it would be completely correct if the president-elect organises an investigation — and does it opnely — about, let’s call it, a conspiracy — in which certain Ukrainian officials participated, and to which the Americans were involved, including representatives of the National Committee of the Democratic Party USA, Hillary Clinton, and, unfortunately, our American embassy in Ukraine. They allowed a corrupt exchange of information that harmed candidate Trump and his campaign.”
[…]
RUDY GIULIANI: “I will say clearly: I am not speaking on behalf of the government. What I am saying is not the position of the U.S. government. I am the president’s personal lawyer. In the United States, there is a separation between the President as the head of state, who is represented in his official capacity, and the President, who, like everyone else, is a U.S. citizen and has a right to action — other than those in the official sphere. I represent him personally, I am his personal lawyer.”
[…]
RUDY GIULIANI: “Yes, part of the problem that was created for us here in the USA was the ambassador, who is now suspended. And she was part of all these efforts against the presidency of Trump. About a year ago, one of the congressmen said that she assured Ukrainian officials — they say, impeachment awaits President Trump. And that is a lie. The president is found completely innocent. No ties with the Russians, no evidence that there was anything at all. No evidence of obstruction of justice. And now it’s time to investigate the actions of the Democrats — and how did they create all this? And she was, as they say, ‘on the other side’. There have been cases of providing false information to the Ukrainian authorities. Such opposition to President Trump’s policies!”
In mid-May 2019, the whistleblower, an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, started to be told about concerns with regards to President Trump, Giuliani and Ukraine.
“The whistle-blower was detailed to work at the White House at one point, according to three people familiar with his identity, and has since returned to the C.I.A.
His complaint suggested he was an analyst by training and made clear he was steeped in details of American foreign policy toward Europe, demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of Ukrainian politics and at least some knowledge of the law.” — The New York Times
On May 16, 2019, Daryna Krasnolutska, Kateryna Choursina and Stephanie Baker published the article “Ukraine Prosecutor Says No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Bidens” in Bloomberg, which referenced an interview held by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.
On May 17, 2019, Fruman and Parnas stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Kyiv, Ukraine.
On May 18, 2019, President Trump announced the Presidential delegation to attend the inauguration of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the President of the Ukraine, which was led by Secretary Rick Perry and included Kurt Volker, Gordon D. Sondland, Alexander Vindman and Joseph Pennington.
The same day, Rudy Giuliani tweeted: “An American analyst describes Kolomoisky as ‘super dangerous.’ The notorious oligarch returned from a long exile and immediately threatened and defamed two Americans, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. They are my clients and I have advised them to press charges.”
On May 20, 2019, the inauguration of Zelenskyy occurred in Ukraine.
The same day, Ambassador Yovanovitch was removed from her position.
At some stage, President Trump had a telephone call with Ambassador Gordon Sondland, where they apparently discussed Joe Biden, which was witnessed by Jayanti, David Holmes and Tara Maher.
On May 21, 2019, the lobbying efforts of Signal Group on behalf of the Zelenskyy campaign came to an end.
The same day, a dinner was hosted at the BLT in Trump Hotel, which was attended by Ambassador Ric Grenell, Representative Lee Zeldin, Monica Crowley, Tony Sayegh, Joshua Steinman and Kash Patel.
At some stage, John Bolton and Secretary Perry started their attempts to convince President Trump to speak with President Zelenskyy to work as a counterweight to Russia.
On May 23, 2019, the Committee On Appropriations discussed the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, as well as the recommendation of $250,000,000 in funding for the 2019 fiscal year.
“The Committee recommendation provides $250,000,000 for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, the same as the fiscal year 2019 enacted level. The Committee urges the new Government of Ukraine to implement additional reforms, including measures to combat corruption. The Committee directs the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to the congressional defense committes not later than 90 days after the enactment of this Act on the status of reforms in the security sector and efforts to reduce corruption in the security services, including through assistance programs provided in this Act.” — Committee On Appropriations
The same day, the Trump Administration informed Congressional officials that tranches of military aid to Ukraine would be released.
Also the same day, Secretary Perry, Volker and Ambassador Sondland met with President Trump in the Oval Office to discuss their impression of President Zelenskyy, where President Trump requested for the three to speak with Giuliani about Ukraine.
On May 25, 2019, Josh Dawsey and David L. Stern, with contributions from Paul Sonne, published the article “Giuliani meets with former diplomat as he continues to press Ukraine inquiries” in The Washington Post.
On May 28, 2019, Kvien arrived in Kiev, Ukraine.
In late May 2019, Giuliani mentioned George Kent and Ambassador Yovanovitch by name during an interview.
On May 29, 2019, the Atlantic Council invited Thomas Eager, a fellow of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, to join staffers for a future Ukraine trip.
On May 30, 2019, Giuliani was interviewed by Sean Hannity on “Hannity”, where he accused Joe Biden of bribery.
“How bout the $5 million from one of the most crooked people in the Ukraine? While Joe is doling out the money to the Ukraine? And then Joe bribes the president of the Ukraine. He says ‘you have six hours, fire the prosecutor that’s investigating his son, or I’m leaving with America’s money.’ The money that would have the country go under. Remember, it was not just 1.2 billion. They were going to default without that 1.2 billion. They were desperate!” — Rudy Giuliani
On June 1, 2019, Ukraine’s Presidential press service released a press statement which stated that President Zelenskyy had received an invitation to visit Washington from President Trump.
On June 7, 2019, President Trump tweeted: “John Solomon: Factual errors and major omissions in the Mueller Report show that it is totally biased against Trump.”
On June 9, 2019, Lachlan Markay published the article “Trumpworld Lobbyists Cut Check to Giuliani’s Ukraine ‘Investigator’” in The Daily Beast.
In mid-June 2019, the White House asked officials of the Trump Administration about the military assistance to Ukraine.
On June 18, 2019, the United States Department of Defense published the press release “DOD Announces $250M to Ukraine”.
The same day, Josh Rogin published the article “Bolton moves to promote loyalists at the National Security Council” in The Washington Post.
Also on the same day, Laura K. Cooper received three questions from the White House in relation to the Ukrainian aid, which acted as a follow-up to the mid-June meeting:
- Which American industries were involved in the aid?
- What other countries were contributing to Ukraine?
- Which government agencies provided the funding?
Again, on the same day, William Taylor replaced Kristina Kvien as the Acting United States Ambassador to Ukraine.
“The veteran diplomat said that soon after arriving in Kyiv, he became concerned ‘our relationship with Ukraine was being fundamentally undermined by an irregular informal channel of US policymaking, and by the withholding of vital security assistance for domestic political reasons’.
Taylor said this irregular channel was run by Trump through several emissaries: the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, the departing energy secretary, Rick Perry, the ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, and the special Ukraine envoy, Kurt Volker.” — The Guardian
And also on the same day, Fiona Hill and Ambassador Sondland discussed Ambassador Sondland’s orders due to his role in Ukraine, to which Ambassador Sondland said his orders came from President Trump.
AND ON THE SAME DAY, Peter Baker tweeted: “Fiona Hill, the top Russia and Europe adviser at Trump’s NSC, will be stopping down at the end of August. A longtime Brookings scholar, she had committed to staying two years and will end up leaving after nearly 2–1/2.”
Baker later tweeted: “She will be replaced by Tim Morrison, who joined the NSC last year as adviser for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense. Trump hopes to shift the relationship with Russia to talk more about arms control, including a possible US-Russia-China treaty to replace the defunct INF.”
On June 27, 2019, Ambassador Sondland contacted Ambassador Taylor via telephone to discuss the potential of a Trump-Zelenskyy meeting at the White House.
On June 28, 2019, Ambassador Taylor, Ambassador Sondland, Volker and Secretary Perry spoke over telephone to prepare for a conference call with President Zelenskyy, and Ambassador Sondland ordered for the support staff of the United States Department of State to remain off the phone to keep the conversation unmonitored and untranscribed.
“Mr. Giuliani said he briefed State Department officials on the back-channel communications. They were arranged with assistance from the State Department, including Kurt D. Volker, the United States envoy to settlement talks in Ukraine’s war with Russia, who met at the White House with Mr. Yermak, another Ukrainian official and top Trump administration officials.” — The New York Times
In the summer of 2019, officials at the Pentagon warned the White House that delay of Ukrainian security assistance could be an issue.
Ukraine requested from the United States the sale of the Javelin missile system to themselves.
Laura K. Cooper was also contacted by two separate Ukrainian diplomats about the frozen military aid before the freeze was publicly announced.
In July 2019, Volker informed Kent that he was in touch with Giuliani about Ukraine.
The same month, Andriy Yermak, dispatched by President Zelenskyy, visited Washington and met separately with Volker and Representative Hoyer’s Congressional staff, where Yermak informed the staff that the Ukrainian Parliament would need a new Prosecutor General installed before any investigations could take place.
Between July 2–4, 2019, the Ukraine Reform Conference was hosted at Ukraine House in Toronto, Canada, and was attended by George Kent and Kurt Volker, who discussed Volker’s decision to speak with President Zelenskyy privately. Volker met with Andriy Yermak, where they discussed investigation former President Poroshenko and a potential meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy.
On July 3, 2019, Alexander Vindman learned of the freeze on the Ukrainian military aid.
On July 9, 2019, President Trump tweeted: “‘The reality is that this was a plot from the very beginning to frame Trump….’ Rudy Giuliani”.
On July 10, 2016, John Bolton, Ambassador Sondland, Kurt Volker, Fiona Hill and Secretary Perry met with two senior Ukrainian officials (Oleksandr Danylyuk and Andriy Yermak) in the West Wing, with Vindman in attendance, where Bolton and Ambassador Sondland exchanged words. During a debriefing later the day attended by Vindman, Ambassador Sondland discussed potential investigations into Burisma with the Ukrainian officials downstairs, and mentioned Giuliani. Fiona Hill walked into the event and informed Ambassador Sondland to stop pursuing the issue. Vindman then reported the incident to Eisenberg on the day, while Fiona reported it later to Bolton and, on the orders of Bolton, reported it to Eisenberg, where she specifically reported on Ambassador Sondland, Giuliani and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
“‘I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up,’ Mr. Bolton, a Yale-trained lawyer, told Ms. Hill to tell White House lawyers, according to two people at the deposition. (Another person in the room initially said Mr. Bolton referred to Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Mulvaney, but two others said he cited Mr. Sondland.)” — The New York Times
On July 11, 2019, Secretary Rick Perry tweeted: “Productive discussion at the White House with Ambassador John Bolton, Ambassador Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker and RNBO Chair Oleksander Danylyuk today about opportunities for increased energy security cooperation with Ukraine under the Zelenskyy Administration.”
Before mid-July (and July 18), President Trump ordered Acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney to withhold $400 million in military aid for Ukraine as he had concerns over how the money was being spent.
On July 15, 2019, Mark Duffy signed the Foreign Agents Registration Act form for Signal Group Consulting LLC.
The same day, Fiona Hill passed on her duties to her successor, Tim Morrison.
The same day, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Danyliuk concluded his visit to the United States, where he had met with Bolton, Keith Kellogg, Kurt Volker, Fiona Hill, Stephen Hadley and Secretary Rick Perry.
In mid-July 2019, the analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency learned that military aid to Ukraine had been suspended.
On July 18, 2019, an interagency meeting was held, which included Ambassador Taylor, the Office of Management and Budget, the United States Department of State, the Pentagon and National Security Council officials, when the Office of Management and Budget informed the United States Department of State and the Pentagon via video call that military aid has been withheld on President Trump’s orders.
On July 19, 2019, Fiona Hill left her position at the National Security Council before her scheduled leaving date in August 2019.
The same day, Giuliani and Volker met with each other for breakfast, where Volker then texted to Giuliani: “Mr Mayor — really enjoyed breakfast this morning. As discussed, connecting you here with Andrey Yermak, who is very close to President Zelensky. I suggest we schedule a call together on Monday — maybe 10am ot 11am Washington time? Kurt.”
On July 22, 2019, Michael Sallah, Tanya Kozyreva and Aubrey Belford published the article “Two Unofficial US Operatives Reporting To Trump’s Lawyer Privately Lobbied A Foreign Government In A Bid To Help The President Win In 2020” in BuzzFeed News, which featured an interview with Parnas (“one of a series of interviews, near his home in Boca Raton”).
On the same day, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project published the article “Meet the Florida Duo Helping Giuliani Investigate for Trump in Ukraine”, which was done in collaboration with BuzzFeed News.
Between July 22–26, 2019, Kurt Volker and Ambassador Sondland travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine.
On July 23, 2019, an interagency meeting was held as a follow-up to the previous meeting on July 18 about Ukrainian military aid, which was attended by George Kent and Laura Cooper, where Cooper warned about the fiscal year deadline on September 30.
On July 24, 2019, President Trump tweeted: “Jay Sekulow and Rudy Giuliani on Sean Hannity moments ago…”
By late July 2019, the relationship of John Bolton and President Trump was strained.
Before July 25, 2019, Alexander Vindman became concerned about Trump Administration officials “pressuring” Zelenskyy to investigate Biden.
On July 25, 2019, a White House operator patched President Trump through to President Zelenskyy and, after 09:00 A.M. ET, President Trump and President Zelenskyy held a call with each other which was not viewed as highly sensitive. President Trump, at the time, was located in the third-floor White House residence. The call was listened to by a number of aides in the White House Situation Room or on their own lines, which included Secretary Mike Pompeo, Rob Blair, Keith Kellogg, Tim Morrison, Alexander Vindman and an interpreter at the United States Department of State fluent in Ukrainian providing real-time translations, as well as a duty officer from the Situation Room taking notes, which would be paired with a log of the call using voice recognition software.
George Kent was not on the call, neither was Vice President Mike Pence and neither was the whistleblower.
The call ended at 09:33 A.M.
“The call ended at 9:33 a.m. Over the next 24 hours, a climate of fear and suspicion descended on the White House, as Vindman and others who had either listened to the call or learned about it indirectly raised alarms with lawyers, senior officials including Bolton, as well as peers from the State Department and the CIA.” — The Washington Post
After July 25, 2019, Vindman spoke with his brother, Evgeny, who also served as a lawyer handling ethics issues for the National Security Council, and then brought him to meet with John Eisenberg, the top lawyer for the National Security Council.
“Colonel Vindman was concerned after he learned that the White House budget office had taken the unusual step of withholding the $391 million package of security assistance for Ukraine that had been approved by Congress. At least one previous witness has testified that Mr. Trump directed that the aid be frozen until he could secure a commitment from Mr. Zelensky to announce an investigation of the Bidens.” — The New York Times
After July 25, 2019, a national security official informed the national security lawyers at the White House about their concerns over the Trump-Zelenskyy telephone call. The national security lawyers then ordered for the call transcript to be moved to a highly classified server reserved for code-word classified material.
Aides then discussed how to inform the United States Department of Justice about their concerns over the Trump-Zelenskyy call.
One and a half hours after the call ended, President Trump and Eric Trump left the White House to visit the Pentagon for an event.
“The intelligence officer who filed a whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s interactions with the leader of Ukraine raised alarms not only about what the two men said in a phone call, but also about how the White House handled records of the conversation, according to two people briefed on the complaint.” — The New York Times
On July 26, 2019, Volker, David Holmes Ambassador Sondland arrived in Kiev, Ukraine to discuss with Ukrainian officials their relationship with President Trump, which included a direct meeting with President Zelenskyy.
The same day, Ambassador Sondland contacted President Trump via telephone while in a restaurant, when President Trump asked about the investigation and President Zelenskyy.
Ambassador Sondland also spoke with Radio Liberty about the Trump-Zelenskyy call after he had met with President Zelenskyy.
“Yesterday, President Zelensky had quite a long [telephone] conversation with President Trump, they got acquainted. I spoke with both of them before and after this conversation. The conversation was very successful. They found a common language immediately. President Trump invited Zelensky to visit the White House in the timeline suitable for both parties in the near future.” — Ambassador Sondland
Also on the same day, a White House official contacted the analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency to discuss the Trump-Zelenskyy call, to which the analyst wrote a memo about the call.
“The day after Trump’s conversation with Zelensky, the CIA analyst spoke by phone with a highly agitated official at the White House. The official was ‘shaken by what had transpired and seemed keen to inform a trusted colleague,’ the analyst noted in a memo he wrote to record the conversation.”
The White House official described the Trump call as ‘crazy,’ ‘frightening’ and ‘completely lacking in substance related to national security.’ The official said he had already raised the matter with White House lawyers, convinced that Trump had ‘clearly committed a criminal act.’” — The Washington Post
And, again, on the same day, officials under Secretary Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and John Bolton pushed for the release of military aid for Ukraine, with the Office of Management and Budget declining.
At some stage after July 26, 2019, Senator Rob Portman and Senator James Inhofe contacted President Trump directly to discuss the freeze on Ukrainian military aid.
Between July 26–August 4, 2019, the whistleblower provided his accusation of President Trump’s abuse of power anonymously to Courtney Simmons Elwood, the Central Intelligence Agency’s general counsel.
“The week after the call, the officer delivered a somewhat broad accusation anonymously to the C.I.A.’s general counsel, Courtney Simmons Elwood, according to multiple people familiar with the events. The initial allegations reported only that serious questions existed about a phone call between Mr. Trump and a foreign leader.
As required by government policy, Ms. Elwood had to assess whether a ‘reasonable basis’ for the accusation existed. During the preliminary inquiry, Ms. Elwood and a career C.I.A. lawyer learned that multiple people had raised concerns about Mr. Trump’s call.
Ms. Elwood also called John A. Eisenberg, a deputy White House counsel and her counterpart at the National Security Council, according to three people familiar with the matter. He was already aware of vague concerns about the call.
Ms. Elwood, Mr. Eisenberg and their deputies spoke multiple times the following week. They decided that the accusations had a reasonable basis.” — The New York Times
At some point after the whistleblower-Elwood contact, the whistleblower became concerned about Elwood contacting the White House about the allegations. The analyst then reached out to an official on the House Intelligence Committee, who recommended he contact a lawyer. The analyst spoke with a national security law attorney and a personal friend in a coffee shop, when the lawyer redirected the analyst to Andrew Bakaj. The friend deleted a calendar event with the analyst’s name in it afterward.
“But as White House, C.I.A. and Justice Department officials were examining the accuscations, the C.I.A. officer who had lodged them anonymously grew concerned after learning that Ms. Elwood had contacted the White House, according to two people familiar with the matter. While it is not clear how the officer became aware that Ms. Elwood had shared the information, he concluded that the C.I.A. was not taking his allegations seriously.” — The New York Times
Within one week after July 25, 2019, the conversations between the National Security Council staffers escalated to the top lawyer at the Central Intelligence Agency raising their issues to John Eisenberg, the top lawyer of the National Security Council. Eisenberg then started to investigate the call.
“Instead, the officer heard about the call secondhand from unidentified White House officials who expressed concern that Mr. Trump had ‘abused his authority or acted unlawfully in connection with foreign diplomacy,’ the memo said. Still, Mr. Atkinson concluded after an investigation that the information in the complaint was credible.”
[…]
“After hearing about the July call, the intelligence officer agreed that Mr. Trump might be ‘seeking to pressure that leader to take an action to help the President’s 2020 re-election campaign,’ Mr. Engel wrote, and decided to tell Congress about it, using a process that protects intelligence whistleblowers from reprisal
That process requires complaints to go through the inspector general and intelligence director. It says if the inspector general deems a complaint to be credible and present an urgent concern, the intelligence director shall send it to Congress within seven days.” — The New York Times
The transcript of the Trump-Zelenskyy call was finalised by the National Security Council staffers, having circulated around a small group of officials, which included the National Security Adviser, the Deputy National Security Adviser, members of the National Security Council’s executive secretariat and the lawyers.
Vindman then reviewed the transcript for accuracy, which led to it reaching Bolton and Charlie Kupperman.
Within a few days, a lawyer for the National Security Council, acting on Eisenberg’s orders, directed National Security Council officials to move the transcript to he highly classified server reserved for code-word classified material. President Trump was unaware of all these events.
“From the moment he learned about President Trump’s attempts to extract political dirt on former vice president Joe Biden from the newly elected leader of Ukraine on July 25, the CIA officer behind the whistleblower report moved swiftly behind the scenes to assemble material from at least a half-dozen highly placed — and equally dismayed — U.S. officials.
He wove their accounts with other painstakingly gathered material on everything from the intervention of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani in the U.S.-Ukraine relationship to the alleged efforts by American diplomats sent to Kiev and attorneys in the Office of the White House Counsel to contain or suppress the accruing damge.” — The Washington Post“The White House learned that a C.I.A. officer had lodged allegations against President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine even as the officer’s whistle-blower complaint was moving through a process meant to protect him against reprisals, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The officer first shared information about potential buse of power and a White House cover-up with the C.I.A.’s top lawyer through an anonymous process, some of the people said. The lawyer shared the officer’s concerns with White House and Justice Department officials, following policy. Around the same time, the officer separately filed the whistle-blower complaint.” — The New York Times
On July 31, 2019, Betsy Swan published the article “Nunes Ally Kash Patel Who Fought Russia Probe Gets Senior White House National Security Job” in The Daily Beast, which detailed Patel receiving the position of Senior Director of the Counterterrorism Directorate at the National Security Council by John Bolton.
“Under Mr. Bolton’s watch, Mr. Patel was later given a more senior role in the counterterrorism directorate. That fit more directly with his background as a onetime federal counterterrorism prosecutor, but some officials said Mr. Patel was promoted to a senior director position unusually quickly.” — The New York Times
After July 31, 2019, Patel became involved with Ukraine issues separately to the National Security Council and to Giuliani. At some stage, Patel created documents in relation to the subject, which eventually reached President Trump.
“Colleagues there initially questioned the role of Mr. Patel, who took few notes in meetings and had little expertise for his initial portfolio, which covered the United Nations. Within months, senior White House officials began to suspect he had won Mr. Trump’s ear and had effectively created a back channel to the president that could warp American policy, according to congressional testimony and interviews.
Any involvement by Mr. Patel in Ukraine issues would signal another attempt by Mr. Trump’s political loyalists to go around American policymakers to shape policy toward Kiev. It was separate, two of the people said, from the irregular, informal channel led by the president’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and Gordon D. Sondland, the American ambassador to the European Union, that is the subject of House Democrats’ impeachment investigation.” — The New York Times
In August 2019, Giuliali spoke over the phone and held an in-person meeting in Madrid with a representative of President Zelenskyy, Andriy Yermak, to push investigations into Ukraine’s meddling in the 2016 United States presidential election and the connections between Hunter Biden and Burisma Holding.
The same month, Representative Adam Schiff hired Sean Misko.
Since early August 2019, Vindman was excluded from numerous meetings and events, including diplomatic trips to Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.
In early August 2019, an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency learned about the Trump-Zelenskyy call and remained at Langley Headquarters overtime and began work on collating information from various people to form the whistleblower complaint, which lasted two weeks.
“The lights are often on late into the evening at CIA headquarters, where a team of elite analysts works on classified reports that influence how the country responds to global crises.
In early August, one of those analysts was staying after hours on a project with even higher stakes. For two weeks, he pored over notes of alarming conversations with White House officials, reviewed details from interagency memos on the U.S. relationship with Ukraine and scanned public statements by President Trump.” — The Washington Post
On August 2, 2019, Giuliani travelled to Madrid, Spain and met with Yermak, where Giuliani requested for a public statement to be made announcing the investigations by the Ukrainian Government.
On August 3, 2019, President Zelenskyy stated to Interfax-Ukraine that he expected to meet with President Trump in Washington in September.
On August 7, 2019, Marcus Cohen interviewed with RadioFreeEurope.
On August 8, 2019, Christopher Miller published the article “Exclusive: Enigmatic Attorney Says He Hired D.C. Lobbyists For Zelenskiy ‘Out Of Good Will’ — And Out Of His Own Pocket” in RadioFreeEurope.
On August 9, 2019, President Trump hosted a chopper presser outside of the White House, where he said he expected to invite President Zelenskyy to the White House as he had already been invited.
REPORTER: “Do you plan to invite him to the White House? And what would be your advice for him on how to communicate with Vladimir Putin to stop the conflict in Eastern Ukraine?”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “I think he’s going to make a deal with President Putin, and he will be invited to the White House. And we look forward to seeing him. He’s already been invited to the White House, and he wants to come. And I think he will. He’s a very reasonable guy. He wants to see peace in Ukraine. And I think he will be coming very soon, actually.”
Around August 9, 2019, Ukrainian officials became concerned that something had happened to the military aid.
On August 12, 2019, the whistleblower sent a letter to Senator Richard Burr and Representative Adam Schiff.
“Over the past four months, more than half a dozen U.S. officials have informed me of various facts related to this effort. The information provided herein was relayed to me in the course of official interagency business. It is routine for U.S. officials with responsibility for a particular regional or functional portfolio to share such information with one another in order to inform policymaking and analysis.
I was not a direct witness to most of the events described. However, I found my colleagues’ accounts of these events to be credible because, in almost all cases, multiple officials recounted fact patterns that were consistent with one another. In addition, a variety of information consistent with these private accounts has been reported publicly.” — Whistleblower Letter
After August 12, 2019, at some stage, the whistleblower and multiple other witnesses were interviewed by Inspector General Michael Atkinson.
“Mr. Atkinson also found reason to believe that the whistleblower may not support the re-election of Mr. Trump and made clear that the complainant was not in a position to directly listen to the call or see the memo that reconstructed it before it was made public, according to the Justice Department memo, which referred only to a single phone call between Mr. Trump and an unnamed foreign leader.”
[…]
“In explaining his interpretation of the whistleblower law, Mr. Engel also noted that Mr. Atkinson had found unspecified indications of ‘an arguable political bias,’ suggesting the whistleblower favored a rival political candidate, the memo said.” — The New York Times
On August 14, 2019, Elwood and Eisenberg spoke with John Demers at the United States Department of Justice about the whistleblower complaint.
On August 15, 2019, Demers visited the White House and read the transcript of the Trump-Zelenskyy call. Demers then briefed Jeffrey Rosen and Brian Benczkowski about the call.
Around August 15, 2019, Attorney General William Barr became aware of the whistleblower allegations, as he was briefed on the subject. Elwood and Eisenberg later learned about the official whistleblower complaint.
By mid-August 2019, lawmakers became aware of the Office of Management and Budget’s control over the military aid for Ukraine, having taken it from the United States Department of State and the United States Department of Defense.
In mid-August 2019, Alexander Vindman drafted a memorandum to restart security aid for Ukraine, which went unsigned by President Trump.
On August 21, 2019, Kenneth P. Vogel and Andrew E. Kramer published the article “Giuliani Renews Push for Ukraine to Investigate Trump’s Political Opponents” in The New York Times.
“Mr. Giuliani’s efforts have inflamed the situation, said several government officials who handle foreign policy in the United States and Ukraine. Speaking anonymously to avoid running afoul of Mr. Trump or his allies, they blamed Mr. Giuliani for complicating efforts to arrange a visit by Mr. Zelensky to the White House, and for creating a perception that such a meeting would be contingent upon the new Ukrainian government demonstrating support for the investigations.” — The New York Times
On August 22, 2019, staff members at the United States Senate questioned officials from the United States Department of State and the United States Department of Defense during a briefing about the military aid freeze, as they had heard rumours that the freeze was connected to Hunter Biden around this time.
On August 24, 2019, Thomas Eager, a staff member for Representative Adam Schiff, flew to Ukraine on a trip sponsored by the Atlantic Council.
On August 25, 2019, Eager met with Ambassador Taylor, where Ambassador Taylor briefed Eager on Ukraine and its relationship with the United States.
On August 26, 2019, Inspector General Atkinson submitted the whistleblower complaint to Acting Director Maguire.
“After fielding the complaint on Aug. 12, Atkinson submitted it to Maguire two weeks later. By law, Maguire is required to transmit such complaints to Congress within seven days. But in this case, he refrained from doing so after turning for legal guidance to officials at the Justice Department.” — The Washington Post
On August 27, 2019, Bolton met with President Zelenskyy in Kiev, Ukraine.
On August 28, 2019, Caitlin Emma and Connor O’Brien, with contributions from Natasha Bertrand, published the article “Trump holds up Ukraine military aid meant to confront Russia” in Politico.
“President Donald Trump asked his national security team to review the funding program, known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, in order to ensure the money is being used in the best interest of the United States, a senior administration official told POLITICO on Wednesday.” — Politico
The same day, Representative Adam Schiff tweeted: “Trump is withholding vital military aid to Ukraine, while his personal lawyer seeks help from the Ukraine government to investigate his political opponent. It doesn’t take a stable genius to see the magnitude of this conflict. Or how destructive it is to our national security.”
On August 29, 2019, aides at the United States Congress were informed of the freeze on military aid for Ukraine.
At the end of August 2019, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred the whistleblower allegations to the United States Department of Justice as a possible criminal matter, although the investigation was declined.
On August 31, 2019, the inner circle of President Zelenskyy learned of the suspension of military aid for Ukraine due to the Politico article published on August 28.
The same day, Eager left Ukraine.
In September 2019, Ambassador Taylor claimed to Kent that President Trump wanted President Zelenskyy to walk up to a microphone and announce an investigation into Joe Biden.
On September 1, 2019, Vice President Pence and Ambassador Sondland met with President Zelenskyy and aides in Poland. Ambassador Sondland met with a Zelenskyy adviser to discuss the Burisma investigation, which was later discovered by Ambassador Taylor.
The same day, Ambassador Taylor texted Ambassador Sondland: “Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?”
In early September 2019, Inspector General Atkinson revealed the existence of the whistleblower complaint to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
Also in early September 2019, officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation received their own copy of the whistleblower complaint, which led to the Federal Bureau of Investigation becoming concerned over Giuliani, Parnas and Froman’s actions and whether they had been manipulated by Russian interests.
“There were ‘guys who wanted to run with it,’ said the former senior official. ‘People were pissed off’.
Others in the FBI were wary and ‘didn’t want to touch [the whistleblower complaint] with a 10-foot pole because of the Russia investigation,’ saiud this former senior official.” — Yahoo! News
Also in early September 2019, Senator Chris Murphy visited Ukraine, where he met with various officials.
“Zelensky’s ‘entire’ administration was concerned ‘that the aid that was being cut off to Ukraine by the president was a consequence for their unwillingness, at the time, to investigate the Bidens,’ Murphy said, citing his interactions with numerous Ukrainian officials during an early September trip there. Murphy said he heard ‘directly’ from Zelensky about ‘his concern about why the aid was being cut off to Ukraine,’ though the Ukraine’s new president did not specifically broach the subject of a quid pro quo.” — The Washington Post
On September 3, 2019, Engel wrote a memo in relation to the whistleblower complaint for the United States Department of Justice.
On September 7, 2019, President Trump and Ambassador Sondland had a telephone call, when President Trump stated there was no quid pro quo for Ukraine.
On September 9, 2019, Inspector General Atkinson informed the House and Senate Intelligence Committees of the existence of the whistleblower complaint.
The same day, the House Democrats launched an investigation into President Trump and Giuliani to determine whether they had attempted to manipulate the Ukrainian Government over President Trump’s re-election campaign.
The same day, Ambassador Taylor texted to Ambassador Sondland: “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” Ambassador Sondland, in response, contacted President Trump to discuss the subject in the evening.
On September 10, 2019, President Trump tweeted: “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore…”
The same day, Ambassador Sondland texted Ambassador Taylor: “Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The president has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind.”
Before September 11, 2019, President Trump gave permission for Acting Director Russell Voight at the Office of Management and Budget to unfreeze the military aid.
On September 11, 2019, the aid for military assistance was unfrozen by the Trump Administration for Ukraine.
The same day, in the evening, the White House informed Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Durbin that $250 million in military aid for Ukraine would be released.
On September 17, 2019, Inspector General Atkinson sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees about his impasse with Director Maguire over the whistleblower complaint.
On September 18, 2019, Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima and Shane Harris, with contributions from Carol D. Leonnig and Julie Tate, published the article “Trump’s communications with foreign leader are part of whistleblower complaint that spurred standoff between spy chief and Congress, former officials say” in The Washington Post.
“Trump’s interaction wtih the foreign leader included a ‘promise’ that was regarded as so troubling that it prompted an official in the U.S. intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the inspector general of the intelligence community, said the former officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.” — The Washington Post
The same day, John Solomon announced that he was leaving The Hill to found his own media outlet.
On September 19, 2019, Inspector General Michael Atkinson appeared before the House Intelligence Committee for a classified session, where he testified for three hours although he refused to discuss the specifics of the whistleblower complaint further but discussed process.
The same day, Ellen Nakashima, Shane Harris, Greg Miller and Carol D. Leonnig, with contributions from John Wagner, Karoun Demirjian, Robert Costa and Josh Dawsey, published the article “Whistleblower complaint about President Trump involves Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter” in The Washington Post.
“The complaint involved communications with a foreign leader and a ‘promise’ that Trump made, which was so alarming that a U.S. intelligence official who had worked at the White House went to the inspector general of the intelligence community, two former U.S. officials said.” — The Washington Post
On September 23, 2019, Mark Duffy signed an updated Foreign Agents Registration Act form for Signal Group Consulting LLC.
On the same day, Karoun Demirjian, Josh Dawsey, Ellen Nakashima and Carol D. Leonnig, with contributions from Shane Harris, Anne Gearan and Paul Sonne, published the article “Trump ordered hold on military aid days before calling Ukrainian president, officials say” in The Washington Post.
On September 24, 2019, Engel drafted the memo from September 3 for the United States Department of Justice.
The same day, President Trump tweeted: “I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country, but have authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine…”
On September 25, 2019, the White House released the transcript of the call between Trump-Zelenskyy.
“Relying on established procedures set forth in the Justice Manual, the Department’s Criminal Division reviewed the official record of the call and determined, based on the facts and applicable law, that there was no campaign finance violation and that no further action was warranted.” — Kerri Kupec, Justice Department spokesperson
The same day, Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. tweeted: “The trump White House just accidentally sent our office their talking points for deflecting trump’s treachery. They’re complete Orwellian lies and toxic trash, but maybe you’d like to read them to appreciate their corruption! Hazmat suit possibly required.”
The same day, President Trump and President Zelenskyy met with each other and hosted a joint press conference at the United Nations.
On the same day, lawmakers read the whistleblower complaint in the evening, including Representative Adam Schiff and other Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.
On the same day, Charlie Savage, Michael S. Schmidt and Julian Barnes, with contributions from Katie Benner, Nicholas Fandos, Maggie Haberman and Mark Mazzetti, published the article “Whistle-Blower Is Said to Allege Concerns About White House Handling of Ukraine Call” in The New York Times.
On the same day, a GoFundMe was created, with a target of $300,000.00, for both whistleblowers by Whistleblower Aid, signed by John Tye, Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid.
On September 26, 2019, the whistleblower complaint was released.
The same day, Whistleblower Aid tweeted: “We are working with anonymous intelligence officer whistleblower’s legal team to raise money for their defense — please give now, take-deductible…” with a link to the GoFundMe page.
The same day, Andrew Bakaj tweeted: “Please help support the Intelligence Community Whistleblower raise funds via Whistleblower Aid — this is a tax-deductible contribution. My sincerest thank you for your support.”
On September 26, 2019, Greg Miller, with contributions from Greg Jaffe, Ellen Nakashima, Karen DeYoung, Shane Harris and Julie Tate, published the article “Whistleblower painstakingly gathered material and almost single-handedly set impeachment in motion” in The Washington Post.
On the same day, Julian E. Barnes, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldman and Katie Benner published the article “White House Knew of Whistle-Blower’s Allegations Soon After Trump’s Call With Ukraine Leader” in The New York Times.
On the same day, Peter Baker, with contributions from Mark Mazzetti, published the article “In Trump’s Ukraine Phone Call, Alarmed Aides Saw Trouble” in The New York Times.
Also on the same day, President Trump’s private remarks at a private event to thank Ambassador Kelly Craft at the Intercontinental Hotel in New York were revealed by Eli Stokols at The Los Angeles Times in the article “Trump at private event: ‘Who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy’”.
“Basically, that person never saw the report, never saw the call, he never saw the call — heard something and decided that he or she, or whoever the hell they saw — they’re almost a spy. I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.” — President Donald Trump
“A person attending the event provided the Los Angeles Times with a recording of the president’s remarks.” — The Los Angeles Times
On September 29, 2019, President Trump tweeted: “‘This is about proving that Donald Trump was framed by the Democrats.’ @RudyGiuliani”
On September 30, 2019, Lachlan Markay published the article “New Details Emerge on Ukraine’s Trump Admin Lobbying Blitz” in The Daily Beast.
On September 30, 2019, Natasha Bertrand published the article “The Russia Hawk in the White House” in Politico, which was about Fiona Hill.
In October 2019, Laura K. Cooper testified privately to the House Intelligence Committee at the United States House of Representatives.
In early October 2019, internal emails of George Kent or Ambassador Yovanovitch were provided to Inspector General Steve Linick.
On October 3, 2019, the United States Department of State approved the sale of 150 antitank missiles and related support equipment to Ukraine for $39.2 million.
The same day, Jack Posobiec tweeted: “Sounds like Eric Ciaramella by this description” in response to a Paul Sperry tweet: “BREAKING: The whistleblower is a registered Democrat & CIA analyst who detailed before the 2016 election to the Obama White House, where he worked on the NSC’s Ukraine desk & met w anti-Trump Ukrainian officials before sent packing by the Trump NSC & becoming disgruntled”.
On October 5, 2019, Karen Freifeld and Aram Roston published the article “Exclusive: Trump lawyer Giuliani was paid $500,000 to consult on indicted associate’s firm” in Reuters.
On October 6, 2019, Mark Zaid informed ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos that a second intelligence official had spoken with him and had first-hand knowledge of the allegations of the whistleblower letter, and that he had also been interviewed by Inspector General Michael Atkinson.
On October 8, 2019, Pamela Brown, Jeremy Diamond, Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak published the article “Inside the White House’s effort to contain Ukraine call fallout” in CNN.
On October 10, 2019, Rob Crilly, Steven Nelson and David M. Drucker published the article “Joe Biden worked with whistleblower when he was vice president, officials reveal” in Washington Examiner.
On October 12, 2019, President Trump tweeted: “So now they are after the legendary ‘crime buster’ and greatest Mayor in the history of NYC, Rudy Giuliani. He may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he is also a great guy and wonderful lawyer. Such a one sided Witch Hunt going on in USA. Deep State. Shameful!”
On October 14, 2019, Fiona Hill testified privately with the Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence at the United States House of Representatives for over nine hours. During the testimony, Fiona described Sondland as a counterintelligence risk due to repeated usage of his personal cellphone.
The same day, Peter Baker and Nicholas Fandos published the article “Bolton Objected to Ukraine Pressure Campaign, Calling Giuliani ‘a Hand Grenade’” in The New York Times.
Between October 14–26, 2019, an agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office reached out to a lawyer representing the whistleblower as they want to speak with him as a potential witness, not investigate him. The outreach was done without the knowledge of Attorney General William Barr or those close to him. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the whistleblower’s legal team then started to trade messages.
“The source described the interaction between the FBI and the whistleblower’s lawyers as ‘checking the box.’ The agent did not know the identity of the whistleblower and was not asking about threats against them, the source said, adding that it didn’t appear to be an effort to intimidate or expose that person.” — Fox News
“The FBI is interested in the ‘substance’ of the whistleblower’s complaint, said one person familiar with the matter. The complaint centered on a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and concerns that Trump was seeking to pressure Zelensky into opening investigations that would aid Trump’s 2020 reelection effort.
The bureau does not appear to be pursuing a leak investigation, the person said.” — The Washington Post
On October 15, 2019, George Kent testified privately with the Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence, the Committee On Oversight and Reform and the Committee On Foreign Affairs at the United States House of Representatives.
On October 16, 2019, Nicholas Fandos and Adam Goldman, with contributions from Michael S. Schmidt, published the article “Ex-Aide Saw Gordon Sondland as a Potential National Security Risk” in The New York Times.
On October 17, 2019, Acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney hosted a press conference.
The same day, Gordon Sondland testified privately with the House Intelligence Committee at the United States House of Representatives.
On October 21, 2019, Acting Director Vought tweeted: “I saw some Fake News over the weekend to correct. As the WH letter made clear two weeks ago, OMB officials — myself and Mike Duffey — will not be complying with deposition requests this week. #shamprocess”
On October 22, 2019, Mikhaila Fogel published the article “Amb. William Taylor Testifies Before Impeachment Inquiry” in Lawfare, which included his opening statement. As such, Ambassador Taylor testified privately before the House Intelligence Committee at the United States House of Representatives.
On October 23, 2019, Julian E. Barnes, Adam Goldman and Nicholas Fandos, with contributions from Maggie Haberman and Danny Hakim, published the article “White House Aides Feared That Trump Had Another Ukraine Back Channel” in The New York Times, which was about Patel.
The same day, Natasha Bertrand, with contributions from Nahal Toosi, published the article “Nunes protégé fed Ukraine info to Trump” in Politico, which was also about Patel using information gathered from Fiona Hill’s unpublished testimony.
“Hill’s testimony was described to POLITICO by a person with direct knowledge of her recent deposition, and who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the closed-door hearing. Hill declined to comment.” — Politico
On October 25, 2019, Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid published the article “We represent the whistleblower. Their identity is no longer relevant.” in The Washington Post.
On October 28, 2019, Danny Hakim published the article “Army Officer Who Heard Trump’s Ukraine Call Reported Concerns” in The New York Times.
On October 29, 2019, Alexander Vindman testified privately with the Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence at the United States House of Representatives.
“Inside the secure room, known as a SCIF, the atmosphere grew tense, as Republicans questioned Colonel Vindman about his private conversations in what Democrats viewed as an effort to discern the identity of the whistle-blower who prompted the inquiry. The colonel pushed back, participants said, making clear he was unwilling to share such information, especially when it involved members of the intelligence community.” — The New York Times
The same day, Spencer Ackerman, Sam Brodey and Adam Rawnsley published the article “Nunes Aide Is Leaking the Ukraine Whistleblower’s Name, Sources Say” in The Daily Beast, which suggested that Derek Harvey had provided the name of the whistleblower to House Republicans.
Also on the same day, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, with contributions from Danny Hakim and Nicholas Fandos, published the article “Meet Alexander Vindman, the Colonel Who Testified on Trump’s Phone Call” in The New York Times.
On October 30, 2019, Paul Sperry published the article “The Beltway’s ‘Whistleblower’ Furor Obsesses Over One Name” in RealClear Investigation, which was an article about Ciaramella.
Between November 4–10, 2019, a complaint was filed by a top-secret SCI security clearance individual represented by Tully Rinckey PLLC with Inspector General Atkinson, alleging that the whistleblower may have violated federal law by indirectly soliciting over $227,000.00 through GoFundMe.
On November 6, 2019, Ken Dilanian and Robert Windrem published the article “Intel officials want CIA Director Gina Haspel to protect Ukraine whistleblower from Trump” in NBC News.
The same day, Matt Zapotosky, Josh Dawsey and Carol D. Leonnig published the article “Trump wanted Barr to hold news conference saying the president broke no laws in call with Ukrainian leader” in The Washington Post.
On November 7, 2019, President Trump tweeted: “The Amazon Washington Post and three lowlife reporters, Matt Zapotosky, Josh Dawsey, and Carol Leonnig, wrote another Fake News story, without any sources (pure fiction), about Bill Barr & myself. We both deny this story, which they knew before they wrote it. A garbage newspaper!”
The same day, Daniel Chaitin and Jerry Dunleavy published the article “Alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella was Biden guest at State Department banquet” in Washington Examiner.
On November 8, 2019, Facebook announced that it would remove content that aimed to unmask the whistleblower.
The same day, Kyle Cheney and Andrew Desiderio, with contributions from Sarah Ferris, published the article “The unsolved mystery of frozen Ukraine aid” in Politico.
On November 11, 2019, The New York Times published the article “Trump, Ukraine and Impeachment: The Inside Story of How We Got Here”.
The same day, Michael D. Shear and Nicholas Fandos, with contributions from Mark Mazzetti, published the article “Defense Dept. Official Testified Trump Questioned Ukraine Aid in June” in The New York Times.
On November 12, 2019, Rosalind S. Helderman, Matt Zapotosky, Tom Hamburger and Josh Dawsey, with contributions from Deanna Paul, Alice Crites and Anu Narayanswamy, published the article “At donor dinner, Giuliani associate said he discussed Ukraine with Trump, according to people familiar with his account” in The Washington Post.
The same day, President Trump tweeted: “I will be releasing the transcript of the first, and therefore more important, phone call with the Ukrainian President before week’s end!”
The same day, Gregg Re, with contributions from Ronn Blitzer, published the article “ICIG complaint alleges Trump-Ukraine whistleblower may be soliciting illicit donations” in Fox News.
On November 13, 2019, George Kent and Ambassador Bill Taylor appeared for a joint hearing with the House Intelligence Committee.
On November 14, 2019, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced a suspicion of the owner of Burisma, Zlochevsky.
“Last week, November 14, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), unnoticed by the media, announced a new suspicion to the notorious owner of Burisma, ex-Ecology Minister Zlochevsky. According to the suspicion, the Yanukovych family is suspected, in particular, with legalising (laundering) of criminally obtained income through Franklin Templeton Investments, an investment fund carrying out purchases of external government loan bonds totalling $7.4 billion.”
[…]
“The son of Templeton’s founder, John Templeton Jr., was one of President Obama’s major campaign donors. Another fund-related character is Thomas Donilon. Managing Director of BlackRock Investment Institute, shareholder Franklin Templeton Investments, which has the largest share in the fund. It is noteworthy that he previously was Obama’s national security adviser.” — Andriy Derkach
On November 15, 2019, President Trump tweeted: “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavourably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.”
On November 16, 2019, Greg Miller, Greg Jaffe and Paul Sonne, with contributions from Julie Tate and David L. Stern, published the article “How a CIA analyst, alarmed by Trump’s shadow foreign policy, triggered an impeachment inquiry” in The Washington Post.
On November 18, 2019, Desmond Butler and Michael Biesecker published the article “AP Exclusive: US officials knew of Ukraine’s Trump anxiety” in The Associated Press.
The same day, Peter Baker, Catie Edmondson and Nicholas Fandos, with contributions from Michael D. Shear published the article “Ex-Envoy to Testify He Didn’t Know Ukraine Aid Was Tied to Investigations” in The New York Times.
On November 20, 2019, Andriy Derkach and Oleksandr Dubinsky announced during a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency that Burisma and Zlochevsky were being investigated by the Prosecutor General’s Office, where Derkach requested for President Trump and President Zelenskyy to co-operate with each other on the issue.
The same day, Steven Nelson published the article “PHOTO: Alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella shakes hands with Barack Obama in Oval Office” in Washington Examiner.
The same day, Michael Isikoff and Zach Dorfman published the article “FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower” in Yahoo! News.
On December 4, 2019, Kashyap Patel was interviewed by Catherine Herridge at CBS News, where he denied being a back channel to President Trump.
That’s the end of the article, see ya.
