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On October 1, Trump claimed that any attempt to remove him from office would result in a "Civil War-like fracture." He also called for Schiff to be arrested for treason.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-01/donald-trump-tweets-warning-of-civil-war-adam-schiff-treason/11562084|title=Donald Trump retweets pastor's warning of 'civil war-like fracture' as impeachment talks intensify|work=abc.net.au|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=1 October 2019|accessdate=1 October 2019}}</ref>
On October 1, Trump claimed that any attempt to remove him from office would result in a "Civil War-like fracture." He also called for Schiff to be arrested for treason.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-01/donald-trump-tweets-warning-of-civil-war-adam-schiff-treason/11562084|title=Donald Trump retweets pastor's warning of 'civil war-like fracture' as impeachment talks intensify|work=abc.net.au|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=1 October 2019|accessdate=1 October 2019}}</ref>

===U.S. officials===
Secretary of State [[Mike Pompeo]] has accused House Democrats of intimidating and bullying State Department officials.<ref>{{cite news |title=Trump impeachment: Pompeo accuses Democrats of 'bullying' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49899090 |work=BBC News |date=1 October 2019}}</ref>


===Ukraine===
===Ukraine===

Revision as of 14:16, 2 October 2019

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The Trump–Ukraine controversy refers to U.S. President Donald Trump and top administration officials encouraging foreign interference in 2020 American elections for Trump's "own personal political interests."[1][2] It began in the wake of a whistleblower report that alleged an abuse of power by Trump and administration officials in "order to advance his personal interests" before, during and after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.[3][4][5][6] This report was based upon the accounts of more than "half a dozen U.S. officials"[6] and, at least in part, "direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct".[7][8] The allegations were among the most serious ever made against an American president, with historians widely calling it "unprecedented" in American history.[9]

The whistleblower complaint, filed by a CIA officer, alleged that "the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election." According to the whistleblower, Trump used a phone call on July 25, 2019, to repeatedly pressure Zelensky to investigate business dealings of Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and his son Hunter.[10][11][12] Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani repeatedly pressed the Government of Ukraine to do this from May to August 2019. Serhiy Leshchenko, a former advisor to Zelensky and former parliamentary member of the right-wing Democratic Alliance party, stated that it was made a "clear fact" to Ukraine's government that Trump—and the United States by extension—would only remain in communication with them if they discussed a future investigation of the Bidens.[13] At the same time, Trump placed a hold on military aid to Ukraine.[14] As of September 2019, there has been no evidence produced of any wrongdoing by the Bidens.[15]

After Trump spoke on the phone with Zelensky, senior White House officials worked to "lock down" the complete official transcript of the call by removing it from the computer system where presidential call transcripts are typically stored and storing it on a highly restricted computer system.[16][17] It was subsequently revealed that the transcripts of calls with other nations had been placed on the restricted server without valid cause, including that of a call with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in which Trump requested Morrison's assistance in investigating the origins of the Mueller inquiry.[18]

Initially the complaint was withheld from Congress at the direction of the White House and the Department of Justice.[19] By law, such a complaint is supposed to be forwarded to the congressional intelligence committees within seven days. The complaint was released to congressional intelligence committees on September 25, 2019,[20] 30 days after the complaint was filed, and a redacted version of the complaint was made public the next morning.[21]

The controversy helped trigger the commencement of a formal Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump on September 24, 2019, with House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi directing six House committee chairmen to proceed "under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry".[22] Minutes earlier, the Senate had adopted by unanimous consent a sense of the Senate resolution calling for the whistleblower complaint to be immediately transmitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee.[23]

Background

Hunter Biden

The Trump–Ukraine controversy was based on allegations made by U.S. President Donald Trump, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and other Trump allies regarding Trump's potential 2020 presidential election challenger Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden. Despite the allegations, as of September 2019, there has been no evidence produced of any wrongdoing by the Bidens.[15]

In 2014, the Obama administration was trying to support the new post-Maidan Yatsenyuk government in Ukraine diplomatically, and then–Vice-President Joe Biden was "at the forefront" of those efforts.[24] Hunter Biden, Biden's son, joined the board of directors of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company, on April 18, 2014.[25][26][27] Hunter, then an attorney with Boies Schiller Flexner, was hired to help Burisma with "corporate governance best practices," and a consulting firm in which Hunter is a partner was also retained by Burisma.[28][29][25] In a December 2015 interview, Joe Biden said that he had never discussed Hunter's work at Burisma.[30]. Biden traveled to Kiev on April 21, 2014, and urged the Ukraine government "to reduce its dependence on Russia for supplies of natural gas".[31][32] He discussed how the United States could help provide technical expertise for expanding domestic production of natural gas.[31]

Since 2012, the Ukrainian prosecutor general had been investigating Burisma's owner, oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, over allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption.[25] In 2015, Viktor Shokin became the prosecutor general, inheriting the investigation. The Obama administration and other governments and non-governmental organizations soon became concerned that Shokin was not adequately pursuing corruption in Ukraine, was protecting the political elite, and was regarded as "an obstacle to anti-corruption efforts".[33][34] Among other issues, he was slow-walking the investigation into Zlochevsky and Burisma, to the extent that Obama administration officials were considering launching their own criminal investigation into the company for possible money laundering.[25] Shokin has stated he believes he was fired because of his Burisma investigation, where Hunter Biden was allegedly a subject; however, that investigation was dormant at the time Shokin was fired.[35][30] In March 2016 then-vice president Biden issued an ultimatum to the Ukrainian parliament that $1 billion in loan guarantees would be withheld unless Shokin was removed. Shokin was ousted within the month.[36] As of September 2019, there is no evidence that Biden acted to protect his son's involvement with Burisma, although Trump, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and their allies have fueled speculation.[28][37][38] Shokin's successor, Yuriy Lutsenko, initially took a hard line against Burisma, but within a year he announced that all legal proceedings and pending criminal allegations against Zlochevsky had been "fully closed".[25] In a related 2014 investigation by the United Kingdom, British authorities froze U.K. bank accounts tied to Zlochevsky;[39] however, the investigation was later closed due to a lack of evidence. Lutsenko stated in May 2019 that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens, but he was planning to provide information to attorney general Bill Barr about Burisma board payments so American authorities could verify whether Hunter Biden had paid US taxes.[40]

Since at least May 2019, Giuliani has been pushing for Volodymyr Zelensky, the newly elected president of Ukraine, to investigate Burisma, as well as to check if there were any irregularities in the Ukrainian investigation of Paul Manafort. He said such investigations would be beneficial to his client, Trump, and that his efforts had Trump's full support.[12] Giuliani's efforts began as an attempt to provide cover for Trump to pardon Manafort, who had been convicted of eight felony counts in August 2018.[41] On May 10 Giuliani canceled a scheduled trip to Ukraine where he had intended to urge president-elect Zelensky to pursue inquiries into Hunter Biden, as well as whether Democrats colluded with Ukrainians to release information about Manafort.[42][43] Giuliani claimed he has sworn statements from five Ukrainians stating they were brought into the Obama White House in January 2016 and told to "go dig up dirt on Trump and Manafort", although he has not produced evidence for the claim.[44] Giuliani asserted he cancelled the trip because he had been "set up" by Ukrainians who objected to his efforts, and blamed Democrats for trying to "spin" the trip. Giuliani met with Ukrainian officials to press the case for an investigation in June 2019 and August 2019.[45]

Whistleblower complaint

Submission of complaint and withholding from Congress

Whistleblower complaint regarding a telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky

On August 12, 2019, an unnamed CIA officer[46] filed a whistleblower complaint with Michael Atkinson, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG),[47] under the provisions of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA).[48] Atkinson looked into the complaint, and interviewed several government officials whom the whistleblower identified as having information to substantiate his claims.[46] On August 26, having found the complaint to be both "credible" and "of urgent concern" (as defined by the ICWPA), Atkinson transmitted the complaint to Joseph Maguire, the acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI).[49]

External videos
video icon Maguire's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, September 26, 2019, C-SPAN

Under ICWPA, the DNI "shall" within seven days of receipt forward the complaint to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. Maguire did not do so, and the deadline passed on September 2. On September 9 Atkinson wrote to several lawmakers, telling them about the existence of the whistleblower report, which Maguire had not forwarded to Congress.[19] On September 10, House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) chairman Adam Schiff wrote to Maguire, asking why he had not provided it. According to Schiff, Maguire stated he had been told to withhold it on direction from a "higher authority" because it involved an "issue of privileged communications". Schiff stated he was also told "the complaint concerns conduct by someone outside of the Intelligence Community."[50][49][51] The Trump administration withheld the complaint on the basis of the Justice Department's assertion that the complaint was not within the purview of the ICWPA.[a] On September 13, Schiff subpoenaed Maguire to appear before the HPSCI,[54] and Maguire agreed to testify on September 26.[55] The Washington Post reported that Maguire threatened to resign if the White House sought to constrain his testimony, although Maguire later denied that he had contemplated resigning.[56]

On September 18, The Washington Post broke the story of the whistleblower report, saying that the complaint concerned a "promise" Trump had made during communication with an unnamed foreign leader. White House records showed Trump had made communications or interactions with five foreign leaders during the five weeks before the whistleblower complaint was filed.[57] During a previously scheduled closed-door hearing before the HPSCI on September 19, Atkinson told lawmakers that the complaint referred to a series of events,[58] and that he disagreed with the position that the complaint lay outside the scope of the ICWPA, but declined to provide details.[59] On September 19, The Washington Post reported that the complaint related to Ukraine.[59]

After the ICIG found that the call was a possible violation of federal campaign finance laws, which prohibits the solicitation of foreign contributions, the ICIG referred the matter to the FBI, and the DNI referred the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice for a possible criminal investigation of Trump's actions.[4] A Justice Department official said that that the ICIG suspected that the call could have broken federal law if Trump's request to the Ukrainian government to investigate a political opponent constituted the solicitation of campaign contribution from a foreign government.[60] According to a Justice Department spokeswoman, the department's criminal division reviewed "the official record of the call" and determined that there was no campaign finance violation.[61][62] The Justice Department's determination not to launch an investigation took only weeks; the department did not conduct interviews or take steps beyond reviewing the call record.[52] A senior Justice Department official told The Washington Post that the Justice Department had determined that Trump's conduct did not constitute the solicitation of a quantifiable "thing of value" subject to the campaign finance laws.[62][52] The Justice Department's review looked into whether there was evidence of a campaign violation law, and did not look into possible violations of federal corruption statutes.[52] Some legal experts said there seemed to be evidence warranting an investigation into both; for example, Richard L. Hasen, an election-law scholar, believes that the provision of opposition research – i.e., valuable information on political rivals – could be considered a contribution in kind under campaign-finance law.[52]

Release and substance of the complaint

On September 24, the top Democrats of the House and Senate intelligence committees said an attorney for the whistleblower had contacted the committees about providing testimony.[63] Members and staff of congressional intelligence committees were allowed to examine the whistleblower complaint on September 25.[64] After the release of the whistleblower complaint to congressional committees, Republican Senators Ben Sasse and Mitt Romney called the complaint contents "really troubling" and "troubling in the extreme", respectively.[65][66] That same day, the complaint itself was declassified with "minimal redactions".[67] The House Intelligence Committee released the declassified, redacted version of the complaint on September 26.[68]

In the complaint, the whistleblower stated that Trump abused the powers of his office for personal gain and put national security in danger, and that White House officials engaged in a cover-up.[68][69] The whistleblower wrote:

"In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals."[68]

In addition to the July 25 phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president Zelensky, the whistleblower alleged that Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, had engaged in a campaign to pressure Ukrainian authorities to pursue Joe Biden, including in an August 2 meeting in Madrid between Giuliani and Zelensky aide as "a direct followup" to the July 25 call and contact with a number of other officials in Zelensky's government. These officials included Zelensky's Chief of Staff, Andriy Bohdan, and the then-acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Ivan Bakanov.[68] The whistleblower further alleged in the complaint that White House officials had tried to limit access to the record of Trump's telephone conversation with Zelensky, writing:

"In the days following the phone call, I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to 'lock down' all records of the phone call, especially the word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced — as is customary — by the White House Situation Room. This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call."[68]

Communications with Ukrainian officials

In a July 25, 2019, phone call, Trump asked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) to investigate matters related to Hunter Biden.

On September 20, 2019, The Washington Post reported that Trump had in a July 25 conversation repeatedly pressed Ukrainian President Zelensky to investigate matters relating to Hunter Biden.[70] The New York Times reported that Trump told Zelensky to speak to Giuliani,[71][72] and according to The Wall Street Journal he urged Zelensky "about eight times" to work with Giuliani and investigate Biden's son.[45] On September 22, Trump acknowledged that he had discussed Joe Biden during the call with Zelensky, and that he had said, "we don't want our people like Vice President Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine."[73] The Wall Street Journal reported on September 30 that secretary of state Mike Pompeo also listened in on the call.[74]

Days before Trump's July 25 call with Zelensky, Giuliani spoke on the phone with Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak about a Biden investigation, as well as a prospective White House meeting between Zelensky and Trump that was sought by Ukrainian officials.[75] According to Zelensky's advisor Serhiy Leshchenko, Trump was only willing to have a phone conversation with Zelensky on the precondition that they discuss the possibility of investigating the Biden family. Leshchenko later sought to backtrack his comments, saying that he did not know if officials had viewed discussing Biden as a precondition for a meeting.[13] Days after the Trump call, Giuliani met with Yermak in Madrid. Giuliani stated on September 23 that the State Department had asked him to "go on a mission for them" to speak with Yermak.[76] The State Department had stated on August 22 that its Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker had connected the men, but that Giuliani was acting as a private citizen and Trump attorney,[77] although he briefed the State Department after the trip.[75] American embassy officials in Kiev repeatedly expressed concerns about Giuliani's meetings.[43] Giuliani stated he told Yermak, "Your country owes it to us and to your country to find out what really happened." Yermak stated he was not clear if Giuliani was representing Trump, but Giuliani stated he was not, and the White House referred questions about Giuliani's role to the State Department, which did not respond. Appearing on television on September 19, Giuliani first denied he had asked Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden, but moments later stated, "of course I did."[78][79][80]

A memorandum with a non-verbatim record of the call between Trump and Zelensky released by the White House

On September 25, the administration released the White House's five-page, declassified memorandum of the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky.[4][62][81][b] In the call, Trump pressed for an investigation into the Bidens and CrowdStrike, saying, "I would like to have the [U.S.] Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it."[62] Trump falsely told Zelensky that "Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution" of his son, Hunter; Biden did not stop any prosecution, did not brag about doing so, and there is no evidence his son was ever under investigation.[82] Trump also presented his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, as a key U.S. contact for Ukraine, although Giuliani holds no official U.S. government position. Trump stated three times that he would ask both Attorney General William Barr and Giuliani to call Zelensky,[83] and added, "So whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great."[4] In response, Zelensky said that his candidate for Ukraine's chief prosecutor "will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue." After Zelensky made this promise, Trump offered to meet with Zelensky at the White House.[62] On the same call with Zelensky, Trump espoused the conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton's email server was in Ukraine;[84][85] criticized the U.S.'s European allies (in particular Germany),[83] and disparaged the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, a career U.S. diplomat whom the Trump administration had abruptly recalled several months earlier.[86][87]

During the conversation, Zelensky mentioned that on his last visit to the United States, he had stayed in Trump Tower. Ethics advocacy groups described this comment as an attempt to curry favor.[88]

Former prosecutor Yuri Lutsenko told the Los Angeles Times that Giuliani had repeatedly demanded that the Ukrainians investigate the Biden family. "I told him I could not start an investigation just for the interests of an American official," Lutsenko informed the Times.[89]

Withholding of Ukrainian military aid

Further information: United States foreign aid, Russian military intervention in Ukraine (2014–present), Cold War II, Proxy war, and Ukraine–United States relations

Congress appropriated $400 million in military aid to Ukraine for fiscal year 2019, to be used to spend on weapons and other equipment as well as programs to assist the Ukrainian military in combating threats from Putin's Russia and Russian-backed separatists of the self-proclaimed separatist entities in eastern Ukraine.[14][90] The administration notified Congress in February 2019 and May 2019 that it intended to release this aid to Ukraine.[14] Despite the notifications to Congress, in mid-July 2019, the Trump administration placed military aid to Ukraine on hold.[14][90][91] The Washington Post reported on September 23 that at least a week before his July 25 call with Zelensky, Trump directed his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to withhold $400 million in military aid to Ukraine. This directive was conveyed by the Office of Management and Budget to the State Department and Pentagon, stating Trump had concerns about whether the money should be spent, with instructions to tell lawmakers that the funds were being delayed due to an "interagency process."[14] Fox News reported that the Pentagon, State Department and National Security Council unanimously supported the Ukraine aid.[92]

In the July 25 call with Trump, Zelensky thanked Trump for the U.S.'s "great support in the area of defense" (an apparent reference to military aid). Trump responded by asking Zelensky to "do us a favor" by investigating CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity firm that investigated the cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee in 2015 and 2016, and was one of three firms whose analysis assisted the U.S. intelligence community in determining that Russian intelligence was responsible for the DNC hack.[83] Trump also asked Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son.[93] Ukraine relies on extensive American military aid to fight Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass, and the Trump administration's suspension of the Congressionally-mandated aid was reportedly a shock to Ukrainian government officials who only found out about it "much later, and then through nonofficial channels".[94]

On September 9, before news of the whistleblower complaint, three Democratic-controlled House committees—the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Oversight and Reform—announced they would investigate whether Trump and Giuliani attempted to coerce Ukraine into investigating the Bidens, by withholding the military aid.[95] On September 11, the Trump administration released the aid.[90]

In a September 20 tweet, Giuliani seemed to confirm suspicion that there was a connection between the withholding of military assistance funds and the investigation he and Trump wanted Ukraine to undertake.[96][97] He said, "The reality is that the President of the United States, whoever he is, has every right to tell the president of another country you better straighten out the corruption in your country if you want me to give you a lot of money. If you're so damn corrupt that you can't investigate allegations -- our money is going to get squandered."[98] Trump himself appeared to make a similar connection on September 23, telling reporters "We want to make sure that country is honest. It's very important to talk about corruption. If you don't talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?"[91] Trump later clarified, "I did not make a statement that 'you have to do this or I'm not going to give you aid.' I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that," and "I put no pressure on them whatsoever. I could have. I think it would probably, possibly have been ok if I did. But I didn't. I didn't put any pressure on them whatsoever."[91]

Trump has offered inconsistent justifications for withholding the aid.[99] Originally, he said that the aid was not released due to "corruption" in the country and that the topic of conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky was about "the fact that we don't want our people, like vice-president Biden and his son, [adding] to the corruption already in the Ukraine."[100] He later disputed his original statement, and said that the aid was initially held back due to a lack of similar contribution from other European nations.[99][101]

Secrecy of transcripts

The whistleblower's report said that the violations committed in Trump’s call with Zelensky "were so obviously egregious that White House officials promptly launched a cover-up to minimize the chance that Trump's efforts to have a foreign power dig up dirt on a leading Democratic presidential contender would become public." They did this by placing the record of the call on a top-secret server intended for the most highly classified material,[102][103][104] under the direction of John Eisenberg.[105] It was later confirmed that on orders from National Security Council attorneys, the call with Ukraine was moved from TNet,[106] the regular NSC computer system, to a special top-secret server accessible only via "code word" and reserved for the country's most closely guarded secrets.[107][103] On September 27, it was reported that calls with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia had also been placed on that top-secret server.[105]

Also on September 27 it was reported that the records of Trump's Oval Office meeting with Russian officials in May 2017 had been unusually closely held, with distribution limited to a few officials.[108] White House advisor Kellyanne Conway said the procedure for handling records of Trump's calls with world leaders had been tightened early in 2017 because of leaks to the press about his conversations with the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Australia.[109]

Communications with other governments

Australia

On October 1, it was reported that the transcript of a call with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had been placed on the same top-secret server as the other transcripts. Trump was reported to have requested Morrison's aid in an investigation carried out by William Barr and aimed at discrediting the Mueller inquiry.[18] Trump's request focused on the origins of the Mueller inquiry as a conversation between Australia's former foreign minister Alexander Downer and Trump campaign team member George Papadopoulos led to the investigation.[110] The Australian government confirmed that the call had taken place and that Morrison had articulated to the President that "the Australian Government has always been ready to assist and cooperate with efforts that help shed further light on the matters under investigation", but did not elaborate on what, if any, assistance had been offered.[18] In a letter to William Barr dated May 28, Joe Hockey, Australia's ambassador to the United States, pledged that the Australian government would "use its best endeavours" to support Barr's investigation.[18] The White House responded by dismissing the reports, claiming that it was part of a routine request to grant Australian authorities access to Department of Justice resources to facilitate an investigation that had been open for several months.[18] When questioned by a journalist, Morrison rejected Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese's accusation that he had jeopardised Australia's national security for the sake of a personal relationship with the President and instead insisted that co-operating with Barr's investigation was in the national interest. Morrison claimed that no specific request had been made of his government, but refused to go into detail as to what support had been provided, citing national security concerns.[111]

Italy

On September 30, it was reported that William Barr had travelled to Italy to enlist the support of Italian authorities in his investigation.[112]

Impeachment proceedings

Main article: Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump

On September 24, 2019, a formal impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives into President Trump was announced by House Speaker Pelosi. Six House committees (Judiciary, Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, Foreign Affairs, Financial Services, and Ways and Means)[113] will begin or continue their formal inquiries. Pelosi said, "The actions of the Trump presidency have revealed the dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry."[22]

The president quickly replied on Twitter, saying the Democrats "ruined and demeaned" a day of significance at the United Nations, where he was addressing the General Assembly. He also called the inquiry "Witch Hunt garbage."[22] The decision to look into impeachment came after Pelosi consulted with allies, and after reports over a seven day period "... that Trump may have pressured a foreign leader to investigate former vice president and potential 2020 campaign rival Joe Biden and his family."[22]

The impeachment inquiry came in the wake of a whistleblower complaint alleging a widespread abuse of power and a cover-up by Trump.[114][115][5] Concurrently, the Trump administration released a memorandum of the July phone call between Trump and Zelensky, confirming that Trump had asked Zelensky to "look into" the Biden controversy as a favor.[116] The whistleblower complaint also implicated Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Attorney General William Barr as part of a wider pressure campaign directed towards the Ukrainian government.[117][118] Within days, Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker resigned and three House committees issued a subpoena to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to schedule depositions for Volker and four other State Department employees, and to compel the release of documents.[119][120] Pompeo declined to allow the depositions until "we obtain further clarity on these matters," asserting the demand was "an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly, the distinguished professionals of the Department of State."[121] The chairmen of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees wrote to deputy secretary of state John Sullivan that because Pompeo reportedly took part in the Trump-Zelensky call, he was now considered a witness with a conflict of interest that should preclude him from making such decisions.[122] A subpoena was also issued to Rudy Giuliani for production of documents.[123]

Reactions

Congress

On September 22, House speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that if the administration continued to withhold the whistleblower complaint from Congress, "they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation." House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, stating he had previously been "very reluctant" to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump, said, "we may very well have crossed the Rubicon here."[124] The vast majority of Republicans did not comment on the matter, with notable exceptions of senators Lindsey Graham and Mitt Romney, both of whom suggested Trump should release information to resolve the situation.[125]

On September 24, the Senate adopted by unanimous consent a sense of the Senate resolution calling for the whistleblower complaint to be immediately transmitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee.[23]

Following the release of the memorandum of the conversation between Trump and Zelensky, Senator Romney called the memorandum "deeply troubling" and asked for more information to be made public.[126] Pelosi stated that the memorandum "confirms that the President engaged in behavior that undermines the integrity of our elections, the dignity of the office he holds and our national security."[127][128]

Some Republican senators dismissed the credibility of the whistleblower complaint as hearsay, but legal analysts subsequently found that assertions the whistleblower made in the complaint were verified by the memorandum record of Trump's telephone call.[129][130]

President Trump

President Trump answers questions from the press on September 22, 2019

In his initial comments to reporters on September 20, Trump characterized the whistleblower as "partisan," but added, "I do not know the identity of the whistleblower" and called the story "just another political hack job."[131] (Michael Atkinson, the ICIG who found the whistleblower complaint credible and urgent, was appointed during the Trump administration.) Trump also said, "Somebody ought to look into Joe Biden's statement because it was disgraceful where he talked about billions of dollars that he's not giving to a certain country unless a certain prosecutor is taken off the case. So somebody ought to look into that," suggesting the press was not reporting it. The press has reported on the Joe Biden matter for months but found no evidence of wrongdoing.[132][40][37] On September 23, Trump asserted, "If a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they'd be getting the electric chair right now."[133] Before the White House released a rough transcript, Trump claimed that his call with Zelensky was "largely congratulatory" and "largely [discussed] corruption". However, the White House's rough transcript showed only a short congratulatory comment and no mentions of corruption.[134] On September 25, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky, Trump said: "I want [Zelensky] to do whatever he can. Biden's son walks out of Ukraine with millions and millions of dollars. I think it's a horrible thing."[135] Trump denied explicitly tying U.S. military aid to Ukraine's corruption investigation involving Burisma Holdings.[136]

On September 27, Trump characterized the whistleblower as "close to a spy," adding, "you know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? With spies and treason, right? We used to handle them a little differently than we do now."[137] On September 29, Trump requested to meet the whistleblower, saying that he and the American people "deserved" to meet them. He later stated that the White House was trying to learn the identity of the whistleblower. He also demanded that Adam Schiff be questioned "at the highest level" for fraud and treason.[138][139] In a letter from the whistleblower's lawyers addressed to the Director of National Intelligence, the whistleblower claimed to be afraid for their safety.[138]

On October 1, Trump claimed that any attempt to remove him from office would result in a "Civil War-like fracture." He also called for Schiff to be arrested for treason.[140]

Ukraine

Ukrainian President Zelensky meets with U.S. President Trump in New York City on September 25, 2019

On September 20, Roman Truba, head of the Ukraine State Bureau of Investigations, told The Daily Beast that his agency had not investigated the Biden-Burisma connection and there were no signs of illegality there. Anton Geraschenko, a senior advisor to the Ukraine interior minister, told The Daily Beast that Ukraine will open such an investigation if there is an official request, along with details of why an investigation is needed and what to look for. Trump's requests have come through unofficial representatives such as Giuliani.[44] On September 22, Senator Chris Murphy said Zelensky told him he had no intention to get involved with an American election.[141]

In an interview released on September 24, Ukrainian diplomat and politician Valentyn Nalyvaichenko told The Daily Beast that Ukrainian authorities would be reopening corruption investigations into multiple individuals and organizations including, potentially, Burisma, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, TV host Larry King, and former prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko. King was suspected of receiving slush fund payments recorded in the "black ledger" that also named Manafort. Nalyvaichenko accused Lutsenko of having been in communication with associates of Trump "for vindictive purposes".[142]

During a joint press conference with Trump to reporters gathered at the United Nations General Assembly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on September 25: "We had I think good phone call. It was normal. We spoke about many things. So, I think, and you read it, that nobody pushed me."[135][143][144] Ukrainian foreign minister Vadym Prystaiko told a Ukrainian news outlet on September 21 that "I know what the conversation was about and I think there was no pressure. This conversation was long, friendly, and it touched on many questions, sometimes requiring serious answers."[145] Prystaiko was also quoted as saying, "I want to say that we are an independent state, we have our secrets."[145] Finally, regarding the investigation into the Biden issue, Zelensky made it clear that he was not going to interfere with the intra-American party confrontation.[146][146] During the joint press conference with Trump, Zelensky said that he had not pressured anyone nor made any promises, and that the Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka would investigate all domestic cases without prejudice.[147]

European Union

During the conversation, Zelensky and Trump criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Union for a lack of support toward Ukraine.[148] Elmar Brok, special adviser on Ukraine for President Jean-Claude Juncker, refuted the criticism, pointing to the economic boost provided by the European Union through a free trade agreement. In addition, he claimed the United States has not signed a similar agreement with Ukraine.[148] The conversation prompted Europeans to calculate the amount of aid given to Ukraine since 2014 and by approximate estimates, the EU and European financial institutions have provided assistance to more than $16 billion in grants and loans.[149]

In the overall ranking in 2017-2018, the European Union is the leader in terms of aid, USA is the second and Germany is the third.[150] However, the Ukrainian media decided to analyze and found that from 2014, Germany provided aid of 1.4 billion euros: 500 million euros is a loan that will be repaid, 200 million euros is a share of Germany from European Union assistance, the rest is really full-fledged assistance, though not so large in volume.[151][152] Nevertheless, Germany has stated that its attitude towards Ukraine has not changed.[153][154]

Russia

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov expressed support for an investigation into Hunter Biden. Azarov fled to Russia in 2014 following the Euromaidan protests; he is currently in exile in Moscow, has called for a pro-Russian 'regime change' in Ukraine,[155] is wanted for prosecution in Ukraine for abuse of power and embezzlement, and has set up a government in exile that is widely seen as a pro-Russian puppet.[156][157][158]

Russian Senator Aleksey Pushkov, a United Russia member and Putin ally, described the controversy as "hysteria" and suggested that Democrats were seeking impeachment "to divert focus from Biden—who really pressured the Ukrainian authorities in defense of his son's business."[159][160]

Former U.S. officials

More than 300 former U.S. foreign policy and national security officials who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations signed an open letter on September 27, supporting a congressional impeachment inquiry into Trump's conduct relating to Ukraine. The officials, who formerly served in the U.S. Intelligence Community, National Security Council, and departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security, wrote that Trump's actions raised "a profound national security concern" and that "President Trump appears to have leveraged the authority and resources of the highest office in the land to invite additional foreign interference into our democratic processes. If we fail to speak up—and act—now our foreign policy and national security will officially be on offer to those who can most effectively fulfill the President's personal prerogatives."[161][162]

The American Foreign Service Association and American Academy of Diplomacy, representing members of the U.S. diplomatic corps, expressed alarm at Trump's disparagement of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in his call with Zelensky.[163]

American press coverage

The day after the whistleblower complaint was released, the print editions of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today each ran large front-page headlines characterizing the matter as an alleged White House "cover-up."[164][17] On September 25, 2019, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote an editorial urging Congressional Republicans to call for Trump's resignation.[165]

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace characterized the spin by Trump allies in the immediate aftermath of the whistleblower complaint becoming public as "astonishing" and "deeply misleading."[166]

Public opinion

In the days after the controversy arose, multiple polls showed a surge in support for an impeachment inquiry, or impeachment itself.[167][168][169]

Resignations

The American special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, resigned one day after the complaint was released. The whistleblower complaint alleges Volker "sought to 'contain the damage' from Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani's outreach to Ukraine's government about the Biden family."[170]

Internet communities

After the whistleblower complaint was publicized, right-wing discussion forums on the Internet tried to identify its author. These attempts at "doxing" were marked by disorganized speculation, racism and misogyny.[171]

Conspiracy theories

Further information: List of conspiracy theories

George Soros

In late-September television appearances, Giuliani asserted without offering any evidence that George Soros, a frequent subject of conservative conspiracy theories, was running an anti-Trump scheme in Ukraine while Biden was protecting Soros from prosecution there.[172][173] The lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing appeared as guests on The Sean Hannity Show to promote the conspiracy theory that Soros funded the whistleblower. They cited the whistleblower's footnote references to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, an organization that has received grants from Soros' Open Society Foundations among multiple other funding sources.[174] Soros was also invoked, again without evidence, by the right-wing media organization Breitbart News.[171]

Whistleblower worked with others

Various right-wing commentators speculated the whistleblower had help from others, perhaps constituting a coordinated conspiracy. Speculation centered around Adam Schiff, the press, Fusion GPS, Media Matters, a team of lawyers or a research firm, and the intelligence community in general.[175][176][177][178]

CrowdStrike

During the July 25, 2019, phone call between Trump and Zelensky, Trump referred to a far-right conspiracy theory, pushed by internet trolls, right-wing blogs, and right-wing news websites.[179][180][181] This conspiracy theory concerns CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity and internet security firm that first investigated the 2015–2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee network and determined that Russian military intelligence (GRU) was behind these cyber attacks. Tom Bossert, Trump's former Homeland Security Advisor, stated in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that Trump was repeatedly warned by his staff that the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory was "completely debunked." Of the conspiracy theory, Stephanopoulos said, "The details are both convoluted and false." Bossert blamed Giuliani for Trump's fixation upon the conspiracy theory.[182][183]

The overarching theme of this conspiracy theory is that the DNC fabricated evidence to implicate Russia in the cyber attacks.[184] CrowdStrike's co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch is a naturalized American citizen born in the Soviet Union.[185][186] According to the hoax, Alperovitch is a Ukrainian who was ordered by the DNC to discredit Russia for the election interference and he was personally motivated to get even with Vladimir Putin. Also, according to the theory, CrowdStrike is owned by a rich Ukrainian[82] and the actual server involved in the cyber attack is in Ukraine. CrowdStrike is actually a publicly traded company headquartered in California. "The" server is actually 140 servers, decommissioned and located in the United States.[187] The theory additionally says FBI agents were not allowed to examine the server because such action would expose the DNC plot,[184] although in fact—and as documented in the Mueller Report—images and traffic logs of the DNC servers were provided to the FBI.[187] This conspiracy theory originated from a "GRU persona, 'Guccifer 2.0,' created to cast doubt on Russia's culpability in the DNC [intrusion]."[184][188][189]

Whistleblower evidence rules

There is no legal requirement that a whistleblower must have first-hand information about the wrongdoing they wish to report. Instead, the legal burden of obtaining and evaluating first-hand knowledge is placed on the ICIG. Over the weekend of September 28–29, right-wing media and Republican politicians, including Trump himself,[190][191] circulated an article published by The Federalist[192] that falsely asserted there had been such a requirement and that the ICIG had "secretly" removed it from the disclosure form in order to facilitate a "deep state" plot against Trump. Contrary to this conspiracy theory, the ICIG found the complaint credible after further investigation, and claims in the whistleblower complaint have been confirmed by other developments, most prominently by the memorandum released by the White House themselves.[193][194][195] The ICIG issued a statement debunking the false report by The Federalist on September 30.[196][7] In this statement, the ICIG noted that the whistleblower had "direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct."[7][8]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trump–Ukraine scandal.

Notes

  1. ^ On September 3, 2019, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a classified memorandum, written by the office's head, Steven A. Engel, stating that the acting DNI did not need to give the complaint to Congress because, in his view, the complaint was not related to "an intelligence activity" under the acting DNI's authority.[52][53] Engel's letter stated that the whistleblower's complaint should instead be referred to the Justice Department.[52] A declassified version of the OLC's memo was released on September 24, 2019.[53]
  2. ^ The document, titled a "memorandum of telephone conversation", includes a notation stating that it was "not a verbatim transcript" and was prepared based on "notes and recollections of Situation Room duty officers" and National Security Council staff.[4] Senior administration officials said that voice recognition software was also used in preparing the memorandum.[4] Some sources describe the document as a "rough transcript."[62]

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