When the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump on Sept. 24, it set off a whirl of events.
Through leaks of testimonies given to members of three U.S. House committees, the public learned about past meetings and negotiations that were part of a campaign by Trump and his associates to dig up dirt about their political rivals using Ukraine and its new administration.
What often made this scandal complicated is the fact that it has arisen from an intersection of domestic political agendas of the U.S. and Ukraine: While the Americans wanted to use Ukraine to get ahead of their opponents, Ukrainian actors cooperated because they wanted to curry support from a powerful ally of their country in order to strengthen their positions in Ukraine.
With a lot of previously concealed information becoming public, the Kyiv Post brings together key events both from the Ukrainian and American side of the storyline.
A month after Russia occupies Crimea, then-Vice President Joe Biden visits Kyiv for the first time in five years, promising aid to Ukraine and support for the country to become independent from Russian gas imports.
Joe Biden’s son Hunter joins the board of directors of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company owned by Mykola Zlochevsky, the minister of ecology and natural resources under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. The company allegedly benefitted from Zlochevsky’s position, getting gas extraction licenses. Hunter Biden is paid at least $50,000 a month for the next five years.
The British Serious Fraud Office launches a pre-trial investigation into Zlochevsky, alleging a $35-million money laundering scheme, and British law enforcement agencies block $23.5 million in his accounts. Simultaneously, Ukraine launches its own investigations into Burisma, alleging fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.
A U.K. court unblocks the $23.5 million in Zlochevsky’s accounts after Ukrainian prosecutors under then-Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema weren’t cooperative in providing evidence.
Viktor Shokin, who served as Ukraine’s prosecutor general since February 2015, is fired by parliament after anti-corruption activists, foreign donors (including the U.S. government) and over 120 Ukrainian lawmakers petitioned for Shokin’s removal, citing the slow pace of investigations and corruption allegations against the prosecutor.
Then-lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko publishes Yanukovych’s party’s “black ledger,” which contains information on money received off the books by those employed by Yanukovych. One recipient of off-the-book payments was Paul Manafort, Yanukovych’s former advisor and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign chief at the time, who received over $12 million from 2007 to 2012. Manafort resigned in August2016 and was later sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for tax evasion and bank fraud among other charges.
Then-Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko closes Burisma’s tax evasion case. According to Lutsenko, the company paid Hr 180 million ($7 million) worth of taxes and a fine. Burisma alleged that it paid over Hr 5 billion ($239 million) worth of taxes in 2014-15.
Ten days before Trump takes office, an article is published in Politico reporting thatUkraine interfered in the U.S. presidential election on the side of the DemocraticParty. This account has been actively disputed since then.
Ukraine’s prosecutors close all cases involving Zlochevsky and Burisma. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) still has open probes into Zlochevsky, alleging that he helped his company obtain gas extraction licenses during his time as ecology minister.
Trump gives an interview to the Associated Press in which he alleges that Ukrainewas behind CrowdStrike, a California-based company investigating Russia’s hackingof Democratic National Committee’s servers.”I heard it’s owned by a very rich Ukrainian,” said Trump. He would later repeat the same debunked claim during his July 25 phone call withPresident Volodymyr Zelensky, asking him to investigate.
Two Soviet-born businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, begin makingsubstantial donations to the Republican Party. The two later pay Trump’s lawyer,Rudy Giuliani, $500,000 for his services. Parnas and Fruman would also later meetTrump, and Giuliani would ask them to put him in touch with high-levelrepresentatives of the Ukrainian government.
Parnas and Fruman introduce Giuliani to Shokin and his successor Lutsenko. At thetime, pollsters suggest that Lutsenko’s close friend and political ally, President PetroPoroshenko, will lose re-election in April. This means Lutsenko will likely lose his job.
Shokin and Lutsenko allege that Biden was pressuring Ukraine to fire Shokin in 2016to help Burisma and that Leshchenko, with then-U.S. Ambassador MarieYovanovitch’s approval, was meddling in the 2016 U.S. election by framingManafort.Lutsenko “brought documentation, verification. It opened Giuliani’s eyes,” saidParnas to OCCRP, recalling the January meeting.
Lutsenko gives an interview to The Hill repeating his claims, saying that Biden pressured Ukraine and that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 U.S. elections while Yovanovitch covered it up by giving Lutsenko a “not to prosecute” list. In April, Lutsenko gives an interview to the Babel news site where he says that he was misunderstood and there wasn’t such a list. In a May 14 interview with Bloomberg, Lutsenko says that both Bidens did not violate any Ukrainian laws. Officials in the U.S. and Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists have all provided evidence that Lutsenko’s claims are groundless.
Joe Biden, who for three years was seen as the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s nomination in the 2020 presidential race, announces he will run for election.
Yovanovitch is removed from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine three months before she is supposed to leave the position. Her exit comes amid harsh — and almost entirely groundless criticism — from right-wing U.S. media, Trump’s son and even a congressman. Parnas and Fruman contributed vast sums to an unspecified member of Congress toseek his assistance in removing Yovanovitch from office. Around the same time, Representative Pete Sessions was vocal in his demand that Yovanovitch be removed.
Giuliani plans a trip to Ukraine to meet with representatives of the Zelenskyadministration, but quickly cancels it after coming under serious criticism in theUnited States. Giuliani says that Zelensky is surrounded by Trump’s enemies, latercalling Leshchenko an “enemy of the United States.” Giuliani would also commentthat Yovanovitch was removed because she opposed Trump.
Zelensky officially becomes President of Ukraine, with the U.S. delegation is led by Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
On Oct. 7 The Associated Press publishes an article alleging that Perry pressured Ukraine to change the board of directors of Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state-owned gas company, to benefit his political donors.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law, allegedly meets with Zelensky in Paris.
Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, charged by a Chicago grand jury with bribing Indian government officials to receive lucrative titanium mining licenses, loses his case in Austria’s Supreme Court. He is now subject to be extradited to the U.S.
In a new infamous phone call, Trump pressures Zelensky to investigate Joe Bidenand Ukraine’s possible role in helping Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid. Trumpalso mentions CrowdStrike and asks Zelensky to look into it. Zelensky says that the future Prosecutor General of Ukraine will be controlled byhim and that he will look into these matters. Trump asks Zelensky to talk to Giulianiand U.S. Attorney General William Barr about the investigation into the Bidens.A $250-million aid package to Ukraine, approved by Congress, is frozen prior to thephone call.
Firtash hires Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, Washington-based lawyers linked to Giuliani and the Trump administration. After Austria’s Minister of Justice approves Firtash’s extradition to the U.S., the oligarch’s defense files a motion for a retrial, citing new evidence. Giuliani associate Parnas is hired as Firtash’s translator.The lawyers will attempt to use the ongoing political scandal to help Firtash escape extradition to the U.S.In early September, Shokin will provide an affidavit in support of Firtash, saying thatJoe Biden pressured Ukraine to block his return to Kyiv because Ukraine lacks an extradition agreement with the U.S.
Giuliani meets Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s top aid, in Madrid to follow up on theTrump-Zelensky phone call. Yermak was introduced to Giuliani by Kurt Volker, U.S.special envoy to Ukraine.
Together with Volker, Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union andTrump’s close ally, pressures Ukraine to open cases into Joe Biden, his son andUkraine’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election. Ukraine plays along, hoping to schedule a bilateral meeting with the U.S. to improverelations.
“Once we have a date (for the Trump-Zelensky meeting), we call a press briefing,announcing upcoming visit and outlining vision for the reboot of US-Ukrainerelationship, including, among other things, Burisma and election meddling ininvestigations,” Yermak texts Volker on Aug. 8. “Sounds great!” Volker replies.“Are we now saying that security assistance and White House meeting (withZelensky) are conditional on investigation?” writes William Taylor, acting U.S.ambassador to Ukraine, on Sept. 8.
An official whistleblower complaint is filed against Trump by a U.S. intelligenceofficer. The complaint, released on Sept. 26, reveals that Trump wants Zelensky to“look into” the Bidens. The whistleblower alleges that White House officials were directed by lawyers to“lock down” all records of the Trump-Zelensky phone conversation, including itstranscript, on a special protected server used for highly sensitive information.
The whistleblower report is passed to the House of Representatives. It launches anofficial investigation into a possible impeachable offense by Trump, who potentiallyused his office to force a foreign government to investigate his political opponent.Three House committees leading the investigation request information aboutTrump’s July phone call with Zelensky.
Trump unblocks the $250 million in defense aid to Ukraine and lifts the hold on anadditional $141.5 million in aid prepared by the State Department.
Not waiting for the phone call transcript, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launches aformal impeachment inquiry into Trump. Trump authorizes the release of the phonecall memo, which shows that the U.S. president asked Zelensky for “a favor,”referring to the opening of investigations into Trump’s political opponent.
Trump and Zelensky meet in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, with both presidents assuring the public that no one was pressured to investigate anyone. Zelensky dodges all questions concerning his phone call with Trump — a practice he continues to this day. “I don’t want to be involved” he says.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka holds a press conference in Kyiv, announcing Ukraine will review 15 investigations — including investigations involving Burisma — that were closed under Riaboshapka’s predecessors.
Volker testifies in front of the three House committees leading the impeachmentinquiry. He provides his text messages with Sondland, Yermak and Taylor, whichshow that investigations were conditional for the release of military aid and apotential Trump-Zelensky meeting.
The White House releases an official statement refusing to co-operate withCongress on impeachment inquiry, blocks Sondland from testifying in front of theHouse.
Parnas and Fruman are charged with conspiracy, falsifying statements and thefalsification of records for creating a shell company to illegally finance politicalcampaigns for the purpose of enhancing their influence and gaining access to toppoliticians.
They are arrested in a Washington D.C. airport with a one-way ticket to Vienna.
Yovanovitch, fired by Trump in May, testifies in front of the three House committees.“I understand that I served at the pleasure of the president. I was neverthelessincredulous that the U.S. government chose to remove an ambassador based onunfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives,” she says.
George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for Ukraine, testifiesbefore the House, says Sondland, Volker and Perry monopolized dealings withUkraine, instructing Kent to “lay-low.”
A Kyiv district court requests that the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine opens a criminal investigation against Lutsenko alleging power abuse.
Sondland testified in front of three House committees. According to his remarks,obtained by NBC News, Sondland said that defense aid to Ukraine shouldn’t have beendelayed.
“Inviting a foreign government to undertake investigations for the purpose ofinfluencing an upcoming U.S. election would be wrong,” the remarks read.Taylor’s deposition is scheduled for Oct. 22.
