TRUMP, GIULIANI AND UKRAINE, Part One, The Timeline

 

The following is a timeline of events in connection with the current impeachment investigation into President Trump’s attempt to get the President of Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation into former Vice President (and current candidate) Joe Biden. This is a purely factual account of events based on sworn testimony, publicly released documents and news reports. My next post will take this raw information to write a narrative that is supported by the facts but also draws conclusions from the information. 

APR 21: Volodymyr Zelensky is elected President of Ukraine. 

APR 25: Joe Biden officially announces his bid for President axer 6 weeks of anticipation of the announcement. 

MAY 6: The State Department announces that Marie L. Yovanovitch, the American ambassador to Ukraine, has been recalled to Washington months ahead of schedule. 

MAY 10: Mr. Giuliani tells Fox News that Mr. Zelensky seems surrounded by operatives allied with the Democratic Party and “enemies of the president, and, in some cases, enemies of the United States.” 

MAY 23: In an Oval Office meeting with Mr. Trump, Kurt D. Volker, then the special envoy to Ukraine; Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union; and Rick Perry, the energy secretary, all describe Mr. Zelensky as a committed reformer who deserves American support. All three attended Mr. Zelensky’s swearing-in in Kiev three days earlier. 

Mr. Trump replies that Ukraine is full of “terrible” and corrupt people who had “tried to take me down.” He orders the officials to coordinate future Ukraine matters with Mr. Giuliani. 

JUL 3: The hold, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a national security official working at the White House, becomes aware that the military aid has been held up. He testified that he received a notice from the State Department. “That’s when I was concretely made aware of the fact there was a hold placed,” he said in testimony to lawmakers.

JUL 10: The meeting 

A meeting at the White House with Ukrainian officials is cut short when Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, says he has an agreement with the acting White House chief of staff that Ukraine’s president would get a meeting with Trump if Ukraine agreed to launch investigations. 

Then-national security adviser John Bolton “stiffened” and ended the meeting, later telling colleague Fiona Hill to report it to the National Security Council’s lawyer, she testified. 

“I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and (acting White House chief of staff Mick) Mulvaney are cooking up on this,” Hill said Bolton told her. 

JUL 18: The hold-up announcement 

In a secure call with national security officials, a staff member of the White House Office of Management and Budget announces there’s a freeze on Ukraine aid until further notice, based on a presidential order to the budget owice. 

JUL 21: Bill Taylor texted Gordon Sondland, “Gordon, one thing Kurt and I talked about yesterday was Sasha Danyliuk’s point that President Zelensky is sensitive about Ukraine being taken seriously, not merely as an instrument in Washington domestic, reelection politics.” Sondland text back, “Absolutely, but we need to get the conversation started and the relationship built, irrespective of the pretext. I am worried about the alternative.” 

JUL 25: Prior to the call, Kurt Volker sends a text to President Zelensky’s aid Andrey Yermak, “Good lunch – thanks. Heard from White House – assuming President Z convinces Trump he will investigate” to get to the bottom of what happened” in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington. Good luck! See you tomorrow – Kurt” 

JUL 25: The phone call 

Trump speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asking him for favors that include an inquiry into Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s dealings with Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, and to investigate whether Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. He later calls it a “perfect” call.

JUL 25: The Ukrainian embassy sends an email to the Department of Defense asking about what’s going on with the Ukraine security assistance according to Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense. 

AUG 8: Bill Taylor texted Volker, “The nightmare is they give the interview and don’t get the security assistance. The Russians love it. (And I quit.) 

AUG 9: Text messages: 

Sondland to Volker, “Morrison ready to get dates as soon as Yermak confirms.” 

Volker, “Excellent!! How did you sway him?” Sondland, “Not really sure I did. I think POTUS really wants the deliverable” 

Volker, “But does he know that?” 

Sondland, “Yep” 

Sondland, “Clearly lots of convos going on” 

Volker, “Ok-then that’s good it’s coming from two separate sources” 

AUG 10: Yermak texted Volker, “Once we have a date, will call for a press briefing, announcing upcoming visit and outlining vision for the reboot of US-UKRAINE relationship, including among other things Burisma and election meddling in investigations” Volker text back, “Sounds great!” 

It’s not clear why the press briefing didn’t happen. 

Mid-AUGUST: Catherine Crox, the special adviser for Ukraine at the State Department, says two Ukrainians reach out to her to ask about the status of the military assistance. She told lawmakers she couldn’t recall the exact dates, but believes the outreach took place before the Aug. 28 publication of a Politico article detailing the hold. 

AUG 12: The complaint

A whistleblower files a formal complaint addressed to Congress that details concerns over the July 25 phone call and the hold placed on the military aid. The complaint was withheld from Congress until Sept. 25. 

AUG 26: Intelligence IG forwards complaint to the acting Director of National Intelligence. 

AUG 28: The article, Politico publishes (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/28/trump-ukrainemilitary-aid-russia-1689531) details that the military aid to Ukraine is on hold, setting off a scramble among diplomats in Ukraine and the United States. 

AUG 29 AND AFTER: Ukraine’s desperation 

William Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, testified that he did not know the aid had been withheld until after the Politico article appeared, when he started receiving “desperate” calls from Ukrainian officials. 

“The minister of defense came to me,” he said. “I would use the word ‘desperate,’ to try to figure out why the assistance was held.” 

Taylor said the minister thought if he spoke to Congress, or the White House, he could find out the reason and reassure them of whatever was necessary to get the aid. If the money wasn’t provided by Sept. 30, it would be lost. 

SEP 1: Bill Taylor texted Sondland, “Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meetings are conditioned on investigations?” Sondland text back, “Call me” 

SEP 1: Bill Taylor calls Sondland, here is Taylor’s sworn testimony on the content of the call, “During that phone call, Ambassador Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling Ukrainian officials to whom he spoke that a White House meeting with President Zelensky was dependent on a public announcement of investigations. In fact, Ambassador Sondland said everything was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted President Zelensky in a box by making a public statement about ordering such investigations.

In the same September 1st call, I told Ambassador Sondland that President Trump should have more respect for another head of state and that what he described was not in the interest of either President Trump or President Zelensky. At that point, I asked Ambassador Sondland to push back on President Trump’s demand. Ambassador Sondland pledged to try. We also discussed the possibility that Ukrainian prosecutor general, rather than President Zelensky, would make a statement about investigations, potentially in coordination with Attorney General Barr’s probe into the investigation of interference in the 2016 elections. 

SEP 1: Vice President Mike Pence meets with Zelensky in Warsaw. 

SEP 2: Director of National Intelligence (DNI) fails to turn over whistleblower report by 2 Sept. deadline. 

SEP 7: President Trump and Sondland talk on the phone, Sondland relates to Bill Morrison (Senior Director for Russia and Europe at the NSC) that Trump said that it wasn’t a quid pro quo, that President Zelensky should want to go to the microphone and announce the investigations personally, it was not enough for the prosecutor general to make the announcement, he wanted Zelensky to personally, announce he would open the investigations. 

SEP 8: Taylor speaks with Sondland, this is Taylor’s sworn testimony about that conversation, “Ambassador Sondland said that he had talked to President Zelensky and Mr. Yermak and told them that, although this was not a quid pro quo, if President Zelensky did not clear things up in public, we would be at a stalemate. I understood a stalemate to mean that Ukraine would not receive the much-needed military assistance. Ambassador Sondland said that this conversation concluded with President Zelensky agreeing to make a public statement in an interview with CNN.” Reportedly the interview was scheduled for Sept 13th. 

SEP 9: Intel IG notifies House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schift of an “urgent concern” that DNI has overruled. 

SEP 9: The investigations begin 

Three House committees launch a wide-ranging investigation into the allegations that Trump, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and possibly others, tried to pressure the Ukrainian government to help the president’s reelection campaign by digging up dirt on a political rival.

SEP 9: Bill Taylor sends the following two text to Sondland: 

Taylor, “The message to the Ukrainians (and Russians) we send with the decision on security assistance is key. With the hold, we have already skaken their faith in us. Thus my nightmare scenario.” 

Later Taylor writes, “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” 

SEP 9: President Trump and Sondland have a brief conversation in which he says he wants nothing from the Ukraine and no quid pro quo. 

SEP 10: John Bolton (National Security Advisor) either quits or is fired, conflicting reports about whose decision it was for him to leave. 

SEP 11: The aid is released 

The funds are suddenly released, primarily because State Department lawyers found the hold illegal but also in part because Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, threatened to block $5 billion in Pentagon spending for 2020 if the aid wasn’t given to Ukraine. Taylor and other diplomats involved in Ukraine were not given a reason for the aid being released. 

OCT 3: When Trump is asked, “Mr. President, what exactly did you hope Zelensky would do about the Bidens after your phone call? Exactly.” Trump responded, “Well, I would think that, if they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer.” 

“They should investigate the Bidens, because how does a company that’s newly formed — and all these companies, if you look at —”

“And, by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with — with Ukraine.”

“So, I would say that President Zelensky — if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens. Because nobody has any doubt that they weren’t crooked. That was a crooked deal — 100 percent. He had no knowledge of energy; didn’t know the first thing about it. All of a sudden, he is getting $50,000 a month, plus a lot of other things. Nobody has any doubt.”

“And they got rid of a prosecutor who was a very tough prosecutor. They got rid of him. Now they’re trying to make it the opposite way. But they got rid — So, if I were the President, I would certainly recommend that of Ukraine.” 

OCT 18, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting Chief of Staff, publicly states, we do quid pro quos all the time. “Get over it.” . . . “there’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.”