Published 11:19 IST, October 2nd 2019
Donald Trump impeachment investigation: key dates and timeline
A timeline for the key events of Donald Trump's impeachment investigation by US Democrats for his attempts to involve foreign powers in US 2020 Elections
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In the latest follow-up on Trump’s conversation with the Ukraine President, the House of intelligence subpoenaed his lawyer Rudy Giuliani to submit the documents related to the July 25 conversation. Here is a brief on the important dates which are related to Trump’s impeachment investigation.
Robert Muller testifies on Trump-Putin
On July 24, 2019, Robert Muller, who is the Special Counsel in the Russian interference case testified before the Congress that the US President Donald Trump was not cleared of obstructing justice. Trump was also completely exonerated in the Russian probe, where he was accused of involving support from Russia to win the Presidential elections. Mueller issued a warning about the consequences of Russian involvement in American elections.
Whistleblower complaint
Between July 25 and August 12, 2019, an unnamed CIA official files a complaint in regards to a July 25, 2019, telephonic conversation between Trump and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. It is established that Trump pressurized his Ukrainian counterpart eight times according to the international media to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden.
Kurt Volker met Zelenskiy and Ukrainian officials
On July 26, 2019, according to the whistleblower’s complaint, the US special envoy to Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker met Zelenskiy and various Ukrainian political officials. The complaint was submitted to the intelligence community inspector general. According to the complaint, the US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland was also involved in the engagements and they both advised Zelenskiy on ways to work with the US President’s demands. Later, around August 2, 2019, it was reported according to the complaint that Trump’s lawyer Giuliani met Andriy Yermak who is Zelenskiy’s advisers.
On August 12, 2019 the unidentified CIA official’s complained was surfaced and was addressed to Congress stating, “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.” According to international media, the complaint was addressed to Sen. Richard Burr who is the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. They received that complaint more than a month later. On August 14, 2019, the original complaint addressed to the CIA is brought up by Courtney Simmons Elwood. She said that she had received a complaint from someone unknown about a White House call.
On August 15, John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, visits the White House to investigate evidence related to Zelenskiy’s call.
Matter does not qualify as an urgent concern
On August 26, Michael Atkinson, inspector general, after receiving the complaint acknowledged that the call could be violations of President’s power amounting to federal campaign finance crime. On September 3, a memorandum is sent to a lawyer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence by the Justice Department which stated that the misconduct does not involve anyone from the intelligence community and also that the matter does not qualify as an urgent concern. Yet on September 9, inspector general Atkinson acknowledged that he is working to bring the complaint under Congress’s notice.
The US decides to give $250 million in military aid to Ukraine
On September 11, the White House announced to the lawmakers that it will be giving $250 million in military aid to Ukraine. However, the President was consulted his national security leadership team about the Ukraine security assistance funds. It was only on September 19 that Atkinson testifies on the whistleblower’s complaint to the House Intelligence Committee. This started a series of twitter responses by the US President responding to international media about the reports being circulated about his conversation.
The transcript
On September 24, the circumstances surrounding the call and the whistleblower’s complaint fueled the Democrat's stance to call for an impeachment inquiry from the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, in a press conference announced that the House will move forward with further investigation and that nobody is ‘No one is above the law’.
The White House, however, released a copy of the transcript on September 25, detailing the conversation between the US President and the Zelenskiy. The transcript confirmed that Trump did ask Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden along with the help of Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr. The Justice Department after examining the call transcript released a statement stating that after the prosecutor reviewed the transcript and the referral, it was determined that no crime has been committed. Also, there is no violation of campaign finance.
On September 26, the House Intelligence Committee released a censored version of whistleblower's complaint about public reference amid the Democrats’ impeachment probe. Maguire, in the testimony to the committee, stated that the whistleblower did the right thing by informing about White House’s handling of calls between US President and Ukraine leaders. The House of intelligence asked Trump’s lawyer to submit all the relevant documents related to the July 25 call. There will be a rampant investigation and voting on articles for impeachment by the end of this year.
(With inputs from AP)
07:18 IST, October 2nd 2019