El escándalo Trump-Ucrania fue un escándalo político en los Estados Unidos que involucró los esfuerzos del entonces presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, para obligar a Ucrania y otros países extranjeros a proporcionar narrativas dañinas sobre el entonces candidato presidencial del Partido Demócrata en 2020, Joe Biden , así como información errónea relacionada con Rusia. interferencia en las elecciones estadounidenses de 2016 . Trump reclutó sustitutos dentro y fuera de su administración oficial , incluidos su abogado personal Rudy Giuliani y el fiscal general William Barr., para presionar a Ucrania y otros gobiernos extranjeros para que cooperen en el apoyo de las teorías de la conspiración sobre la política estadounidense. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Trump bloqueó pero luego liberó el pago de un paquete de ayuda militar de 400 millones de dólares ordenado por el Congreso para supuestamente obtener la cooperación quid pro quo del presidente ucraniano Volodymyr Zelensky . Se establecieron varios contactos entre la Casa Blanca y el gobierno de Ucrania , que culminaron con una llamada telefónica entre Trump y Zelensky el 25 de julio de 2019. [1] [2] [3] [6]
El escándalo llamó la atención del público a mediados de septiembre de 2019 debido a una denuncia de denuncia de irregularidades realizada en agosto de 2019. [7] La denuncia planteó preocupaciones sobre el uso de poderes presidenciales por parte de Trump para solicitar la intervención electoral extranjera en las elecciones presidenciales estadounidenses de 2020 . [8] La Casa Blanca ha corroborado varias acusaciones planteadas por el denunciante. Una transcripción no textual de la llamada Trump-Zelensky confirmó que Trump solicitó investigaciones sobre Joe Biden y su hijo Hunter Biden , así como una teoría de conspiración que involucra a un servidor del Comité Nacional Demócrata , al tiempo que instó repetidamente a Zelensky a trabajar con Giuliani y Barr en estos asuntos. [9] [10] La Casa Blanca también confirmó que un registro de la llamada se había almacenado en un sistema muy restringido. [11] [12]
El exjefe de gabinete interino Mick Mulvaney dijo que una de las razones por las que Trump retuvo la ayuda militar a Ucrania fue la "corrupción relacionada con el servidor DNC" de Ucrania, refiriéndose a una teoría desacreditada de que los ucranianos acusaron a Rusia de piratear el sistema informático DNC . [13] Trump también ha instado públicamente a Ucrania y China a investigar a los Biden. [14] El principal diplomático de la administración Trump en Ucrania, Bill Taylor , testificó que le dijeron que la ayuda militar de Estados Unidos a Ucrania y una reunión entre Trump y Zelensky en la Casa Blanca estaban condicionadas a que Zelensky anunciara públicamente las investigaciones sobre los Biden y la presunta interferencia ucraniana en los Estados Unidos de 2016. elecciones. [15] El embajador de Estados Unidos en la Unión Europea, Gordon Sondland, testificó que trabajó con Giuliani en la "dirección expresa" de Trump para arreglar un quid pro quo con el gobierno de Ucrania. [dieciséis]
El 24 de septiembre de 2019, la Cámara de Representantes inició una investigación formal de juicio político contra Trump , dirigida por seis comités de la Cámara. [17] El 31 de octubre de 2019, la Cámara de Representantes votó para aprobar las directrices para la siguiente fase de la investigación de juicio político. [18] Trump fue acusado de abuso del poder de su oficina y obstrucción al Congreso, [19] pero fue absuelto por el Senado . [20]
El 3 de diciembre de 2019, como parte de la investigación de juicio político, el Comité de Inteligencia de la Cámara publicó un informe de 300 páginas que detalla que "la investigación de juicio político ha encontrado que el presidente Trump, personalmente y actuando a través de agentes dentro y fuera del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, solicitó la La interferencia de un gobierno extranjero, Ucrania, en beneficio de su reelección. En apoyo de este plan, el presidente Trump condicionó los actos oficiales a un anuncio público del nuevo presidente ucraniano, Volodymyr Zelensky, de investigaciones por motivos políticos, incluida una sobre Joe Biden, una de los oponentes políticos internos de Trump. Al presionar al presidente Zelensky para que cumpliera su demanda, el presidente Trump retuvo una reunión en la Casa Blanca que el presidente ucraniano buscaba desesperadamente y la asistencia militar estadounidense fundamental para combatir la agresión rusa en el este de Ucrania ". [21] : 8 En enero de 2020, la Oficina de Responsabilidad del Gobierno , un perro guardián no partidista, concluyó que la Casa Blanca violó la ley federal al retener la ayuda militar aprobada por el Congreso a Ucrania. [22]
Fondo
El escándalo salió a la luz cuando un informe de un denunciante reveló que el presidente Trump le había pedido al presidente ucraniano Volodymyr Zelensky en julio de 2019 que investigara a Joe Biden , el oponente político de Trump en las elecciones presidenciales de 2020 , a su hijo Hunter Biden y a la empresa CrowdStrike , para discutir estos asuntos con El abogado personal de Trump, Rudy Giuliani, y el fiscal general William Barr . [23] [24] Las acusaciones fueron confirmadas por un resumen no textual de la conversación publicado por la Casa Blanca. [9] [10] [25] Trump reconoció que le había dicho a Zelensky que "no queremos que nuestra gente como el vicepresidente Biden y su hijo contribuyan a la corrupción que ya existe en Ucrania". [26] Según el denunciante, la llamada fue parte de una campaña más amplia de Trump, su administración y Giuliani para presionar a Ucrania para que investigue a los Biden, lo que puede haber incluido la cancelación de un viaje programado por Trump a Ucrania por el vicepresidente Mike Pence , y Trump retiene 400 millones de dólares en ayuda militar de Ucrania. [27] [28] [29]
Inmediatamente después de que terminó la llamada Trump-Zelensky, los asesores de seguridad nacional de la Casa Blanca discutieron sus profundas preocupaciones, y al menos un funcionario del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional (NSC) alertó a los abogados de seguridad nacional de la Casa Blanca. [30] [31] Un mensaje de texto entre un enviado del Departamento de Estado a Ucrania y un funcionario ucraniano mostró que el enviado comprendió desde la Casa Blanca que una visita de Zelensky con Trump estaba supeditada a que Ucrania investigara una teoría de la conspiración sobre la presunta intromisión ucraniana en los Estados Unidos de 2016. elección presidencial . [32]
Los registros de la llamada Trump-Zelensky se trasladaron del sistema donde las transcripciones de las llamadas presidenciales generalmente se almacenan a un sistema reservado para los secretos más sensibles del gobierno. [11] [27] [33] La administración Trump también había restringido de manera similar el acceso a los registros de las conversaciones de Trump con los líderes de China, [34] Rusia, Arabia Saudita, [35] y Australia. [2] Posteriormente se reveló que esta ubicación se hizo por razones políticas más que por razones de seguridad nacional. [36]
La primera denuncia de un denunciante fue presentada el 12 de agosto de 2019, según se informa por un oficial de la CIA que se encontraba en la Casa Blanca. [37] Se basó tanto en el "conocimiento directo de cierta supuesta conducta" como en los relatos de más de "media docena de funcionarios estadounidenses". [38] [39] La denuncia fue finalmente entregada a los comités de inteligencia del Congreso el 25 de septiembre de 2019, [40] y al día siguiente se hizo pública una versión redactada de la denuncia. [41] El 6 de octubre de 2019, el abogado Mark Zaid anunció la existencia de un segundo denunciante oficial, un funcionario de inteligencia con conocimiento de primera mano que había hablado con el inspector general de la Comunidad de Inteligencia pero que aún no se había puesto en contacto con los comités del Congreso involucrados en la investigación. . [42]
La denuncia del denunciante provocó una remisión a la División de lo Penal del Departamento de Justicia . El 25 de septiembre, una portavoz del Departamento de Justicia, Kerri Kupec, anunció que la división había "concluido el asunto" y determinó que la llamada no constituía una violación al financiamiento de la campaña. [43] [44] [45] El 3 de octubre, después de que Trump pidió públicamente a China y Ucrania que investigaran a Joe y Hunter Biden, [46] La presidenta de la Comisión Federal Electoral (FEC), Ellen Weintraub, reiteró que "es ilegal que cualquier persona solicitar, aceptar o recibir cualquier cosa de valor de un ciudadano extranjero en relación con una elección en los Estados Unidos ". [47]
Trump ha negado todas las irregularidades. [48] Confirmó que había retenido la ayuda de Ucrania, al tiempo que ofrecía razones contradictorias para hacerlo. Trump primero afirmó que se retuvo debido a la corrupción en Ucrania, pero luego dijo que era porque otras naciones, incluidas las de Europa, no estaban contribuyendo con suficiente ayuda a Ucrania. [49] [50] [51] Las instituciones de la Unión Europea proporcionaron más del doble de la cantidad de ayuda a Ucrania que Estados Unidos durante 2016-17, [52] [53] y la propuesta de presupuesto de Trump buscaba recortar miles de millones de dólares de EE. UU. iniciativas para luchar contra la corrupción y fomentar la reforma en Ucrania y en otros lugares. [54]
Trump ha atacado repetidamente al denunciante y ha buscado información sobre el denunciante. [55] [56] En octubre de 2019, después de mencionar que Estados Unidos tiene un "tremendo poder" en la guerra comercial con China "si no hacen lo que queremos", Trump instó públicamente a Ucrania y China a investigar a los Biden. [14] Hasta octubre de 2019, no se han presentado pruebas de presuntas irregularidades por parte de los Biden. [57] [¿ según quién? ] Trump, sus partidarios y los medios de comunicación de derecha han difundido múltiples teorías de conspiración con respecto a Ucrania, los Biden, el denunciante y la interferencia extranjera en las elecciones de 2016 . [58] [59] [60] El alcance del escándalo se amplió el 9 de octubre, cuando el FBI arrestó a dos de los clientes de Giuliani involucrados en asuntos políticos y comerciales en los Estados Unidos y Ucrania, [61] así como noticias. dos días después, el propio Giuliani estaba bajo investigación federal. [62] [ necesita actualización ]
Presidente Donald Trump
Antes de que este escándalo saliera a la luz, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, indicó que aceptaría inteligencia extranjera sobre sus rivales políticos. En junio de 2019, Trump fue entrevistado por George Stephanopoulos , quien preguntó: "Si los extranjeros, si Rusia, si China, si alguien más les ofrece información sobre un oponente, ¿deberían aceptarla o deberían llamar al FBI?" Trump respondió: "Creo que quizás hagas ambas cosas. Creo que quizás quieras escuchar. Yo no. No hay nada de malo en escuchar. Si alguien llama desde un país, Noruega, tenemos información sobre tu oponente. Oh. Creo Me gustaría escucharlo ". [63] Después de que Trump dijo esto, la presidenta de la Comisión Federal de Elecciones, Ellen Weintraub, recordó a los estadounidenses que de acuerdo con la ley federal: "Es ilegal que cualquier persona solicite, acepte o reciba algo de valor de un ciudadano extranjero en relación con con una elección en Estados Unidos ". [64] Anteriormente, en julio de 2016, mientras Trump todavía era candidato en las elecciones presidenciales de Estados Unidos de 2016 , hizo una solicitud : "Rusia, si estás escuchando, espero que puedas encontrar los 30.000 correos electrónicos que faltan "del servidor de correo electrónico de la candidata presidencial demócrata Hillary Clinton de 2016 . [65] [66]
Ucrania y los Biden
En 2014, la administración Obama estaba tratando de brindar apoyo diplomático al gobierno de Yatsenyuk de la revolución ucraniana posterior a 2014 en Ucrania, y el entonces vicepresidente Joe Biden estaba "a la vanguardia" de esos esfuerzos. [67] El hijo de Biden, Hunter Biden, se unió a la junta directiva de Burisma Holdings , una compañía de energía ucraniana, el 18 de abril de 2014. [68] [69] [70] Hunter, entonces abogado de Boies Schiller Flexner , fue contratado para ayudar. Burisma también contrató a Burisma con las mejores prácticas de gobierno corporativo y una empresa de consultoría en la que Hunter es socio. [68] [71] [72] En una entrevista de diciembre de 2015, Joe Biden dijo que nunca había hablado del trabajo de Hunter en Burisma. [73] Joe Biden viajó a la capital de Ucrania, Kiev, el 21 de abril de 2014, e instó al gobierno de Ucrania a "reducir su dependencia de Rusia para el suministro de gas natural ". [74] [75] Discutió cómo los Estados Unidos podrían ayudar a proporcionar experiencia técnica para expandir la producción nacional de gas natural. [74]
Desde 2012, el fiscal general de Ucrania había estado investigando al propietario de Burisma, el oligarca Mykola Zlochevsky , por acusaciones de lavado de dinero , evasión de impuestos y corrupción. [68] En 2015, Viktor Shokin se convirtió en el fiscal general, heredando la investigación. La administración Obama, otros gobiernos y organizaciones no gubernamentales pronto se preocuparon de que Shokin no estuviera persiguiendo adecuadamente la corrupción en Ucrania, protegiera a la élite política y fuera considerado como "un obstáculo para los esfuerzos anticorrupción". [76] [77] Entre otras cuestiones, estaba demorando la investigación de Zlochevsky y Burisma, hasta el punto de que los funcionarios de la administración Obama estaban considerando iniciar su propia investigación criminal sobre la empresa por posible lavado de dinero. [68] Shokin ha dicho que cree que fue despedido debido a su investigación de Burisma, donde supuestamente Hunter Biden era un sujeto. Sin embargo, esa investigación estaba inactiva cuando se despidió a Shokin. [73] [78] En diciembre de 2015, el entonces vicepresidente Biden visitó Kiev e informó al gobierno de Ucrania que se retendrían $ 1 mil millones en garantías de préstamos a menos que se implementaran reformas anticorrupción, incluida la eliminación de Shokin. [79] El parlamento de Ucrania votó a favor de destituir a Shokin en marzo de 2016. [79] [80] Las garantías de préstamos fueron finalmente aprobadas el 3 de junio, después de que se realizaron reformas adicionales. [79]
En ese momento, la corrupción en Ucrania era un tema de preocupación bipartidista en los EE. UU., Con los senadores republicanos Rob Portman , Mark Kirk y Ron Johnson firmando conjuntamente una carta del Caucus del Senado de Ucrania en febrero de 2016 instando al entonces presidente Poroshenko a implementar reformas, incluyendo "para seguir adelante con reformas urgentes a la Fiscalía General de la Nación". [81] Biden no fue el único en apuntar a Shokin por razones anticorrupción; a él se unieron otros funcionarios europeos y estadounidenses. El ex embajador de Estados Unidos en Ucrania, Geoffrey Pyatt, y la subsecretaria de Estado Victoria Nuland dijeron en 2015 que la oficina de Shokin no estaba logrando erradicar la corrupción. En marzo de 2016, en su testimonio ante el Comité de Relaciones Exteriores del Senado , el ex embajador en Ucrania John E. Herbst declaró: "A fines del otoño de 2015, la UE y Estados Unidos se unieron al coro de quienes buscaban la destitución del Sr. Shokin" y que Joe Biden "habló públicamente sobre esto antes y durante su visita a Kiev en diciembre".
Durante la misma audiencia, Nuland declaró, "hemos vinculado nuestra próxima garantía de préstamo de $ 1 mil millones, en primer lugar, a tener un reinicio de la coalición de reforma para que sepamos con quién estamos trabajando, pero en segundo lugar, para asegurar que el fiscal general la oficina se limpia ". [82] Mientras tanto, las protestas dentro de Ucrania pedían la destitución de Shokin, y el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) también amenazó con retrasar $ 40 mil millones de ayuda a la luz de la corrupción en Ucrania. [83] Anders Åslund , un miembro senior residente del Atlantic Council , dijo que "Todos en la comunidad occidental querían que Shokin fuera despedido ... Todo el G-7 , el FMI, el BERD [ Banco Europeo de Reconstrucción y Desarrollo ], todos estaba unido en que Shokin debía irse, y el portavoz de esto fue Joe Biden ". [76] La Unión Europea finalmente elogió el despido de Shokin debido a la "falta de resultados tangibles" de las investigaciones de su oficina, y también porque las personas en la oficina de Shokin estaban siendo investigadas. [84]
Al 16 de mayo de 2019, cuando la fiscalía general absolvió a Biden y a su hijo de presunta corrupción, [85] [86] no hay evidencia de que Biden actuó para proteger la participación de su hijo en Burisma, aunque Trump, Giuliani y sus aliados han alimentado la especulación. [71] [87] [88] El sucesor de Shokin, Yuriy Lutsenko , inicialmente adoptó una línea dura contra Burisma, pero dentro de un año, Lutsenko anunció que todos los procedimientos legales y acusaciones penales pendientes contra Zlochevsky habían sido "completamente cerrados". [68] En una investigación relacionada realizada en 2014 por el Reino Unido , las autoridades británicas congelaron las cuentas bancarias del Reino Unido vinculadas a Zlochevsky; sin embargo, la investigación se cerró posteriormente por falta de pruebas. [89] Lutsenko dijo en mayo de 2019 que no había evidencia de irregularidades por parte de los Biden, pero planeaba proporcionar información al fiscal general William Barr sobre los pagos de la junta de Burisma para que las autoridades estadounidenses pudieran verificar si Hunter Biden había pagado impuestos estadounidenses. [85]
En noviembre de 2019, el senador Rand Paul afirmó que el denunciante "es un testigo material de la posible corrupción de Hunter Biden y Joe Biden", y agregó que "[el denunciante] podría haber viajado con Joe Biden a Ucrania por lo que sabemos", llamando para que los investigadores citen al denunciante. Cuando se le pidió evidencia para respaldar sus acusaciones, Paul respondió: "No lo sabemos a menos que preguntemos". El senador Lindsey Graham , presidente del Comité Judicial del Senado , respondió diciendo: "¿Qué base tiene para decir eso? Necesita decirnos ... No se puede preguntar a los miembros [del Congreso], '¿Quieres citar a este tipo? ? ' Podría ser esto, podría ser aquello ". [90]
Rudy Giuliani
Desde al menos mayo de 2019, Giuliani ha estado presionando para que el presidente ucraniano Volodymyr Zelensky, el recién electo presidente de Ucrania, investigue Burisma, así como para verificar si hubo irregularidades en la investigación ucraniana de Paul Manafort . El 7 de mayo, Zelensky y un grupo de sus asesores tuvieron una reunión de tres horas para discutir cómo responder a la presión de Trump y Giuliani y cómo evitar involucrarse en la política interna estadounidense. [91] Giuliani dijo que las investigaciones que buscaba serían beneficiosas para el presidente Trump, su cliente, y que sus esfuerzos contaron con el apoyo total de Trump. [92] Los esfuerzos de Giuliani comenzaron como un intento de proporcionar cobertura para que Trump perdonara a Manafort, quien había sido condenado por ocho cargos de delitos graves en agosto de 2018. [93]
El 10 de mayo, Giuliani canceló un viaje programado a Ucrania donde tenía la intención de instar al presidente electo Zelensky a realizar investigaciones sobre Hunter Biden, así como si los demócratas se confabularon con los ucranianos para divulgar información sobre Manafort. [94] [95] Giuliani afirmó que ha hecho declaraciones juradas de cinco ucranianos que afirman que fueron llevados a la Casa Blanca de Obama en enero de 2016 y se les dijo que "investigaran sobre Trump y Manafort", aunque no ha presentado pruebas para la afirmación. . [96] Giuliani afirmó que canceló el viaje porque los ucranianos lo habían "tendido" que se opusieron a sus esfuerzos, y culpó a los demócratas por tratar de "girar" el viaje. Giuliani se reunió con funcionarios ucranianos para presionar por una investigación en junio de 2019 y agosto de 2019 [97].
Ya en mayo de 2019, Trump dio instrucciones a los funcionarios del Departamento de Estado que intentaban organizar una reunión con Zelensky para trabajar con Giuliani. Establecer a Giuliani como un guardián de esta manera eludió los canales oficiales. [98] [ ¿cómo? ]
En respuesta a una moción del grupo de vigilancia liberal American Oversight, [99] el 23 de octubre un juez federal dio al Departamento de Estado 30 días para divulgar los registros relacionados con Ucrania, incluidas las comunicaciones entre el secretario de Estado Mike Pompeo y Rudy Giuliani. [100] El 22 de noviembre, el Departamento de Estado publicó correos electrónicos y documentos internos que reforzaron el testimonio ante el Congreso de Gordon Sondland de que Pompeo participó en las actividades de Giuliani relacionadas con Ucrania. Los documentos también mostraron que el Departamento de Estado había engañado deliberadamente al Congreso sobre la justificación de la destitución de Yovanovitch como embajador. [99]
Durante su llamada con Zelensky, Trump dijo: "Le pediré [a Giuliani] que lo llame junto con el fiscal general. Rudy sabe muy bien lo que está sucediendo y es un tipo muy capaz. Si pudiera hablar con él, sería genial. " [101] En noviembre, Trump negó haber ordenado a Giuliani que fuera a Ucrania, [102] pero días después de su absolución de juicio político reconoció que lo había hecho. [103] Giuliani había afirmado en septiembre que "todo lo que hice fue para defender a mi cliente". [104]
Naftogaz
Desde marzo de 2019, mientras Giuliani presionaba a la administración ucraniana para que investigara a los Biden, un grupo de empresarios y donantes republicanos utilizaron sus vínculos con Trump y Giuliani para intentar reemplazar el liderazgo de la empresa estatal ucraniana de petróleo y gas Naftogaz . El grupo buscó que los contratos de Naftogaz se concedieran a empresas propiedad de aliados de Trump, pero este esfuerzo tuvo un revés cuando Volodymyr Zelensky ganó las elecciones presidenciales de Ucrania de 2019 . [105] Durante una visita de estado para la toma de posesión del presidente Zelensky en mayo, el exsecretario de Energía Rick Perry presuntamente presionó al presidente Zelensky para que despidiera a miembros de la junta supervisora de Naftogaz, [105] pero Perry lo negó, afirmando en una conferencia de prensa el 7 de octubre: "Esa fue una historia totalmente soñada". [106] El 10 de octubre, Perry recibió una citación del Comité de Inteligencia de la Cámara , el Comité de Supervisión de la Cámara y el Comité de Asuntos Exteriores de la Cámara , en parte en relación con sus interacciones con Naftogaz. [107] [108] [109]
El Wall Street Journal informó que Perry planeabareemplazara Amos Hochstein , un ex funcionario de la administración de Obama, como miembro de la junta de Naftogaz por alguien alineado con los intereses republicanos. Perry negó los informes. [110] [111]
Dmytry Firtash
Dmytry Firtash es un oligarca ucraniano destacado en el sector del gas natural. En 2017, el Departamento de Justicia lo caracterizó como un "escalón superior (asociado) del crimen organizado ruso". [112] Viviendo en Viena, Austria, durante cinco años ha estado luchando contra la extradición a los Estados Unidos por cargos de soborno y extorsión, y ha estado buscando que se retiren los cargos. Los abogados de Firtash obtuvieron una declaración en septiembre de Viktor Shokin, el exfiscal general ucraniano que fue expulsado bajo la presión de varios países y organizaciones no gubernamentales, como lo transmitió a Ucrania Joe Biden. Shokin afirmó en el comunicado que Biden en realidad lo hizo despedir porque se negó a detener su investigación sobre Burisma. Giuliani, quien afirma que "no tiene nada que ver" y que "nunca se ha reunido ni ha hablado con" Firtash, ha promocionado la declaración en apariciones en televisión como una supuesta evidencia de irregularidades por parte de los Biden. Giuliani le dijo a CNN que se reunió con un abogado de Firtash durante dos horas en la ciudad de Nueva York en el momento en que buscaba información sobre los Biden. [113] [114] [115]
Firtash está representado por los asociados de Trump y Giuliani, Joseph diGenova y su esposa Victoria Toensing , quienes los contrataron por recomendación de Parnas. El New York Times informó en noviembre que Giuliani había ordenado a Parnas que se acercara a Firtash con la recomendación, con la propuesta de que Firtash podría ayudar a proporcionar información comprometedora sobre Biden, que el abogado de Parnas describió como "parte de cualquier resolución potencial al asunto de extradición [de Firtash] ". [116] La declaración de Shokin señala que fue preparada "a solicitud de los abogados que actúan en nombre de Dmitry Firtash". [113] [117] Bloomberg News informó el 18 de octubre que durante el verano de 2019 los asociados de Firtash comenzaron a intentar desenterrar la suciedad de los Biden en un esfuerzo por solicitar la ayuda de Giuliani con los asuntos legales de Firtash, así como contratar a diGenova y Toensing en julio. . Bloomberg News también informó que sus fuentes les dijeron que la publicidad de alto perfil de Giuliani sobre la declaración de Shokin había reducido en gran medida las posibilidades de que el Departamento de Justicia retirara los cargos contra Firtash, ya que parecería ser un quid pro quo político . [118]
Más tarde ese día, The New York Times informó que semanas antes, antes de que sus asociados Parnas y Fruman fueran acusados, Giuliani se reunió con funcionarios de las divisiones de criminalística y fraude del Departamento de Justicia con respecto a lo que Giuliani caracterizó como un soborno extranjero "muy, muy sensible". caso que involucra a un cliente suyo. Barr también asistió a la reunión. [119] El Times no mencionó a quién involucraba el caso, pero poco después de la publicación de la historia, Giuliani le dijo a un periodista que no era Firtash. [120] [121] Dos días después, el Departamento de Justicia declaró que sus funcionarios no se habrían reunido con Giuliani si hubieran sabido que sus asociados estaban siendo investigados por el SDNY . [122] DiGenova ha dicho que conoce al fiscal general Bill Barr desde hace treinta años, ya que ambos trabajaban en el Departamento de Justicia de Reagan / Bush. [123] El Washington Post informó el 22 de octubre que después de que comenzaron a representar a Firtash, Toensing y diGenova aseguraron una rara reunión cara a cara con Barr para argumentar que los cargos de Firtash deberían retirarse. [124] Antes de esa reunión de mediados de agosto, Barr había sido informado en detalle sobre la denuncia inicial del denunciante dentro de la CIA que había sido enviada al Departamento de Justicia, así como sobre las actividades de Giuliani en Ucrania. Barr se negó a intervenir en el caso de Firtash. [116]
Firtash hizo su fortuna negociando las importaciones ucranianas de gas natural de la firma rusa Gazprom . [125] Como vicepresidente, Joe Biden había instado al gobierno de Ucrania a eliminar intermediarios como Firtash de la industria del gas natural del país y reducir la dependencia del país de las importaciones de gas natural ruso. Firtash negó su participación en la recopilación o financiación de información dañina sobre los Biden. [116]
Kashyap Patel
Kashyap Patel fue asistente de seguridad nacional del Comité de Inteligencia de la Cámara , bajo el mando del congresista Nunes (R, CA.) durante los primeros años de la administración Trump. Fue el autor clave de un memorando controvertido que fue fundamental para la narrativa republicana de que los funcionarios del FBI y el DOJ obtuvieron de manera inapropiada órdenes de FISA para varios miembros del personal de la campaña de Trump, incluido Carter Page . [126] [127] Semanas más tarde, el memorando se consideró parcial y consistía en "hechos seleccionados". [127] Después del cambio de liderazgo en la Cámara de Representantes, Patel fue contratado como miembro del personal del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional del presidente Trump. En unos meses se sospechó que había asumido el papel de un canal secundario independiente adicional para el presidente, lo que se consideró potencialmente perjudicial para la política estadounidense en Ucrania. Se notó que durante las reuniones del NSC, Patel tomó pocas notas y no estaba calificado para su cartera, las Naciones Unidas. [127] [128] Politico informa que este puesto fue creado específicamente para Patel. [128] Se levantaron banderas rojas cuando el presidente Trump se refirió a Patel como "uno de sus principales especialistas en políticas de Ucrania" y, como tal, deseaba "discutir documentos relacionados con él". [127] La asignación real de Patel ha sido cuestiones de lucha contra el terrorismo, en lugar de Ucrania. Se pensaba que había operado independientemente del canal informal e irregular de Giuliani. A los testigos de la investigación de acusación se les ha preguntado qué saben sobre Patel. Fiona Hill dijo a los investigadores que parece que "Patel se estaba involucrando indebidamente en la política de Ucrania y estaba enviando información al Sr. Trump". [127] Sondland y Kent testificaron que no se encontraron con Patel en el curso de su trabajo. [127]
El 3 de diciembre de 2019, el informe del Comité de Inteligencia de la Cámara incluyó registros telefónicos, adquiridos mediante citaciones a AT&T y / o Verizon Wireless, incluida una llamada telefónica de 25 minutos entre Patel y Giuliani el 10 de mayo de 2019. [21] : 58 La llamada ocurrió después de que Giuliani y Patel intentaron llamarse durante varias horas, y menos de una hora después de una llamada entre Giuliani y Kurt Volker. [21] : 58 Cinco minutos después de la llamada de 25 minutos entre Giuliani y Patel, un número de teléfono "-1" no identificado llamó a Giuliani durante más de 17 minutos, después de lo cual Giuliani llamó a su ahora acusado asociado Lev Parnas durante aproximadamente 12 minutos. [21] : 58
En una declaración a CBS News el 4 de diciembre, Patel negó ser parte del canal secundario de Giuliani en Ucrania, diciendo que "nunca fue un canal secundario para el presidente Trump en asuntos de Ucrania, en absoluto, nunca", [129] y que su llamada con Giuliani fue "personal". [130]
Después de que Richard Grenell fuera nombrado director interino de inteligencia nacional en febrero de 2020, Patel fue agregado como asesor principal el 20 de febrero [131].
Tras el despido del secretario Mark Esper en noviembre de 2020, Patel se convirtió en el jefe de gabinete del secretario de Defensa interino Christopher C. Miller . [132] [133] [134] [135]
Campaña contra Marie Yovanovitch
Ya en abril de 2018, Rudolph W. Giuliani y sus asociados Lev Parnas e Igor Fruman aparentemente habían decidido ayudar en los esfuerzos de reelección del presidente Trump e identificaron a la embajadora de Estados Unidos en Ucrania, Marie Yovanovitch, como una dificultad. [136] Yovanovitch había pasado sus treinta años de carrera trabajando como diplomática y fue anunciada como candidata a embajadora de Estados Unidos en Ucrania el 18 de mayo de 2016, en sustitución de Geoff Pyatt . [137] Yovanovitch era respetada dentro de la comunidad de seguridad nacional por sus esfuerzos para alentar a Ucrania a combatir la corrupción, [138] y durante su mandato había tratado de fortalecer la Oficina Nacional Anticorrupción de Ucrania , que se había creado para reforzar los esfuerzos para combatir la corrupción. en Ucrania .
Como embajador de Estados Unidos en Ucrania, Yovanovitch se convirtió en el objetivo de una campaña de difamación impulsada por una conspiración . [139] [140] [141] Las acusaciones en su contra fueron hechas por el abogado personal de Trump, Giuliani, así como por el comentarista conservador John Solomon de The Hill y el entonces principal fiscal de Ucrania, Yuri Lutsenko , quien la acusó de ser parte de una conspiración. que involucran investigaciones anticorrupción en Ucrania y los esfuerzos de la administración Trump para investigar los vínculos entre los funcionarios ucranianos y la campaña presidencial de Hillary Clinton en 2016 . [142] [143] [144] Lutsenko, quien ha sido acusado de corrupción por organizaciones de la sociedad civil ucraniana, [145] afirmó que Yovanovitch, un designado por el gobierno de Obama, había interferido en la política de Ucrania, le había dado un "no- enjuiciar "lista y estaba interfiriendo en su capacidad para combatir la corrupción en Ucrania. [143] [146] El Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos dijo que las acusaciones de Lutsenko contra Yovanovitch eran "una pura invención" [143] e indicó que eran una " campaña clásica de desinformación ". [140] Lutsenko posteriormente se retractó de sus afirmaciones de una lista de "no enjuiciar". [147] No obstante, las historias de Salomón fueron amplificadas por el presidente Trump, su hijo Donald Trump Jr. , Giuliani, Solomon y los medios de comunicación conservadores. [143] [148] Los ucranianos que se oponían a Yovanovitch también eran fuentes de Giuliani, quien "estaba en una búsqueda de meses de suciedad política en Ucrania para ayudar al presidente Trump". [145] Giuliani confirmó en una entrevista de noviembre de 2019 que creía que "necesitaba a Yovanovitch fuera del camino" porque ella iba a dificultar sus investigaciones. [149]
El 24 de abril de 2019, [150] después de las quejas de Giuliani y otros aliados de Trump de que Yovanovitch estaba socavando y obstruyendo los esfuerzos de Trump para persuadir a Ucrania de que investigara al exvicepresidente y candidato a las elecciones presidenciales de 2020 Joe Biden, Trump ordenó la destitución de Yovanovitch. [151] [152] Regresó a Washington, DC , el 25 de abril, [150] y su recuerdo pasó a ser de conocimiento público el 7 de mayo [153] y su misión como embajadora se dio por terminada el 20 de mayo de 2019. [154] [ 155] En una llamada telefónica del 25 de julio de 2019 con el presidente ucraniano Volodymyr Zelensky (cuyo contenido se hizo público el 25 de septiembre de 2019), Trump presionó al gobierno ucraniano para que investigara a Biden y despreció a Yovanovitch ante su contraparte extranjera, llamándola "malas noticias". . [148] [156]
Los documentos presentados al Comité de Inteligencia de la Cámara de Representantes proporcionados por Lev Parnas describían intercambios de texto en los que Lutsenko presionó por la destitución de Yovanovitch y, a cambio, ofreció proporcionar información perjudicial sobre Joe Biden. [157] [158] [159] En mensajes en ruso , Lutsenko le dijo a Parnas que Yovanovitch, a quien se hace referencia como "señora", debería ser destituido antes de que pudiera hacer declaraciones públicas útiles; por ejemplo, en un mensaje de WhatsApp del 22 de marzo de 2019 a Parnas, Lutsenko escribió: "Es solo que si no toma una decisión sobre Madam, está cuestionando todas mis declaraciones. Incluida la de B." [157] Se cree que Lutsenko apuntó a Yovanovitch debido a sus esfuerzos anticorrupción en Ucrania. [160] Una semana antes de una conferencia sobre anticorrupción el 1 de abril de 2019, Parnas intercambió mensajes de texto encriptados de WhatsApp con Robert F. Hyde que indicaban que la embajadora estaba bajo vigilancia y que su seguridad estaba en riesgo. [161] [162] Hyde afirmó que simplemente había reenviado mensajes recibidos de un ciudadano belga llamado Anthony de Caluwe. [162] Después de que el Comité de Inteligencia de la Cámara publicó los mensajes de texto, de Caluwe inicialmente negó cualquier participación, pero luego se dio la vuelta, diciendo que de hecho había enviado los mensajes a Hyde pero que los mensajes eran una broma y "sólo una parte de un bromas ridículas ". [162]
Una cinta de audio de abril de 2018, grabada en una cena privada entre Trump y los principales donantes y hecha pública por ABC News en enero de 2020, captura a Trump exigiendo la destitución de Yovanovitch, diciendo: "¡Deshágase de ella! Sáquela mañana. Yo no cuidado. Sácala mañana. Sácala. ¿Está bien? Hazlo ". [136] [157] [163] La grabación parecía corroborar el relato de Parnas de que le había dicho a Trump esa noche que Yovanovitch estaba trabajando en su contra. [157]
La abrupta expulsión de Yovanovitch conmocionó e indignó a los diplomáticos de carrera del Departamento de Estado. [146] [164] [165] El subsecretario de Estado interino para Asuntos Europeos y Euroasiáticos, Philip Reeker , el principal diplomático de la política estadounidense para Europa, testificó que había instado a los altos funcionarios del Departamento de Estado, David Hale y T. Ulrich Brechbuhl , a emitir una declaración que expresa un fuerte apoyo a Yovanovitch, pero que los principales líderes del Departamento de Estado rechazaron esta propuesta. [140] Los ex diplomáticos estadounidenses de alto nivel Philip Gordon y Daniel Fried , quienes se desempeñaron como secretarios adjuntos de estado para Asuntos Europeos y Euroasiáticos y como miembros del personal del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional bajo presidentes de ambas partes, elogiaron a Yovanovitch y condenaron el "maltrato atroz de Trump a uno de los embajadores más distinguidos ", escribiendo que esto había desmoralizado al cuerpo diplomático de Estados Unidos y socavado la política exterior de Estados Unidos. [166] La Asociación Estadounidense del Servicio Exterior y la Academia Estadounidense de Diplomacia , que representan a miembros del cuerpo diplomático de Estados Unidos, expresaron su alarma por el menosprecio de Trump hacia Yovanovitch en su llamada con Zelensky. [167] Michael McKinley , un funcionario de carrera del servicio exterior que se desempeñó como embajador en cuatro países y había sido asesor principal del secretario de Estado Mike Pompeo , renunció en octubre de 2019 en protesta por los ataques de Trump contra Yovanovitch y "la falta de voluntad del Departamento de Estado para proteger la carrera diplomáticos de la presión por motivos políticos ". [168] [169] La destitución de Yovanovitch se convirtió en uno de los temas explorados en la investigación de juicio político de la Cámara de Representantes contra Trump ; [151] los miembros demócratas del Congreso calificaron su retiro como "un éxito político". [143] [156] Trump posteriormente dijo que ella "no era un ángel" y afirmó falsamente que Yovanovitch se había negado a colgar su retrato. [170] [171]
Comunicaciones con funcionarios ucranianos
El 20 de septiembre de 2019, The Washington Post informó que Trump, en una conversación telefónica del 25 de julio, había presionado repetidamente al presidente ucraniano Zelensky para que investigara asuntos relacionados con Hunter Biden . [172] El New York Times informó que Trump le dijo a Zelensky que hablara con Giuliani, [173] [174] y según The Wall Street Journal , instó a Zelensky "unas ocho veces" a trabajar con Giuliani e investigar al hijo de Biden. [97] El 22 de septiembre, Trump reconoció que había hablado de Joe Biden durante la llamada con Zelensky, y que había dicho: "No queremos que nuestra gente como el vicepresidente Biden y su hijo creen [ sic ] en la corrupción que ya está en Ucrania ". [26] Hasta octubre de 2019, no se han presentado pruebas de ninguna de las presuntas irregularidades cometidas por los Biden. [57]
El Wall Street Journal informó el 30 de septiembre que el secretario de Estado Mike Pompeo también escuchó la llamada. [175] Dos días después, The Washington Post informó que el asesor de seguridad nacional del vicepresidente Mike Pence, Keith Kellogg, también había escuchado la llamada y que "Pence debería haber tenido acceso a la transcripción en unas horas". [1] Otros en la línea incluyeron a Tim Morrison , director senior del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional para Europa y Rusia; Robert Blair , ayudante de Mick Mulvaney ; y Alexander Vindman , experto en Ucrania del NSC. [30]
Días antes de la llamada de Trump con Zelensky el 25 de julio, Giuliani habló por teléfono con el asistente de Zelensky, Andriy Yermak, sobre una investigación de Biden, así como sobre una posible reunión en la Casa Blanca entre Zelensky y Trump que fue solicitada por funcionarios ucranianos. [176] Según el asesor de Zelensky, Serhiy Leshchenko , Trump estaba dispuesto a tener una conversación telefónica con Zelensky solo con la condición previa de que discutieran la posibilidad de investigar a la familia Biden. Leshchenko luego trató de dar marcha atrás en sus comentarios, diciendo que no sabía si los funcionarios habían visto hablar de Biden como una condición previa para una reunión. [177]
Los mensajes de texto entregados al Congreso por el enviado especial a Ucrania Kurt Volker en octubre sugieren que se le dijo al asistente de Zelensky, Yermak, que Zelensky sería invitado a una visita a la Casa Blanca solo si prometía llevar a cabo las investigaciones solicitadas. El 25 de julio, justo antes de la llamada telefónica de Trump, Volker le envió un mensaje de texto a Yermak: "escuché de la Casa Blanca, suponiendo que el presidente Z convenza a Trump de que investigará / 'llegará al fondo de lo que sucedió' en 2016, concretaremos la fecha de la visita a Washington." [178]
El 25 de septiembre, la administración publicó el memorando desclasificado de cinco páginas de la Casa Blanca de la llamada telefónica del 25 de julio entre Trump y Zelensky. [179] [180] [181] [a] En la llamada, Trump presionó para que se llevara a cabo una investigación sobre los Biden y CrowdStrike , diciendo: "Me gustaría que el fiscal general [de EE. UU.] Te llamara a ti oa tu gente y me gustaría para llegar al fondo ". [180] Trump le dijo falsamente a Zelensky que "Biden se jactaba de que había detenido el enjuiciamiento" de su hijo, Hunter; Biden no detuvo ningún enjuiciamiento, no se jactó de hacerlo y no hay evidencia de que su hijo haya sido investigado. [182]
Trump también presentó a Giuliani como un contacto clave de EE. UU. Para Ucrania, aunque Giuliani no ocupa un cargo oficial en el gobierno de EE. UU. Trump dijo tres veces que pediría tanto al fiscal general Barr como a Giuliani que llamaran a Zelensky, [183] y añadió: "Entonces, cualquier cosa que pueda hacer con el fiscal general sería genial". [179] En respuesta, Zelensky dijo que su candidato a fiscal jefe de Ucrania "investigará la situación, específicamente a la empresa que mencionaste en este número". Después de que Zelensky dijo esto, Trump se ofreció a reunirse con Zelensky en la Casa Blanca. [180] En la misma llamada con Zelensky, Trump abrazó la teoría de la conspiración de que el servidor de correo electrónico de Hillary Clinton estaba en Ucrania; [184] [185] criticó a los aliados europeos de Estados Unidos (en particular Alemania ), [183] y menospreció a la ex embajadora estadounidense en Ucrania , Marie Yovanovitch , una diplomática estadounidense de carrera a quien la administración Trump había llamado abruptamente dos meses antes. Trump le dijo a Zelensky que Yovanovitch "iba a pasar por algunas cosas". [148] [186] [187]
Durante la conversación, Zelensky mencionó que en su última visita a Estados Unidos se había alojado en Trump Tower . Los grupos de defensa de la ética describieron este comentario como un intento de ganarse el favor. [188]
Poco después de la conversación, los asesores de la Casa Blanca comenzaron a preguntarse entre sí si debían alertar a otros altos funcionarios que no habían participado. [30] El primer denunciante describió a un funcionario de la Casa Blanca como "visiblemente conmocionado por lo que había sucedido". En un memorando del 26 de julio, el denunciante informó: "El funcionario afirmó que ya había una conversación en curso con los abogados de la Casa Blanca sobre cómo manejar la discusión porque, en opinión del funcionario, el presidente claramente había cometido un acto criminal al instar a un extranjero poder para investigar a una persona estadounidense con el fin de promover su propia candidatura a la reelección en 2020 ". [189] [190]
Durante el período anterior e inmediatamente posterior a la llamada del 25 de julio, al menos cuatro funcionarios de seguridad nacional advirtieron al asesor legal del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional, John Eisenberg, que la administración Trump estaba intentando presionar a Ucrania con fines políticos. [31]
Días después de la llamada de Trump, Giuliani se reunió con Yermak en Madrid. Giuliani dijo el 23 de septiembre que el Departamento de Estado le había pedido "ir en una misión para ellos" para hablar con Yermak. [191] El Departamento de Estado había dicho el 22 de agosto que su enviado a Ucrania, Volker, había conectado a los hombres, pero que Giuliani actuaba como ciudadano privado y abogado de Trump, [192] aunque informó al Departamento de Estado después del viaje. [176] Giuliani dijo que le dijo a Yermak: "Su país nos debe a nosotros ya su país descubrir lo que realmente sucedió". Yermak dijo que no tenía claro si Giuliani representaba a Trump, pero Giuliani dijo que no, y la Casa Blanca remitió las preguntas sobre el papel de Giuliani al Departamento de Estado, que no respondió. Apareciendo en televisión el 19 de septiembre, Giuliani primero negó haber pedido a los funcionarios ucranianos que investigaran a Joe Biden, pero momentos después dijo: "Por supuesto que sí". [193] [194] [195] El ex fiscal Yuri Lutsenko dijo al Los Angeles Times que Giuliani había exigido repetidamente que los ucranianos investigaran a la familia Biden. "Le dije que no podía iniciar una investigación sólo por los intereses de un funcionario estadounidense", informó Lutsenko al Times . [196]
En agosto, Volker y el embajador estadounidense en la UE, Gordon Sondland, redactaron una declaración que querían que Zelensky leyera públicamente que comprometería a Ucrania a investigar Burisma y la teoría de la conspiración de que Ucrania interfirió con las elecciones de 2016 en beneficio de Hillary Clinton. Sin embargo, Zelensky nunca hizo la declaración. [178] Volker también proporcionó a los investigadores del Congreso un intercambio de mensajes de texto en septiembre entre Sondland, un importante donante de Trump y designado político, y Bill Taylor , un diplomático de carrera que fue el alto funcionario de la embajada de Ucrania después de la destitución del embajador Yovanovitch. En los mensajes, Taylor escribió: "Creo que es una locura retener la asistencia de seguridad para ayudar con una campaña política". Cuatro horas más tarde, después de hablar con Trump, Sondland respondió: "Bill, creo que estás equivocado acerca de las intenciones del presidente Trump. El presidente ha sido muy claro: no hay quid pro quos de ningún tipo". Luego sugirió que continuaran discutiendo el asunto por teléfono en lugar de mensajes de texto. [197] [198] [199]
El Washington Post informó el 12 de octubre que Sondland les diría a los investigadores del Congreso la semana siguiente que había transmitido la afirmación de Trump de no quid pro quo , pero no sabía si en realidad era cierto. [200] NBC News informó la noche anterior al testimonio de Sondland que les dijo a los funcionarios ucranianos que visitaban la Casa Blanca que una reunión entre Trump y Zelensky estaba condicionada a que Ucrania abriera una investigación y discutió Burisma con ellos. [201] El Wall Street Journal informó en noviembre de 2019 que antes de la llamada Trump-Zelensky, Sondland había mantenido a varios funcionarios de la administración informados por correo electrónico de sus esfuerzos para persuadir a Ucrania de que abriera investigaciones. [202]
Los funcionarios de la embajada estadounidense en Kiev expresaron repetidamente su preocupación por las reuniones de Giuliani, y durante el testimonio ante el Congreso a puerta cerrada el 4 de octubre, Volker dijo que había advertido a Giuliani que figuras políticas ucranianas le estaban dando información poco confiable sobre los Biden. [32] [95] También testificó que Joe Biden era un "hombre íntegro", diciendo: "Conozco al ex vicepresidente Biden desde hace 24 años, y la sugerencia de que sería influenciado en sus deberes como vicepresidente por el dinero". porque su hijo simplemente no tiene credibilidad para mí. Lo conozco como un hombre íntegro y dedicado a nuestro país ". [203]
Acta de memorando de la llamada telefónica del 25 de julio
El primer informe del denunciante decía que "altos funcionarios de la Casa Blanca habían intervenido para 'bloquear' todos los registros de la llamada telefónica", un acto que indicaba que esos funcionarios "comprendían la gravedad de lo que había ocurrido". [b] Realizaron el "bloqueo" colocando el registro de la llamada en un servidor de alto secreto destinado al material más altamente clasificado , [204] [205] [206] bajo la dirección de John Eisenberg . [35] Más tarde se confirmó que por orden de los abogados del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional , la llamada con Ucrania se trasladó de TNet , [33] el sistema informático normal de NSC, al sistema de palabra clave secreta NICE , reservado para secretos celosamente guardados. [205] [207] El 27 de septiembre, se informó que los registros de llamadas con los líderes de Arabia Saudita y Rusia también se habían almacenado en NICE. [35]
El 27 de septiembre, la Casa Blanca reconoció que un registro de la llamada entre Trump y Zelensky estaba sellado en un sistema altamente clasificado, según el consejo de los abogados del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional. [11] [12]
El mismo día, se informó que los registros de la reunión de la Oficina Oval de Trump con funcionarios rusos en mayo de 2017 se habían mantenido inusualmente de cerca, con distribución limitada a unos pocos funcionarios. [208] La asesora de la Casa Blanca, Kellyanne Conway, dijo que el procedimiento para manejar los registros de las llamadas de Trump con los líderes mundiales se había endurecido a principios de 2017 debido a filtraciones a la prensa sobre sus conversaciones con el presidente de México y el primer ministro de Australia. [209]
Posteriormente se reveló que esta ubicación en el servidor ultrasecreto se hizo por razones políticas más que por razones de seguridad nacional, que son las únicas razones válidas para usar dicho servidor, [36] y que sucedió después de que el principal asesor de Ucrania de la Casa Blanca , Alexander Vindman, le dijo al abogado de la Casa Blanca, John Eisenberg, que "lo que hizo el presidente estuvo mal". Esta conversación ocurrió inmediatamente después de la llamada telefónica de Trump con Zelensky y, según personas familiarizadas con el relato de Vindman, fue Eisenberg quien propuso esta ubicación y restricción de acceso al "Memorando de conversación telefónica" (es decir, la "transcripción aproximada" de la llamada telefónica). [210]
El 2 de octubre, Trump afirmó falsamente que el memorando publicado públicamente era "una transcripción exacta palabra por palabra de la conversación". Los analistas notaron que el uso de puntos suspensivos para denotar material omitido era poco común para las transcripciones gubernamentales, y que era sorprendentemente breve para una conversación de treinta minutos, incluso teniendo en cuenta las demoras debido al uso de un intérprete. [211] Durante su testimonio del 29 de octubre, el teniente coronel de Asuntos Europeos Alexander Vindman dijo que el memorando de la llamada emitido por la Casa Blanca omitía palabras y frases cruciales, incluida la afirmación de Trump de que existen grabaciones de Joe Biden discutiendo la corrupción en Ucrania, que Trump declaró en el tercer conjunto de puntos suspensivos en el memorando publicado. Vindman dijo que intentó pero no pudo restaurar el texto omitido. [212] Un alto funcionario de la Casa Blanca había afirmado cuando se publicó el Memorando que las elipses "no indican palabras o frases faltantes", sino más bien "un desvanecimiento de una voz o una pausa". [213] El New York Times afirma que "no hay grabación [de audio] de la llamada del 25 de julio por parte de Estados Unidos". [212]
Tanto el fiscal general Bill Barr como el abogado de la Casa Blanca, Pat Cipollone, habían recomendado a Trump que publicara el memorando, afirmando que mostraba que el presidente no hizo nada malo. Durante los días siguientes, Trump y sus aliados alentaron encarecidamente al público a leer la "transcripción", incluso cuando la opinión de consenso de los analistas legales era que el memorando implicaba en lugar de exonerar al presidente. El jefe de gabinete, Mick Mulvaney, le advirtió a Trump que la publicación del memorando había sido un error, lo que hizo que el presidente se molestara por el consejo que le había dado Barr. [214] [215]
Retención de la ayuda militar de Ucrania
El Congreso de los Estados Unidos había ordenado aumentar la ayuda militar a Ucrania durante el período de la presidencia de Trump. [216] [217] El Congreso asignó 400 millones de dólares en ayuda militar a Ucrania para el año fiscal 2019, que se utilizarán para gastar en armas y otros equipos, así como en programas para ayudar al ejército ucraniano a combatir las amenazas de la Rusia de Putin y los separatistas respaldados por Rusia. de las autoproclamadas entidades separatistas del este de Ucrania. [218] [219] La administración notificó al Congreso en febrero de 2019 y mayo de 2019 que tenía la intención de entregar esta ayuda a Ucrania, y el Departamento de Defensa certificó que Ucrania había avanzado lo suficiente en la lucha contra la corrupción. [218] [220] A pesar de las notificaciones al Congreso, en junio de 2019, la administración Trump suspendió la ayuda militar a Ucrania. [221] La fecha de la retención se informó originalmente como mediados de julio. [218] [219] [222] El Washington Post informó el 23 de septiembre que por lo menos una semana antes de su llamada de julio de 25 con Zelensky, Trump dirige su principal actuación del personal de Mick Mulvaney a retenciones [ aclarar ] $ 400 millones en ayuda militar a Ucrania . Esta directiva fue transmitida por la Oficina de Administración y Presupuesto al Departamento de Estado y al Pentágono , indicando que Trump tenía preocupaciones sobre si se debería gastar el dinero, con instrucciones para decirles a los legisladores que los fondos se retrasan debido a un "proceso interinstitucional". [218] El New York Times informó que "funcionarios ucranianos de alto nivel" sabían que la administración Trump había congelado intencionalmente la ayuda militar para la primera semana de agosto de 2019, y se les dijo que contactaran a Mick Mulvaney para resolver el asunto. [223]
Durante una conferencia de prensa el 17 de octubre, el jefe de gabinete interino de la Casa Blanca, Mick Mulvaney, dijo que "estaba involucrado en el proceso" de congelación de la ayuda militar. Mulvaney dio su versión de por qué Trump decidió retener la ayuda militar a Ucrania. Uno, Trump sintió que los otros países europeos no estaban haciendo lo suficiente. Dos, Trump sintió que Ucrania era un "lugar corrupto" que incluía tener "corrupción relacionada con el servidor DNC" con respecto a "lo que sucedió en 2016". Como resultado, el periodista Jonathan Karl le dijo a Mulvaney "lo que acaba de describir es un quid pro quo . Es: 'Los fondos no fluirán a menos que la investigación sobre el servidor demócrata también se lleve a cabo'". Mulvaney respondió a Karl: "Nosotros hacemos eso todo el tiempo con la política exterior ... Supéralo. Habrá influencia política en la política exterior ". Más adelante en la conferencia de prensa, Mulvaney citó una tercera razón por la que se congeló la ayuda militar: todavía tenían que cooperar con una investigación del Departamento de Justicia de EE. UU. Sobre la presunta interferencia de Ucrania en las elecciones presidenciales de EE. UU. De 2016. [13] [224]
Después de que circularon los informes de los medios de comunicación sobre los comentarios de Mulvaney, los republicanos se unieron a los asesores y asesores legales de Trump para distanciarse de sus comentarios. [225] [226] Un alto funcionario del Departamento de Justicia declaró: "Si la Casa Blanca estaba reteniendo la ayuda de Ucrania con respecto a cualquier investigación del Departamento de Justicia, eso es una novedad para nosotros". [224] Horas más tarde, el mismo día en que había emitido la conferencia de prensa, Mulvaney criticó a los medios por la cobertura de sus comentarios y negó sus comentarios anteriores, diciendo que no había " quid pro quo " con respecto a la retención de ayudas y solicitudes. para investigar el comportamiento de los demócratas durante las elecciones de 2016. [225] [226]
En la llamada del 25 de julio con Trump, Zelensky agradeció a Trump el "gran apoyo de Estados Unidos en el área de defensa", una aparente referencia a la ayuda militar, y expresó su interés en adquirir más misiles. Trump respondió: "Sin embargo, me gustaría que nos hiciera un favor", [179] sugiriendo una investigación sobre CrowdStrike , una firma estadounidense de ciberseguridad que investigó los ciberataques contra el Comité Nacional Demócrata en 2015 y 2016. CrowdStrike fue una de las tres firmas cuyos El análisis ayudó a la comunidad de inteligencia de EE. UU. a determinar que la inteligencia rusa era responsable del ataque al DNC . [183] Trump también le pidió a Zelensky que investigara a Joe Biden y su hijo. [227] Ucrania depende de una amplia ayuda militar estadounidense para luchar contra los separatistas respaldados por Rusia en el Donbass , y la suspensión de la ayuda ordenada por el Congreso por parte de la administración Trump supuestamente fue un shock para los funcionarios del gobierno ucraniano que se enteraron solo "mucho más tarde, y luego a través de canales no oficiales ". [228] La adición de Trump de la palabra "aunque" ha sido interpretada como una condición hecha por Trump de que sus decisiones se basarían en el cumplimiento de Ucrania de sus solicitudes. [229]
El 9 de septiembre, al enterarse de la denuncia del denunciante, tres comités de la Cámara de Representantes controlados por los demócratas (el Comité de Relaciones Exteriores, el Comité Permanente de Inteligencia y el Comité de Supervisión y Reforma) anunciaron que investigarían si Trump y Giuliani intentaron coaccionar Ucrania para investigar a los Biden reteniendo la ayuda militar. [230] El 11 de septiembre, la administración Trump liberó la ayuda. [231]
En un tuit del 20 de septiembre, Giuliani pareció confirmar la sospecha de que había una conexión entre la retención de fondos de asistencia militar y la investigación que él y Trump querían que Ucrania emprendiera. [232] [233] Dijo: "La realidad es que el presidente de los Estados Unidos, quienquiera que sea, tiene todo el derecho de decirle al presidente de otro país que es mejor enderezar la corrupción en su país si quiere que le dé usted tiene mucho dinero. Si es tan malditamente corrupto que no puede investigar las acusaciones, nuestro dinero se va a malgastar ". [234] El propio Trump pareció establecer una conexión similar el 23 de septiembre, diciendo a los periodistas: "Queremos asegurarnos de que ese país sea honesto. Es muy importante hablar de corrupción. Si no se habla de corrupción, ¿por qué darías dinero a un país que crees que es corrupto? " [222] Trump luego negó haber presionado a Ucrania. [222]
Si bien la ayuda se restauró a tiempo para evitar contratiempos militares, la retención de la ayuda militar por parte de Trump tuvo un gran impacto psicológico en los soldados de Ucrania. [235] Trump ha ofrecido justificaciones inconsistentes para retener la ayuda. [49] Originalmente dijo que la ayuda fue retenida debido a la "corrupción" en el país y que el tema de conversación con Volodymyr Zelensky fue sobre "el hecho de que no queremos a nuestra gente, como el vicepresidente Biden y su hijo". , [añadiendo] a la corrupción ya en Ucrania ". [236] Más tarde refutó su declaración original y dijo que la ayuda se retuvo inicialmente debido a la falta de una contribución similar de otras naciones europeas. [49] [52]
Republican senator Ron Johnson told The Wall Street Journal in October that American ambassador Gordon Sondland told him in August that military aid to Ukraine was linked to the desire of Trump and his allies for the Ukrainian government to investigate matters related to the 2016 American elections.[237] Sondland told a State department diplomat in September via text message that there was no quid pro quo.[238] On October 12, however, The Washington Post reported that, according to a person familiar with Sondland's testimony, Sondland plans to testify to Congress that the content of that text message "was relayed to him directly by President Trump in a phone call" and that he did not know if the claim denying quid pro quo was actually true.[239]
The Wall Street Journal reported on October 10 that career civil servants at the Office of Management and Budget were concerned about the legality of freezing the aid funds, and that the White House granted a political appointee, Michael Duffey, the authority to keep the aid on hold.[240] Partially redacted OMB emails released to the Center for Public Integrity on December 20 showed that Duffey initiated action to freeze the Ukrainian aid about 90 minutes after the July 25 Trump–Zelensky call, writing to OMB and Pentagon officials, "given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction."[241] Unredacted versions of the emails subsequently acquired by Just Security showed that the Pentagon repeatedly pushed back against the hold, citing legal concerns, but Duffey stated, "clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold". Just Security reported that the original redactions had been made by the Justice Department.[242][243] Another series of heavily redacted emails released on January 21, 2020 showed that the OMB was laying the groundwork to freeze the Ukraine aid on the night of July 24, prior to the July 25 Trump–Zelensky call. An enclosed "Ukraine Prep Memo" was redacted in its entirety.[244][245]
On January 16, 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a non-partisan watchdog agency, concluded that the White House broke federal law by withholding of Congress-approved military aid to Ukraine. The agency concluded that the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 had been violated because Congress' legislated policy had been supplanted by President Trump's own policy. The agency also concluded that the withholding "was not a programmatic delay", in spite of the Trump administration's claim that it was so.[22][246]
As the second week of the Trump impeachment trial was set to begin in January 2020, The New York Times reported that Bolton wrote in his forthcoming book that the president had told him in August 2019 that he wanted to continue freezing the Ukraine aid until officials there pursued investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens.[247]
Withholding of White House visit
In a May 2019 letter congratulating Zelensky on his election, Trump raised the possibility of a White House visit. However, during the next few months as Giuliani and some State Department officials pressed Zelensky to investigate Burisma and the 2016 election, a White House visit became one of the inducements offered or withheld depending on Zelensky's cooperation.[248]
Bill Taylor, the United States' senior diplomatic official in Ukraine, testified in a congressional hearing that he learned in mid-July 2019 that a potential White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky "was conditioned on the investigations of Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections".[15]
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union who became Trump's primary connection to Ukraine, testified that Trump had told him he was "skeptical that Ukraine was serious about reforms and anti-corruption" and directed him to speak to Giuliani about his concerns. Sondland began working with Giuliani and conveyed the message about investigations to the Ukrainians.[248] In August, Sondland texted that the White House visit would be scheduled just as soon as Zelensky confirmed that he would issue a public statement about investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 election.[32] In his November 20 testimony before the impeachment hearings, Sondland testified that the White House visit was conditioned on a public Ukrainian announcement of investigation into Burisma and the 2016 election, which he described as a quid pro quo.[249]
In testimony before congressional committees, the National Security Council's head of European Affairs, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, testified that Sondland had told Ukrainian officials in his presence that they would have to launch investigations into the Bidens in order to get a meeting with Trump. He said Sondland indicated that "everything"—including the military aid and the White House visit—was on the table pending Zelensky's public announcement of such an investigation.[250]
Quejas de denunciantes
First whistleblower complaint
Submission of complaint and withholding from Congress
On August 12, 2019, an unnamed CIA officer[37] filed a whistleblower complaint with Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the Intelligence Community (ICIG),[251] under the provisions of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA).[252] Atkinson looked into the complaint and interviewed several government officials whom the whistleblower identified as having information to substantiate his claims.[37] On August 26, having found the complaint to be both "credible" and "of urgent concern" (as defined by the ICWPA), and noting the "subject matter expertise" of the whistleblower, Atkinson transmitted the complaint to Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence (DNI).[39][253] Prior to the whistleblower filing the formal ICIG complaint, the individual notified the CIA of his/her concerns, which were then relayed to the White House and Justice Department.[254] The New York Times reported in November that Trump was told of the whistleblower complaint in late August, before it was known by Congress and before the Ukraine aid was released.[255]
Maguire withheld the complaint from congressional intelligence committees, citing the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel's rationale that the whistleblower complaint did not relate to an "intelligence activity within the responsibility and authority" of the acting DNI.[256] Maguire also testified that the whistleblower "followed the law every step of the way".[257][258] In an October 2019 letter, about 70 inspectors general from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency sharply criticized the Justice Department's decision to withhold the complaint from Congress, recommending the OLC memo be withdrawn or amended because it "effectively overruled the determination by the ICIG regarding an 'urgent concern' complaint" that the ICIG concluded was "credible and therefore needed to be transmitted to Congress".[259]
| External video | |
|---|---|
 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.[260] On September 10, House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) chairman Adam Schiff wrote to Maguire, asking why he had not provided it. According to Schiff, Maguire said he had been told to withhold it on direction from a "higher authority" because it involved an "issue of privileged communications". Schiff said he was also told "the complaint concerns conduct by someone outside of the Intelligence Community."[261] 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.[c] On September 13, Schiff subpoenaed Maguire to appear before the HPSCI,[263] and Maguire agreed to testify on September 26.[264] The Washington Post reported that Maguire threatened to resign if the White House sought to constrain his testimony, although Maguire later denied he had contemplated resigning.[265]
On September 18, The Washington Post broke the story of the whistleblower report, saying 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.[266] During a previously scheduled closed-door hearing before the HPSCI on September 19, Atkinson told lawmakers the complaint referred to a series of events,[97] and that he disagreed with the position that the complaint lay outside the scope of the ICWPA, but declined to provide details.[267] On September 19, The Washington Post reported that the complaint related to Ukraine.[267]
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.[179] Courtney Simmons Elwood, general counsel for the CIA, became aware of the whistleblower's complaint through a colleague and, on August 14, made what she considered a criminal referral of the matter during a conference call with the top national security lawyer at the White House and the chief of the Justice Department's National Security Division.[268] A Justice Department official said the ICIG suspected 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.[269] According to a Justice Department spokeswoman, the department's criminal division reviewed "the official record of the call" and determined there was no campaign finance violation.[180][270] The Justice Department's determination to not launch an investigation took only weeks; the department did not conduct interviews or take steps beyond reviewing the call record.[45] A senior Justice Department official told The Washington Post the Justice Department had determined Trump's conduct did not constitute the solicitation of a quantifiable "thing of value" subject to the campaign finance laws.[45][180] 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.[45] Some legal experts said there seemed to be evidence warranting an investigation into both; for example, Richard L. Hasen, an election-law scholar, believes the provision of opposition research, e.g. valuable information about a political rival, could be considered a contribution in kind under campaign finance law.[45]
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.[271] Members and staff of congressional intelligence committees were allowed to examine the whistleblower complaint on September 25.[272] 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.[273][274] That same day, the complaint itself was declassified with "minimal redactions".[275] The House Intelligence Committee released the declassified, redacted version of the complaint on September 26.[8]
In the complaint, the whistleblower said 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.[8][276] 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.[8]
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.[8] 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.[8]
Confirmation
By the end of October the bulk of the whistleblower complaint had been confirmed by other sources, including the memorandum record of the July 25 call which the White House released, testimony before congressional committees, and independent reporting.[277] According to a The New York Times editorial titled "Thanks, Whistle-Blower, Your Work Is Done", only one minor item reported in the whistleblower complaint has not yet been confirmed: that T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, the Counselor for the State Department, also listened to the call.[278]
Identity
Trump has repeatedly called for the identity of the whistleblower to be revealed,[279] as have some Republican congress members, particularly Senator Rand Paul, who blocked a Senate resolution reaffirming protection for whistleblowers,[280] and has demanded that the media print the person's name.[281] Around November 1, an alleged identity began to circulate on right-wing publications and social media. Major news outlets have refused to publish the rumored identity of the whistleblower,[282] and Facebook and YouTube announced plans to delete all mentions of the name.[283][284] Twitter is allowing posts containing the alleged whistleblower's name, and Donald Trump Jr. was criticized for publishing such posts on his account on November 6.[285]
Publicly identifying the whistleblower's name may contravene provisions of the Inspector General Act of 1978, the Intelligence Authorization Act, the ICWPA, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and a Presidential Policy Directive dated 2012.[286][287] Senator Rand Paul and Trump Jr. both argued that naming the whistleblower is not a crime, and Robert S. Litt, former general counsel for the National Intelligence Office, said that members of Congress would be "absolutely immune" from prosecution under the Speech and Debate Clause, although they could be subject to congressional sanctions.[288]
Due to threats against him, the whistleblower spent several months guarded by the CIA's Security Protective Service, living in hotels and traveling with armed officers in an unmarked vehicle. The CIA observed that "violent messages surged each time the analyst was targeted in tweets or public remarks by the president," according to a Washington Post report.[289]
Second whistleblower complaint
A second whistleblower, also an intelligence official, came forward on October 5, 2019, with "first-hand knowledge of allegations" associated with the phone call between Trump and Zelensky, according to Mark Zaid, a lawyer on the team representing both whistleblowers.[42][290] Zaid stated that the second whistleblower had been interviewed by the ICIG but had not at that time filed a written complaint.[291] Nor, as of October 6, had the second whistleblower communicated with any committee in the House of Representatives.[42][needs update]
As of October 6, it is not known whether this intelligence official is the same individual mentioned in a New York Times report from October 4 about an intelligence official who was then weighing the possibility of filing an ICIG complaint and testifying before Congress.[42][292]
Procedimientos de investigación de acusación
Desarrollos posteriores
Involvement of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are associates of Rudy Giuliani who aided him in his politically-motivated investigation into Joe Biden. They had previously worked for Dmytry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch being indicted by the Justice Department and believed to be involved at high levels of Russian organized crime.[293] Their attorney John Dowd, who previously represented Trump during the Mueller investigation, told Congress in October 2019 the men were assisting Giuliani in his work on behalf of Trump.[61] Both are Soviet-born Florida real estate businessmen and naturalized American citizens.[105][294]
The two were arrested on the evening of October 9, 2019, and charged with planning to direct funds from a foreign government "to U.S. politicians while trying to influence U.S.-Ukraine relations". They were arrested at Dulles International while trying to leave the U.S. en route to Vienna, Austria. Rudy Giuliani was also scheduled to fly to Vienna the following night.[295][296] Their arrest, the first in the Trump–Ukraine scandal, was described as a "complex web of financial and political interactions linking diplomacy to alleged violations of campaign finance law".[61] The head of the New York's FBI office described the investigation as "about corrupt behavior, deliberate lawbreaking".[61] Parnas and Freeman both pleaded not guilty. Parnas's attorney said some evidence against his client could be subject to presidential executive privilege, as Giuliani had represented both Trump and Parnas.[297]
The charges have also directly connected Parnas and Fruman to the campaign to oust the United States ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, from her post and have her recalled.[298] This occurred over many months.[105] In 2018, the operation included Parnas and Fruman donating funds and pledging later additional money to an unnamed Congressman, who was recruited for the "campaign to oust her".[298] Some of the funds violated campaign limits. Parnas and Fruman were also charged with unlawful campaign contributions. Former congressional representative Pete Sessions (R-Texas) correlates with campaign finance filings, identifying him as the unnamed congressman. At the time, as the chairman of the influential House Rules Committee, he wrote a May 9, 2018, letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "saying that Ms. Yovanovitch should be fired for privately expressing 'disdain' for the current administration".[298] Earlier that day, Parnas and his business partner David Correia visited Sessions in his Capitol Hill office.[299] Correia was arrested by the FBI at JFK International on October 16 on charges of using foreign money for political influence to advance a marijuana scheme.[300]
In 2018, Parnas and Fruman were sent by Giuliani to Ukraine to extract damaging information on Trump's U.S. political rivals. "Their mission was to find people and information that could be used to undermine the Special Counsel's investigation, and also to damage former vice president Joseph R. Biden."[301] Both were also at the center of the pro-Trump forces' push to remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine because her loyalty to President Trump was deemed deficient "as he pursued his agenda there".[301] Also, over the course of a year beginning in 2018, the two brought Giuliani to Ukrainians who were amenable to promoting "a largely unsubstantiated narrative about the Bidens".[301] These willing Ukrainians included Yuriy Lutsenko, a former prosecutor general of Ukraine, who was essential to aiding Giuliani's efforts to produce damaging information. In an interview published in December 2019, Giuliani stated, "I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way. She was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody."[302]
Giuliani's relationship with Parnas and Fruman is the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI's New York field office and SDNY prosecutors.[303] His business activities in Ukraine and potential violation of lobbying laws are under federal investigation,[62][304] by FBI counterintelligence.[305][306] SDNY prosecutors have examined Giuliani's bank statements. They are also investigating his finances, as well as meetings with and work for a Ukrainian city mayor.[304] SDNY investigators have been questioning witnesses about Giuliani since August 2019, gathering information about his relationship to Parnas and Fruman.[304] Bloomberg News reported in November 2019 that the Giuliani investigation could include charges of bribing foreign officials or conspiracy.[307]
Referring to Parnas and Fruman, on October 10 Trump said, "I don't know those gentlemen," although that day The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had dinner with the men in the White House in early May 2018.[295][308] BuzzFeed News featured photos of Lev Parnas posing with President Trump and both Parnas and Fruman posing with other Republicans in Washington, DC.[309] Trump was photographed with Parnas as early as April 2014.[310]
On October 15, 2019, it was reported that a New York grand jury had subpoenaed former congressman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) for documents and other information about his intercommunications and cooperation with Giuliani, Parnas, and Freeman. The subpoena demonstrated that the investigation into Giuliani's relationship to Parnas and Freeman remained active, as prosecutors determine whether Giuliani engaged in any illegal behavior. Giuliani seems to be the focal point of the subpoena.[311] Sought after documents pertain to Giuliani's business affairs in Ukraine and his connection to the ouster of the former U.S. ambassador.[311] The unsealed indictment against Parnas says he sought the help of the congressman to dismiss the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine while sourcing the money to the congressman on behalf of "one or more Ukrainian government officials".[312] Sessions followed up with a letter to the secretary of state requesting the ouster of the ambassador.
On November 4, 2019, Parnas's new attorney Joseph Bondy said his client would cooperate with congressional investigators in their Trump impeachment inquiry.[313] Bondy later told The New York Times that shortly before Zelensky's May 20 inauguration, Parnas traveled to Kyiv to tell the incoming government that American military aid was contingent upon Ukraine's announcing an investigation of Joe Biden.[314]
On January 14, 2020, the House Intelligence Committee released documents provided by Parnas, including text messages between Parnas and Robert Hyde, a Republican congressional candidate, in which Hyde described surveillance of Yovanovitch in Kyiv before she was recalled, including Hyde stating that she was under heavy security and "we have a person inside," adding, "they are willing to help if we/you would like a price" and "guess you can do anything in Ukraine with money."[187][161] Two days later, Ukraine announced it was opening an investigation into the matter, while the State Department remained silent as the FBI visited Hyde's home and office.[315][316] The documents also outlined text exchanges with then Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko in which he pushed for the ouster of Yovanovitch and offered information related to former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in return.[158][159]
On January 15, 2020, Parnas stated in an interview that "President Trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all my movements. I wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president" about the effort to push Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.[317] The next day, Trump again asserted that he knew nothing about Parnas.[318]
In an audio recording reportedly made by Fruman during a small dinner in April 2018, after Parnas and Fruman tell Trump that Yovanovitch was bad-mouthing him, Trump is apparently heard to say "Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it."[136]
Communications with other governments
Australia
On October 1, 2019, 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 William Barr's investigation of the Mueller inquiry.[319] 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.[320] The Australian government confirmed 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.[319] In a letter to William Barr dated May 28, Joe Hockey, Australia's ambassador to the U.S., pledged that the Australian government would "use its best endeavours" to support Barr's investigation.[319] Hockey later rejected claims that Downer had been part of a conspiracy among intelligence agencies around the world to prevent Trump's election and undermine his eventual presidency.[321]
The White House responded by dismissing the reports, claiming 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.[319] When questioned by a journalist, Morrison rejected Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese's accusation that he had jeopardized Australia's national security for the sake of a personal relationship with the president and instead insisted that cooperating 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.[322]
Italy
On September 30, it was reported that Attorney General William Barr had travelled to Rome to enlist the support of Italian authorities in his investigation.[323] Barr sought information related to a conspiracy theory that Joseph Mifsud was a Western intelligence operative who allegedly entrapped Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos in order to establish a false predicate for the FBI to open an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Contrary to the conspiracy theory, that investigation was actually initiated after the Australian government notified American authorities that its diplomat Alexander Downer had a chance encounter with Papadopoulos, who boasted about possible access to Hillary Clinton emails held by the Russian government. Mifsud was last known to be in Rome in 2017, but had since disappeared.[2][324] The Washington Post reported on November 22, 2019, that the Justice Department inspector general had aggressively investigated the allegation that Mifsud had been directed to entrap Papadopoulos, but found it was without merit.[325]
China
On October 3, Trump publicly called upon China to investigate Hunter Biden's business activities there while his father was vice president.[46][50] In 2013, Biden, Devon Archer, and Chinese businessman Jonathan Li founded BHR Partners, a business focused on investing Chinese capital in companies based outside of China.[89][326][327] In September, Trump falsely claimed Biden "walk[ed] out of China with $1.5 billion in a fund" and earned "millions" of dollars from the BHR deal.[328][329]
Trump discussed the political prospects of Biden, as well as former candidate Elizabeth Warren, another political rival, during a June 18 phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The record of the call was stored on the same highly restricted computer system used for the Trump–Zelensky call record. According to two people familiar with the discussion, Trump told Xi on the same call that "he would remain quiet on Hong Kong protests as trade talks progressed."[34] The day after Trump's call for China to investigate Hunter Biden, Senator Mitt Romney said: "it strains credulity to suggest that [the request] is anything other than politically motivated."[330] The Chinese foreign ministry said that the Chinese government had "no intention of intervening in the domestic affairs of the United States".[331]
Michael Pillsbury, a China scholar at the Hudson Institute and a Trump advisor on trade negotiations with China, was quoted by the Financial Times on October 10: "I got quite a bit of background on Hunter Biden from the Chinese."[332] Pillsbury denied the quote on C-SPAN hours later, asserting: "I haven't spoken to the Financial Times for a month." The Financial Times released an email showing Pillsbury made the statement on October 9. Pillsbury later told The Washington Post, "most everything I learned was already public or well-known" and that the Chinese "really, really didn't want to talk about it".[333]
Release of John Bolton's manuscript
On January 26, The New York Times reported that former national security advisor John Bolton had written in a draft of his forthcoming book, The Room Where It Happened, that the president told him in August 2019 that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in aid to Ukraine until officials there pursued investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens.[247] Trump denied Bolton's claim.[334] The manuscript was released after the first week of the impeachment trial, prompting House impeachment managers to call for the Senate to call Bolton as a witness.[335] Bolton also claimed to have discussed the suspension of aid with Attorney General William Barr, and that the two had shared concerns over Trump offering personal favours to the leaders of autocratic regimes around the world, including Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey and Xi Jinping in China. The Times later reported that Bolton's manuscript described a May 2019 Oval Office meeting during which Trump directed Bolton to call Zelensky to ask him to meet with Giuliani about getting damaging information on the Bidens. Bolton reportedly wrote that Giuliani, Mulvaney and White House counsel Pat Cipollone—who, at the time of the report, was representing Trump in the impeachment trial—attended the meeting. Trump denied telling Bolton this, and Giuliani denied Mulvaney or Cipollone attended meetings related to Ukraine.[336] Cipollone previously stated he never attended Ukraine-related meetings, and Mulvaney said he avoided Trump–Giuliani meetings so as to not jeopardize their attorney-client privilege.[337]
Other federal investigations
In a January 2020 memo to all United States attorneys, department component heads and law enforcement agency heads,[338] deputy attorney general Jeffrey Rosen stated there "currently are several distinct open investigations being handled by different U.S. attorney's offices and/or department components that in some way potentially relate to Ukraine." Rosen advised the addressees that Richard Donoghue, the U.S. attorney for Eastern District of New York (EDNY), had been assigned to coordinate these cases and "any and all new matters relating to Ukraine shall be directed exclusively to EDNY for investigation and proper handling." The memo stated that existing investigations would continue to be managed by the original investigators, but that any widening or expansion of those investigations required approval by Rosen and Donoghue.[339] Federal prosecutors had indicated in December 2019 that it was likely new charges would be brought against Parnas, Fruman and two others,[340] as the SDNY continued to investigate Giuliani into February and the Justice Department created an "intake process" to accept and scrutinize information from him about Joe Biden. That intake process was being managed by the Pittsburgh U.S. attorney's office, headed by Scott Brady.[341]
The New York Times reported in May 2021 that federal investigators in Brooklyn began a criminal investigation late in the Trump administration into possible efforts by several current and former Ukrainian officials to spread unsubstantiated allegations about corruption by Joe Biden. Investigators were examining whether the Ukrainians used Giuliani as a channel for the allegations, though he was not a specific subject of the investigation, in contrast to a long-running investigation of Giuliani by the US attorney's office in Manhattan.[342]
Reacciones
Congress
On September 22, House speaker Nancy Pelosi said 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."[343] 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.[344]
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.[345]
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.[346] Pelosi said 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".[347][348]
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.[349][350]
On September 26, during a House hearing, Representative Adam Schiff gave a summary of the "essence" and the "character" of the Trump–Zelensky call. One part of Schiff's retelling was not represented in the non-verbatim memorandum of the call provided by the White House, when Schiff stated: "And I'm going to say this only seven times so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand. Lots of it. On this and on that." After Representative Mike Turner accused Schiff of "just making it up", Schiff responded that his summary "was meant to be at least part in parody" and acknowledged that "the president never said if you don't understand me, I'm going to say it seven more times." However, Schiff argued: "That's the message that the Ukraine president was receiving in not so many words."[351]
Trump supporters on television, radio, and the Internet have pressured Republicans to continue supporting Trump. Republicans who have spoken out against Trump, expressed concern, or defended the whistleblower, such as senators Mitt Romney, Charles Grassley, Ben Sasse and Representative Adam Kinzinger, have come under criticism online by right-wing websites, with Romney becoming the target of baseless conspiracy theories and virally spread disinformation.[352]
An October 21 political fact sheet release by Nancy Pelosi divided the scandal into three categories, according to the evidence, that "show Trump violated his oath of office": "The Shakedown", "The Pressure Campaign", and "The Cover-Up".[353][354]
Despite President Trump and his allies insisting there had been no quid pro quo, mounting evidence from witness testimony indicated there had been, leading a growing number of Senate Republicans to accept there was a quid pro quo, while maintaining it was not illegal and did not justify impeachment.[355] The Washington Post reported that House Republicans were considering portraying Giuliani, Sondland and Mulvaney as freelancers who had acted in their own self-interests without Trump's involvement.[356]
President Trump and the White House
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".[357][d] 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.[85][87][360] 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."[361] 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.[362] 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."[363] Trump also denied explicitly tying U.S. military aid to Ukraine's corruption investigation involving Burisma Holdings.[364] Within six hours of the impeachment inquiry being announced on September 24, Trump and his campaign team started a fundraising drive for an "Impeachment Defense Team". Forty-eight hours later, they had raised in excess of $13 million and signed up 50,000 new donors.[365][366]
On September 27, Trump characterized the person who provided the whistleblower with information on the call 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."[367] On September 29, Trump requested to meet the whistleblower, saying that he and the American people "deserved" to meet them. He later said the White House was trying to learn the identity of the whistleblower. He also demanded that Adam Schiff be arrested and questioned "at the highest level" for fraud and treason.[368][369] A letter from the whistleblower's lawyers, addressed to the director of national intelligence, said that the whistleblower was afraid for their safety.[368] On November 7 the whistleblower's lawyer sent a letter to the White House warning Trump to "cease and desist" calling for the public disclosure of the whistleblower's identity and "engaging in rhetoric and activity that places [the whistleblower] and their family in physical danger". The lawyer said the president would be legally and morally liable if anyone were to be "physically harmed as a result of his, or his surrogates', behavior".[370]
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,[371] and later claimed that Nancy Pelosi was "every bit as guilty as Liddle' [sic] Adam Schiff for High Crimes and Misdemeanours, and even Treason" before calling for both Schiff and Pelosi to be impeached themselves as they had "evilly 'Colluded'".[372]
On October 3, after stating that the U.S. has "tremendous power" and "many options" in the trade war with China "if they don't do what we want", Trump was asked by a reporter on what he hoped Zelensky would do after his phone call. Trump responded by publicly urging both Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens.[14] Later in the day, Vice President Mike Pence voiced his support of Trump's comments, saying: "I think the American people have a right to know if the vice president of the United States or his family profited from his position."[373] Pence said the activities of the Biden family were "worth looking into".[374] Trump later claimed that when he called upon China to investigate the Bidens, his only interest was in thwarting corruption. Mitt Romney was critical of this, saying: "When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China's investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that this is anything other than politically motivated."[375]
On October 4, Trump told congressional Republican leaders the only reason he had called Zelensky was at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry, saying Perry wanted him to discuss a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and that Trump had not even wanted to make the call. However, there is no mention of LNG in the publicly released summary of the conversation, and text messages exchanged among aides who were setting up the phone call made no mention of Perry, instead suggesting that Giuliani was the primary mover.[376] Perry had been the administration's official representative at Zelensky's inauguration in May. During that trip; he pressured Zelensky to fire board members of Naftogaz, the national oil and gas company of Ukraine, and informed government and industry officials that the Trump administration wanted the entirety of Naftogaz's supervisory board replaced.[105] Perry denied pressing for change at Naftogaz in a press conference on October 7, describing that as "a totally dreamed up story".[106] On October 10, however, Perry was issued a subpoena by the House Intelligence Committee, the House Oversight Committee, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, partially concerning his interactions with Naftogaz.[107][108][109]
Trump's 2020 reelection campaign developed a campaign ad that repeated unsubstantiated claims about Biden, asserting that "when President Trump asks Ukraine to investigate corruption, the Democrats want to impeach him and their media lapdogs fall in line." CNN refused to broadcast the ads because Trump's claims had already been debunked and for disparaging its journalists.[377]
Ukraine
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 Herashchenko, 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.[96]
However, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times, senior Ukrainian officials were aware that military aid was being withheld by the first week in August,[223] and after initially having difficulty ascertaining what was holding up the aid,[223] by September Trump's envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker was in negotiations with Zelensky's senior aide Andriy Yermak over the wording of the proposed public statement.[378] Volker pressed for wording explicitly confirming investigations into Joe Biden's alleged pressure campaign for the removal of the Ukrainian prosecutor who was allegedly investigating Burisma, and into accusations that Ukraine had been involved in interference with the 2016 U.S. presidential election in favor of Hillary Clinton, while Yermak attempted to negotiate less explicit language.[378]
George Kent, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, testified to the congressional impeachment inquiry that "Zelensky needed to go to a microphone and basically there needed to be three words in the message": investigations, Biden, 2016 (or synonymously, Hillary Clinton).[379] Diplomat Bill Taylor testified that Trump insisted that the public declaration be made on CNN, and Times reporting found that Zelensky's staff finally capitulated to this demand, and arranged for him to appear on Fareed Zakaria's CNN program on September 13 to make the statement. The appearance was canceled after the Ukraine aid was released on September 11.[378]
Ukrainian foreign minister Vadym Prystaiko told a Ukrainian news outlet on September 21: "I know what the [phone] 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."[380] Prystaiko was also quoted as saying: "I want to say that we are an independent state, we have our secrets."[380] On September 22, Senator Chris Murphy said Zelensky told him he had no intention to get involved with an American election.[381]
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".[382]
During the joint press conference on September 25 with Trump for reporters gathered at the United Nations General Assembly, President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters: "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."[363][383] The next day, Zelensky said President Trump had not pressured anyone nor made any promises, and that the prosecutor ceneral Ruslan Riaboshapka would investigate all domestic cases without prejudice.[384] On September 30, Zelensky made it clear that he was not going to interfere with the intra-American party confrontation.[385] Subsequently, at an all-day press conference on October 10, Zelensky said he only learned about the blockage of the military aid after the July 25 phone call. "We didn't speak about this. There was no blackmail."[386][387]
European Union
During the conversation, Zelensky and Trump criticized German chancellor Angela Merkel and European Union for a lack of support toward Ukraine.[388] 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 U.S. has not signed a similar agreement with Ukraine.[388] 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.[52]
In the overall ranking in 2016–2017, the European Union is the leader in terms of aid, the U.S. the second, and Germany is the third.[53] However, Ukrainian media analyzed the data and found that from 2014, Germany provided aid of €1.4 billion: €500 million is a loan that will be repaid, €200 million is a share of Germany from European Union assistance, and the rest is really full-fledged assistance.[389][390] Germany has stated that its attitude towards Ukraine has not changed.[391][392]
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,[393] 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.[394][395][396]
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "You have to admit, the publication of a full transcript of a conversation—be it by phone or face-to-face—is uncommon in interstate diplomatic practice. At least, uncommon until now."[397][398] Speaking at an energy conference in Moscow, Putin said: "I didn't see during the telephone conversation that Trump demanded some compromising information from Zelensky at all costs, and threatened that he would [otherwise] not provide assistance to Ukraine."[399]
Former U.S. officials
More than 300 former U.S. foreign policy and national security officials who had 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."[400][401]
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.[167]
Ten former White House chiefs of staff, who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents[e] described it as unprecedented for an incumbent president to "personally apply pressure to foreign powers to damage political opponents".[402] When the ten were interviewed, "none recalled any circumstance under which the White House had solicited or accepted political help from other countries, and all said they would have considered the very idea out of bounds."[402]
In an op-ed in The Washington Post, 17 former members of the Watergate scandal special prosecutor force[f] wrote that "there exists compelling prima facie evidence that President Trump has committed impeachable offenses," specifically serious and persistent abuses of power, and the Congress "should not allow any refusal by the president to cooperate in its process to frustrate the performance of its constitutional duties."[403]
American editorials and commentary
The Washington Post and New York Times editorial boards supported the impeachment inquiry against Trump arising from the scandal.[404][405] The Post editorial board criticized the administration and its allies for defying congressional subpoenas and stonewalling the investigation,[404][406] and called upon congressional Republicans to "have the moral courage" to recognize the Trump administration's Ukraine pressure campaign as corrupt and a quid pro quo.[407] Another Washington Post editorial criticized the Trump administration for attacking William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and other career civil servants who have testified before Congress, writing that it was "vile" to attack "honest and courageous public servants" in an attempt to discredit them.[408] Some newspaper editorial boards called upon Trump to resign from office over the Ukraine scandal, including the editorial board of Hearst Connecticut Media, which owns eight daily newspapers in Connecticut.[409] A St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial urged congressional Republicans to call for Trump's resignation.[410]
Pro-Trump media outlets and commentators, such as Jeanine Pirro, Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh, responded by defending Trump and promoting an alternative narrative of the Ukraine affair that omitted significant facts.[411] Echoing Trump's own rhetoric, the president's defenders in the media often attacked the whistleblower,[412] and characterized the investigation as not only a political attack against Trump, but also "a culture war" against his supporters.[411] Fox News anchor Chris Wallace characterized the spin by Trump allies in the aftermath of the whistleblower complaint becoming public as "astonishing" and "deeply misleading".[413]
Public opinion
In the days after the scandal arose, multiple polls showed a surge in support for an impeachment inquiry, or impeachment itself.[by how much?][414][415][416]
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".[417] On October 10, Michael McKinley, a senior advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, resigned over disappointment in Pompeo's lack of public support for those named in the scandal.[418]
Internet communities
After the whistleblower complaint was publicized, users on pro-Trump Internet forums tried to identify its author. These attempts at "doxing" were marked by disorganized speculation, racism and misogyny.[419] In October 2019, pro-Trump writer Paul Sperry published on the web what he asserted was the identity of the whistleblower. During ensuing days, Trump and his allies asserted major news outlets were covering for the whistleblower because they had declined to repeat the whistleblower's alleged identity in their reporting.[420][421] However, the generally pro-Trump Fox News—including close Trump confidant Sean Hannity—also declined to repeat the alleged identity, on instructions from Fox News management.[422]
Trump supporters paid for Facebook advertisements to spread the purported name of the whistleblower. These ads were viewed by potentially "hundreds of thousands of users" before Facebook removed them.[420]
Secuelas
Impeachment and senate trial
President Trump was impeached by Congress on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress.[19] The articles of impeachment were referred to the Senate, which held a trial over twenty days from January 16 to February 5, 2020. Trump was acquitted on both charges by the Republican-controlled Senate, with the vote split along party lines.[20][g] Maine senator Susan Collins, who emerged as a key figure during the impeachment trial owing to her perceived willingness to break with her party,[423] defended the acquittal as she believed Trump had learned from the trial and would not attempt to solicit foreign interference in future.[citation needed]
Resignations and firings of witnesses
Marie Yovanovitch and Bill Taylor resigned from their positions in the State Department.[424] Jennifer Williams left her position to take up a new post.[425] Alexander Vindman was dismissed from his position in the White House following Trump's acquittal by the Senate.[426] Vindman's twin brother Yevgeny—who was not involved in the case—was also dismissed. Both Vindman brothers were reported to have been physically escorted from the White House. Gordon Sondland was also recalled from his position as ambassador.[427] The White House claimed that the dismissals were necessary, but Trump was criticized for seeking revenge against those who had testified against him.[428][429][430][431] Trump was also reported to have labelled Williams and Alexander Vindman as "Never Trumpers".[425] Trump suggested that the Pentagon should seek disciplinary action against Vindman, but the Army declined to investigate.[432][433][434][435] John Rood, the top Pentagon policy advisor who, on July 25, 2019, warned Defense Secretary Mark Esper against withholding military aid to Ukraine, was forced to resign on February 19, 2020. In May 2019 he had certified to Congress that Ukraine was eligible for the aid.[436]
Subsequently, during a panel discussion held on February 11, 2020 at the Atlantic Council, the president's national security advisor, Robert C. O'Brien said that it was his decision to transfer both Vindman brothers back to the Army for re-assignment and denied that the move was ordered by Trump in retaliation for Vindman's testimony. "I can absolutely tell you that they were not retaliated against", O'Brien told the panel. O'Brien also disputed the move as being characterized as "fired" since both brothers remain on active duty. O'Brien noted that their transfer was part of a larger NSA staff reduction.[437] It was later reported that the firings and dismissals were part of a wider purge of the Trump administration that targeted people who were perceived as not being loyal enough to Trump and his agenda,[438] including intelligence officials who might be part of Trump's claims of a "deep state" conspiracy against him.[439]
Michael Atkinson was fired from his position as Inspector General of the Intelligence Community in April 2020. The White House issued a statement that Trump had lost confidence in Atkinson's ability to perform his duties.[440] The decision to fire Atkinson was criticized because his role as Inspector General was supposed to be independent and because Trump chose to fire him during the coronavirus pandemic, which led to claims that Trump had tried to use the pandemic to distract from Atkinson's firing.[441]
Giuliani's activities in Ukraine
As the impeachment hearings and trial unfolded, Rudy Giuliani returned to Ukraine to conduct his own investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden. This was widely criticized as a further attempt to undermine Biden's election campaign,[citation needed] for promoting widely debunked conspiracy theories about the Bidens,[103] for Giuliani being a likely target for misinformation spread by Russian intelligence services,[442][443] and because Giuliani is himself under investigation by American authorities.[307][444] Giuliani went on to claim that he had found evidence that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had previously contacted Ukrainian officials looking to open an investigation into Paul Manafort,[citation needed] the chair of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, who had lobbied to American lawmakers on behalf of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.[445]
In February 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced that the Justice Department would receive any information gathered by Giuliani.[446][447][448] Barr had previously announced that all investigations into foreign donations and interference into the 2020 presidential elections would require his personal approval.[citation needed]
During the impeachment process, Trump denied having sent Giuliani to Ukraine, but in an interview that aired on February 13, 2020, he reversed his prior denials and openly admitted sending Giuliani to Ukraine, praising him as a "crime fighter" and "the best prosecutor."[449]
Place in the Russia investigation counter-narrative
In February 2020, United States attorney John Durham was appointed to lead an investigation into the origins of the Mueller inquiry. It was reported that the investigation was focusing on former CIA director and Trump critic John Brennan and whether he had mishandled evidence during the early stages of the inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.[citation needed] Mick Mulvaney linked Durham's investigation to the Ukraine scandal, stating that Durham had sought help from Ukraine and interviewed Ukrainian citizens.[450] The Durham inquiry has been described as an "inquiry into its own Russia investigation".[451] and "investigating the investigators" of the Russian interference.[452][453]
Teorias de conspiracion
Trump and his allies had since 2017 promoted a conspiracy theory that Ukraine, rather than Russia, had interfered with the 2016 election, which American intelligence believes has been promoted by Russia in order to frame Ukraine.[454] Some speculate Maria Zakharova at Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the source of this campaign.[455][456][457] The conspiracy theory included allegations that Democrats, CrowdStrike and the FBI had conspired to frame Russia in the 2016 hacking of a Democratic National Committee server. Trump has repeatedly insisted without evidence that an unnamed Ukrainian oligarch was behind the conspiracy to frame Russia and that Ukraine is in possession of the DNC server.[58]
Shortly before Trump took office, top American intelligence officials briefed him on their evidence—including from their hacking of Russian intelligence networks and information provided by a high-level Kremlin mole—that Russia was behind the hacking and other election interference, on the personal orders and orchestration of Vladimir Putin.[458][459] In December 2019, the Trump-appointed FBI director Christopher Wray stated, "we have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election," adding, "there's all kinds of people saying all kinds of things out there. I think it's important for the American people to be thoughtful consumers of information and to think about the sources of it and to think about the support and predication for what they hear."[460]
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.[462][463][464] This conspiracy theory concerns CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity and internet security firm that first investigated the 2015–2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) network and determined that Russian military intelligence (GRU) was behind these cyber attacks.
Tom Bossert, Trump's former homeland security advisor, said in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that Trump was repeatedly warned by his staff that the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory was "completely debunked". Bossert blamed Giuliani for Trump's fixation upon the conspiracy theory.[465][466]
The overarching theme of the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory is that the DNC fabricated evidence to implicate Russia in the cyber attacks.[467] CrowdStrike's co-founder, Dmitri Alperovitch, is a naturalized American citizen born in the Soviet Union.[468][469] 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, and the actual server involved in the cyber attack is in Ukraine.[182]
CrowdStrike is actually a publicly traded company headquartered in California that the National Republican Congressional Committee has also hired for cyber security services.[470] "The server" is actually 140 servers, decommissioned and located in the United States.[471] The theory additionally says FBI agents were not allowed to examine the server because such action would expose the DNC plot,[467] although in fact—and as documented in the Mueller Report—system images and traffic logs of the DNC servers were provided to the FBI.[471][472] This conspiracy theory originated from a "GRU persona, 'Guccifer 2.0', created to cast doubt on Russia's culpability in the DNC [intrusion]".[467][473]
Actions of first whistleblower
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.[474][475][476][477] After the whistleblower had informed the CIA's general counsel of his concerns, he grew troubled by "how that initial avenue for airing his allegations through the CIA was unfolding", according to The New York Times. He then contacted an aide for the House Intelligence Committee and provided a vague statement. The aide then followed standard procedure and advised the whistleblower to find a lawyer and file a complaint with the Intelligence Community inspector Ggeneral (IC IG). Neither Rep. Schiff nor the other members of the Committee saw the complaint until the night before they released it publicly, and the Committee was not involved in writing the complaint.[260][478] Schiff and the Committee had no role in helping the whistleblower select an attorney.
According to Mark S. Zaid, a member of the whistleblower's pro bono legal team: "The whistleblower took the advice to find an attorney and did what most people do, they asked around to trusted friends as to who they should contact. Andrew [Bakaj]'s name was provided and he was retained. Exactly how it happens every day."[479] Andrew P. Bakaj is the Lead Attorney representing the whistleblower. During a news conference on October 2, Trump claimed that The New York Times article proved Schiff had helped write the whistleblower complaint,[260] prompting one of the reporters who wrote the story to reply on Twitter that their story said no such thing and that Schiff had not even known the whistleblower's identity.[480]
Whistleblower rules and hearsay
In late September, Trump tweeted a conspiracy theory that whistleblower rules were changed before the whistleblower complaint was submitted.[59][481] Senator Lindsey Graham, and Trump's lawyers Jay Sekulow and Rudy Giuliani made similar claims.[482][483] Trump's claim was based on an article from The Federalist which incorrectly stated that the IC IG "secretly eliminated a requirement that whistleblowers provide direct, first-hand knowledge of alleged wrongdoings", by revising their complaint form sometime between May 2018 and August 2019, removing a section from the old form containing the sentence: "If you think wrongdoing took place, but can provide nothing more than secondhand or unsubstantiated assertions, IC IG will not be able to process the complaint or information for submission as an ICWPA."[481][482] The Federalist article failed to mention that the old form had checkboxes where the whistleblower could indicate that their information was "direct" or from either "other employees" or other indirect sources.[483][484]
The IC IG responded the whistleblower's complaint was submitted with the old form (before the forms changed), and that the whistleblower's complaint was based on both "direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct" and knowledge from other employees.[38][39] The IC IG also said the old form had been under review, and that "in response to recent press inquiries regarding the instant whistleblower complaint", the form was changed because "certain language in those forms and, more specifically, the informational materials accompanying the forms, could be read—incorrectly—as suggesting that whistleblowers must possess first-hand information in order to file an urgent concern complaint".[38] The IC IG also said that by law a complainant is not required to have "first-hand information" themselves, and that their office "cannot add conditions to the filing of an urgent concern that do not exist in law".[38]
The "rules" for whistleblowing arise from Intelligence Community Directive 120, last updated in 2016. The directive states that the requirement for a complaint is to be one which the whistleblower "reasonably believes evidences a violation of any law, rule or regulation".[481][484] The burden of obtaining and evaluating first-hand knowledge for credibility is placed on the IC IG, who has 14 days to conduct an investigation to do so.[59] In this case, the preliminary review done by the IC IG did find more information to support the allegations as credible.[485] Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project, a non-profit watchdog organization, said only around 10% of all credible whistleblower complaints have firsthand information.[486]
Republican senator Chuck Grassley, a prominent author and advocate of whistleblower laws, spoke out against the conspiracy theory, saying the whistleblower appeared to have acted in accordance with the law and deserved to be heard.[487][488]
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.[489] 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.[490] Soros was also invoked, again without evidence, by the media organization Breitbart News.[419]
Discredited allegations against Soros were also part of a "packet of propaganda and disinformation" that had been circulating within the State Department since May 2019, until being revealed to Congress on October 2.[491]
Ver también
- Corruption in the United States
- Foreign interference in the 2020 United States elections
- List of federal political scandals in the United States
- List of impeachments of heads of state
- List of "-gate" scandals
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- Michael Atkinson (Inspector General)
Notas
- ^ 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.[179] Senior administration officials said voice recognition software was also used in preparing the memorandum.[30][179] Some sources describe the document as a "rough transcript".[180]
- ^ §II, p. 3
- ^ 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.[45] Engel's letter said the whistleblower's complaint should instead be referred to the Justice Department.[45] A declassified version of the OLC's memo was released on September 24, 2019.[262]
- ^ Michael Atkinson, the ICIG who found the whistleblower complaint credible and urgent, was appointed during the Trump administration.[358][359]
- ^ The chiefs of staff were from the Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama administrations.[402]
- ^ Including Richard Ben-Veniste, Paul R. Michel, and others.[403]
- ^ Utah senator Mitt Romney was the only senator to break with his party, voting in favour of removing Trump from office on the charge of abusing the power of his office.
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I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.
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enlaces externos
- Declassified whistleblower complaint of August 12, 2019 (released in redacted form on September 26, 2019)
- Declassified letter from Intelligence Community Inspector General to acting Director of National Intelligence (August 26, 2019), regarding the whistleblower complaint
- Memorandum of the July 25, 2019, telephone conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
- Text messages between Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland, Bill Taylor and Andrey Yermak
- HuffPost: Everyone You Need To Know In The Trump-Ukraine Investigation
- Axios: Trump-Ukraine scandal: The key players, dates and documents
- The Guardian: Trump-Ukraine impeachment scandal: timeline of key events
- JustSecurity: A Who's Who of Ukraine Witnesses includes prepared opening statements, deposition transcripts
- Just Security: Public Document Clearinghouse: Ukraine Impeachment Trial
- Resources on Ukraine Scandal, The Moscow Project
