{"slug":"ukraine-extortion-first-impeachment","title":"Ukraine Extortion and First Impeachment: Withholding Military Aid to Coerce Election Interference","date":"2019-07-25","lastUpdated":"2020-02-05","description":"Trump withheld $391 million in congressionally-appropriated military aid to Ukraine — aid to a country under active Russian military occupation — to coerce Ukrainian President Zelensky into publicly announcing an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter. The scheme was uncovered by a CIA whistleblower. The House impeached Trump in December 2019; the Senate acquitted him in February 2020.","summary":"Trump conditioned release of congressionally-approved military aid on Ukraine's announcement of investigations targeting his political rival. The scheme, exposed by a whistleblower and confirmed by multiple witnesses including Trump's own ambassador to the EU, made national security funds contingent on Trump's personal electoral interests. The House voted to impeach; the Senate acquitted on party lines after blocking witness testimony.","category":"rule-of-law","severity":"extreme","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.dni.gov/files/ICIG/Documents/ICIG%20Whistleblower%20Complaint%20(UNCLASS).pdf","title":"Whistleblower Complaint (declassified)","publisher":"Intelligence Community Inspector General"},{"url":"https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf","title":"Memorandum of Telephone Conversation — Trump-Zelensky Call July 25, 2019","publisher":"White House"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeachment-vote.html","title":"Trump Impeached by the House on Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/the_impeachment_inquiry_report_-_the_trump-ukraine_scandal.pdf","title":"The Impeachment Inquiry Report — The Trump-Ukraine Scandal","publisher":"House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-ukraine-call/2019/09/25/739e8f0e-dfb5-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html","title":"Trump-Ukraine call: Full readout","publisher":"The Washington Post"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["impeachment","Ukraine","bribery","obstruction","rule-of-law","first-term","quid-pro-quo"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2019-07-18","title":"Military aid freeze announced","summary":"The Office of Management and Budget issues a hold on $391 million in congressionally-approved military assistance to Ukraine. Ukraine is at the time actively defending territory against Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas."},{"date":"2019-07-25","title":"Trump-Zelensky call — 'I would like you to do us a favor'","summary":"In a phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, Trump responds to Zelensky raising military assistance by saying 'I would like you to do us a favor though' — and requests Ukraine announce investigations into the Bidens and into a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election. The White House releases a declassified memo of the call."},{"date":"2019-08-12","title":"Whistleblower complaint filed","summary":"An anonymous CIA whistleblower files a complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General describing the July 25 call and a pattern of Ukrainian pressure as an abuse of power for personal political benefit."},{"date":"2019-09-09","title":"Whistleblower complaint transmitted to Congress","summary":"After initially being withheld by Acting DNI Joseph Maguire, the whistleblower complaint is transmitted to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, triggering the formal impeachment inquiry."},{"date":"2019-09-11","title":"Military aid released","summary":"The military aid freeze is lifted — nine weeks after it was imposed and after the whistleblower complaint is filed. Ukraine never publicly announced the demanded investigations."},{"date":"2019-11-20","title":"Sondland confirms quid pro quo","summary":"Ambassador Gordon Sondland — a Trump donor who paid $1 million for his ambassadorship — testifies publicly to the House Intelligence Committee: 'Was there a quid pro quo? As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.'"},{"date":"2019-12-18","title":"House votes to impeach","summary":"The full House votes 230-197 to impeach Trump on Abuse of Power and 229-198 to impeach on Obstruction of Congress. Trump becomes the third president in U.S. history to be impeached."},{"date":"2020-02-05","title":"Senate acquits — witnesses blocked","summary":"The Senate votes 52-48 to acquit Trump on Abuse of Power and 53-47 on Obstruction of Congress. All but one Republican (Mitt Romney on the first article) vote to acquit. The Senate had voted 51-49 to block calling any witnesses — including Mulvaney and Bolton."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C. / Kyiv, Ukraine","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"UN Convention Against Corruption","article":"Article 18","provision":"Trading in influence — conditioning official state action on personal political benefit"},{"statute":"UN Convention Against Corruption","article":"Article 23","provision":"Obstruction of justice — directing subordinates to block congressional subpoenas and investigations"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Ukraine, which was denied military aid while under active Russian military occupation; U.S. democratic accountability; the rule of law","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President of the United States","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Rudy Giuliani","role":"Personal attorney; ran the pressure campaign in Ukraine","institution":"Personal capacity"},{"name":"Gordon Sondland","role":"U.S. Ambassador to the EU; confirmed quid pro quo in testimony","institution":"State Department"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2020-02-05","summary":"Updated with Senate acquittal."}]}}