Here is a timeline of this year's events, as relayed in testimony -- under oath -- to Congress and in publicly-released documents from the time:
With so many current U.S. officials testifying in open hearings, and with hundreds of real-time text messages and nearly a dozen transcripts of closed-door testimony now public, the story of President Donald Trump and Ukraine is sometimes hard to follow.
- The Ukrainian officials may not have realized it, but -- Trump's top diplomat to Ukraine alleged -- the White House refused to restart military aid until Ukraine agreed to investigate Biden and announce it publicly. And, while the military aid was frozen, Trump specifically wanted to know the status of Ukraine's investigations.
BY MID-APRIL: Lutsenko publicized his claims about Biden in an interview with a Trump-friendly journalist, and larger conservative media outlets began to cover them. Giuliani promoted the claims on Fox News. MID-JUNE:"The Ukrainians were clearly eager for the meeting to happen," according to Trump's top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, Bill Taylor. But in multiple"communications" Volker and Sondland both told Taylor"that the president wanted to hear from Zelenskiy before scheduling the meeting in the Oval Office," Taylor testified. U.S. officials then began preparing Trump for a phone call with Zelenskiy, according to Taylor.
JULY 10: In a meeting with senior Ukrainian officals in Washington, including Zelenskiy's top aide Andriy Yermak, Sondland discussed"the deliverable required in order to get the [White House] meeting, and he alluded to investigations," testified Vindman, who was at the meeting. Hill offered a similar account of the meeting with Ukrainian officials.
JULY 19: Volker texted Sondland and Taylor to set up a call with Yermak, Zelenskiy's aide. “Most impt is for Zelensky to say that he will help investigation,” Volker texted. At this time, Zelenskiy’s team knew Trump wanted the Bidens investigated and that Trump had not yet agreed to a White House visit, Volker testified.
EARLY TO MID-AUGUST: Trump wanted Zelenskiy to publicly announce the investigations, several officials testified. And, in several calls with Sondland, Giuliani made clear that he wanted Burisma and 2016 mentioned in any such public statement, Sondland testified. “He kept repeating Burisma and 2016 election,” Sondland said.
AUGUST 16: Kent, the senior State Department official, wrote a memo saying he had “concerns that there was an effort to initiate politically motivated prosecutions that were injurious to the rule of law, both Ukraine and U.S.,” as Kent later described it to Congress.
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