From Ukraine to Australia, President Donald Trump has dispatched a number of agents to chase what amounts to conspiracy theories and debunked hoaxes in an effort to validate his 2016 election victory. That effort has spun off into an attempt to discredit a political rival in the process. While Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — and his subsequent defense of the call — were the catalysts for a congressional impeachment inquiry, there have been plenty of suspect activities happening in the periphery — in retrospect, often in plain sight.
The number and stature of many of the people involved can be somewhat overwhelming, as is the geographic sprawl, so we tried to simplify it. Hopefully this diagram should help clear things up:
The Call
Afterward,
White House
restricts
access to call.
July 25:
Pressures Zelensky to investigate Biden and Ukrainian influence in
the 2016 election.
Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukrainian President
Is told to work with
Rudy Giuliani
and William Barr.
Trump
Orders Mulvaney
to withhold aid from Ukraine a week before the call.
Mike Pompeo
Secretary of State
Listening on the call.
Given Giuliani’s
contact info by...
Mick Mulvaney
Acting
White House
Chief of Staff
Andriy Yermak
Zelensky’s aide
Kurt Volker
Then–US envoy
to Ukraine
Meets with...
The Aftermath
Files
report about
call to...
“More than half
a dozen US officials”
tell whistleblower about call.
Whistleblower
Asks staffer
on House Intelligence Committee for advice.
Who
alerts...
Consults DOJ about withholding the report from Congress.
Joseph Maguire
Acting Director
of National
Intelligence
Michael Atkinson
Inspector General
of the Intelligence
Community
DOJ OK’s withholding report.
Maguire withholds
whistleblower report
from Congress.
Giuliani’s Shadow
Investigations
Directs Giuliani to investigate Biden and 2016 election.
Trump
Rudy Giuliani
A lawyer working
for Trump
Lev Parnas
Joe diGenova
Lawyer
Victoria Toensing
Lawyer
Igor Fruman
Business partners
Giuliani tasks them with
finding information and setting
up meetings with top Ukrainian prosecutors.
Giuliani asks them to represent Ukrainians with possible information, according to diGenova. (The trip to Ukraine was ultimately canceled.)
Viktor Shokin
Former Ukrainian
Prosecutor
General
Yuriy Lutsenko
Former Ukrainian
Prosecutor
General
Nazar
Kholodnytsky
Ukrainian
Prosecutor
Giuliani
Barr and Durham’s Great Adventure
Appoints...
Directs Barr to investigate origin of Mueller inquiry.
Trump
John Durham
US Attorney
for the District
of Connecticut
William Barr
Attorney General
Asks Trump to
call Australian
Prime Minister.
Requests information about
Mueller inquiry from...
Morrison writes
to Barr saying
Australian government
will help.
British Intelligence
Officials
Senior Italian Government
Officials
Another Perfect Call
Early September:
Pressures Australia
to investigate origin
of Mueller inquiry.
Scott Morrison
Australian
Prime Minister
Trump
Afterward,
White House
restricts
access to call.
