Victoria Ann Toensing is an American attorney,Republican Party operative and with her husband,Joseph diGenova,a partner in the Washington law firm diGenova &Toensing. Toensing and diGenova frequently appeared on Fox News and Fox Business channels,until diGenova used a November 2019 appearance to spread conspiracy theories about George Soros,leading to widespread calls for him to be banned from the network. In 2019,Toensing and diGenova began representing Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash in his efforts to block extradition to the United States under a federal indictment and became embroiled in the Trump–Ukraine scandal. The couple has worked with Rudy Giuliani in support of President Donald Trump beginning in 2018,and was named to join a legal team led by Giuliani to overturn the results of the 2020 United States presidential election in which Trump was defeated.
David Maclain Hale is an American diplomat and career ambassador,who previously served as the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He is currently a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Wilson Center,on detail from the Department of State.
William Brockenbrough Taylor Jr. is an American diplomat,government official,and former military officer. He served as the 6th United States ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama,and as chargéd’affaires to Ukraine from June 2019 to January 2020 under President Donald Trump.
Marie Louise"Masha" Yovanovitch is a Canadian-American former diplomat and retired senior member of the United States Foreign Service. She served in multiple State Department posts,including Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2004–2005),U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan (2005–2008),U.S. Ambassador to Armenia (2008–2011),Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (2012–2013),and Ambassador to Ukraine (2016–2019). Yovanovitch is a diplomat in residence at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. On January 31,2020,it was reported that she had retired from the State Department.
Philip Thomas Reeker is an American diplomat and career foreign service officer with the Department of State who currently serves as the senior advisor for Caucasus negotiations. He was previously Chargéd'affaires of the United States mission to the United Kingdom from 2021 to 2022 and acting assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs from 2019 to 2021.
Peter Michael McKinley is an American diplomat. A career Foreign Service Officer,McKinley served as U.S. Ambassador to Peru (2007–2010),Colombia (2010–2013),Afghanistan (2015–2016),and Brazil (2017–2018),and then as Senior Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State (2018–2019).
Lisa S. Dougherty Kenna is an American diplomat who has served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research since September 11,2023. She had served as the United States Ambassador to Peru from March 2021 to September 2023. She previously served as the Executive Secretary of the United States Department of State,succeeding Joseph E. Macmanus,under President Donald Trump.
Thomas Ulrich Brechbuhl is a Swiss-American businessman and former government official,having held the position of Counselor of the United States Department of State from May 1,2018,to January 20,2021. He was appointed by and reported to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,and replaced Maliz E. Beams. Along with the role of Counselor,he served as the Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the Department of State from March to September 2020.
The Trump–Ukraine scandal was a political scandal that arose primarily from the discovery of U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to coerce Ukraine into investigating his political rival Joe Biden and thus potentially damage Biden's campaign for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination. Trump enlisted surrogates in and outside his administration,including personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr,to pressure Ukraine and other governments to cooperate in supporting and legitimizing the bogus Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory and other conspiracy theories concerning US politics. Trump blocked payment of a congressionally-mandated $400 million military aid package,in an attempt to obtain quid pro quo cooperation from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Contacts were established between the White House and government of Ukraine,culminating in a call between Trump and Zelenskyy on July 25,2019.
The inquiry process which preceded the first impeachment of Donald Trump,45th president of the United States,was initiated by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on September 24,2019,after a whistleblower alleged that Donald Trump may have abused the power of the presidency. Trump was accused of withholding military aid as a means of pressuring newly elected president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to pursue investigations of Joe Biden and his son Hunter and to investigate a conspiracy theory that Ukraine,not Russia,was behind interference in the 2016 presidential election. More than a week after Trump had put a hold on the previously approved aid,he made these requests in a July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president,which the whistleblower said was intended to help Trump's reelection bid.
Lev Parnas is a Soviet-born American businessman and former associate of Rudy Giuliani. Parnas,Giuliani,Igor Fruman,John Solomon,Yuriy Lutsenko,Dmytro Firtash and his allies,Victoria Toensing and Joe diGenova,were involved in creating the false Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory,which is part of the Trump–Ukraine scandal's efforts to damage Joe Biden. As president,Donald Trump said he did not know Parnas nor what he was involved in;Parnas insisted Trump "knew exactly what was going on".
Kristina A. Kvien is an American diplomat who has served as United States ambassador to Armenia since February 2023. She previously served as United States chargéd’affaires to Ukraine from May to June 2019 and from January 2020 to May 2022. From June 2019 to January 2020,she was deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the United States in Kyiv.
George P. Kent is an American diplomat. He is ambassador to Estonia since February 21,2023. George Kent served as deputy assistant secretary of state for the European and Eurasian Affairs from 2018 to 2021. As a United States Foreign Service officer,his early service has included assignments in the U.S. diplomatic missions to Poland,Thailand and Uzbekistan. In 2004,he was assigned to serve as deputy political counselor in Kyiv,Ukraine,and was deputy chief of mission in Kyiv from 2015 to 2018.
Catherine M. Croft is a United States Department of State official who has served as a special advisor for Ukraine both in the State Department and on the United States National Security Council. Croft testified in closed-door hearings before the House Intelligence,Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees in October 2019.
Jennifer Leigh Williams is an American United States Department of State official who has served as a special advisor to U.S. vice president Mike Pence on European and Russian affairs. Williams testified under subpoena,in the impeachment hearings of Donald Trump,in closed-door hearings before the House intelligence,Oversight,and Foreign Affairs committees on November 9,2019. She gave public testimony to the House of Representatives ten days later.
David Holmes is an American diplomat who served as a counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine circa 2019-2020. He is at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service as Senior State Department Fellow,as of 2022.
Robert Finley Hyde is an American businessman,lobbyist,and political candidate. Hyde gained attention during the first impeachment of Donald Trump as a figure associated with the Trump–Ukraine scandal. He runs a lobbying firm,Finley Hyde &Associates,in Washington,D.C.
This is a timeline of major events in second half of 2019 related to the investigations into the myriad links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies that are suspected of being inappropriate,relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8,and the transition,the first and second halves of 2017,the first and second halves of 2018,and the first half of 2019,but precedes that of 2020 and 2021.
Kathleen Ann Kavalec is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Romania since February 2023. She is a former nominee to be the United States ambassador to Albania under President Donald Trump.
