Rudolph William Louis Giuliani is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983 and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989.
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.
William Pelham Barr is an American attorney who served as the United States attorney general in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993 and again in the administration of President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2020.
Harry Earnest Cummins,III,known as Bud Cummins,is an American attorney,businessman and politician. He served as United States Attorney with five years of service from 2001 to 2006 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Steven Andrew Engel is an American lawyer. He served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Donald Trump administration. Engel,who previously worked in the George W. Bush administration as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel,was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31,2017,and confirmed on November 7,2017. On January 20,2021,he was succeeded by Christopher H. Schroeder who served under the Biden Administration.
Brian Allen Benczkowski is an American lawyer who served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. Prior to assuming that role,he was a partner at Kirkland &Ellis.
Jeffrey Bossert Clark is an American lawyer who was Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division from 2018 to 2021. In September 2020,he was also appointed acting head of the Civil Division. In 2020 and 2021,Clark allegedly helped then-president Donald Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Clark's actions in that endeavor were reviewed by the District of Columbia Bar –the entity authorized by law to pursue attorney discipline and disbarment in the District of Columbia –which recommended discipline to the DC Court of Appeals in July 2022. He was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal prosecution of Donald Trump over attempts to overturn the 2020 election. On August 14,2023,he was indicted along with 18 other people in the prosecution related to the 2020 election in Georgia.
David Charles Weiss is an American attorney. He was nominated by President Donald Trump to be United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the District of Delaware,and was retained by President Joe Biden. He has served in that office since February 22,2018.
Harry P. Litman is an American lawyer,law professor and political commentator. He is a former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General. He has provided commentary in print and broadcast news and produces the Talking Feds podcast. He has taught in multiple law schools and schools of public policy.
Geoffrey Steven Berman is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020. He is a partner at the law firm Fried,Frank,Harris,Shriver &Jacobson.
Joseph diGenova is an American lawyer and political commentator who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1983 to 1988. He and his wife,Victoria Toensing,are partners in the Washington,D.C.,law firm diGenova and Toensing. He is known for promoting conspiracy theories about the Department of Justice and the FBI. He and Toensing 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.
Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections was a matter of concern at the highest level of national security within the United States government,in addition to the computer and social media industries. In 2020,the RAND Corporation was one of the first to release research describing Russia's playbook for interfering in U.S. elections,developed machine-learning tools to detect the interference,and tested strategies to counter Russian interference. In February and August 2020,United States Intelligence Community (USIC) experts warned members of Congress that Russia was interfering in the 2020 presidential election in then-President Donald Trump's favor. USIC analysis released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in March 2021 found that proxies of Russian intelligence promoted and laundered misleading or unsubstantiated narratives about Joe Biden "to US media organizations,US officials,and prominent US individuals,including some close to former President Trump and his administration." 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,including whether they had used Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani as a channel.
The Trump–Ukraine scandal was a U.S. political scandal that arose from the discovery of U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to coerce Ukraine and other countries into providing damaging narratives about 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden and giving misinformation relating to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Trump enlisted surrogates within and outside his official administration,including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr,to pressure Ukraine and other foreign governments to cooperate in supporting conspiracy theories concerning American 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. Trump released the aid after becoming aware of a whistleblower complaint about his activities relating to Ukraine,before the complaint was known by Congress or the public. A number of contacts were established between the White House and the government of Ukraine,culminating in a phone call between Trump and Zelenskyy on July 25,2019.
Lev Parnas is a Ukrainian-born American businessman and 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 the Trump–Ukraine scandal. As president,Donald Trump said he did not know Parnas or what he was involved in;Parnas insisted Trump "knew exactly what was going on."
Since 2016,then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his allies have promoted several conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal. One such theory seeks to blame Ukraine,instead of Russia,for interference in the 2016 United States presidential election. Also among the conspiracy theories are accusations against Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden,and several elements of the right-wing Russia investigation origins counter-narrative. American intelligence believes that Russia engaged in a years long campaign to frame Ukraine for the 2016 election interference,that the Kremlin is the prime mover behind promotion of the fictitious alternative narratives,and that these are harmful to the United States. FBI director Christopher A. Wray stated to ABC News that "We have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election" and that "as far as the [2020] election itself goes,we think Russia represents the most significant threat."
This is a timeline of events from 2020 to 2022 related to investigations into the many suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections,both before and after July 2016,until November 8,2016,election day,the transition,the first and second halves of 2017,the first and second halves of 2018,and the first and second halves of 2019.
Audrey Strauss is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from June 20,2020,to October 10,2021. Previously the deputy U.S. Attorney,Strauss became the acting U.S. Attorney after the previous U.S. attorney,Geoffrey Berman,was fired by President Donald Trump at the request of Attorney General William Barr. On December 22,2020,the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York,effective January 16,2021,and pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 546(d),unanimously appointed Strauss as U.S. Attorney for an indeterminate term.
The Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory is a series of false allegations that Joe Biden,while he was vice president of the United States,improperly withheld a loan guarantee to pressure Ukraine into firing prosecutor general Viktor Shokin to prevent a corruption investigation of Ukrainian gas company Burisma and to protect his son,Hunter Biden,who was on the Burisma board. As part of efforts by Donald Trump and his campaign in the Trump–Ukraine scandal,which led to Trump's first impeachment,these falsehoods were spread in an attempt to damage Joe Biden's reputation and chances during the 2020 presidential campaign.
After the 2020 United States presidential election,the campaign for incumbent President Donald Trump and others filed and lost 62 lawsuits contesting election processes,vote counting,and the vote certification process in 9 states and the District of Columbia. Among the judges who dismissed the lawsuits were some appointed by Trump himself.
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.
