Some of the People Involved with Ukraine Bribery
John Bolton - former National Security Advisor to Trump, former Ambassador to UN under Bush.
According to Fiona Hill, John Bolton found the effort to pressure Ukraine into investigating Biden sufficiently
alarming that he told her to report it to the NSC's lawyer.
He said, I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.
[Wikipedia]
Laura Cooper - Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. Provided a timeline of the Ukraine effort. [testimony]
Rudy Giuliani - Trump's personal attorney, former mayor of New York City.
Giulani orchestrated the Ukraine effort. When Sondland asked Trump about Ukraine, he said Talk to Rudy. Talk to Rudy.
Giuliani's Influence [NBC]
David Hale - a top State Department official.
Hale testified that what happened to Marie Yovanovitch was wrong
.
[testimony on CSPAN]
Dr. Fiona Hill - former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia,
served under Bush and Obama, expert on Putin.
Hill stated that the notion that Ukraine, not Russia, was the one who meddled in the 2016 election
is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.
About Sondland, Hill noted, He was being involved in a domestic political errand, and we were being involved in
national security foreign policy. And those two things had just diverged.
[opening statement],
[New Yorker]
Congressman Devin Nunes - Republican Rep. for CA 22nd. Devin Nunes has been Trump's primary defender during the impeachment hearings. CNN has reported that Lev Parnas will testify that he was told by former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna in December of 2018. Parnas says Nunes was trying to dig up dirt on Biden and other democrats.
Lev Parnas - Giulianni associate. Parnas worked with Giuliani to dig up dirt in the Ukraine and to undermine Ambassador Yovanevitch. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman and currently in custoday and charged with planning to direct funds from a foreign government to U.S. politicians while trying to influence U.S.-Ukraine relations. Wikipedia
Putin - President of Russia.
Under Putin, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, which made the military assistance from the US so critical.
According to the FBI, Russia also worked to undermine the 2016 elections in a way that benefitted Trump.
And according to Fiona Hill, Russia is spreading a false narrative
about Ukraine undermining the elections, which influenced Trump.
Putin and Russia also benefit from any suspension of military aid to Ukraine.
Gordon Sondland - U.S. ambassador to the European Union. Sondland
was the point man for the effort to get the Ukraine to announce the
investigation. Sondland said
Was there a quid pro quo? As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White
House call and the White House meeting, the answer is yes.
Sondland also said Zelensky had to announce the investigations
He didn't actually have to do them
. This indicates that the investigation was for political show
and not a sincere effort to stop corruption.
[CNN]
William Taylor - Acting Ambassador to Ukraine. Ambassador under both Bush and Obama.
Taylor was assigned to Ukraine after Yovanovitch was removed.
Taylor on September 9, 2019, texted to Sondland,
I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.
Wikipedia
Marie Yovanovitch - former US Ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch is a career diplomat who was the subject of a smear campaign and threats by Giuliani and Trump. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn, has suggested that she was removed because she stood in the way of the investigations Trump sought. [testimony]
President Zelensky - President of Ukraine, since May of 2019. Trump asked Zelensky to announce that he would investigate the Bidens in exchange for releasing funds for the Defense of Ukraine against Russia.