Pelosi launched inquiry on 24 September over allegations that Trump sought the help of a foreign country to harm a political rival

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump on 24 September. Over the next three months, Congress investigated an alleged plot by Trump to use the power of his office to solicit interference from Ukraine in the 2020 election.

Which other US presidents have been impeached? Read more

On 18 December, Democrats approved two articles of impeachment against Trump: one for abuse of power, and one for obstruction of Congress.On 15 January, the House named impeachment managers and voted to send the articles to the Senate, where a trial will play out in which a two-thirds majority vote would be required to remove Trump from office.

Here’s a timeline of key events so far:

April and May

Through his personal emissary, Rudy Giuliani, Trump applies pressure on Ukraine to announce investigations tied to American politics.

Immediately after Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s 21 April election as president of Ukraine, Giuliani contacts a Zelenskiy aide and introduces himself as “an advisor to the vice-president.” The Ukrainian president-elect, Zelenskiy, meets with subordinates on 7 May to discuss how to avoid being dragged into US politics.

23 May

In a White House meeting, Trump is unmoved by the enthusiasm of a delegation of officials freshly returned from Zelenskiy’s inauguration in Kyiv. “He just kept saying: talk to Rudy, talk to Rudy,” the EU ambassador Gordon Sondland testified. “I don’t know what he meant. He kept repeating it, though: ‘They tried to take me down, they tried to take me down.’”

28 May

In an interview with a Ukrainian news outlet, Giuliani says he would like to see the Ukrainians undertake investigations related to the 2016 election, the gas company Burisma and Hunter and Joe Biden. Mike Pence aide Jennifer Williams flags the interview for the vice-president’s office.

2-3 July

At a conference on Ukraine in Toronto, the special envoy Kurt Volker meets one-on-one with Zelenskiy. Volker testified he did not mention investigations, but his senior colleagues have testified that Volker’s plan going into the meeting with Zelenskiy was to ask for “cooperation on investigations”.

3 July

Lt Col Alexander Vindman, the top adviser on Ukraine on the National Security Council, is made aware of the suspension of military aid for Ukraine. In testimony, Vindman said: “But by 3 July, that’s when I was concretely made aware of the fact that there was a hold placed by [Office of Management and Budget].”

10 July

At a dramatic White House meeting, Trump emissaries ask top Ukrainian officials to investigate Biden, shocking US national security officials. According to multiple accounts, after Sondland makes the Biden request, then national security adviser John Bolton abruptly terminates the meeting, later calling it a “drug deal”.

18 July

The Office of Management and Budget informs the Pentagon and state department that Trump has suspended $391m in military aid for Ukraine. According to testimony by the senior diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor: “In a regular, NSC secure video conference call on 18 July, I heard a staff person from the Office of Management and Budget say that there was a hold on security assistance to Ukraine but could not say why.”

25 July

Trump speaks on the phone with Zelenskiy, reminding him that “the United States has been very, very good to Ukraine” and then asking for a “favor”. Trump wants Ukraine to announce investigations designed to make Joe Biden look bad and to cast doubt on Russian tampering in the 2016 US election.

That same day, the defense department receives two inquiries from Ukrainian officials about the status of US military aid, according to the deputy assistant secretary of defense, Laura Cooper.

26 July

Sondland is in Kyiv for meetings with Zelenskiy. He takes David Holmes, a state department official, to lunch. At lunch Sondland orders wine and calls Trump. Sondland tells Trump that Zelenskiy “loves your ass”, according to Holmes’ account, and Trump replies, “So, he’s gonna do the investigation?” Hanging up, Sondland tells Holmes that Trump “doesn’t give a shit about” Ukraine and “only cares” about the Biden investigation.

Early August

High-level Ukrainian officials are made aware of the suspension of US military aid designed to help in their fight against Russian forces, according to a New York Times report. But there are indications they were aware even sooner.

12 August

A whistleblower complaint against Trump is secretly filed to the inspector general of the intelligence community. For six weeks, the Trump administration will block Congress from obtaining the complaint.

16 August

A security council recommendation that aid for Ukraine be released is raised in a meeting with Trump, according to Vindman. But “the president didn’t act on the recommendation”.

Late August

Bolton meets with Trump one-on-one in the Oval Office and encourages him to release military aid. “The president was not yet ready to approve the release of the assistance,” the Bolton aide Tim Morrison later testified.

27 August

Bolton visits Taylor in Kyiv. Taylor brings up his concerns about suspended military aid. Bolton is “very sympathetic”, Taylor later testifies, and tells him to send a cable directly to the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, raising his concerns.

28 August

Politico publishes the article, Trump holds up Ukraine military aid meant to confront Russia. Taylor testified he was not aware of Ukrainians knowing about the suspension before the publication of this article.

1 September

Bilateral meetings in Warsaw. Zelenskiy sits down with Pence and immediately brings up the suspension of aid. Separately, Sondland meets with the Zelenskiy aide Andriy Yermak and tells him “that resumption of US aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks”, according to Sondland.

7 September

In a phone call, Trump tells Sondland “that there was no quid pro quo, but President Zelenskiy must announce the opening of the investigations and he should want to do it”, according to Morrison.

9 September

Taylor texts Sondland: “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

The intelligence community inspector general transmits a letter to the House intelligence committee notifying it of the existence of a whistleblower complaint.

11 September

The military aid is released.

24 September

Play Video 1:17 Nancy Pelosi accuses Trump of 'betrayal' as she announces impeachment inquiry – video

Pelosi announces a formal impeachment inquiry, accusing Trump of “a betrayal of his oath of office, a betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections”.

25 September

The White House releases a partial “transcript” of the 25 July call, hours before Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with Zelenskiy at the United Nations. It’s awkward.

26 September

The whistleblower complaint is released. Citing “more than half a dozen US officials”, it presents an accurate version of the Trump-Zelenskiy call and alleges that the White House tried to cover up the call.

4 October

Kurt Volker, Trump’s former special envoy to Ukraine, testifies. Afterwards, investigators release WhatsApp messages showing US diplomats pursuing a “deliverable” for Trump in Ukraine in the form of the Biden and 2016 election-tampering “investigations”.

8 October

The White House releases a letter refusing to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, and accusing Democrats of trying to reverse the result of the 2016 election.

11 October

Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, testifies about her shock on learning about an ultimately successful campaign in Ukraine to destroy her ambassadorship, involving Giuliani. “The president did make a decision, but I think influenced by some who are not trustworthy,” she testified. When she sought advice on how to stop the attack, she said, she was told to tweet something nice about Trump.

14 October

Fiona Hill, the senior director for Europe and Russia in the National Security Council, testifies. She describes a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine run by Giuliani, describes the 10 July White House meeting, which she attended, and says Bolton told her to take her concerns to the top NSC lawyer.

16 October

P Michael McKinley, a top Pompeo deputy, testifies. He says he resigned owing to the “emerging information on the engagement of our missions to procure negative political information for domestic purposes, combined with the failure I saw in the building to provide support for our professional cadre in a particularly trying time.”

17 October

Sondland testifies. He says he took Trump at his word that there was no quid pro quo with Ukraine. He will later return to Capitol Hill to partially or fully reverse that testimony.

22 October

Taylor testifies. In a 15-page opening statement, he describes his concern to discover an “irregular, informal policy channel” by which the Trump administration was pursuing objectives in Ukraine “running contrary to the goals of longstanding US policy”.

29 October

Vindman testifies. He describes his alarm at witnessing the White House subvert US foreign policy in favor of Trump’s domestic political agenda and says he took his concerns to the top NSC lawyer.

31 October

The House votes on a resolution laying out a process to move impeachment from closed-door depositions to open hearings. Tim Morrison, the senior director for Russian affairs at the National Security Council, testifies a day after announcing that he will resign his post in short order.

5 November

The impeachment committees begin releasing testimony transcripts. The overlapping testimonies tell the same story, of demands by US officials of Ukraine steadily ratcheting up between May and September, from a demand to investigate corruption to a demand that “President Zelenskiy to go to a microphone and say ‘investigations’, ‘Biden’, and ‘Clinton’.”

13 November

Public impeachment hearings begin. Ambassador Bill Taylor and the deputy assistant secretary of state, George P Kent, testify. Taylor quotes Trump as demanding “investigations” of Ukraine in a phone call overheard by an aide.

15 November

Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testifies that she felt “shocked and devastated” by Trump’s personal attacks on her, and that she was “amazed” corrupt elements in Ukraine had found willing American partners to take her down.

Taylor aide David Holmes is deposed behind closed doors.

16 November

Mark Sandy, an official at the Office of Management and Budget, is deposed. He says the hold on military aid was highly unusual and there was no explanation given.

19 November

Pence aide Jennifer Williams and Lt Col Alexander Vindman testify about the 25 July call. “What I heard was inappropriate and I reported it,” Vindman says. “I did so out of a sense of duty.” Former envoy Kurt Volker and the national security council senior director, Tim Morrison, also testify.

20 November

Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the Pentagon official Laura Cooper and the under secretary of state, David Hale, testify. Sondland confirms every key allegation: a White House meeting and military aid were conditioned on an announcement of investigations and “everyone was in the loop.” “We followed the president’s orders,” he says.

21 November

The former national security council senior director Fiona Hill and state department aide David Holmes testify. Holmes says he heard Trump ask about “investigations”. Hill says Sondland was assigned by the president to a “domestic political errand” that diverged from “national security policy”. She warns against spreading the conspiracy theory that Ukraine not Russia was behind 2016 election tampering.

3 December

The intelligence committee releases a report contending that Trump “abused the power of his office for personal and political gain, at the expense of [US] national security”. The impeachment inquiry is referred to the judiciary committee.

4 December

The House judiciary committee begins public hearings with testimony by four constitutional law experts. Three experts called by Democrats said that Trump’s conduct clearly represents impeachable conduct, while a witness called by Republicans said that more time was needed to investigate the case.

5 December

Pelosi announces that she was directing the judiciary committee to draft articles of impeachment against Donald Trump.

10 December

Democratic congressional leaders unveil two articles of impeachment, charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. “President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States,” one article states.

13 December

On a straight party-line vote, the House judiciary committee votes to move the articles of impeachment to the House floor.

18 December

The House of Representatives impeaches Trump. A first article of impeachment, charging Trump with abuse of power, was approved by a vote of 230-197. A second article, charging obstruction of Congress, was approved 229-198, with one “present” vote in both cases.

24 December

The Republican Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski says she is “disturbed” by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s pledge earlier in the month to work in “total coordination” with the White House on the Senate impeachment trial.

28 December

Joe Biden, the former vice-president and Democratic presidential candidate, says he would testify at the impeachment trial if he was subpoenaed, marking a U-turn on previous comments.

6 January

John Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser, says he would be prepared to testify in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump if he is subpoenaed. He said in a statement that he was trying to meet his “obligations both as a citizen and as former national security adviser”.

7 January

The House returns from recess without referring the impeachment articles to the Senate, as expected. Pelosi, who had objected to McConnell’s vows to work hand-in-glove with the White House, says she is waiting to see what plans the Senate is making for a trial. McConnell claims to have the votes to proceed.

15 January

The House of Representatives names seven impeachment managers and votes to transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate.