Personalities of the Impeachment Process:

Get to know the key players

Graphic+by+Deana+Chefchis

Graphic by Deana Chefchis

From The US Congress

Rep. Adam Schiff is the head of the House Intelligence Committee. He was the leading Democrat on the committee during the Trump-Russian conspiracy investigation, during the 2016 US election. Schiff has a big role in the direction of this current investigation about the phone call between the two presidents. He is in favor of impeaching President Trump. Schiff wants to hear the whistleblower’s testimony as well as other administration officials who may know about the President’s actions in the impeachment process and an alleged attempt to cover them up.

 

John Harrington
From the Office of the Speaker in the United States Capitol.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been in Congress since 1987. She was elected as Speaker in 2001, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Nancy Pelosi is an important part of the impeachment saga, as she has the ability to persuade and guide the party. Her role as the party’s leader determines the future of the impeachment inquiry. After months of reluctance to start an impeachment inquiry, the new allegations, based on the Ukraine phone call, changed her mind. “The actions of the Trump presidency have revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” Pelosi said. “No one is above the law.”

Rudy Giuliani serves as President Trump’s personal attorney. He was the mayor of New York City from 1994-2001 and was integral in unifying the city following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Giuliani was present during the call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys. He has been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee to release documents regarding the phone call. Guiliani has hired Jon Sale, a Watergate prosecutor, to represent him in the committee’s impeachment investigation, after two close associates were arrested on charges of campaign funding violations.

 

Matthew T. Nichols, State Dept.

Impressed by his actions in the 1991 Talladega Hostage Crisis, George Bush appointed Attorney General William Barr as the U.S. Attorney General from 1991-93. President Trump reappointed him to that position again in February of 2019. Mnay democrats believe he is helping to cover up Trump’s efforts to solicit Ukraine’s help in the President’s reelection campaign, an allegation asupported which has been supported by the whistleblower’s complaint. Democrats are concentrating on whether Barr desired to protect the president as the impeachment inquiry continues to evolve in the coming days.

 

US State Dept.

Kurt Volker is an American diplomat who served in a variety of public roles, most notably as our diplomatic liason with NATO, until 2009, when he entered the private sector. In 2017, then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked him to act as the US special representative for Ukraine negotiations. He resigned on September 27, 2019, as the Ukraine scandal broke. He spoke to a closed-door impeachment inquiry panel on Oct. 3, 2019.

 

 

Michael Morrison – Foreign Servi

Marie Yovanovitch is a member of the United States Foreign Service, serving as the United States Ambassador to Ukraine from August 2016 to May 2019. She was called back by the State Department for undermining and obstructing Trump’s efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter. On October 11th, 2019, she explicitly stated in an interview that she has been told President Trump pushed for her removal even though the State Department believed she had “done nothing wrong.”

 

US Dept. of State

Gordon Sondland is the US ambassador to the European Union, who won his position through loyalty and donations to the President’s 2016 campaign. According to the whistleblower’s complaints, he “provided advice to the Ukraine leadership on how to navigate the demands that President Trump has made of Mr. Zelensky.” He agreed to comply with a House subpoena and has testified, defying a State Department order not to appear. 

 

US State Dept.

William Taylor is an American diplomat and a former ambassador to Ukraine. In June 2019 Taylor served as the chargé d’affaires for Ukraine. Taylor testified before the US Congressional House in a closed door session. He explained how there was an effort to use the power of the U.S to get the President of Ukraine to open an investigation into debunked allegations of Ukraine’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Relations between Taylor and Sondland had created tension in the center of the impeachment investigation. Due to Taylor’s testimony, democrats will likely bring impeachment charges against Donald Trump.

 

“The Whistleblower”:  When a whistleblower discloses information to a government supervisor, they are granted protection from retaliation that could affect their life. The whistleblower, in this case, received details about a phone call between multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States used his power in office to solicit interference from a foreign country. However, he admitted, “I was not a direct witness to most of the events described.” The whistleblower is a registered Democrat who had a “prior working relationship with a current 2020 Democratic presidential contender,” according to the latest CBS News. President Trump has now asked, “why aren’t we entitled to interview & learn everything about the Whistleblower, and also the person who gave all of the false information to him.” The whistleblower does not want to testify in front of the committee and would rather testify in writing, instead of appearing in person.