The Trump administration withholding military aid for Ukraine is at the heart of an impeachment inquiry that began September 24. A telephone call and testimony to three committees of the House of Representatives suggest that Donald Trump directed his private attorney and government staff to undermine multiple US investigations finding that Russia was behind a campaign to influence the 2016 US presidential election. The US president also wanted Ukraine to target Joe Biden, a candidate for the 2020 presidential election, and his son for an investigation into corruption connected to the gas company Burisma. Oleksiy Sorokin has prepared a timeline on the scandal that demonstrates how foreign interests take advantage of polarization in another country. "What often made this scandal complicated is the fact that it has arisen from an intersection of domestic political agendas of the U.S. and Ukraine,” he writes. “While the Americans wanted to use Ukraine to get ahead of their opponents, Ukrainian actors cooperated because they wanted to curry support from a powerful ally of their country in order to strengthen their positions in Ukraine.” Secrecy in foreign policy is justified for national security purposes, but not for players seeking personal gain. – YaleGlobal