The US economic growth slowed in the third quarter of the year, giving Donald Trump a headache as he gears up for his 2020 re-election campaign.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annualised rate of 1.9 per cent growth in the third quarter of the year, the US Commerce Department on Wednesday.
That was down marginally from 2 per cent in the previous three months and marked the third successive quarter of slowing growth for the American economy – though the pace was faster than the 1.6 per cent forecast by analysts.
Analysts warned that orders for US exports were “falling off a cliff” amid a damaging trade war with China and threats from Mr trump of further tariffs on other nations and trading blocs.
Investments in structures like oil rigs, offices and factories plunged 15.3 per cent, after an 11.1 per cent drop in the second quarter.
1/22 Donald Trump
Accused of abusing his office by pressing the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden, who may be his Democratic rival in the 2020 election.
He also believes that Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails – a key factor in the 2016 election – may be in Ukraine, although it is not clear why.
Reuters
2/22 The Whistleblower
Believed to be a CIA agent who spent time at the White House, his complaint was largely based on second and third-hand accounts from worried White House staff. Although this is not unusual for such complaints, Trump and his supporters have seized on it to imply that his information is not reliable.
Expected to give evidence to Congress voluntarily and in secret.
Getty
3/22 The Second Whistleblower
The lawyer for the first intelligence whistleblower is also representing a second whistleblower regarding the President’s actions. Attorney Mark Zaid said that he and other lawyers on his team are now representing the second person, who is said to work in the intelligence community and has first-hand knowledge that supports claims made by the first whistleblower and has spoken to the intelligence community’s inspector general. The second whistleblower has not yet filed their own complaint, but does not need to to be considered an official whistleblower.
Getty
4/22 Rudy Giuliani
Former mayor of New York, whose management of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 won him worldwide praise. As Trump’s personal attorney he has been trying to find compromising material about the president’s enemies in Ukraine in what some have termed a “shadow” foreign policy.
In a series of eccentric TV appearances he has claimed that the US state department asked him to get involved. Giuliani insists that he is fighting corruption on Trump’s behalf and has called himself a “hero”.
AP
5/22 Volodymyr Zelensky
The newly elected Ukrainian president – a former comic actor best known for playing a man who becomes president by accident – is seen frantically agreeing with Trump in the partial transcript of their July phone call released by the White House.
With a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of his country, and the Crimea region seized by Vladimir Putin in 2014, Zelensky will have been eager to please his American counterpart, who had suspended vital military aid before their phone conversation.
He says there was no pressure on him from Trump to do him the “favour” he was asked for.
Zelensky appeared at an awkward press conference with Trump in New York during the United Nations general assembly, looking particularly uncomfortable when the American suggested he take part in talks with Putin.
AFP/Getty
6/22 Mike Pence
The vice-president was not on the controversial July call to the Ukrainian president but did get a read-out later.
However, Trump announced that Pence had had “one or two” phone conversations of a similar nature, dragging him into the crisis. Pence himself denies any knowledge of any wrongdoing and has insisted that there is no issue with Trump’s actions.
It has been speculated that Trump involved Pence as an insurance policy – if both are removed from power the presidency would go to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, something no Republican would allow.
AP
7/22 Rick Perry
Trump reportedly told a meeting of Republicans that he made the controversial call to the Ukrainian president at the urging of his own energy secretary, Rick Perry, and that he didn’t even want to.
The president apparently said that Perry wanted him to talk about liquefied natural gas – although there is no mention of it in the partial transcript of the phone call released by the White House. It is thought that Perry will step down from his role at the end of the year.
Getty
8/22 Joe Biden
The former vice-president is one of the frontrunners to win the Democratic nomination, which would make him Trump’s opponent in the 2020 election.
Trump says that Biden pressured Ukraine to sack a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company that Biden’s son Hunter was on the board of, refusing to release US aid until this was done.
However, pressure to fire the prosecutor came on a wide front from western countries. It is also believed that the investigation into the company, Burisma, had long been dormant.
Reuters
9/22 Hunter Biden
Joe Biden’s son has been accused of corruption by the president because of his business dealings in Ukraine and China. However, Trump has yet to produce any evidence of corruption and Biden’s lawyer insists he has done nothing wrong.
AP
10/22 William Barr
The attorney-general, who proved his loyalty to Trump with his handling of the Mueller report, was mentioned in the Ukraine call as someone president Volodymyr Zelensky should talk to about following up Trump’s preoccupations with the Biden’s and the Clinton emails.
Nancy Pelosi has accused Barr of being part of a “cover-up of a cover-up”.
AP
11/22 Mike Pompeo
The secretary of state initially implied he knew little about the Ukraine phone call – but it later emerged that he was listening in at the time.
He has since suggested that asking foreign leaders for favours is simply how international politics works.
AFP via Getty
12/22 Nancy Pelosi
The Democratic Speaker of the House had long resisted calls from within her own party to back a formal impeachment process against the president, apparently fearing a backlash from voters. On September 24, amid reports of the Ukraine call and the day before the White House released a partial transcript of it, she relented and announced an inquiry, saying: “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
Getty
13/22 Adam Schiff
Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, one of the three committees leading the inquiry.
He was criticized by Republicans for giving what he called a “parody” of the Ukraine phone call during a hearing, with Trump and others saying he had been pretending that his damning characterisation was a verbatim reading of the phone call.
He has also been criticised for claiming that his committee had had no contact with the whistleblower, only for it to emerge that the intelligence agent had contacted a staff member on the committee for guidance before filing the complaint.
The Washington Post awarded Schiff a “four Pinocchios” rating, its worst rating for a dishonest statement.
Reuters
14/22 Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman
Florida-based businessmen and Republican donors Lev Parnas (pictured with Rudy Giuliani) and Igor Fruman were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October.
Separately the Associated Press has reported that they were both involved in efforts to replace the management of Ukraine’s gas company, Naftogaz, with new bosses who would steer lucrative contracts towards companies controlled by Trump allies. There is no suggestion of any criminal activity in these efforts.
Reuters
15/22 Kurt Volker
The former US ambassador to NATO was appointed special envoy to Ukraine, and is thought to have played a role in linking Giuliani with Ukraine officials.
He resigned just before giving evidence to Congress, which had subpoenaed him.
After his testimony it emerged that he had apparently told Giuliani that he was being fed false information about the Bidens from Ukrainian officials.
Getty Images
16/22 Marie Yovanovitch
A career diplomat who was appointed US ambassador to Ukraine towards the end of Barack Obama’s presidency. She was abruptly recalled from her post in May 2019 amid claims that she was not co-operating with Rudy Giuliani’s unorthodox activities in Ukraine.
In the Ukraine phone call Trump refers to her as “the woman” and “bad news” and hints darkly at some sort of retribution, saying: “Well, she’s going to go through some things.”
Yovanovitch told House investigators in October that she felt as though she were targeted by a false accusations from Giuliani and his associates, who allegedly viewed her as a threat to their political and financial interests.
She also said that State Department officials had told her she did nothing wrong, and that her abrupt removal was not related to her performance. Trump had simply lost faith in her abilities.
AP
17/22 Gordon Sondland
A Seattle hotelier who became US ambassador to the European Union after donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee, despite having no diplomatic experience.
According to the whistleblower, Sondland met Ukrainian politicians to help them “understand and respond to the differing messages they were receiving from official US channels on one hand and from Mr GIuliani on the other”.
Sondland told House investigators during October 2019 testimony that he had been disappointed with Trump’s decision to involve his personal lawyer in dealings with Kiev — and stated that the president refused counsel from his top diplomats, and demanded Volodymyr Zelensky satisfy his concerns about corruption. Those diplomats had told Trump to meet with Zelensky without preconditions, according to Sondland.
His testimony is at odds with the testimony of some other foreign policy officials, however, who indicated that Sondland was a willing participant.
Reuters
18/22 George Kent
A career diplomat, he was number two at the Ukraine embassy under Marie Yovanovitch.
Kent testified before House investigators in October 2019 that he was cut out of Ukraine policymaking after a May meeting orchestrated by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and was told to “lay low”.
The deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs said that he though it was “wrong” that he was sidelines by Trump’s inner circle.
Following the May meeting, Kent said he was edged out by Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, and Rick Perry, who “declared themselves the three people now responsible for Ukraine policy”, according to a politician who attended the closed door testimony.
AFP via Getty Images
19/22 Ulrich Brechbuhl
An adviser to secretary of state Mike Pompeo, with whom he has run businesses. The two were also at West Point military academy together.
Swiss-born Brechbuhl is said to handle “special diplomatic assignments”.
Subpoenaed to give evidence to Congress in November.
US State Department
20/22 Philip Reeker
Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of State, testified that he did not find out about a push by the Trump administration to force Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden until the whistleblower complaint was made public.
While he was asked about any quid pro quo in that regard, Reeker indicated he was in the dark and so could not provide further details.
But, he did fill in details during his October 2019 testimony on the circumstances surrounding the firing of Marie Yovanovitch. Democrats described his testimony has providing further backup to other testimony they had heard.
AP
21/22 William Taylor
William Taylor, the top US diplomat to Ukraine, testified during an October 2019 hearing in the house that American aid to Ukraine was explicitly tied to the country’s willingness to investigate Donald Trump’s political rival.
Taylor’s testimony was explosive, and made him a key witness to the Trump administration’s efforts to use the force of the American government to push a politically motivated investigation against Joe Biden.
He said the efforts came through an “irregular, informal channel of US policy-making” led by Rudy Giuliani, Kurt Volker, Rick Perry, and Gordon Sondland.
AP
22/22 Alexander Vindman
Lietenant colonel Alexander Vindman is a top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, and a decorated Iraq war veteran.
He planned to tell the House impeachment inquiry that he heard Donald Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president to investigate his leading political rivals. Mr Vindman said he considered the request so damaging to American interests that he reported it to a superior — twice.
He is the first person to testify before the House impeachment inquiry who actually listened in on the 25 July phone call, in which Trump urged Volodymyr Zelensky to start an investigation into Joe Biden.
Getty Images
1/22 Donald Trump
Accused of abusing his office by pressing the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden, who may be his Democratic rival in the 2020 election.
He also believes that Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails – a key factor in the 2016 election – may be in Ukraine, although it is not clear why.
Reuters
2/22 The Whistleblower
Believed to be a CIA agent who spent time at the White House, his complaint was largely based on second and third-hand accounts from worried White House staff. Although this is not unusual for such complaints, Trump and his supporters have seized on it to imply that his information is not reliable.
Expected to give evidence to Congress voluntarily and in secret.
Getty
3/22 The Second Whistleblower
The lawyer for the first intelligence whistleblower is also representing a second whistleblower regarding the President’s actions. Attorney Mark Zaid said that he and other lawyers on his team are now representing the second person, who is said to work in the intelligence community and has first-hand knowledge that supports claims made by the first whistleblower and has spoken to the intelligence community’s inspector general. The second whistleblower has not yet filed their own complaint, but does not need to to be considered an official whistleblower.
Getty
4/22 Rudy Giuliani
Former mayor of New York, whose management of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 won him worldwide praise. As Trump’s personal attorney he has been trying to find compromising material about the president’s enemies in Ukraine in what some have termed a “shadow” foreign policy.
In a series of eccentric TV appearances he has claimed that the US state department asked him to get involved. Giuliani insists that he is fighting corruption on Trump’s behalf and has called himself a “hero”.
AP
5/22 Volodymyr Zelensky
The newly elected Ukrainian president – a former comic actor best known for playing a man who becomes president by accident – is seen frantically agreeing with Trump in the partial transcript of their July phone call released by the White House.
With a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of his country, and the Crimea region seized by Vladimir Putin in 2014, Zelensky will have been eager to please his American counterpart, who had suspended vital military aid before their phone conversation.
He says there was no pressure on him from Trump to do him the “favour” he was asked for.
Zelensky appeared at an awkward press conference with Trump in New York during the United Nations general assembly, looking particularly uncomfortable when the American suggested he take part in talks with Putin.
AFP/Getty
6/22 Mike Pence
The vice-president was not on the controversial July call to the Ukrainian president but did get a read-out later.
However, Trump announced that Pence had had “one or two” phone conversations of a similar nature, dragging him into the crisis. Pence himself denies any knowledge of any wrongdoing and has insisted that there is no issue with Trump’s actions.
It has been speculated that Trump involved Pence as an insurance policy – if both are removed from power the presidency would go to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, something no Republican would allow.
AP
7/22 Rick Perry
Trump reportedly told a meeting of Republicans that he made the controversial call to the Ukrainian president at the urging of his own energy secretary, Rick Perry, and that he didn’t even want to.
The president apparently said that Perry wanted him to talk about liquefied natural gas – although there is no mention of it in the partial transcript of the phone call released by the White House. It is thought that Perry will step down from his role at the end of the year.
Getty
8/22 Joe Biden
The former vice-president is one of the frontrunners to win the Democratic nomination, which would make him Trump’s opponent in the 2020 election.
Trump says that Biden pressured Ukraine to sack a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company that Biden’s son Hunter was on the board of, refusing to release US aid until this was done.
However, pressure to fire the prosecutor came on a wide front from western countries. It is also believed that the investigation into the company, Burisma, had long been dormant.
Reuters
9/22 Hunter Biden
Joe Biden’s son has been accused of corruption by the president because of his business dealings in Ukraine and China. However, Trump has yet to produce any evidence of corruption and Biden’s lawyer insists he has done nothing wrong.
AP
10/22 William Barr
The attorney-general, who proved his loyalty to Trump with his handling of the Mueller report, was mentioned in the Ukraine call as someone president Volodymyr Zelensky should talk to about following up Trump’s preoccupations with the Biden’s and the Clinton emails.
Nancy Pelosi has accused Barr of being part of a “cover-up of a cover-up”.
AP
11/22 Mike Pompeo
The secretary of state initially implied he knew little about the Ukraine phone call – but it later emerged that he was listening in at the time.
He has since suggested that asking foreign leaders for favours is simply how international politics works.
AFP via Getty
12/22 Nancy Pelosi
The Democratic Speaker of the House had long resisted calls from within her own party to back a formal impeachment process against the president, apparently fearing a backlash from voters. On September 24, amid reports of the Ukraine call and the day before the White House released a partial transcript of it, she relented and announced an inquiry, saying: “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
Getty
13/22 Adam Schiff
Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, one of the three committees leading the inquiry.
He was criticized by Republicans for giving what he called a “parody” of the Ukraine phone call during a hearing, with Trump and others saying he had been pretending that his damning characterisation was a verbatim reading of the phone call.
He has also been criticised for claiming that his committee had had no contact with the whistleblower, only for it to emerge that the intelligence agent had contacted a staff member on the committee for guidance before filing the complaint.
The Washington Post awarded Schiff a “four Pinocchios” rating, its worst rating for a dishonest statement.
Reuters
14/22 Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman
Florida-based businessmen and Republican donors Lev Parnas (pictured with Rudy Giuliani) and Igor Fruman were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October.
Separately the Associated Press has reported that they were both involved in efforts to replace the management of Ukraine’s gas company, Naftogaz, with new bosses who would steer lucrative contracts towards companies controlled by Trump allies. There is no suggestion of any criminal activity in these efforts.
Reuters
15/22 Kurt Volker
The former US ambassador to NATO was appointed special envoy to Ukraine, and is thought to have played a role in linking Giuliani with Ukraine officials.
He resigned just before giving evidence to Congress, which had subpoenaed him.
After his testimony it emerged that he had apparently told Giuliani that he was being fed false information about the Bidens from Ukrainian officials.
Getty Images
16/22 Marie Yovanovitch
A career diplomat who was appointed US ambassador to Ukraine towards the end of Barack Obama’s presidency. She was abruptly recalled from her post in May 2019 amid claims that she was not co-operating with Rudy Giuliani’s unorthodox activities in Ukraine.
In the Ukraine phone call Trump refers to her as “the woman” and “bad news” and hints darkly at some sort of retribution, saying: “Well, she’s going to go through some things.”
Yovanovitch told House investigators in October that she felt as though she were targeted by a false accusations from Giuliani and his associates, who allegedly viewed her as a threat to their political and financial interests.
She also said that State Department officials had told her she did nothing wrong, and that her abrupt removal was not related to her performance. Trump had simply lost faith in her abilities.
AP
17/22 Gordon Sondland
A Seattle hotelier who became US ambassador to the European Union after donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee, despite having no diplomatic experience.
According to the whistleblower, Sondland met Ukrainian politicians to help them “understand and respond to the differing messages they were receiving from official US channels on one hand and from Mr GIuliani on the other”.
Sondland told House investigators during October 2019 testimony that he had been disappointed with Trump’s decision to involve his personal lawyer in dealings with Kiev — and stated that the president refused counsel from his top diplomats, and demanded Volodymyr Zelensky satisfy his concerns about corruption. Those diplomats had told Trump to meet with Zelensky without preconditions, according to Sondland.
His testimony is at odds with the testimony of some other foreign policy officials, however, who indicated that Sondland was a willing participant.
Reuters
18/22 George Kent
A career diplomat, he was number two at the Ukraine embassy under Marie Yovanovitch.
Kent testified before House investigators in October 2019 that he was cut out of Ukraine policymaking after a May meeting orchestrated by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and was told to “lay low”.
The deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs said that he though it was “wrong” that he was sidelines by Trump’s inner circle.
Following the May meeting, Kent said he was edged out by Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, and Rick Perry, who “declared themselves the three people now responsible for Ukraine policy”, according to a politician who attended the closed door testimony.
AFP via Getty Images
19/22 Ulrich Brechbuhl
An adviser to secretary of state Mike Pompeo, with whom he has run businesses. The two were also at West Point military academy together.
Swiss-born Brechbuhl is said to handle “special diplomatic assignments”.
Subpoenaed to give evidence to Congress in November.
US State Department
20/22 Philip Reeker
Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of State, testified that he did not find out about a push by the Trump administration to force Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden until the whistleblower complaint was made public.
While he was asked about any quid pro quo in that regard, Reeker indicated he was in the dark and so could not provide further details.
But, he did fill in details during his October 2019 testimony on the circumstances surrounding the firing of Marie Yovanovitch. Democrats described his testimony has providing further backup to other testimony they had heard.
AP
21/22 William Taylor
William Taylor, the top US diplomat to Ukraine, testified during an October 2019 hearing in the house that American aid to Ukraine was explicitly tied to the country’s willingness to investigate Donald Trump’s political rival.
Taylor’s testimony was explosive, and made him a key witness to the Trump administration’s efforts to use the force of the American government to push a politically motivated investigation against Joe Biden.
He said the efforts came through an “irregular, informal channel of US policy-making” led by Rudy Giuliani, Kurt Volker, Rick Perry, and Gordon Sondland.
AP
22/22 Alexander Vindman
Lietenant colonel Alexander Vindman is a top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, and a decorated Iraq war veteran.
He planned to tell the House impeachment inquiry that he heard Donald Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president to investigate his leading political rivals. Mr Vindman said he considered the request so damaging to American interests that he reported it to a superior — twice.
He is the first person to testify before the House impeachment inquiry who actually listened in on the 25 July phone call, in which Trump urged Volodymyr Zelensky to start an investigation into Joe Biden.
Getty Images
However, shoppers continued to spend more than expected, helping the overall GDP figures.
Personal consumption rose 2.9 per cent while government spending grew 2 per cent. Increased pending was supported by growing disposable income.
Disposable personal income was up 4.5 per cent in the quarter compared to a year earlier, however the pace slowed from 4.8 per cent in Q2.
The Commerce Department said: “The deceleration in real GDP in the third quarter reflected decelerations in PCE, federal government spending, and state and local government spending, and a larger decrease in nonresidential fixed investment.
“These movements were partly offset by a smaller decrease in private inventory investment, and upturns in exports and in residential fixed investment.”
Mr Trump has pinned his hopes of victory in next year’s presidential election on a strong economy, which he will be hoping can divert attention away from a growing list of scandals that have dogged his time in office.
The US president took a positive view of the latest figures, tweeting on Wednesday: “The Greatest Economy in American History!”.
Economists’ analysis was more muted with Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon opining that the data “could have been better”.
He said spending by consumers would likely slow down further in the final part of the year, in part because shoppers brought forward some purchases ahead of new US tariffs on Chinese imports in anticipation that prices on affect good would rise.
“Our initial working assumption for Q4 GDP growth is just 1 per cent, but if inventories and exports are as bad as some of the indicators suggest, then a zero or even a sub-zero reading is entirely possible,” Mr Shepherdson said.
