Alexandra Chalupa

Alexandra Stefaniia Chalupa(born 1976 or 1977) is an American lawyer who was co-chair of theDemocratic National Committee's (DNC's) Ethnic Council. She is also the founder of the political consulting firm Chalupa & Associates, LLC and a pro-Ukrainianactivist.
After the publication of a 2017Politicoarticle, Chalupa became embroiled in a controversy that alleged past activities were part of a conspiracy between the DNC and the Ukrainian government to undermine Trump's campaign.
Chalupa was born inDavis, California, to Tanya Keis andLeo M. Chalupa, both Ukrainian immigrants.Tanya was born in aUnited Nationsrefugee camp inHeidenheim, GermanyafterWorld War II.Tanya's and Leo's parents brought them to theUnited Statesas children seekingasylumfrom theSoviet Union, and they grew up inthe Bronx, New York.As a couple, they moved toCalifornia, where Leo earned a PhD inneurosciencefromUCLAand became a professor atUC Davis.
When Chalupa was 2–1/2, her life was saved by achild car seatwhen her parents' car spun out of control and crashed while traversing theAlpsin Italy.The incident led her mother to single-handedly wage a successful 2-yearlobbying campaignin theCalifornia legislaturefor a mandatory child safety seat law that passed in 1982.
Chalupa attendedDavis Senior High School, pursuedpeace and conflict studiesatUC Berkeley, and received herJ.D.degree from UC Davis.
Chalupa worked in the White House during theClinton administrationin theOffice of Public Liaisonand later worked as a staffer and eventually as a consultant for theDemocratic National Convention. According to FEC records, she was paid $412,000 from 2004 to June 2016 by the DNC, along with other clients including various Democratic campaigns and the DNC’s arm for engaging expatriate.
In 2014, Chalupa began to research theRevolution of Dignityfor apro bonoclient unrelated to the DNC.The research includedPaul Manafort, his work for Ukrainian presidentViktor Yanukovych, and his connections to pro-Russianoligarchs.AfterDonald Trumplaunchedhis presidential campaignin 2015, she expanded her research to include Trump and his ties to Russia.
She began warning Ukrainian-American community leaders in January 2016 that Manafort was Russian presidentVladimir Putin's "political brain for manipulating U.S. foreign policy and elections."She also shared her concerns with a senior DNC official, saying that a connection between the Trump campaign and Russia would likely mean Manafort would become involved in the election.Near the end of March, she visited the Ukrainian embassy inWashington, D.C., to organize an event in June highlighting female Ukrainian leaders.While there, she shared her concerns with AmbassadorValeriy Chalyand his aide Oksana Shulyar.
Manafort joined the Trump campaign a few days later as its convention manager.The day after the campaign announcedManafort's joining, Chalupa briefed the DNC's communications staff on Manafort's and Trump's ties to Russia.A week later, Chalupa met with a foreign policy legislative assistant to RepresentativeMarcy Kapturin a failed attempt to start acongressional investigationinto Manafort's activities.After the election, Chalupa assisted theClinton campaignwith theirefforts to force vote recountsin some states.On September 14, 2016, Chalupa was interviewed by an agent from the FBI.
The Ukrainian embassy assisted Chalupa with her research, though the extent and nature of the assistance are in dispute.According toPolitico, the DNC encouraged Chalupa to ask the Ukrainian embassy to arrange a call with Ukrainian presidentPetro Poroshenkoto discuss Manafort, Trump, and their connections to Russia, but the embassy declined.
Andrii Telizhenko, who worked in the embassy as third secretary under Shulyar at the time, toldPoliticothat she asked him to pass on to Chalupa any information he came across about connections between Trump, Manafort, and Russia.He claimed the embassy was coordinating with Chalupa and the Clinton campaign on investigating Manafort.In 2018, Telizhenko told the Ukrainian news site Strana.UA that Poroshenko worked with Chalupa to discredit Trump.He began repeating the story in 2019 toU.S. right-wing media, Trump's personal lawyerRudy Giuliani, and House Intelligence Committee minority chairDevin Nunes.Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Voloshyn also accused Poroshenko and Chaly of favoring the Clinton campaign and called for an investigation into the alleged cooperation between Chalupa and the Ukrainian Embassy.Both the embassy and Chalupa disputed the allegations.Ambassador Chaly denied any wrongdoing and called Telizhenko a liar.
In a written statement toThe Hill, Chaly admitted that Chalupa had approached the embassy and tried to push the embassy to assist with supplying information on Manafort, including a request to allow a journalist to ask President Poroshenko questions about Manaforts dealings in Ukraine. Chaly said that at the time the embassy knew Chalupa as an activist and only discovered her connections to the DNC later. He stated that the embassy didn't cooperate with her, calling the request "inappropriate" and saying “We were surprised to see Alexandra’s interest in Mr. Paul Manafort’s case. It was her own cause. The Embassy representatives unambiguously refused to get involved in any way, as we were convinced that this is a strictly U.S. domestic matter.”
In late April 2016, Chalupa began receiving daily administrative alerts fromYahoo!warning her thatstate actorswere attempting to break into her email account.After two weeks of daily alerts, she informed the DNC about the hacking attempts.That email became public whenWikiLeaks published stolen DNC emailsin July.The alerts continued into 2017.
In June 2016, someone broke into and searched her car, but left everything behind.She became convinced it was Russia-linked when two more family cars were broken into and ransacked but nothing was stolen.A few days later, a woman "wearing white flowers in her hair" tried to break into Chalupa's home.She mentioned the incident to Shulyar, who told her it resembled intimidation campaigns used against foreigners in Russia.Chalupa began receiving death threats in the second half of 2016.
The conservative watchdog groupFoundation for Accountability and Civic Trustfiled a complaint against Chalupa and the DNC with theFederal Election Commission(FEC) in August 2017.The complaintalleges that the research assistance the Ukrainian embassy provided to her during the 2016 election campaign was an illegal campaign contribution to the DNC because of her work for them at the time.The pro-Trump super PACCommittee to Defend the Presidentfiled a similar FEC complaint against the DNC in September 2019, alleging that the DNC ordered Chalupa to investigate Manafort and Trump.
In 2019, the FEC sent a letter to Chalupa stating that its attorneys “found reason to believe that you violated [the Federal Election Campaign Act] by soliciting, accepting or receiving contributions from foreign nationals” and that “the Ukrainian Embassy made in-kind contributions to the DNC by performing opposition research on the Trump campaign at no charge to the DNC.”In a separate letter sent to the DNC, the FEC said that the DNC “does not directly deny that Chalupa obtained assistance from the Ukrainians nor that she passed on the Ukrainian Embassy’s research to DNC officials.” And that DNC officials “may have authorized Chalupa to act as an intermediary [with the Embassy] to solicit and receive negative information about the Trump campaign.”
In 2021, the FEC voted 4-2 to dismiss the allegations that Chalupa or the DNC had violated any federal campaign laws. The FEC general counsel’s office concluded that Chalupas actions amounted to soliciting an illegal foreign contribution to aid the Clinton campaign, but Democratic CommissionerEllen Weintraubsaid the investigation into the matter relied on tainted testimony from Andrii Telizhenko, who Weintraub claimed was a Russian agent.
U.S. SenatorChuck Grassleyurged theDepartment of Justice(DOJ) on two occasions to investigate alleged coordination between Chalupa and the Ukrainian government to interfere in the 2016 election.In July 2017, he sent a letterin his capacity as chairman of theSenate Judiciary Committee.Chalupa denied the claims, saying that she acted as a part time consultant in 2016, and that she was never asked by DNC officials to "go to the Ukrainian Embassy to collect information." She did admit to meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy, but claimed that these meetings had to do with "Immigrant Heritage Month women's networking event."Grassley and SenatorRon Johnsonsent a second letterin September 2019 in their capacities as the chairs of the SenateFinanceandHomeland SecurityCommittees.Both letters cite the 2017Politicoarticleas evidence.
During theUS Congress' 2019Impeachment Inquiryhearings,House Intelligence Committeeranking memberDevin Nunesseveral times cited Alexandra Chalupa as a fact witness that committee chairmanAdam Schiffrefused to bring before the committee.  Chalupa responded that she would welcome the opportunity to testify and push back against the Republican narrative about her involvement with Ukrainian officials.