A Timeline of Trump-Russia Connections

06/2005 – Before Trump job, Paul Manafort worked to aid Putin

Future Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort secretly worked for a Russian billionaire with a plan to “greatly benefit the Putin Government.” Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and former Soviet…

11/2007 – Paul Manafort firm received Ukraine payouts from a pro-Russian political party in 2007 & 2009

Ukrainian investigators called it evidence of off-the-books payments from a pro-Russian political party — and part of a larger pattern of corruption under the country’s former president. Manafort worked for the party as an international political consultant. A $455,249 payment in November 2007 also matches the amount in the ledger. Read more

09/15/2008 – Donald Trump Jr. “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets…”

At the recent Cityscape USA’s Bridging US and the Emerging Real Estate Markets Conference held in Manhattan, Don Jr. (as he is fondly called) revealed his company’s serious intent in getting into the emerging markets world over. Trump said: “The emerging world in general attributes such brand premium to real estate that we are looking all over the place, primarily Russia.” “Given what I’ve seen in Russia’s real estate market as of late relative to some of the emerging markets, the country seems to have a lot more natural strength, especially in the high-end sector where people focus on price per square-meter,” he said. “In Russia, I really prefer Moscow over all cities in the world. Unlike other countries in the world, this country has five major cities where people would at least be happy being close to living in the metro. “In Russia, if one has made money anywhere in the country, you would want your place in Moscow.” “And in terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a…

2010 – Russian government bank financed asset sale with Trump partner

A state-run Russian bank financed an asset sale in 2010 involving President Trump’s partner in a Toronto hotel. Trump’s partner, Russian-Canadian developer Alexander Schnaider, pumped money into Trump’s Toronto hotel after selling his company’s share in a Ukrainian steelmaker. The Russian bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) provided the money for the sale, according to the Journal — a transaction worth about $850 million. The buyer has not been publicly identified, but two sources familiar with the matter told the Journal that the money was provided by an entity acting on behalf of the Russian government. Read more

Early 2013 – Carter Page Met With A Russian Spy

Carter Page told BuzzFeed News that he had been in contact with at least one Russian spy working undercover out of Moscow’s UN office in 2013. Carter Page met with a Russian intelligence operative named Victor Podobnyy, who was later charged by the US government alongside two others for acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government. The charges, filed in January 2015, came after federal investigators busted a Russian spy ring that was seeking information on US sanctions as well as efforts to develop alternative energy. Page is an energy consultant. Read more

08/2013 – Eric Trump: “We have all the funding we need out of Russia.”

Journalist James Dodson asks Donald Trump: ‘What are you using to pay for these courses?’ And he [Trump] just sort of tossed off that he had access to $100 million.” “So when I got in the cart with Eric [Trump],” Dodson says, “as we were setting off, I said, ‘Eric, who’s funding? I know no banks — because of the recession, the Great Recession — have touched a golf course. You know, no one’s funding any kind of golf construction. It’s dead in the water the last four or five years.’ And this is what he said. He said, ‘Well, we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we…

11/09/2013 – Trump: “I have a great relationship with many Russians”

The last time Donald Trump made an appearance in Moscow was November 2013 for the Miss Universe contest he famously owned. It was a glittering event filled with carefully choreographed photographs and parties. Then another, more private, invitation arrived: Come to Nobu [restaurant] to meet more than a dozen of Russia’s top businessmen, including Herman Gref, the chief executive officer of state-controlled Sberbank PJSC, Russia’s biggest bank. Gref, who was President Vladimir Putin’s economy minister from 2000 to 2007, organized the meeting together with Aras Agalarov, the founder of Crocus Group, one of the country’s largest real-estate companies, which was hosting the beauty pageant at one of its concert halls. “The Russian market is attracted to me,” Trump said. “I have a great relationship with many Russians, and almost all of the oligarchs were in the room,” Read more

February 2014 – Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner visit Russian Oligarchs

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner visit Russia and are hosted by Dasha Zhukova, wife of Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich. Abramovich is the richest man in Russia with close ties to Putin. In fact, Abramovich advised former Russian President Boris Yeltsin to appoint Putin as his successor.

04/11/2014 – Pentagon warned Michael Flynn in 2014 against taking foreign payments

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was warned by the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 against accepting foreign payments as he entered retirement. Read more

07/31/2015 – Donald Trump: “I’d get along very well with Vladimir Putin”

Presidential candidate and businessman Donald Trump predicted Thursday he would “get along very well with Vladimir Putin,” Russia’s president who is often at odds with the current administration. He explained that he had been to Russia during when he had a “major business”there and said he “had a great relationship with the people of Russia.” Read more

08/2015 – Michael Flynn goes to New York to meet Trump for the first time.

In August, 2015, Flynn went to New York to meet Trump for the first time. They were scheduled to talk for thirty minutes; the conversation lasted ninety. Read more

09/2015 – Computer system belonging to the D.N.C. compromised by hackers linked to the Russian government.

At least one computer system belonging to the D.N.C. had been compromised by hackers federal investigators had named “the Dukes,” a cyberespionage team linked to the Russian government. Read more

2015 – British spies were first to spot Trump team’s links with Russia

Britain’s spy agencies played a crucial role in alerting their counterparts in Washington to contacts between members of Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives. GCHQ first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious “interactions” between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents. The European countries that passed on electronic intelligence – known as sigint – included Germany, Estonia and Poland. Australia, a member of the “Five Eyes” spying alliance that also includes the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand, also relayed material. Read more

12/10/2015 – Michael Flynn gives paid speech for Russia’s state-owned television network

On December 10, 2015, Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn attended a gala dinner in Moscow in honor of RT TV (formerly “Russia Today”), a Russian government-owned English-language media outlet on which he made semi-regular appearances as an analyst after he retired from U.S. government service. Before the gala, Flynn gave a paid talk on world affairs. Flynn was paid $33,750 for the appearance. Read more

12/17/2015 – Putin says Trump is ‘absolute leader’ in U.S. presidential race

Russian President Vladimir Putin found a moment Thursday during a wide-ranging news conference to offer a strong endorsement of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, calling the billionaire presidential candidate the “absolute leader in the presidential race.” “He’s a very lively man, talented without doubt,” Putin said when journalists approached him after the news conference and asked about Trump. “He’s saying he wants to go to another level of relations — closer, deeper relations with Russia. How can we not welcome that? Of course we welcome that.”…

12/18/2015 – Roger Stone Starts New Pro-Trump Super PAC

A former top adviser to Donald Trump has launched a pro-Trump Super PAC to attack Republican rivals, specifically competitor Marco Rubio, who has quickly become one of Trump’s most threatening rivals in the 2016 presidential race. Roger Stone, a leading Republican operative who earlier this year cut ties with the official Trump campaign, launched the Committee to Restore America’s Greatness, borrowing the language from Trump’s Reagan-era slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Read more

02/29/2016 – Former Pentagon Spokesman, JD Gordon, is Endorsing Donald Trump

A former Pentagon spokesman and Mike Huckabee adviser is endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential bid, he told The Hill Monday. Cmdr. J.D. Gordon served four years as a spokesman under Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates. Gordon says that he’s offered his foreign policy experience to the campaign. In March 2016, JD Gordon joined the Trump campaign as the Director of National Security, managing the National Security Advisory Committee under its Chairman, Senator Jeff Sessions (R. – Ala.). Read more

03/2016 – In March 2016 a second Russian hacking group targeted the DNC

Top Democrat’s emails hacked by Russia Russian hackers were able to access thousands of emails from a top-ranking Democrat… The revelation gives further credence to the CIA’s finding last week that the Kremlin deliberately intervened in the US presidential election to help Donald Trump. The president-elect has angrily denied the CIA’s assessment, calling it “ridiculous”. Read more

03/03/2016 – Trump names Jeff Sessions chairman of national security committee

Donald Trump has named Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) the chairman of his national security advisory committee. Sessions, who became the first senator to endorse Trump earlier this week, will advise the candidate on matters of foreign policy and national security. Read more

03/21/2016 – Trump lists Carter Page among his foreign policy team

During an interview with The Washington Post’s editorial board on March 21, 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump named Carter Page as one of his foreign policy advisory team members. The FBI obtained a secret court order summer 2016 to monitor Page’s communications. Read more

04/2016 – The Defense Intelligence Agency didn’t know former director Mike Flynn had been paid nearly $34,000 by a Russian state media outlet when it renewed his security clearance in April 2016

Flynn had disclosed the December 2015 trip to Moscow to the DIA, but he never told them he was paid by RT, the official said. The Defense Department inspector general is now investigating whether Flynn broke the rules. The U.S. Constitution forbids retired generals from accepting foreign payments without permission. Read more

April 2016 – Jared Kuschner meets with Russian Ambassador

Kushner met then-Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, during a campaign event at the Mayflower Hotel. Kushner claims they only exchanged brief pleasantries in the meeting.

Summer 2016 – CIA director alerted FBI to pattern of contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign associates

CIA director John Brennan alerted the FBI to a troubling pattern of contacts between Russian officials and associates of the Trump campaign in the Summer of 2016. Brennan: “I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign.” [00:31:55] Read more

June 2016 – Meeting between Trump Campaign and key Russian figures

In June 2016, at Trump Tower, Jared Kushner and and top Trump campaign officials meet with an army of key Russian figures, including: Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin. Russian-American businessman Ike Kaveladze. This was the infamous meeting arranged after Donald Trump Jr. was told the Russian government wanted to pass along damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of its pro-Trump efforts. Veselnitskaya is connected with the Putin-appointed Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, as they’ve worked together lobbying against the Magnitsky Act (a law…

06/15/2016 – House majority leader to colleagues: ‘I think Putin pays’ Trump

“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia. “There’s . . . there’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy said, drawing some laughter. “Swear to God,” McCarthy added. [Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.)] “This is an off the record,” Paul Ryan said. Some lawmakers laughed at that. Read more

07/05/2016 – Trump campaign approved Carter Page’s trip to Moscow

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski approved foreign policy adviser Carter Page’s now-infamous trip to Moscow last summer on the condition that he would not be an official representative of the campaign. A few weeks before he traveled to Moscow to give a July 7 speech, Page asked J.D. Gordon, his supervisor on the Trump campaign’s National Security Advisory Committee, for permission to make the trip, and Gordon strongly advised against it. Page was told by Lewandowski that he could make the trip, but not as an official representative of the campaign. Read more

07/07/2016 – Trump’s Russia adviser (Carter Page) criticizes U.S. for ‘hypocritical focus on democratization’

An American foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump chided the United States on Thursday for an “often-hypocritical focus on democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change” in its dealings with Russia, China and Central Asia. Carter Page, an energy executive tapped by the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign for his business experience in the former Soviet Union, told students and journalists…

07/2016 – FBI obtained FISA warrant to monitor Trump adviser Carter Page

The FBI obtained a secret court order summer 2016 to monitor the communications of an adviser to presidential candidate Donald Trump, part of an investigation into possible links between Russia and the campaign. The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting Carter Page’s communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia. The counterintelligence investigation into Russian efforts to influence U.S. elections began…

07/18/2016 – Jeff Sessions met with Russian envoy twice in 2016

Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) spoke twice in 2016 with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Justice Department officials said, encounters he did not disclose when asked about possible contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow during Sessions’s confirmation hearing to become attorney general. Sessions attended a Heritage Foundation event in July [2016] on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention that was attended by about 50 ambassadors. When the event was over, a small group of ambassadors approached Sessions as he was leaving the podium, and [Russian ambassador] Kislyak was among them. Read more

07/18/2016 – Republicans adopted pro-Russia stance on Ukraine as Trump officials met with Russian ambassador

Donald Trump appears to have pushed for the Republicans to adopt a pro-Moscow policy over Ukraine just as his senior aides were meeting with Russia’s US Ambassador. At the Republican National Convention [July 18-21, 2016] the party agreed to insert language into its platform that opposed arming or providing Ukraine with weapons to take on pro-Russian rebels. JD Gordon, a former adviser to Mr Trump, has revealed that the push to change the platform came after the direct intervention of the New York tycoon. Read more

07/22/2016 – WikiLeaks publishes a collection of hacked Democratic National Committee emails

This collection included 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments from the DNC, the governing body of the United States’ Democratic Party. The leak includes emails from seven key DNC staff members and date from January 2015 to May 2016. WikiLeaks did not reveal its source; a self-styled hacker going by the moniker Guccifer 2.0 claimed responsibility for the attack. On December 9, 2016, the CIA told U.S. legislators that the U.S. Intelligence Community concluded Russia conducted operations during the 2016 U.S. election to prevent Hillary Clinton from winning the presidency. Multiple U.S intelligence agencies concluded people with direct ties to the Kremlin gave WikiLeaks hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee. Read more

Summer 2016 – Russian officials bragged they could use Michael Flynn to influence Trump

Russian officials bragged in conversations during the presidential campaign that they had cultivated a strong relationship with former Trump adviser retired Gen. Michael Flynn and believed they could use him to influence Donald Trump and his team. Read more

08/04/2016 – CIA Director calls the head of Russian intelligence and warns him against further interference

CIA Director, John Brennan said that he first picked up on Russia’s active meddling in the summer of 2016 and, in an August 4, 2016, phone call with Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB intelligence agency, warned him against further interference. Read more

08/08/2016 – Roger Stone Says That He Has Communicated With Julian Assange

08/09/2016 – Michael Flynn Signs a Contract to Lobby the U.S. on the Behalf of Turkey

The candidate Michael Flynn was advising last fall was running on a platform of America First. The client he was working for last fall was paying him more than $500,000 to put Turkey first. On behalf of his firm, the Flynn Intel Group, Mr. Flynn signed a contract on Aug. 9 with Inovo, a Dutch firm owned by Ekim Alptekin, the chairman of the Turkish-American Business Council. Mr. Flynn’s firm was to receive $600,000 for 90 days of work. Mr. Alptekin has links to the government of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Read more

08/14/2016 – HEADLINE: Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief [Paul Manafort]

The New York Times runs this headline: Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief [Paul Manafort] 08/19/2016 – Paul Manafort resigns from Trump campaign Read more

08/14/2016 – Roger Stone Tweets with Guccifer 2.0

Roger Stone Tweeting to Guccifer 2.0 after Guccifer 2.0 had been given his Twitter account back: Stone: “Delighted you are reinstated. Fuck the State and their MSM lackeys.” The U.S. Intelligence Community concluded that some of the genuine leaks that Guccifer 2.0 has said were part of a series of cyberattacks on the DNC were committed by two Russian intelligence groups. Read more

08/15/2016 – Roger Stone told WND in an interview that he has communicated directly with Assange

Roger Stone, a longtime friend of Trump, told WND in an interview that he has communicated directly with Assange. Read more

08/18/2016 – Roger Stone says he’s been in touch with Julian Assange “through an intermediary’”

Stone says in an interview on C-SPAN he’s been in touch with Julian Assange “through an intermediary—somebody who is a mutual friend.” Read more

08/19/2016 – Paul Manafort resigns from Trump campaign

Trump on Friday announced that campaign Chairman Paul Manafort had resigned. Manafort had increasingly come under fire over his past lobbying work for pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarchs — which was fundamentally at odds with Trump’s boasts about being free from moneyed interests — and for the sloppy nature of the Republican National Convention, which Manafort oversaw. Read more

08/19/2016 – After Campaign Exit, Paul Manafort Borrowed $13 Million From Businesses With Trump Ties

Aug. 19 was an eventful day for Paul Manafort. That morning, he stepped down from guiding Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, Democrats’ emails were hacked and the campaign’s contacts with Russia came under scrutiny. Dogged by revelations about past financial dealings in Ukraine, Mr. Manafort retreated from public view. But behind the scenes, he was busy with other matters. Papers were recorded that same day creating a shell company controlled by Mr. Manafort that soon received $13 million in loans from two businesses with ties to Mr. Trump, including one that partners with a Ukrainian-born billionaire and another led by a Trump economic adviser. They were among $20 million in loans secured by properties belonging to Mr. Manafort and his wife. Read more

08/21/2016 – Roger Stone: “Trust me, it will soon the Podesta’s time in the barrel.”

10/07/2016 – WikiLeaks releases hacked John Podesta emails Read more

08/21/2016 – Roger Stone says that he had “communicated” with Assange through a “mutual acquaintance.”

September 2016 – Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner host Russian Oligarch

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner host Dasha Zhukova in New York. They were all photographed together in the stands the US Open in September 2016. And Zhukova reportedly attended Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration as a guest of Ivanka Trump.

09/08/2016 – Jeff Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak meet in the senator’s office

A private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak took place in September [2016], at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race. When Sessions spoke with Kislyak in July and September [2016], the senator was a senior member of the influential Armed Services Committee as well as one of Trump’s top foreign policy advisers. Sessions played a prominent role supporting Trump on the stump…

10/01/2016 – Roger Stone Tweets: “Wednesday @HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks.”

10/07/2016 – WikiLeaks releases hacked John Podesta emails

WikiLeaks releases what appear to be Clinton’s paid Wall Street speeches The speech excerpts came to light on Friday when WikiLeaks published thousands of what it claimed were hacked emails from her campaign chairman, John Podesta. The campaign refused to confirm or deny the authenticity of the documents. On Friday the US government formally named the Russian government as responsible for recent hacks intended to interfere with the US presidential election. Read more

10/12/2016 – Trump Ally Roger Stone Admits ‘Back-Channel’ Tie To WikiLeaks

Roger Stone, a self-described master of the political dark arts and the longtime ally of Donald Trump, admits he has had “back-channel communications” with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over the release of thousands of emails stolen from the Hillary Clinton campaign. “I do have a back-channel communication with Assange, because we have a good mutual friend,” Stone told CBS4 News Wednesday evening. “That friend travels back and forth from the United States to London and we talk. I had dinner with him last Monday.” Read more

11/08/2016 – Donald Trump Wins the 2016 Election

11/10/2016 – Obama Warned Trump Against Hiring Mike Flynn, Say Officials

Former President Obama warned President Donald Trump against hiring Mike Flynn as his national security adviser, three former Obama administration officials tell NBC News. The warning came less than 48 hours after the November election when the two sat down for a 90-minute conversation in the Oval Office. Read more

11/10/2016 – Moscow had contacts with Trump team during campaign, Russian diplomat says

Russian government officials conferred with members of Donald Trump’s campaign team, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday [11/10/2016]. “Obviously, we know most of the people from his entourage,” Ryabkov said. Read more

11/11/2016 – Mike Pence named as head of Trump transition team

Trump replaces Christie with Pence as head of transition team amid bumpy first steps to the White House President-elect Donald Trump named Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the vice president-elect, to head their transition team. Read more

11/17/2016 – Michael Flynn, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, sat in on intel briefings — while advising Turkey

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has reportedly been offered the role of national security adviser in Donald Trump’s White House, began receiving classified national security briefings last summer while he was also running a private consulting firm that offered “all-source intelligence support” to international clients. Flynn’s consulting firm, the Flynn Intel Group, registered to lobby for a Dutch company owned by a wealthy Turkish businessman close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Read more

11/18/2016 – Trump Names Michael Flynn National Security Adviser

President-elect Donald Trump has named retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a stalwart Trump supporter during the presidential campaign, to the top administration post of national security adviser. Read more

11/18/2016 – Top Democrat sent letter to Mike Pence in November warning of Michael Flynn’s Turkey lobbying

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent Mike Pence a letter on November 18, 2016 requesting more information about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Flynn’s lobbying work for Turkey. Read more

11/2016 – Trump transition raised flags about Michael Flynn’s Russia contacts

A member of Trump’s transition team approached national security officials with a curious request: Could the Trump team get a copy of the CIA profile on Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.? The transition team’s concerns were startling: a member of Trump’s own team suggesting Flynn might be in over its head in dealing with Kislyak. Read more

December 2016 – Jared Kushner again meets with Kislyak

Kushner and incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn met with Sergey Kislyak at Trump Tower in December 2016. Kushner claims the meeting was about improving relations, but would not elaborate.

December 2016 – Kushner meets with Chairman of Russian Bank

Kushner met Sergey Gorkov, chairman of VneshEconomBank, during the transition. The meeting was not acknowledged by the White House until press reports about it in March 2017. VEB is a Russian state-owned development bank. The bank is a tool for the Kremlin. In early 2016, Putin appointed Gorkov as the bank’s chairman.

12/09/2016 – Report: Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter. Read more

12/12/2016 – Rex Tillerson, Exxon C.E.O., Chosen as Secretary of State

President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday officially selected Rex W. Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, to be his secretary of state. In saying he will nominate Mr. Tillerson, the president-elect is dismissing bipartisan concerns that the globe-trotting leader of an energy giant has a too-cozy relationship with Vladimir V. Putin, the president of Russia. Read more

12/29/2016 – Obama Announces Sanctions Against Russia In Response To Alleged Hacking

The White House has announced new actions targeting Russia in response to what U.S. officials say were cyberattacks intended to interfere with the U.S. election. Read more

12/29/2016 – Michael Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador

National security adviser Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials, officials say National security adviser Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States during the month before President Trump took office, contrary to public assertions by Trump officials, current and former U.S. officials said. Read more

12/30/2016 – After Russians Promise Retaliation, Putin Decides Not to Expel U.S. Diplomats

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would not expel any Americans as a tit for tat reprisal for American sanctions announced the day before, including the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats. Since kicking out each others’ diplomats is practically obligatory in these cases, Putin’s conciliatory tone was a big surprise. It wrong-footed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who had proposed expelling 35 U.S. diplomats in retaliation. And while awaiting the announcement of sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova had promised that Russia would retaliate. Read more

12/30/2016 – Trump Tweet

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump showed his approval of the move on Twitter. Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2016 He then proudly pinned the tweet to the top of his Twitter profile page. The Russian Embassy in the United States retweeted the social media missive. Read more

01/04/2017 – Trump Team Knew Michael Flynn Was Under Investigation Before He Came to White House

Michael T. Flynn told President Trump’s transition team weeks before the inauguration that he was under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey during the campaign. Despite this warning, which came about a month after the Justice Department notified Mr. Flynn of the inquiry, Mr. Trump made Mr. Flynn his national security adviser. The job gave Mr. Flynn access to the president and nearly every secret held by American intelligence agencies. Read more

01/05/2017 – U.S. Intelligence Report Identifies Russians Who Gave DNC Emails to Wikileaks

The CIA has identified Russian officials who fed material hacked from the Democratic National Committee and party leaders to Wikileaks at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin through third parties, according to a new U.S. intelligence report. Read more

01/06/2017 – Declassified report says Putin ‘ordered’ effort to undermine faith in U.S. election and help Trump

Russia carried out a comprehensive cyber campaign to sabotage the U.S. presidential election, an operation that was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin and ultimately sought to help elect Donald Trump, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a remarkably blunt assessment released Friday. The campaign initially sought to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, “denigrate” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and damage her expected presidency. But in time, Russia “developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump” and repeatedly sought to artificially boost his election chances. Read more

01/11/2017 – Blackwater founder (Erik Prince) held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel

The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials. Erik Prince is the brother of Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. Read more

01/15/2017 – Mike Pence says Michael Flynn’s contact with Russia was “strictly coincidental”

Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Sunday that there was absolutely no contact between the Trump team and Russian officials during the campaign — and that one adviser’s [Michael Flynn] call with the Russian ambassador the same day sanctions were announced last month was “strictly coincidental.” Read more

01/20/2017 – Donald Trump is sworn in as President of the United States

01/20/2017 – As NSA, Michael Flynn was required to be vetted by the FBI and the CIA

In January 2017, Michael Flynn became White House national security adviser. Even though he still had his DIA clearance, he was required to fill out a new security clearance form and to be vetted by the FBI and the CIA. New clearance eventually would have been required. It was never granted. Read more

01/24/2017 – FBI agents interviewed Michael Flynn about his contacts with Russian ambassador

FBI agents interviewed national security advisor Michael Flynn about his conversations in December with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn denied discussing sanctions with Russian ambassador. Read more

01/26/2017 – Sally Yates tells White House counsel that Michael Flynn lied about call with Russian ambassador

Acting Attorney General Sally Yates met with White House counsel Don McGahn to inform him that Flynn wasn’t telling the truth about his interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and, as a result, represented a blackmail risk. “We believed that General Flynn was compromised with respect to the Russians,” Yates said. Read more

01/26/2017 – Immediately after Sally Yates notified the White House Counsel President Trump was briefed

Sean Spicer: “Immediately after the Department of Justice notified the White House Counsel of the [Michael Flynn] situation, the White House Counsel briefed the President and a small group of senior advisors.” Read more

01/27/2017 – In a Private Dinner, Trump Demanded Loyalty from James Comey

Only seven days after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president, James B. Comey has told associates, the F.B.I. director was summoned to the White House for a one-on-one dinner with the new commander in chief. As they ate, the president then turned the conversation to whether Mr. Comey would pledge his loyalty to him. Mr. Comey declined to make that pledge. Read…

01/27/2017 – In a Private Dinner, Trump Asked James Comey If He Was Under Investigation

“I actually asked him” if I were under investigation, Trump said. “I said, if it’s possible would you let me know, am I under investigation? Read more

01/30/2017 – Michael Flynn stopped military plan Turkey opposed – after being paid as its agent

One of the Trump administration’s first decisions about the fight against the Islamic State was made by Michael Flynn weeks before he was fired – and it conformed to the wishes of Turkey, whose interests, unbeknownst to anyone in Washington, he’d been paid more than $500,000 to represent. Obama’s national security adviser,…

01/30/2017 – Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Sally Yates

02/09/2017 – BREAKING STORY: Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador

The Washington Post publishes this headline: National security adviser Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials, officials say On February 9, 2017, news that Michael Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions with the Russian ambassador becomes public. 02/13/2017 – Michael Flynn resigns as national security adviser Read more

02/09/2017 – Mike Pence says he did not learn that Michael Flynn misled him on Russia until Feb 9

Vice President Pence first learned that former national security adviser Michael Flynn had misled him about the nature of his contact with a Russian official on Feb. 9, a full two weeks after other White House officials were briefed on the matter, an aide to Pence said on Tuesday. The timing indicates that Pence would have become aware of the controversy around the same time that a Washington Post report was published, detailing the degree to which Flynn had been in contact with the Russian ambassador to the United States on the issue of sanctions, Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said. Read more

2/10/2017 – Trump says he’s unaware of reports Michael Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador

Washington (CNN) – President Donald Trump said Friday afternoon [2/10/17] he was unaware of reports that his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, may have spoken about sanctions with the Russian ambassador before the inauguration. On 01/26/2017 Acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, informed the White House that Michael Flynn lied about not discussing U.S. sanctions with…

02/13/2017 – Michael Flynn resigns as national security adviser

Michael Flynn, the national security adviser to President Trump, resigned late Monday over revelations about his potentially illegal contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States, and his misleading statements about the matter to senior Trump administration officials. Flynn stepped down amid mounting pressure on the Trump administration to account for its false statements about Flynn’s conduct after The Washington Post reported Monday that the Justice Department had warned the White House last month that Flynn had so mischaracterized his communications with the Russian diplomat that he might be vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow. Read more

02/14/2017 – After firing him, Trump says Michael Flynn is ‘a wonderful man’

President Donald Trump, who asked for and received then-national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation Monday [Feb. 14, 2017], on Wednesday defended the fired aide as “a wonderful man.” Flynn, who had deep connections with Trump fostered throughout the 2016 campaign, was asked to resign after it became public that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence on conversations he had before moving into the White House regarding sanctions on Russia…

02/14/2017 – James Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Michael Flynn Investigation

President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting. “I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo. Read more

02/16/2017 – Spies Keep Intelligence From Donald Trump on Leak Concerns

Decision to withhold information underscores deep mistrust between intelligence community and president Read more

03/02/2017 – Jeff Sessions Recuses Himself From Russia Inquiry

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, facing a storm of criticism over newly disclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States, recused himself on Thursday from any investigation into charges that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Read more

03/04/2017 – Roger Stone: “never denied back channel to Assange”

03/07/2017 – Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn Registers as a Foreign Agent for Turkey Work During Trump Campaign

Former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn has registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for his lobbying work linked to the Turkish government, according to paperwork filed Tuesday [3/7/17]. Read more

03/20/2017 – James Comey to Congress: The FBI Is Investigating Trump’s Links to Russia

“I’ve been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” Comey said in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. “That includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.” Read more

March 2017 – Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence

Trump made separate appeals to the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and to Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, urging them to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election. Read more

03/24/2017 – Trump administration sought to block Sally Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia

The Trump administration sought to block former acting attorney general Sally Yates from testifying in the House investigation of possible links between Russian officials and Donald Trump’s campaign, according to letters provided to The Washington Post. Read more

03/30/2017 – Michael Flynn offers to testify on Russia in exchange for immunity

President Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has reportedly told the FBI that he is willing to testify about the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Read more

04/02/2017 – FBI plans to create special unit to co-ordinate Russia probe

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is creating a special unit in an effort to co-ordinate investigations into Russia’s alleged involvement in the 2016 presidential elections. Read more

04/04/2017 – Pentagon opens probe of Michael Flynn, fired national security adviser

Michael Flynn, who was fired as President Trump’s national security adviser, is now under investigation by the Pentagon Inspector General and had failed to inform Defense Department officials about seeking payments from foreign governments, according to the Defense Department and documents released Thursday. Read more

04/14/2017 – Justice Dept. requests Paul Manafort’s bank records in Russia probe

The Justice Department requested bank records of President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort as part of the federal investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Manafort has come under intense scrutiny for his financial transactions. In March, the Treasury Department obtained financial records from Cyprus as part of a federal anti-corruption probe into Manafort’s past work in eastern Europe. Those Cyprus accounts were investigated for money laundering. Read more

05/08/2017 – Sally Yates Testifies before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee

Former acting attorney general Sally Q. Yates and former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee. Read more

05/09/2017 – Trump Hires Law Firm to Fight Suggestions of Russia Business Ties

President Donald Trump has hired a Washington law firm to send a letter to a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee saying he has no connections to Russia, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday. The announcement that Trump had retained a lawyer to deal with the Russia probe came just hours before the news broke that he’d fired FBI Director James Comey, who was…

05/09/2017 – Donald Trump fires FBI Director James Comey

President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired FBI Director James Comey, sweeping away the man who is responsible for the bureau’s investigation into whether members of his campaign team colluded with Russia in its interference in last year’s election. Dear Director Comey: I have received the attached letters from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States recommending your dismissal as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately. Read more

05/10/2017 – Trump Told Russians That Firing James Comey Eased Pressure From Russia Investigation

“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” Read more

05/10/2017 – Grand jury subpoenas Michael Flynn’s business associates in FBI’s Russia investigation

Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year’s election. The subpoenas issued in recent weeks by the US Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, Virginia, were received by associates who worked with Flynn on contracts after he was forced out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. Read more

05/10/2017 – Comey’s Firing Came as Investigators Stepped Up Russia Probe

FBI director had been providing updates to top members of the Senate Intelligence Committee Mr. Comey started receiving daily instead of weekly updates on the investigation, beginning at least three weeks ago, according to people with knowledge of the matter and the progress of the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe. Mr. Comey was concerned by information showing possible evidence of collusion, according to these people. Read more

05/10/2017 – The cozy meeting between President Trump and Russia’s foreign minister came at Vladimir Putin’s insistence

When President Donald Trump hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office on Wednesday just hours after firing the FBI director who was overseeing an investigation into whether Trump’s team colluded with the Russians, he was breaking with recent precedent at the specific request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Read more

05/10/2017 – Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador

President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State. The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said. Read more

05/12/2017 – Treasury unit to share records with Senate for Trump-Russia probe: WSJ

A unit of the U.S. Treasury Department that fights money laundering will provide financial records to an investigation by the Senate into possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump and his associates, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Read more

05/16/2017 – Feds Subpoena Records for $3.5M Mystery Mortgage on Paul Manafort’s Home

Federal investigators have subpoenaed records related to a $3.5 million mortgage that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort took out on his Hamptons home just after leaving the campaign. The mortgage document that explains how Manafort would pay back the loan was never filed with Suffolk County, New York — and Manafort’s company never paid up to $36,000 in taxes that would be due on the loan. Read more

05/17/2017 – Justice Department appoints special counsel to investigate Trump and Russia

The Justice Department appointed a special counsel Wednesday to investigate possible coordination between Trump associates and Russian officials — a clear signal to the White House that federal investigators will aggressively pursue the matter despite the president’s insistence that there was no “collusion’’ with the Kremlin. Robert S. Mueller III, a former prosecutor who…

05/18/2017 – Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians: sources

Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters. Read more

05/19/2017 – WH Spokesman: VP Mike Pence Was Never Informed About Flynn and Turkey Ties

Vice President Mike Pence has been kept in the dark about former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn’s alleged wrongdoing [i.e. Flynn’s paid lobby for Turkey], according to a source close to the administration. This despite Rep. Elijah Cummings’ letter to Mike Pence on November 18, 2016 requesting more information about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Flynn’s lobbying work for Turkey. And, Michael Flynn told President Trump’s transition team on January 4th and January 6th, 2017 that he was under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey during the campaign. Read more

05/22/2017 – Michael Flynn Takes The 5th, Refuses To Turn Over Documents To Senate Panel

Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn is invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on Monday, refusing to hand over documents subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Read more

05/23/2017 – Trump retains Marc Kasowitz as private attorney for Russia probe

President Donald Trump has tapped a longtime legal adviser to serve as his private attorney as a special counsel investigates whether his campaign worked with Russia in last year’s election. Kasowitz has represented Trump for more than 15 years. Kasowitz also represents OJSC Sberbank of Russia, the country’s largest bank, which is being accused in a U.S. federal court of conspiring with granite company executives and others to raid the assets of a competitor. Read more

The many paths from Trump to Russia