This is a timeline of events related to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It includes events described in investigations into suspected inappropriate links between associates of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

and Russian officials until July 2016, with July 2016 through election day November 8, 2016, following. Events and investigations also occurred during the presidential transition from November 9, 2016, to January 20, 2017, and continued through the first and second halves of 2017; the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and second halves of 2018,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, 2020, and 2021, largely as parts of the Crossfire Hurricane FBI investigation, the

Special Counsel investigation In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to Criminal investigation, investigate, and potentially prosecution, prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing fo ...

, multiple ongoing criminal investigations by several

State Attorneys General The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney genera ...

, and the investigation resulting in the

Inspector General report on FBI and DOJ actions in the 2016 election ''A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election'' is the official 568-page report of the actions taken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI and Department of Just ...

Relevant individuals and organizations

This is a list of individuals and organizations that have been involved in the events related to either the election interference that Russia conducted against the 2016 U.S. elections and/or the resulting investigations into suspected inappropriate links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials. Seth Abramson estimated more than 400 people could be listed here.Index for ''Proof of Collusion''

A–E

Aras Agalarov Aras Iskanderovich Agalarov ( az, Araz İsgəndəroviç Ağalarov; russian: link=no, Ара́з Исканде́рович Агала́ров; born 8 November 1955) is an Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire real estate developer. Several sources ha ...

, Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire oligarch and President of the , close to both Trump and

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

Emin Agalarov Emin Aras oghlu Agalarov ( az, Emin Araz oğlu Ağalarov, russian: Эмин Аразович Агаларов; born December 12, 1979), also known as Emin Arazovich Agalarov, is an Azerbaijani-Russian singer and businessman. He writes and perfo ...

, Russian pop singer, and son of Aras *

Zainab Ahmad Zainab N. Ahmad (born 1980) is an American prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice who specializes in investigating and prosecuting terrorism. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney of the Eastern District of New York ...

, associate of Robert Mueller *

Rinat Akhmetshin Rinat Rafkatovitch Akhmetshin (russian: Ринат Рафкатович Ахметшин, born 1967) is a Russian-American

, Russian-American lobbyist and former Soviet counterintelligence officer who emigrated to the U.S. in 1994 *

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan ( ar, مُحَمّد بِن زَايد آل نَهيَان, Moḥamed bin Zāyed Āl Nahyān; born 11 March 1961), colloquially known by his initials as MBZ, is the third president of the United Arab Emirates ...

, Crown Prince of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

Justin Amash Justin Amash ( ; born April 18, 1980) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2021. Originally a Republican, Amash joined the Libertarian Party in April 2020, becoming the party's first (an ...

, U.S. Representative for

Michigan's 3rd congressional district Michigan's 3rd congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in West Michigan. From 2003 to 2013, it consisted of the counties of Barry and Ionia, as well as all except the northwestern portion of Kent, including the city of Grand Ra ...

, first Republican to call for Donald Trump's impeachment, became an Independent July 4, 2019 *

Greg Andres Greg Donald Andres is an American attorney, who most notably served as an Assistant Special Counsel for Russian interference in 2016 United States elections under Robert Mueller. He rejoined the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in June 2019. ...

, associate of Robert Mueller *

Tevfik Arif Tevfik Arif (russian: Тофик Арифов; born May 1953), also known as Tofik Arifov, is a Russian/Turkish real estate developer and investor. He is the founder of the Bayrock Group, an international real estate development and investment co ...

, Soviet-born Turkish real estate developer and investor, founder of the Bayrock Group *

Andrii Artemenko Andy Victor Kuchma ( uk, Андрій Вікторович Артеменко, born 14 January 1969, Kyiv), formerly Andrii Viktorovych Artemenko, is a former Ukrainian politician and businessman. Andrii Viktorovych Artemenko was a People's Dep ...

, Ukrainian member of parliament * Julian Assange, founder of

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

Arron Banks Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped ...

, primary funder and co-founder of

Leave.EU Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, June 2016 referendum. Founded in July 2015 as ...

campaign * Stephen K. Bannon,

Breitbart News ''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an Radical right (United States), American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentary ...

chairman (2012–2016), Trump campaign CEO (August–November 2016), and

White House Chief Strategist Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during the ...

(January–August 2017) *

William Barr William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the 77th and 85th United States attorney general in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump. Born and raised in New York City, Barr ...

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

(1991–1993, February 2019 – December 2020), head of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

(DoJ) * Joe Biden, 46th President of the United States (2021–present); Vice President of the United States (2009–2017) *

James E. Boasberg James Emanuel Boasberg (born February 20, 1963) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He served as the Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court fro ...

, District Judge of the

District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District ...

John R. Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Stat ...

, National Security Advisor (April 2018 – September 2019) * John O. Brennan, Director of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) (2013–2017) *

Richard Burr Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who is the senior United States senator from North Carolina, serving since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, Burr was previously a member of the United S ...

, North Carolina Senator (R), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee *

Maria Butina Maria Valeryevna Butina (russian: Мари́я Вале́рьевна Бу́тина, sometimes transliterated as Mariya Butina; born November 10, 1988) is a Russian politician, political activist and former entrepreneur who was convicted in 20 ...

, founder of "" and associate of Alexander Torshin *

Steve Calk Stephen M. Calk (born 1964/1965) is the founder, former Chairman and CEO of The Federal Savings Bank, a federally chartered National Bank headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. He was an economic advisor to Donald Trump during the 2016 United St ...

, banker who helped Paul Manafort and Rick Gates steal and launder money *

Cambridge Analytica Cambridge Analytica Ltd (CA), previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the private intellig ...

, a now defunct political consulting, data mining, and analysis firm that worked for Trump's campaign; its parent company was SCL Group * Christian Cantor, Israeli diplomat in London *

Michael Caputo Michael Raymon Caputo (born March 24, 1962) is an American political strategist and lobbyist. In April 2020, Caputo was appointed as assistant secretary of public affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration. ...

, former chief of communications in New York for the Trump Campaign, contracted to perform public relations work for Putin in 2000 *

James Clapper James Robert Clapper Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. H ...

, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) (2010–2017) * Kevin Clinesmith, FBI lawyer *

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Secretary of State ( 2009–2013), First Lady of the United States (1993–2001) * Sam Clovis, former co-chairman and policy adviser for the Trump campaign * Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence (since March 2017) * Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's personal attorney (2006–2018) * Columbus Nova, the American investment arm of Viktor Vekselberg's business empire * James B. Comey, 7th

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) (2013–2017) * Concord Management and Consulting, accused of funding a troll farm that interfered in the 2016 election *

Rafael Correa Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (; born 6 April 1963), known as Rafael Correa, is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as President of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation ...

, former Ecuadorian president *

Jerome Corsi Jerome Robert Corsi (born August 31, 1946) is an American politcal scientist and author critical of the left wing. His two ''New York Times'' best-selling books, '' Unfit for Command'' (2004) and ''The Obama Nation'' (2008), attacked Democrat ...

, American political commentator and associate of

Roger Stone Roger Jason Stone (born Roger Joseph Stone Jr.; August 27, 1952) is an American conservative political consultant and lobbyist. Since the 1970s, Stone has worked on the campaigns of Republican politicians, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Rea ...

* Gregory Craig, former Obama White House counsel *

Randy Credico Randolph A. Credico (born 1954) is an American perennial political candidate, comedian, radio host, and activist, and the former director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice. Entertainment career Credico was formerly active o ...

, American perennial political candidate * Rick Dearborn,

White House Deputy Chief of Staff The White House deputy chief of staff is officially the top aide to the White House chief of staff, who is the senior aide to the president of the United States. The deputy chief of staff usually has an office in the West Wing and is responsible ...

(January 20, 2017 – March 16, 2018) and executive director of Trump's presidential transition team * Oleg Deripaska,

Russian oligarch Russian oligarchs ( Russian: олигархи, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Sovi ...

, aluminum magnate with close ties to

Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

Kirill Dmitriev Kirill Alexandrovich Dmitriev (russian: Кирилл Александрович Дмитриев; born 12 April 1975) is the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a $10 billion sovereign wealth fund created by the Russian government ...

, CEO of the

Russian Direct Investment Fund The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 by the Russian government to make investments in companies of high-growth sectors of the Russian economy. Its mandate is to co-invest alongside the wo ...

* Annie Donaldson, former Deputy

White House Counsel The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...

Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...

, Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom * Michael Dreeben, associate of Robert Mueller * Eric A. Dubelier, former Federal prosecutor and attorney for Concord Management and Consulting *

Yuri Dubinin Yuri Vladimirovich Dubinin (russian: Юрий Владимирович Дубинин, 7 October 1930 – 20 December 2013) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian diplomat. Biography Dubinin was born in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-B ...

Ambassador of the Soviet Union to the United States The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United States of America is the official representative of the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation to the President of ...

(1986–1990) *

Electronic Privacy Information Center Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is an independent nonprofit research center in Washington, D.C. EPIC's mission is to focus public attention on emerging privacy and related human rights issues. EPIC works to protect privacy, freedom ...

, DC-based non-profit that filed FOIA lawsuit for release of complete Mueller Report * T. S. Ellis III, a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the Eastern District of Virginia presiding over Paul Manafort's trial in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. He was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1987 and took

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

in 2007. * Paul Erickson, Republican activist involved in several Republican presidential campaigns and romantic partner of Maria Butina

F–M

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...

, leader of

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

(2006–2009, 2010–2016), leader of

The Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant po ...

(since its founding in 2018) and a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(since 1999) *

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she wa ...

, California Senator (D), member of the Senate Intelligence Committee (chairwoman, 2009–2015) and

ranking member In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as '' ex officio'' member ...

of the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

* Michael T. Flynn, Director of the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the ...

(2012–2014), National Security Advisor (January–February 2017) * Dabney L. Friedrich, District Judge of the

* Rick Gates, deputy to Manafort during the Trump campaign * Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York City (1994–2001), and personal attorney for President Trump (since April 2018) * John Gleeson, District Judge of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York (1994 – March 2016), advisor to Emmet G. Sullivan * Andrew D. Goldstein, associate of Robert Mueller * Rob Goldstone, British publicist of Russian singer

* J. D. Gordon, Trump transition team member, and Director of National Security for the Trump campaign (since March 2016) *

Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore emeritus of the United States Senate, and the senior United States senator from Iowa, having held the seat since 1981. In 2022, h ...

, Iowa Senator (R), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (2015–2019), and President pro tempore of the United States Senate (since 2019) * Guccifer 2.0, a hacker alias used by the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) * Stefan Halper, FBI informant * Alvin K. Hellerstein, District Judge of the

District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a United States district court, federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York (state), New York ...

Hope Hicks Hope Charlotte Hicks (born October 21, 1988) is an American public relations executive and political advisor who served in President Donald Trump’s administration from 2017 to 2018 and 2020 to 2021. She served as White House Director of Strate ...

, press secretary for the Trump campaign and

White House Communications Director The White House communications director or White House director of communications, also known officially as Assistant to the President for Communications, is part of the senior staff of the president of the United States. The officeholder is resp ...

(August 2017 – February 2018) * Beryl A. Howell, Chief United States district judge for the

Internet Research Agency The Internet Research Agency (IRA; russian: Агентство интернет-исследований, translit=Agentstvo internet-issledovaniy), also known as ''Glavset'' (russian: link=no, Главсеть) and known in Russian Internet sla ...

(IRA), a Russian entity charged with coordinating online propaganda efforts, finances managed by Khusyaynova, funded by Prigozhin * Andrew Intrater, Columbus Nova CEO, cousin of

Viktor Vekselberg Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg (russian: Виктор Феликсович Вексельберг, uk, Віктор Феліксович Вексельберг; born April 14, 1957) is a Ukrainian-born Russian–Israeli-Cyprus oligarch, billion ...

* Frederick Intrater, brother of Columbus Nova CEO Andrew Intrater, cousin of Viktor Vekselberg * Anton Inyutsyn, Russian Deputy Minister of Energy *

Amy Berman Jackson Amy Sauber Berman Jackson (born July 22, 1954) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Early life and education Amy Berman was born on July 22 ...

, U.S. District Court Judge in the District of Columbia overseeing one of Mueller's cases against Paul Manafort *

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...

(since July 2019) * Jones Day, law firm that worked for the Trump campaign * Irakly "Ike" Kaveladze,

Georgian-American Georgian Americans ( ka, ქართველი ამერიკელები, tr) are Americans of full or partial Georgian ancestry. They encompass ethnic Georgians who have immigrated to the U.S. from Georgia, as well as other areas wi ...

senior vice president at the Crocus Group * Bijan Kian, also known as Bijan Rafiekian, business partner of Michael Flynn and part of the Trump transition * Konstantin V. Kilimnik, Paul Manafort's right-hand man in

Kyiv, Ukraine Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, alleged Russian intelligence operative *

Sergey Kislyak Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak ( rus, Серге́й Ива́нович Кисля́к, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ kʲɪˈslʲak; born 7 September 1950) is a Russian senior diplomat and politician. Since September 2017, he has represented Mo ...

Russian ambassador to the United States The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United States of America is the official representative of the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation to the President of ...

(2008–2017) * Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, Russian accountant who managed social media troll operation finances (including the IRA) which interfere in 2016 elections and

2018 midterm elections The 2018 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. These midterm elections occurred during Republican Donald Trump's term. Democrats made a net gain of 41 seats in the United States House of Representatives, gaining a majo ...

, called "Project Lakhta" * Simon Kukes, Russian-American businessman and associate of Vekselberg,

German Khan German Borisovich Khan (russian: Герман Борисович Хан; born 24 October 1961) is a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch, billionaire, and businessman. After graduating from university in 1988 he worked in a wholesale business selling ...

Len Blavatnik Sir Leonard Valentinovich Blavatnik, russian: Леонид Валентинович Блаватник, Leonid Valentinovich Blavatnik (born June 14, 1957) is a Ukraine-born American-British business magnate and philanthropist. As of March 202 ...

Mikhail Fridman Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; russian: Михаил Маратович Фридман; he, מיכאיל פרידמן; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli businessman, billionaire, and ...

, and with ties to Russian businesses and the Russian government *

Jared Kushner Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a pri ...

, real estate investor, son-in-law and

Senior Advisor In some countries, a senior advisor (also spelt senior adviser, especially in the UK) is an appointed position by the Head of State to advise on the highest levels of national and government policy. Sometimes a junior position to this is called a N ...

to President Trump *

Sergey Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004. Lavrov served as the Permanent Represe ...

, Foreign Minister of Russia * Richard J. Leon, District Judge of the

Corey Lewandowski Corey R. Lewandowski (; born September 18, 1973) is an American political operative, lobbyist, political commentator and author who is politically associated primarily with Donald Trump. He was the first campaign manager of Trump's 2016 presi ...

, former manager of Trump's primary election campaign (until June 2016) *

Jessie K. Liu Jessie Kong Liu (born January 2, 1973) is an American attorney who was the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. She previously worked as deputy general counsel at the U.S. Treasury and served at the Justice Department. In 2020, ...

, attorney involved in the Roger Stone case * Paul Manafort, political consultant and former lobbyist for

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...

, campaign manager and chairman of the Trump campaign (June–August 2016), and Trump convention manager (March 2016) * Simona Mangiante, Italian lawyer and wife of George Papadopoulos (since March 2018) *

Andrew McCabe Andrew George McCabe (born March 18, 1968) is an American attorney who served as the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from February 2016 to March 2018 and as the acting Director of the FBI from May 9, 2017, to Augus ...

, Deputy (February 2016 – January 2018) and Acting Director of the FBI (May–August 2017) * Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Senator (R) and

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

Kayleigh McEnany Kayleigh McEnany (; born April 18, 1988) is an American conservative political commentator and author who served the administration of Donald Trump as the 33rd White House press secretary from April 2020 to January 2021. Early in the 2016 Re ...

, White House Press Secretary (since April 2020) *

K. T. McFarland Kathleen Troia McFarland (born Kathleen M. Troia; July 22, 1951) is an American political candidate, former government official, and political commentator. She served as Deputy National Security Advisor under Michael Flynn for the first four mon ...

, political commentator and served as

Deputy National Security Advisor The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor. Among other res ...

under Michael Flynn for the first four months of the Trump administration *

Donald McGahn Donald Francis McGahn II (; born June 16, 1968) is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Donald Trump, from the day of Trump's inauguration through October 17, 2018, when McGahn resigned. Previously, McGahn serv ...

to President Trump (January 2017 – October 2018) * Amit Mehta, District Judge of the

Joseph Mifsud Joseph Mifsud (born 1960) is a Maltese academic. In 2016, he became involved with George Papadopoulos, an advisor to the Donald Trump presidential campaign, and was later accused of being a link between that campaign and Russia. In 2018, he wa ...

, Maltese academic and former diplomat for the Maltese government connected with Russian politicians and George Papadopoulos * Andrew Miller,

's associate * Andrey Molchanov, member of the Federation Council of Russia (since 2008) * Robert S. Mueller III, 6th FBI Director (2001–2013), appointed

special counsel In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exi ...

for the Russian interference investigation

N–R

George Nader George Garfield Nader, Jr. (October 19, 1921 – February 4, 2002) was an American actor and writer. He appeared in a variety of films from 1950 to 1974, including ''Sins of Jezebel'' (1953), ''Congo Crossing'' (1956), and ''The Female Animal'' ...

, businessman and lobbyist who acted as the Trump campaign's liaison to the

Jerrold Nadler Jerrold Lewis Nadler (; born June 13, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician who since 2013 has served as the U.S. representative for , which includes Manhattan's west side and parts of Brooklyn. A member of the Democratic Party, he is in ...

, Congressman (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (since January 2019) *

Paul M. Nakasone Paul Miki Nakasone (Japanese language, Japanese: 仲宗根ミキ ''Nakasone Miki'', born November 19, 1963) is a four-star general, four-star General (United States), general in the United States Army who serves as the commander of United States C ...

, Commander of

United States Cyber Command United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It unifies the direction of cyberspace operations, strengthens DoD cyberspace capabilities, and integr ...

(since May 2018) * National Rifle Association, commonly known as the NRA *

Richard Neal Richard Edmund Neal (born February 14, 1949) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1989. The district, numbered as the 2nd district from 1989 to 2013, includes Springfield, West Springfield, Pittsfield, H ...

, Congressman (D-MA), chairman of the

House Ways and Means Committee The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other progra ...

(since January 2019) *

Kirstjen Nielsen Kirstjen Michele Nielsen (; born May 14, 1972) is an American attorney who served as United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. She is a former principal White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump, and was ...

Secretary of Homeland Security The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...

(December 2017 – April 2019) *

Alexander Nix Alexander James Ashburner Nix (born 1 May 1975) is a British businessman, the former CEO of Cambridge Analytica and a former director of the Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) Group, a behavioural research and strategic communications ...

, former CEO of Cambridge Analytica *

Sam Nunberg Sam Nunberg (born June 21, 1981) is an American public affairs consultant based in Manhattan. He was a political advisor to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. In March 2018, Nunberg was subpoenaed by a grand jury for testimony and documen ...

, former political advisor to Trump campaign *

Devin Nunes Devin Gerald Nunes (; born October 1, 1973) is an American businessman and politician who is chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). Before resigning from the House of Representatives and joining TMTG, Nunes was ...

, Congressman (R-CA), ranking member (since 2019) and chairman of the

House Intelligence Committee The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Adam Schiff. It is the primary committ ...

(2015–18) *

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

, 44th President of the United States (2009–2017) *

Bruce Ohr Bruce Genesoke Ohr is a former United States Department of Justice official. A former associate deputy attorney general and former director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), as of February 2018 Ohr was working in the ...

, director of the

Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) is a federal drug enforcement program in the United States, overseen by the Attorney General and the Department of Justice. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disr ...

(2014–2017) and associate deputy attorney general (2017) *

Carter Page Carter William Page (born June 3, 1971) is an American petroleum industry consultant and a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign. Page is the founder and managing partner of Global Energy C ...

, oil industry consultant, former Trump campaign advisor on foreign policy * Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska (2006–2009) *

George Papadopoulos George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of maki ...

, former advisor to the Trump campaign on foreign policy * Sean Parnell, Governor of Alaska (2009–2014); Lieutenant Governor of Alaska (2006–2009) * W. Samuel Patten, lobbyist and associate of Paul Manafort, senior consultant for

SCL Group SCL Group (formerly Strategic Communication Laboratories) was a private British behavioural research and strategic communication company that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal involving its subsidiaries ...

* Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States (since January 2017) *

Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov ( rus, Дмитрий Сергеевич Песков, p=pʲɪˈskof; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat and the press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin.Press Secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dut ...

, and diplomat *

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

, Secretary of State (since April 2018);

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

director (January 2017 – March 2018) *

Reince Priebus Reinhold Richard Priebus ( ; born March 18, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who served as White House Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump from January 20, 2017, until July 31, 2017. He also served as the chairman of the Republ ...

, Trump's first White House Chief of Staff, former chairman of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. Political action committee, political committee that assists the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republi ...

Yevgeny Prigozhin Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (russian: link=no, Евгений Викторович Пригожин; born 1 June 1961) is a Russian oligarch and close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin was called "Putin's chef" because h ...

, Russian oligarch who funded the IRA and owns "Concord Management and Consulting" and "Concord Catering", called "Putin's chef" *

Erik Prince Erik Dean Prince (born June 6, 1969) is an American businessman, former United States Navy SEALs, U.S. Navy SEAL Officer (armed forces), officer, and the founder of the private military company Blackwater USA, Blackwater. He served as Blackwat ...

, chairman of Frontier Services Group, brother of Trump Administration Education Secretary

Betsy DeVos Elisabeth Dee DeVos ( ; ' Prince; born January 8, 1958) is an American politician, philanthropist, and former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. DeVos is known for her support for ...

, and founder of private military company

Academi Blackwater was an American private military company founded on December 26, 1996 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009 and known as Academi since 2011 after it was acquired by a group of private investors ...

(formerly known as "Blackwater") *

, 2nd and 4th

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

* James L. Quarles, associate of Robert Mueller * Edgardo Ramos, District Judge of the

* John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence (May 2020–present), Congressman (R-TX) (2015 – May 2020) *

Michele Reagan Michele Reagan (born October 13, 1969) is an American Republican politician who served as the 20th Arizona Secretary of State, from 2015 to 2019. She is currently a Justice of the Peace for the Maricopa County McDowell Mountain Precinct. Early ...

Arizona Secretary of State The secretary of state of Arizona is an elected position in the U.S. state of Arizona. Since Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor, the secretary stands first in the line of succession to the governorship. The secretary also serves as actin ...

(January 2015 – January 2019) * Jeannie Rhee, associate of Robert Mueller * Susan Rice, National Security Advisor (2013–2017) * Michael S. Rogers, Director of the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collect ...

(NSA) (2014–2018) *

Dmitry Rogozin Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin (russian: link=no, Дми́трий Оле́гович Рого́зин; born 21 December 1963) is a Russian politician who served as director general of Roscosmos from 2018 to July 2022. He previously served as deputy ...

Deputy Prime Minister of Russia A Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation (russian: Заместитель председателя Правительства Российской Федерации) is a member of the Government of Russia. The post is co ...

(2011–2018) *

Dana Rohrabacher Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher (; born June 21, 1947) is a former American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2019. A Republican, he represented for the last three terms of his House tenure. Rohrabacher ran for r ...

, Congressman (R-CA) (1989–2019) *

Rod Rosenstein Rod Jay Rosenstein (; born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States attorney for the District ...

Deputy Attorney General The Deputy Attorney General (DAG) is the second-highest-ranking official in a department of justice or of law, in various governments of the world. In those governments, the deputy attorney general oversees the day-to-day operation of the departme ...

, acting Attorney General for Russia–Trump investigations *

Wilbur Ross Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. (born November 28, 1937) is an American businessman who served as the 39th United States Secretary of Commerce from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Ross was previously chairman and chief executive officer ...

, 39th

United States Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

(since February 2017) * Marco Rubio, member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican candidate for president in 2016 * Paul Ryan,

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U ...

(2015–2018)

S–Z

* Bernie Sanders, 2016 Democratic primary presidential candidate, Vermont Senator (I) (since 2007) *

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders (born August 13, 1982) is an American former political spokesperson and the governor-elect of Arkansas. She was the 31st White House press secretary, serving under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. She ...

, White House Press Secretary (July 2017 – June 2019) *

Felix Sater Felix Henry Sater (born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky; russian: Фе́ликс Миха́йлович Шеферовский; March 2, 1966) is a Russian-American mobster, convicted felon, real estate developer and former managing director of ...

, Russian-American former mobster, real estate developer, and former managing director of Bayrock Group LLC * Adam B. Schiff, Congressman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee (since 2019), and ranking member (2015–2018) *

Keith Schiller Keith Schiller (born c. 1959) is an American former law enforcement official and security consultant who served as Deputy Assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump and Director of Oval Office Operations. Prior to his appointment in the Trump adm ...

, former Deputy Assistant and concurrent Director of Oval Office Operations, and longtime personal body guard to Trump *

Karen Schreier Karen Elizabeth Schreier (born July 29, 1956) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota and was the 36th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota. Early life and educa ...

, District Judge of the District Court for the District of South Dakota *

, parent company of Cambridge Analytica *

Jay Sekulow Jay Alan Sekulow (; born June 10, 1956) is an American lawyer, radio, television talk show host and politically conservative media personality. He has been chief counsel of the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) since 1991. As a member of Pr ...

, chief counsel at the

American Center for Law & Justice The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) is a politically conservative, Christian-based legal organization in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and associated with Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, ...

, former personal attorney of Donald Trump *

Jeff Sessions Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 84th United States Attorney General from 2017 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as United States ...

, United States Attorney General (February 2017 – November 2018), Alabama Senator (R) (1997–2017), member of the

Center for the National Interest The Center for the National Interest is a Washington, D.C.-based public policy think tank. It was established by former U.S. President Richard Nixon on January 20, 1994, as the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom. The group changed its name to ...

's advisory council (2016) * Cody Shearer, political activist and former journalist, author of the "Shearer memo/dossier" that Steele passed on to the FBI *

Brad Sherman Bradley James Sherman (born October 24, 1954) is an American accountant and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in ...

, Congressman (D-CA) (since 1997) * Dimitri Simes, publisher of ''

The National Interest ''The National Interest'' (''TNI'') is an American bimonthly international relations magazine edited by American journalist Jacob Heilbrunn and published by the Center for the National Interest, a public policy think tank based in Washington, ...

'' and CEO of think tank Center for the National Interest (CNI) * Glenn R. Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, who hired Steele to compile damaging information on Trump and Russia *

Skadden Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1948, the firm consistently ranks among the top U.S. law firms by revenue. The company is known for its wor ...

, New York City-based international law firm * Peter W. Smith, Republican operative and Illinois financier who had ties to Michael Flynn as early as 2015 *

Gordon Sondland Gordon David Sondland (born July 16, 1957) is an American businessman. He is the founder and chairman of Provenance Hotels. He also served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 2018 to 2020. In November 2019, Sondland test ...

United States Ambassador to the European Union This is a list of United States ambassadors to the European Union. The formal title of this position is Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiar ...

(since June 2018) *

Sean Spicer Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications dire ...

, White House Press Secretary (January–July 2017) and White House Director of Communications (June–July 2017) * Christopher Steele, former British

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

intelligence officer, author of dossier on Trump and Russia *

Jill Stein Jill Ellen Stein (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and former political candidate. She was the Green Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections and the Green-Rainbow Party's candidat ...

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

nominee in the 2016 United States presidential election *

, political consultant, staffer to President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

(1972–1974), business partner of Manafort (1980s) *

Peter Strzok Peter Paul Strzok II (, like ''struck''; born March 7, 1970) is a former United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. He was the Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division and led the investigation into R ...

, FBI agent removed from the investigation in August 2017 * Emmet G. Sullivan, District Judge of the

Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne Tillerson (born March 23, 1952) is an American engineer and energy executive who served as the 69th U.S. secretary of state from February 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, under President Donald Trump. Prior to joining the Trump administ ...

, 69th

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

(February 2017 – March 2018), and CEO of ExxonMobil (2006–2017) * Ivan Timofeev, program director of

the Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...

-sponsored

Valdai Discussion Club The Valdai Discussion Club is a Moscow-based think tank and discussion forum. It was established in 2004 and is named after Lake Valdai, which is located close to Veliky Novgorod, where the Club’s first meeting took place. In 2014, the managem ...

* Erika Thompson, Australian diplomat in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

* Alexander Torshin, Russian Senator from Mari El Republic (2001–2015) and Deputy Governor of the

Central Bank of Russia The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR; ), doing business as the Bank of Russia (russian: Банк России}), is the central bank of the Russian Federation. The bank was established on July 13, 1990. The predecessor of the bank can ...

(2015–2018) *

Anthony Trenga Anthony John Trenga (born 1949) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia as well as a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Education Trenga was born in W ...

, District Judge of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia *

, 45th President of the United States (2017–2021),

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...

(1971–2016) *

Donald Trump Jr. Donald John Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977) is an American political activist, businessman, author, and former television presenter. He is the eldest child of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his firs ...

, executive director of

The Trump Organization The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. Around 250 of these entities use the Trump name. The organization was founded in 1927 by Donald Trump's paternal grandmothe ...

, son of Donald Trump *

Eric Trump Eric Frederick Trump (born January 6, 1984) is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his fir ...

, Executive Vice President of The Trump Organization, son of Donald Trump *

Ivana Trump Ivana Marie Trump (, ; February 20, 1949 – July 14, 2022) was a Czech-American businesswoman, media personality, socialite, fashion designer, author, and model. Ivana lived in Canada in the 1970s before relocating to the United States and m ...

, first wife of Donald Trump *

Ivanka Trump Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman and the first daughter of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. She was a senior advisor in his administration, and also was the ...

, Advisor to the President (since March 2017), daughter of Donald Trump * Cyrus Vance Jr.,

New York County District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ...

(2010–present) * Alex van der Zwaan, Dutch attorney guilty of making false statements to the FBI *

, Russian oligarch * Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian attorney, best known for lobbying against the

Magnitsky Act The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in D ...

Kurt Volker Kurt Douglas Volker (born December 27, 1964) is an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to NATO and served as executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership. He worked in a volunteer capacity as the U.S. ...

, US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations (July 2017 – September 2019) *

Reggie Walton Reggie Barnett Walton (born February 8, 1949) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He is a former presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Early life ...

, District Judge of the

* Jennifer Williams, advisor to Mike Pence on European and Russian affairs * Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of The Trump Organization * Andrew Weissmann, associate of Robert Mueller *

Matthew Whitaker Matthew George Whitaker (born October 29, 1969) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and politician who served as the acting United States Attorney General from November 7, 2018, to February 14, 2019. He was appointed to that position by President D ...

, acting US Attorney General (November 2018 – February 2019) * Andy Wigmore, director of communications for

and close associate of

* Michael Wolff, journalist and author of '' Fire and Fury'' about the Trump White House *

Christopher A. Wray Christopher Asher Wray (born December 17, 1966) is an American attorney who is the eighth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving since 2017. From 2003 to 2005, Wray served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Crimin ...

, Director of the FBI (since August 2017) * Alexander Yakovenko, Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom (since 2011) *

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

(2010–2014) *

Aaron Zebley Aaron Mortimer ZebleyMark Maske & Adam Goldman ''Washington Post'' (September 11, 2014). is an American attorney and former FBI special agent who was the deputy special counsel of the Special Counsel investigation headed by Robert Mueller. He ...

, associate of Robert Mueller *

Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

, President of Ukraine (since May 2019)

Before Donald Trump's 2016 candidacy

1977

* According to former

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

major

Yuri Shvets Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. * Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Ja ...

, Trump became the target of a joint Czech intelligence services and KGB spying operation after he married Czech model Ivana Zelnickova and was cultivated as an "asset" by Russian intelligence since 1977: "Russian intelligence gained an interest in Trump as far back as 1977, viewing Trump as an exploitable target."

1986

* Soviet Ambassador

invites Trump on an all-expenses-paid trip to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

1987

* Konstantin Kilimnik attends the from 1987 until 1992. *July: Trump and his wife,

Ivana Ivana ( sr, Ивана) is a feminine given name of Slavic origin that is also popular in southern Ireland, France, French-speaking Canada, the Mediterranean and Latin America. It is the feminine form of the name Ivan, which are both the Slavic ...

, who spoke Russian, make their first visit to the Soviet Union (which included the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

SFSR. They scout potential construction sites for a

Trump Tower Moscow Trump Tower Moscow, also known as the Moscow Project, was a series of proposals by the Trump Organization to develop a Trump skyscraper in Russia. Michael Cohen testified in February 2019; Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were regularly briefed ...

1991

*December 26: Dissolution of the Soviet Union occurs, wherein the RSFSR becomes the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

(commonly known as "Russia").

1996

* Trump returns to Russia, visits Moscow with

Howard Lorber Howard Mark Lorber (born September 8, 1948) is an American businessman and investor. Early life and education Lorber was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in Bronx, New York, The Bronx, the son of Charles and Celia (née Benrubi) Lorber but ...

and Bennett S. LeBow to scout potential properties for "skyscrapers and hotels", registers his trademark, and makes connections with the development company Bayrock Group (which would result in

Trump Soho The Dominick, formerly the Trump SoHo, is a $450 million, 46-story, 391-unit hotel condominium located at 246 Spring Street at the corner of Varick Street in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was announced in 2006, ...

) and

, who became crucial to later Trump Moscow talks. Trump subsequently announces a plan to invest $250 million in Russia and brand two luxury residential buildings in Moscow, which doesn't come to fruition. Other people on the trip include

Leon Black Leon David Black (born July 31, 1951) is an American investor and the co-founder and former-CEO of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Black also served as the chairman of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City from Ju ...

of Apollo Global Management, Ron Bernstein, Theodore Liebman, and

Matthew Calamari The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. Around 250 of these entities use the Trump name. The organization was founded in 1927 by Donald Trump's paternal grandmother ...

. During the trip, Trump brings two women he met the night before to a business meeting, and begins a long-term relationship with a former "Miss Moscow". In 2020, the Senate Intelligence Committee reports that it is unable to determine whether Russia has compromising material involving Trump and the three women.

2000

* February 14: Trump withdraws his bid for the Reform Party nomination in the 2000 United States presidential election, but writes that he cannot rule out another run for president.

chaired Trump's exploratory committee.

2001–2004

* Patten and Kilimnik work together at the

International Republican Institute The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more iss ...

(IRI). Patten runs the think tank's Moscow office and considers Kilimnik a key employee.

2004

* Manafort begins his relationship with his patron, Deripaska. * November 22: The

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...

begins, eventually resulting in a revote ordered by the

Supreme Court of Ukraine The Supreme Court of Ukraine ( uk, Верховний Суд України, ) is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.Bayrock Group an exclusive deal to build a Trump-branded property in Moscow. * Kilimnik leaves the IRI to work for Manafort in Ukraine. * June 23: Paul Manafort and a business partner,

Rick Davis Richard Dean Davis (born November 24, 1958) is an American former soccer midfielder, and former captain of the U.S. National Team for much of the 1980s. He is considered by fans the best U.S.-born player of the North American Soccer League er ...

, propose a plan to Oleg Deripaska under which they would influence news coverage, business dealings, and politics in the

former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

, Europe, and the United States "to benefit President Vladimir Putin's government". They eventually sign a $10 million contract that starts in 2006 using LOAV Ltd. instead of Davis-Manafort; they maintain a business relationship until at least 2009.

2006

* At Donald Trump's request, Sater accompanies

and

on a Moscow trip, and arranges for Ivanka to sit in Putin's office chair during a tour of the Kremlin. * January: Davis introduces Senators John McCain,

Saxby Chambliss Clarence Saxby Chambliss (born November 10, 1943) is an American lawyer and retired politician who was a United States Senator from Georgia from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. Representative from ...

, and John E. Sununu to Deripaska at the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

in Davos. They meet at a private apartment and have dinner at

Peter Munk Peter Munk (November 8, 1927 – March 28, 2018) was a Hungarian-Canadian businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of a number of high-profile business ventures, including the hi-fi electronics co ...

's ski chalet. Later in the month, Deripaska sends Davis and Manafort a letter thanking Davis for arranging the meeting with the senators.

2007

* Manafort and Richard Davis found Pericles Emerging Markets, an

investment fund An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages in ...

solely backed by Deripaska. * October 15: Trump praises Putin in an interview on CNN. * 2007–2012: Manafort receives $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments from

's pro-Russian Ukrainian

Party of Regions The Party of Regions ( uk, Партія регіонів, Partiia rehioniv, ; russian: Партия регионов, Partiya regionov) was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 that then grew to be the biggest party of U ...

. * November: Trump attends the Millionaire's Fair in Moscow, where he announces that Trump Vodka will expand its distribution into Russia, his first foray into the Russian market. * November 20 Manafort receives his first payment from the Ukrainian Party of Regions. * December 19: Trump sends Putin a congratulatory letter for being named ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine's " Man of the Year". He writes, "As you probably have heard, I am a big fan of yours!"

2008

* 2008: ** Around 2008, Trump Jr. travels to Russia a half-dozen times in 18 months, looking for deals. ** Deripaska transfers $18.9 million to Pericles Emerging Markets to purchase Black Sea Cable. It is unclear what happened to the money: Deripaska demands an accounting of the funds in 2013, sues Pericles in 2014, and sues Manafort in 2018. ** A spokesperson for Deripaska denies he ever hired Manafort's consulting company. * 2008–2013:

is an "operational contact" for the CIA, which means the agency can ask him for information he already knows but not task him with gathering information. * July: Trump sells the Palm Beach estate Maison de L'Amitie to Russian oligarch

Dmitry Rybolovlev Dmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev (russian: Дмитрий Евгеньевич Рыболовлев; ; born 22 November 1966) is a Russian oligarch, billionaire businessman, and investor. Rybolovlev became chairman of the Russian fertilizer prod ...

for a record $95 million. Trump bought the property for $41.35 million three years earlier and made only minor improvements. According to Cohen, Trump later tells his associates that he believes Putin was behind Rybolovlev's purchase. * September: Trump Jr., then an executive vice president of

, says, "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, say, in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." * November: Davis-Manafort is disbanded shortly after the presidential election.

2009

* May: Kislyak attempts to arrange a meeting between Torshin and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

Governor Sarah Palin during Torshin's planned visit to Alaska on June 6. Palin's office declines and suggests Torshin meet with Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell. It is unclear whether the meeting took place.

2010

* The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto receives timely financing from

Vnesheconombank VEB.RF, or VEB (russian: ВЭБ.РФ (ex-Vnesheconombank)), is a Russian state development corporation. It was founded in 2007 as a development institute. VEB.RF is an investment company and development institute in Russia. It has financed more t ...

(VEB), a Russian state-run investment bank. * Deripaska lends $10 million to a company jointly owned by Manafort and his wife. * August: Trump and Bannon first meet, and

David Bossie David Norman Bossie (born November 1, 1965) is an American political activist. Since 2000, he has been president and chairman of conservative advocacy group Citizens United and in 2016, Bossie was the deputy campaign manager to the Donald Trump ...

is present. Trump says he is thinking of running for president in 2012; Bannon replies, "for what country?"

2011

founds the "" organization. * 2011–2013: Protests occur in Russia against its

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

and presidential election processes. Putin accuses U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of interfering in Russian politics. * April 29 – May 1: Nashville lawyer G. Kline Preston IV and NRA Secretary Jim Land introduce Russian Senator Alexander Torshin to National Rifle Association (NRA) president David Keene at the NRA annual meeting in Pittsburgh. * May 7: Keene sends Torshin a handwritten letter offering to help in his endeavors. * October 12–27: Mueller resigns his family membership from the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, and asks for a refund of the unused portion of the annual fees. Two weeks later, the club confirms the membership will end on October 31 and says he will be put on a waitlist for fee refunds, but Mueller never receives the refund. Beginning in May 2017, Trump claims this incident forms a conflict of interest that should prevent Mueller from serving as the special counsel investigating him. * December 8: Putin states that Clinton "set the tone for some opposition activists", and "gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work".

2012

* The

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

warns

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

that he is being targeted by Russian agents to recruit him as an "agent of influence"; that is, someone who can affect US policy. * Italian MEP

Gianni Pittella Giovanni Saverio Furio Pittella (born 19 November 1958) is an Italian politician who served as Leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Group from 2014 to 2018 and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Italy from 1999 ...

introduces Simona Mangiante, the future wife of

, to Mifsud in Brussels. Mangiante worked for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

as an attorney specializing in child abduction cases. * February 10: Torshin registers as a life member of the NRA using Russian diplomat Igor Matveev's address and Preston's phone number. * April 12–15: Torshin attends the NRA annual convention in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, with an "all access" pass. * October 11: Preston applies for Torshin to receive

election observer Election monitoring involves the observation of an election by one or more independent parties, typically from another country or from a non-governmental organization (NGO). The monitoring parties aim primarily to assess the conduct of an electi ...

status in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. * October 25: Manafort receives the last of $12.7 million in payments from the Ukrainian Party of Regions. * November 6: Torshin and Matveev visit

Davidson Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA * ...

and Williamson counties in Tennessee as election observers. * November 8: Torshin visits the NRA headquarters in

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

. * December 14: President

signs the

into law to punish Russian officials responsible for human rights violations.

2013

* Apparent security hackers gain access to the Trump Organization's

domain registrar A domain name registrar is a company that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. A registra ...

account at

GoDaddy GoDaddy Inc. is an American publicly traded Internet domain registrar and web hosting company headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and incorporated in Delaware. , GoDaddy has more than 21 million customers and over 6,600 employees worldwide. The ...

and register hundreds of "shadow" subdomains with IP addresses located at a company in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia known for hosting websites containing malware. Most of the subdomains are created in August. By November 1, 2017, the subdomains disappeared after the Trump Organization was notified of the issue, although the organization denied that any breach occurred. * January:

, a petroleum industry consultant, passes documents about the oil market to Victor Podobnyy, a Russian intelligence agent. He later claims the documents were public information. Podobnyy is charged with being an unregistered foreign agent in 2015. * March 13: The FBI interviews Manafort about his offshore business dealings. * March 19: Manafort has dinner with Rohrabacher as part of his lobbying efforts for the government of Ukraine.

Vin Weber John Vincent Weber (born July 24, 1952) is an American politician, lobbyist and former Republican Congressman from Minnesota. Early life and education Weber was born in Slayton, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities f ...

, a partner at Mercury Affairs, is also in attendance. Three days later, Manafort gives Rohrabacher a $1,000 campaign contribution. Richard Gates, Manafort's deputy, pleads guilty in 2018 to lying about the meeting to the FBI. * April 13: Two agents of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) discuss recruiting Page. * May 3–5: Butina and Torshin attend the NRA convention in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, Texas. * June: Flynn travels to Moscow at Major General Igor Sergun's invitation. Kislyak helps arrange and coordinate the trip. Flynn visits the GRU headquarters, where he meets with GRU officials, briefs GRU staff, and presents a professional development class on leadership. * June 15–18: Attending the

Miss USA 2013 Miss USA 2013 was the 62nd Miss USA pageant, held on June 16, 2013 at The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 50 states and the District of Columbia competed for the title and the pageant was televised live on NBC. Outgoing titleholder Nana Meriwe ...

pageant, Trump dines with

, and Rob Goldstone in Las Vegas. The next day he announces that

Miss Universe 2013 Miss Universe 2013 was the 62nd Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Moscow, Russia on November 9, 2013. At the end of the event, Olivia Culpo of the United States crowned Gabriela Isler of Venezuela as Miss Uni ...

will be held in Moscow. He sends Putin a letter inviting him to the pageant and asks on Twitter whether the Russian president will be his "new best friend". * July 3: Carter Page schedules a dinner with potential investor Russian oligarch

to pitch his fledgling natural gas business. It is unclear whether the meeting took place. * August: Eric Trump tells author James Dodson, "We don't rely on American banks ..We have all the funding we need out of Russia", and says, "We go there all the time". In May 2017, Eric Trump calls this "fabricated" and an example of why people distrust the media. * August 25: Page sends a letter to an academic press in which he claims to be an adviser to the Kremlin. * Early October: ** Butina makes a presentation on "Right to Bear Arms" to the Association for the Promotion of Weapons Culture in Israel. Her presentation includes a slide claiming her organization has cooperation agreements with similar organizations in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, Ukraine, and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, and she informs the group that it also has a cooperation agreement with the NRA. Another slide states it has a cooperation agreement with the

International Defensive Pistol Association The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), founded in 1996, is an organization based in Bogata, Texas, that has created a shooting sport based on defensive pistol techniques, using equipment including full-charge service ammunition to ...

, which the Texas-based organization denies when asked in 2018. ** Torshin or Butina invites Keene to the November "Right to Bear Arms" conference in Moscow. * October 17: ** In an appearance on the '' Late Show with David Letterman'', Donald Trump says he has conducted "a lot of business with the Russians" and that he has met President

. ** Erickson begins an email conversation with Butina to make arrangements for his and Keene's trip to Moscow. Erickson informs Butina that Keen may have a "formal diplomatic meeting" after they arrive on October 30. * October 30: After Keene and Erickson arrive in Moscow, Keene dines with Torshin and his wife. * October 31 – November 1: Keene,

Alan Gottlieb Alan Merril Gottlieb is an American author, conservative political activist, Gun politics in the United States, gun rights advocate, and businessperson. Gottlieb has published 23 books. Biography He was born in Los Angeles and graduated from t ...

, and Paul Erickson attend the "Right to Bear Arms" conference in Moscow where they meet with Butina and Torshin. Gottlieb and Keene are invited speakers at the event. Keene is scheduled to speak on the second day. Gottlieb and his wife dine with Torshin and Butina, and receive "gifts that isplayresearch into their interests". In 2017, Gottlieb tells ''The Washington Post'', "They wanted to keep communications open and form friendships." * November 1: Keene is scheduled to meet with Peskov, though he later tells the Senate Intelligence Committee that he does not recall meeting with any government officials while in Moscow. * Early November: Butina and Erickson discuss holding an NRA-hosted event in Moscow in 2014, an idea raised by Torshin and Keene during the "Right to Bear Arms" conference. The proposed event would honor "Right to Bear Arms," Torshin, and General

Mikhail Kalashnikov Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov ( rus, Михаи́л Тимофе́евич Кала́шников, p=kɐˈlaʂnʲɪkəf; 10 November 1919 – 23 December 2013) was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, military engineer, writer, a ...

. Putin would be an invitee. Erickson describes the idea as having "HIGH importance to the NRA". Later, Keene tells the Senate Intelligence Committee that the plans were dropped partly because Kalishnikov died in December 2013. * November 3: Butina emails Erickson asking him to not publish photographs of Keene and Torshin dining together because she needs "time to think how to position this". * November 6: Erickson begins assisting Butina with a visa application so that she can visit the NRA. This is the first occurrence of Butina using the NRA as a reason for visiting the U.S., but there is no evidence she made the trip. * November 7: Butina again emails Erickson to dissuade him from publishing the photographs because she is concerned about attracting attention. * November 9–11: The Trump-owned

Miss Universe pageant Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

is held in Moscow, sponsored by

Sberbank PJSC Sberbank (russian: Сбербанк, initially a contraction of russian: сберегательный банк, translit=sberegatelnyy bank, lit=savings bank, link=no) is a Russian majority state-owned banking and financial services compa ...

. According to various reports, the event's $20 million licensing fee is paid by a Moscow real estate development firm called the Crocus Group, whose president is Aras Agalarov and vice president is his son, pop singer Emin Agalarov. One VIP guest is Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, an alleged Russian mobster and fugitive who was recently indicted for running a high-stakes illegal gambling ring out of a

Trump Tower Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well ...

apartment in New York City. While Putin does not attend, the event is attended by

Vladimir Kozhin Vladimir Igorevich Kozhin (russian: Влади́мир И́горевич Ко́жин, born 28 February 1959) is a Russian businessman and politician. Senator from Moscow since 2018. Previously he was an Aide to the President of Russia and head ...

, the head of the Kremlin's property department, which is responsible for development projects. After the event, Trump tells ''

Real Estate Weekly ''Real Estate Weekly'' is a weekly American real estate magazine primarily covering New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in t ...

'', "the Russian market is attracted to me. I have a great relationship with many Russians". During the trip, Trump meets

Herman Gref Hermann Gräf (russian: Герман Оскарович Греф, translit=German Oskarovich Gref, born February 8, 1964), better known as Herman Gref, is a Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russi ...

, the CEO of state-controlled Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, and other oligarchs close to Putin. Agalarov and Gref co-host a dinner for Trump at the Moscow branch of Nobu, which is owned by Agalarov. Afterwards, Trump tweets to Agalarov, "I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next." * November 12: ''

The Moscow Times ''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates s ...

'' reports that Trump is in talks with Russian companies to build a new Trump tower in Moscow. * November 21: The Euromaidan starts when President Yanukovych suspends preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. * December 10:

John Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Sta ...

promotes gun rights in Russia in a video made for Butina's "Right to Bear Arms" organization that is shown to members of the

Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

. Bolton made the video at the request of Keene, who was himself asked to find someone by Butina and Torshin, though Keene didn't mention Torshin by name. * December 13: Keene emails Butina to follow up on the Bolton video and ask Butina and Torshin for advice on inviting Rogozin to the NRA's

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

event in 2014. Butina responds that she and Torshin think it is a good idea. * December 23: Trump, Trump Jr., Emin Agalarov, and Kaveladze reach an agreement for the Trump Tower Moscow project under which the Trump Organization would receive a 3.5% commission on all sales.

2014

* 2014: ** Butina tells an American Facebook friend who complained about California's gun restrictions that he should "hold demonstrations" for gun rights. ** Patten provides lobbying and consulting services to the Ukrainian Opposition Bloc political party and Lyovochkin, a party leader, without registering as a foreign agent. He travels many times to Ukraine to meet with Lyovochkin and Kilimnik. ** Patten works for Cambridge Analytica to hone their microtargeting operations during the 2014 midterm elections. * January 2: Keene, who is also the opinion editor for ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughou ...

'', publishes in the newspaper a piece on Kalashnikov written by Torshin and partly translated by Erickson and Butina. * Early 2014: Erickson meets Butina in Israel, where they become romantically involved. * Before January 24: The Crocus Group sends The Trump Organization a proposal to build a 194-meter tall building with 800 units at the Crocus City site in Moscow where the Miss Universe pageant was held. Trump Jr. and Emin Agalarov sign the proposal. * February 1–4: Kushner and Ivanka Trump travel to Russia on a four-day trip at the invitation of

Dasha Zhukova Darya "Dasha" Alexandrovna Zhukova (russian: Дарья "Даша" Александровна Жукова; born 8 June 1981) is a Russian-American art collector, businesswoman, magazine editor, and socialite. She is the founder of the Garage M ...

, a longtime friend of Ivanka and the wife of Russian oligarch

Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...

. They attend a gala fundraiser for the

Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center opened in Moscow in November 2012. Construction of the museum is estimated to have cost $50 million. Features This museum, dedicated to the complex history of Russian Jewry, uses personal testimony, arc ...

in Moscow along with Vekselberg, other oligarchs, Russian government officials, and their families. Ivanka and Emin Agalarov tour the proposed Trump Tower Moscow site at Crocus City. In 2016–17, Kushner omits the trip from his security clearance applications. * February 10: In a ''

Fox and Friends ''Fox & Friends'' is an American daily morning news and talk program that airs on Fox News. It premiered on February 1, 1998, and is currently hosted by Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade on weekdays. Will Cain, Rachel Campos- ...

'' phone interview, Trump says Putin contacted him while he was in Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant. * March 6: ** Obama initiates international sanctions on certain Russian individuals, businesses and officials, in response to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. ** Speaking at the

Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) ...

(CPAC), Trump says, "You know, I was in Moscow a couple of months ago, I own the Miss Universe Pageant and they treated me so great. Putin even sent me a present, a beautiful present." * March 21: Trump posts two tweets praising Putin regarding "

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

" on the day the Russian Federal Assembly ratifies the Treaty on Accession of the "

Republic of Crimea The Republic of Crimea, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; uk, Республіка Крим, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; crh, , is an unrecognized federal subject ( republic) of Russia, located in the Crimean Peninsula. Its territory ...

", formalizing the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. * April: ** The Russian

(IRA) creates a department called the "translator project". The department's focus is on interfering in the U.S. election. ** The Obama administration receives a report from a well-connected Russian source that Russia is building disinformation infrastructure to disrupt the political systems in the United States and Europe. * Early April: Erickson and Keene help Butina secure a visa for her visit to the U.S., including Keene making a "standard call" to the office of Congressman

Edward Royce Edward Randall Royce (born October 12, 1951) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1993 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Royce served as Chairman of the United ...

, Chairman of the

House Foreign Affairs Committee The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs o ...

. * April 12: Asked about Putin by

Eric Bolling Eric Thomas Bolling (; born March 2, 1963) is an American television personality, conservative political commentator, author, and financial commentator. He has occupied numerous roles as a commentator on financial issues for television, most no ...

on the

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

show Cashin' In, Trump says Putin has taken the mantle from Obama. He continues, "Interestingly, I own the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

pageant, and we just left Moscow. He could not have been nicer. He was so nice and so everything. But you have to give him credit that what he's doing for that country in terms of their world prestige is very strong." * April 24: Butina presents NRA president Jim Porter with an honorary membership in "Right to Bear Arms". * April 25–27: Butina and Torshin attend the NRA annual conference in Indianapolis. Butina attends several meetings as a guest of Keene. * May: The

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

begins its election interference campaign of "spread ngdistrust towards the candidates and the political system in general". * May 27: Speaking at a

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

luncheon, Trump again claims to have spoken to Putin. "I own the Miss Universe ageant I was in Russia. I was in Moscow recently. And I spoke indirectly and directly with President Putin who could not have been nicer. And we had a tremendous success." * June 2: ''BuzzFeed News'' reports on a cache of Internet Archive emails leaked by Russian hackers. The emails reveal a well-funded effort to recruit and train online trolls to post comments on top American websites. * June 3: Kaveladze emails Trump Jr. and others about design elements and architectural details for Trump Tower Moscow. * June 4–26: Aleksandra Krylova and Anna Bogacheva, two IRA employees, travel to the U.S. to collect intelligence. Maria Bovda, a third employee, is denied a visa. All three are indicted in February 2018 for their work on election interference. * June 10: Trump Jr. emails Kaveladze and others about design elements and architectural details for Trump Tower Moscow. * June 16: Trump Jr. emails Kaveladze and others again about design elements and architectural details for Trump Tower Moscow. * Mid 2014: Dutch intelligence gains access to Russian hacking group

Cozy Bear Cozy Bear, classified by the United States federal government as advanced persistent threat APT29, is a Russian hacker group believed to be associated with one or more intelligence agencies of Russia. The Dutch General Intelligence and Securi ...

, which later, together with Fancy Bear, hacked the DNC servers. They were able to photograph each hacker, get their names, and compile dossiers on each, as they were watching the Russians perform their hacking operations in real time. * July 2: The FBI interviews Richard Gates about his international business dealings. * July 7: The Trump Organization sends Crocus Group a set of questions about the "demographics of these prospective buyers" in the area around the proposed Trump Tower Moscow site, the development of neighboring parcels, and concepts for redesigning portions of the building. * July 22: Laurence Levy, a lawyer with the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, advises Rebekah Mercer,

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during t ...

, and

on the legality of their company,

, being involved in U.S. elections. He advises that Nix and any foreign nationals without a

green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

working for the company not be involved in any decisions about work the company performs for any clients related to U.S. elections. He further advises Nix to recuse himself from any involvement with the company's U.S. election work because he is not a

U.S. citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

. * July 30: The FBI interviews Manafort about his international business dealings. * August 4: The Trump Organization requests from Crocus Group the specifications for a Marriott-branded tower under construction near Crocus City. * August 7: Lieutenant General Flynn retires from the U.S. Army. * August 26: Butina invites Keene to the September "Right to Bear Arms" conference in Moscow. Keene declines citing travel conflicts and the upcoming midterm elections, but promises to attend the 2015 conference. * Late 2014: Butina resigns from her position as the head of "Right to Bear Arms". * September–November: The Trump Organization becomes less and less responsive to emails from the Crocus Group about the Trump Tower Moscow project, with the last response sent on November 24. Discussions end in the planning stage with no construction occurring. The death of Tamir Sapir, a potential funding source for the project, may be a contributing factor in the project's collapse. * September 3: Paul Erickson attends a "Right to Bear Arms" forum in Moscow where he is a featured speaker. * September 11: The IRA spreads a hoax they created about a fictitious chemical plant fire in Centerville, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, purportedly started by

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

. The hoax includes tweets and YouTube videos showing a chemical plant fire. Centerville is home to many chemical plants, but the plant named in the tweets does not exist. Initial tweets are sent directly to politicians, journalists, and Centerville residents. * September 21 – October 11: The

Material Evidence ''Material Evidence'' (Russian: Вещдоки) is an international exhibition first presented in Russia in 2013 by Vladislav Shurigin and Denis Tukmakov with direct financial support from ''Zhurnalistskaya Pravda'' (Journalistic Truth), a Moscow ...

art exhibition is displayed at the Art Beam gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. It portrays the conflicts in Syria and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in a pro-Russian light. It is promoted by Twitter accounts that also spread the September 11 chemical plant fire hoax. The exhibition is partly funded by the IRA. * October 8: A Defense Department lawyer informs Flynn in writing that as a retired officer he is bound by the emoluments clause of the U.S. constitution because he can be recalled to service at any time. On April 27, 2017, Flynn comes under investigation for possibly receiving emoluments from Turkey and Russia. * November 21:

and Christopher Steele discuss cultivating Deripaska as a U.S. intelligence asset. * November 26–30: An unnamed IRA employee travels to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. * November 27: A tweet allegedly from a woman in New York City claims that she had food poisoning from a turkey she bought at

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

. Within hours, there are numerous similar postings on

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...

and Twitter making similar claims, Wikipedia articles about the incident, and a story on an alleged news site. All are created by the IRA in what is later believed to be a test to gauge how easily they can manipulate Americans. * December 1: Butina emails Erickson asking him to help two Russian firearms companies, the Scientific Research Institute of Applied Chemistry and the Vyatsko-Polyansky Engineering Plant, attend the April 2015 NRA conference. * December 13: ** The IRA uses Twitter to spread a hoax about an Ebola outbreak in Atlanta. Many of the Twitter accounts used in the September 11 chemical plant fire hoax also spread this hoax. The hoax includes a YouTube video of medical workers wearing hazmat suits. ** Using a different set of Twitter accounts, the IRA spreads a hoax about a purported police shooting of an unarmed black woman in Atlanta. The hoax includes a blurry video of the purported event.

January–June 2015

* 2015 ** Russian oligarch

Vladimir Potanin Vladimir Olegovich Potanin (russian: Владимир Олегович Потанин; born 3 January 1961) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in ...

's investment fund AltPoint Capital Partners purchases ByteGrid LLC, which operates some of Maryland's election systems. Potanin is described as "very close" to Putin. State officials are not informed of the purchase, and remain unaware until the FBI briefs them in July 2018. ** Patten and Kilimnik start a consulting firm together in Washington, D.C., called Begemot Ventures International Ltd. The firm provides consulting services in Ukraine and lobbying services in the U.S. for Ukrainian political parties without registering as a foreign agent. Begemot shares office space with Cambridge Analytica. * January 19–21: Patten and Kilimnik coordinate to arrange meetings for Serhiy Lyovochkin with members of the Senate Foreign Relations and the House Foreign Affairs committees, with officials from the State Department, and with numerous members of the U.S. media. In August 2018, Patten pleads guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent for this work.Alt URL
/ref> * January 20: Butina emails Keene to notify him of Torshin's recent appointment as vice chairman of the

Russian Central Bank The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR; ), doing business as the Bank of Russia (russian: Банк России}), is the central bank of the Russian Federation. The bank was established on July 13, 1990. The predecessor of the bank can ...

, and to express concerns about the implications for Torshin's continuing relationship with the NRA. * January 22: Butina asks Keene for assistance securing invitations for two Russian firearms companies to attend the April NRA convention. It is unknown whether the companies attended. * January 23: A court filing by the U.S. government contains a transcript of a recorded conversation between two members of a Russian SVR spy ring, Victor Podobnyy and Igor Sporyshev. Their conversation concerns efforts to recruit "Male-1", later confirmed as Carter Page. Podobnyy calls Page an "idiot" and tells Sporyshev, "You get the documents from him and tell him to go fuck himself". * February: Dimitri Simes meets with Putin and other Russian officials in Moscow. Simes is the publisher of ''

'' and CEO of the think tank

(CNI). The Center arranges meetings between Torshin, Butina, and U.S. government officials in April, and also arranges Trump's April 27, 2016, speech at the

Mayflower Hotel The Mayflower Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., located on Connecticut Avenue NW. It is two blocks north of Farragut Square (one block north of the Farragut North Metro station). The hotel is managed by the Autograph Col ...

. * February 5: The NRA sends invitation letters to Butina and Torshin to help them obtain U.S. visas to attend the NRA convention in April. * February 10: Butina emails Keene and his wife with an update on Torshin's appointment. She tells them about Torshin's "recommendation" that she expand her "participation in conferences and meetings in the political circles of the Republican Party" to lay the foundation for a "trusted dialogue" between the U.S. and Russia. * February 26–28: Butina attends CPAC at Keene's invitation. * March 16: Keene sends Butina a list of "Key Conservative Meeting Dates" from the Conservative Action Project to help her make her U.S. travel plans. * March 18: Trump announces he is forming a

presidential exploratory committee In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to candidates for pre ...

. * March 20: Butina asks Perrine for a list of U.S. governors and members of Congress that will be attending the NRA convention. Perrine responds with a publicly available list of politicians. * March 24: Butina sends Erickson a Google-translated copy of her and Torshin's plan to use their existing NRA connections to develop an "informal channel of communication" with the new U.S. presidential administration, which they expect to be Republican. She requests $125,000 to attend a series of Republican-focused conferences and other outreach purposes. * Spring: ** U.S. Intelligence intercepts conversations of Russian government officials discussing associates of Donald Trump. ** The IRA performs its first experiment in organizing a live event. They lure Facebook users in New York City to a purported event offering free hot dogs. There are no hot dogs, but enough people show up for the IRA to consider the experiment a success. * April ** Flynn begins advising ACU Strategic Partners, a company seeking to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East involving a sanctioned Russian company. ** Butina and Torshin meet with Treasury undersecretary for international affairs

Nathan Sheets D. Nathan Sheets is an American economist and government official who served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 2014 to 2017. He has been Global Chief Economist at Citigroup since October 2021. Early life and edu ...

to discuss U.S. Russian economic relations during the Obama administration. The meeting was arranged by the CNI. * April 5: The CNI sends Butina an itinerary of events it arranged for Butina and Torshin to attend, including meetings with U.S. government officials. * April 7: ** Torshin and Butina meet with

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

vice chairman Stanley Fischer to discuss U.S. Russian economic relations during the Obama administration. The meeting was arranged by the CNI. ** Torshin and Butina participate in discussions about the "Russian financial situation and its impact on Russian politics" at a private event moderated by

Hank Greenberg Henry Benjamin Greenberg (born Hyman Greenberg; January 1, 1911 – September 4, 1986), nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", "Hankus Pankus", or "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American professional baseball player and team executive. He played in Major Leagu ...

and organized by the CNI. Keene,

Grover Norquist Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primar ...

, and CNI officials including Simes, Burt, and Paul Saunders. * April 8: At Keene's invitation, Torshin, with Butina translating, gives remarks at the NRA's Charlton Heston Recognition Dinner. * April 10: Butina, Torshin, and David Keene attend a fundraiser in Tennessee for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. * April 11–12: Torshin and Butina attend the NRA convention in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. Erickson arranged the trip, and the NRA president's assistant Nick Perrine handled the itinerary. Torshin briefly converses with Trump. Torshin and the Trump family dispute how much was said. At a reception, Keene introduces Butina and Torshin to Governor Walker, and they give Walker a gift from Russia. * May: Kislyak and Butina discuss Governor Walker, Keene and the NRA. * Mid-June: Kislyak hosts Keene for lunch at the Russian embassy. Afterward, Butina reaches out to Keene about the lunch, and he gives her a readout of the discussion. * June 10: Flynn testifies before the

on nuclear power in the Middle East. He omits his work for ACU Strategic Partners from both a committee disclosure form and his testimony. * June 12: Maria Butina argues in an article she wrote for ''

'' that only a Republican president can improve relations between the U.S. and Russia.

2016 presidential campaign

June–December 2015

* June 16:

announces his candidacy for president. * June 17: In an interview on the

show ''

Hannity ''Hannity'' is an American conservative television political talk program on Fox News hosted by Sean Hannity. Episodes air live at 9:00 p.m. from Monday through Thursday, while episodes that air on Fridays are pre-recorded, with a repeat ...

'',

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of '' The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commen ...

asks Trump if he has talked to Putin. Trump replies, "I don't want to say. But I got to meet all of the leaders. I got to meet all—I mean, everybody was there. It was a massive event. And let me tell you, it was tremendous." * Late June: Flynn travels to Egypt and Israel. In September 2017, members of Congress present evidence to Mueller that Flynn's purpose was to promote a Russian-backed plan for the building of 40 nuclear reactors, with "total regional security" to be provided by U.S.-sanctioned Russian weapons exporter

Rosoboronexport JSC Rosoboronexport (russian: AO Рособоронэкспорт, ''Rosoboroneksport'') is the sole state intermediary agency for Russia's exports/imports of defense-related and dual use products, technologies and services. The Rosoboronexport ...

. * July: Trump receives an invitation to Moscow for the 60th birthday of Aras Agalarov, who co-hosted the Miss Universe pageant with him in 2013. * July onward: Thousands of fake Twitter accounts run by the IRA begin to praise Trump over his political opponents by a wide margin, according to a later analysis by ''The Wall Street Journal''. * July 8–12: Butina and Erickson attend Freedomfest 2015 in Las Vegas. They are registered to attend private events with Norquist, Dinesh D'Souza. and Peter Thiel. **July 9: Butina and Erickson attend a bitcoin panel with former Overstock.com CEO Patrick M. Byrne. They greet Byrne and discuss Overstock.com's work with women in Afghanistan. Afterward, Butina sends Byrne an email drafted by Erickson thanking him for their discussion and inviting him to meet on July 12 to discuss the types of reforms Russia should embrace. In 2020, a Senate Intelligence Committee report finds that Butina and Erickson were interested in Byrne as a possible conduit to Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul. ** July 11: Butina attends FreedomFest in Las Vegas, where Trump is speaking and taking questions. She asks Trump his stance on continuing sanctions; he replies he knows Putin and doesn't think sanctions are needed. Reviewing a video of the encounter, Bannon says, "Trump had a fully developed answer". * July 13: Butina is present at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's Scott Walker 2016 presidential campaign, presidential candidacy announcement. At Torshin's request, she writes an analytical assessment of Walker's candidacy. * July 15:

contacts Trump campaign manager

about joining the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, campaign as a policy advisor. * July 17: Keene sends Torshin a letter introducing Rohrabacher and suggesting they meet during the congressman's August trip to Moscow. * July 24: Rob Goldstone emails Trump's assistant Rhona Graff, suggesting that

could arrange a meeting between Putin and Trump. * Summer: Security hacker, Hackers linked to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) gain access to the Democratic National Committee's computer network. Dutch intelligence services gain access to Russian hacking group

in mid-2014 and later alert their U.S. counterparts that Cozy Bear, together with Fancy Bear, have penetrated the Democratic National Committee (DNC) servers. * July 31: Flynn gives a speech to Kaspersky Government Security Solutions, a subsidiary of Kaspersky Lab, for which he is later paid $11,250. * August: ** Papadopoulos emails Michael Glassner, the executive director of Trump's campaign committee, expressing further interest in joining the campaign as a policy advisor. He continues corresponding with Glassner and Lewandowski for months, but is repeatedly told no position is available for him. ** Flynn travels to New York City to meet Trump for the first time. * August 3: Torshin and Butina discuss Rohrabacher over Twitter direct messages. He tells Butina that he believes Rohrabacher is "under the watch" of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. * August 4–6: Rohrabacher and Behrends travel to Russia. While there, Rohrabacher meets Butina and Torshin for breakfast. In July 2018, Rohrabacher tells ''Politico'' he dined with Butina and another congressman accompanying him on the trip. * August 6: ** Butina tells Keene about her breakfast discussion with Rorhabacher, including that Butina could meet with Rohrabacher in the U.S. in October. ** Keene sends Butina a list of proposed NRA attendees for the December "Right to Bear Arms" event in Moscow. * August 8:

leaves the Trump campaign. The campaign says it fired Stone, but Stone insists he quit. He subsequently gives the press a resignation letter that the campaign says it never received. * August 12: Butina and Torshin discuss plans for the NRA trip to Moscow, including possibly hosting "high level meetings" if the delegation is sufficiently "respectable". * August 15 The FBI Washington field office contacts technical staff at the DNC headquarters to alert them that their computer systems have been penetrated and data compromised by the Russians. * August 17: Konstantin Rykov, the founder of the Russian online newspaper Vzglyad (newspaper), Vzglyad, registers two domain names: Trump2016.ru and DonaldTrump2016.ru. * August 18: Georgi Asatryan of Vzglyad emails Hope Hicks to arrange an in-person or phone interview with Trump. According to the Mueller Report, the proposed interview never occurs. * August 20: Kislyak meets with Keene and Allan Cors at the NRA headquarters. * August 21: Sessions makes his first appearance at a Trump campaign rally. * September: ** An FBI special agent reports to the DNC that at least one of its computer systems has been hacked by an espionage team linked to the Russian government. The agent is transferred to a tech-support contractor at the help desk, who makes a cursory check of DNC server logs and does not reply to the agent's follow-up calls, allegedly because of a belief that the call might have been a prank call, prank. **

speaks briefly with Russian Foreign Minister

at a ''Russia Today'' gala in New York City. She is an invited guest at the event. ** The FBI and Ohr try to recruit Deripaska as an informant on

and Russian organized crime in exchange for a U.S. visa. Steele helped set up the meeting. ** A New York architect completes plans for a bold glass Trump Tower Moscow, obelisk 100 stories high in Moscow, with the Trump logo on multiple sides. ** Cohen attempts to arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin during the Seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly, United Nations General Assembly session, with Trump asking for status updates several times. After phone calls and emails, a Russian official finally tells Cohen that such a meeting would not follow protocol. ** The IRA begins posting videos on YouTube primarily aimed at African-Americans, eventually posting over 1,100 videos with 43 hours of content on 17 YouTube channels. The politically oriented videos are anti-Clinton, and some videos discourage African Americans from voting or encourage voting for Jill Stein. * September–October: ''The Washington Free Beacon'', a conservative website primarily funded by billionaire Paul Singer (businessman), Paul Singer, hires Fusion GPS to perform opposition research on Trump. Initially a Marco Rubio supporter, Singer continues to fund the research after Rubio withdraws from the race.s:Senate Judiciary Committee Interview of Glenn Simpson * September 11: Trump speaks at the Victor Pinchuk#Yalta European Strategy, Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv via satellite. The organizer of the event, Victor Pinchuk, donates $150,000 to Trump's charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, Trump Foundation. * Late September: Felix Sater meets with Michael Cohen on behalf of I.C. Expert Investment Company to discuss building a Trump Tower in Moscow. I.C. Expert is a Russian real estate development corporation controlled by Andrei Vladimirovich Rozov. Sater agrees to find a developer and arrange for financing. Sater later contacts Rozov to propose that I.C. Expert work with the Trump Organization on the project. * September 21: On Hugh Hewitt's radio program, Trump says, "The oligarchs are under [Putin's] control, to a large extent. I mean, he can destroy them, and he has destroyed some of them... Two years ago, I was in Moscow... I was with the top-level people, both oligarchs and generals, and top-of-the-government people. I can't go further than that, but I will tell you that I met the top people, and the relationship was extraordinary." * September 22: Cohen forwards a Trump Tower Moscow preliminary design study to Giorgi Rtskhiladze, who then emails it to his associate Simon Nizharadze, writing, ""[i]f we could organize the meeting in New York at the highest level of the Russian Government and Mr. Trump this project would definitely receive the worldwide attention." * September 24: Rtskhiladze emails Cohen a draft letter for the Trump Organization to send to the mayor of Moscow, explaining, ""[w]e need to send this letter to the Mayor of Moscow (second guy in Russia) he is aware of the potential project and will pledge his support." Later that day he sends Cohen a translation of the letter that describes Trump Tower Moscow as a "symbol of stronger economic, business and cultural relationships between New York and Moscow and therefore United States and the Russian Federation." * September 27: Rtskhiladze emails Cohen a proposal for the Trump Organization to partner with Global Development Group LLC on the Trump Tower Moscow project. He describes Global Development as controlled by Nizharadze and the architect Michail Posikhin. In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller's team that he declined the proposal and decided to continue with Sater's proposed partner, I.C. Expert Investment Company. * October: For his July 31 remarks during a cybersecurity forum in Washington, D.C., Flynn receives $11,250 from Kaspersky Government Security Solutions Inc., the American subsidiary of Kaspersky Lab, owned by Eugene Kaspersky. * October 5: Flynn gives an interview to ''Russia Today'' in which he criticizes the U.S. approach to

and suggests the U.S. work with Russia to confront the group. After the interview, his son, Flynn Jr., receives an invitation from ''Russia Today'' for Flynn to be a guest of honor at their December gala in Moscow. * October 6: Butina sends Torshin a list of seven potential members for the NRA Moscow delegation, including Cors and his wife, Goldschlanger and his daughter, and Keene and his wife. * October 9: Sater emails Cohen about his plans to meet with and persuade Andrey Molchanov to provide the land for a Trump Tower in Moscow. * October 12: Cohen has a series of email exchanges with Felix Sater about developing a Trump property in Moscow. Sater tells Cohen that VTB Bank will fund the project, and that his associates will be meeting with Putin and a deputy on October 14. * October 13: Sater sends Cohen a letter of intent signed by Andrey Rozov for Trump to sign to move the Moscow project forward. * October 14: ''Russia Today'' invites Stein to its anniversary gala in Moscow. * October 19: Butina emails Erickson asking how influential Cors, Keene, Goldschlager, and Liberatore are in U.S. politics, stressing that they need politically important people to attend the December conference in Moscow. * October 20: Flynn gives a speech to Volga-Dnepr Airlines for $11,250. * October 25: Butina invites incoming NRA President Pete Brownell to join the NRA Moscow delegation in December so that he can meet Russian gun manufacturers and retailers. * October 28: ** Trump signs a letter of intent (LOI) to construct a Trump-branded building in Moscow hours before Republican Party presidential debates and forums, 2016#October 28, 2015 – Boulder, Colorado, the third Republican presidential debate, a fact made public in August 2017. The LOI proposes that the tower have "[a]pproximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums" and "[o]ne first class, luxury hotel consisting of approximately 15 floors and containing not fewer than 150 hotel rooms." The Trump Organization would receive 1%–5% of all condominium sales and 3% of all rental and other revenues, and 20% of the operating profit. ** Stein and Nadia Ivanova of ''Russia Today'' discuss arranging meetings for Stein with Russian government officials during Stein's upcoming trip to Moscow, including with Putin and Lavrov. According to Stein, she makes her request through ''Russia Today'' because she has contacts there and doesn't know anyone at the Russian embassy. ** Erickson and Butina dine with Keene at the University Club of Washington, DC. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee, they may have discussed Keene's desire to interview Putin for ''The Washington Times'' while in Moscow. * November: Trump associate

emails Trump lawyer Michael D. Cohen (lawyer), Michael Cohen: "Michael, I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putin's private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin ..Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this". Sater also tells Cohen that the Kremlin's VTB Bank is ready to finance Trump Tower Moscow, a Trump Tower project in Moscow. * November 2: ** Cohen emails the Trump Tower Moscow letter of intent to Rozov. ** Butina asks Torshin how to arrange an interview for Keene with Putin. He responds that an interview is unlikely, but says he will pass on the request to Peskov. * November 3: ** In an email to Cohen, Sater predicts that building a Trump Tower in Moscow will help Trump's presidential campaign. "I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected." ** The IRA Instagram account "Stand For Freedom" attempts to organize a confederate rally in Houston, Texas, on November 14. It is unclear whether anyone showed up. The Mueller Report identifies this as the IRA's first attempt to organize a U.S. rally. Further unredacted text restored by the Department of Justice and released on June 19, 2020, in response to a court order. * November 9: Stein again emails Ivanova asking for help arranging meetings with Lavrov and Putin. * November 9–19: ''Russia Today'' arranges Stein's trip to Moscow and offers to pay for it. Stein declines and refuses to be paid for participating on panels at the event. Her campaign pays for the trip. * November 10: At the 2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums#November 10, 2015 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Republican debate in Milwaukee, Trump claims that he met Putin in a green room and "got to know him very well" while waiting to record their ''60 minutes'' interviews that aired on September 27. Fact checkers quickly point out that Trump and Putin could not have met in the green room because Trump was interviewed in New York City and Putin was interviewed in Moscow. * November 11: Flynn signs a contract with ''Russia Today'' to speak at its December gala in Moscow. * November 12–16: Torshin and Butina discuss how to arrange a meeting with Rogozin requested by the NRA delegation since Rogozin is under U.S. sanctions. Butina says the delegation still wants the meeting despite the sanctions. * November 13: ** Butina tells Torshin that Simes banned CNI personnel from talking to her because he thinks she is an Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia), SVR agent. ** Ivanova tells Stein that a meeting with Lavrov and Putin is unlikely, but Stein will be seated at Putin's table at the gala. She offers meetings with Duma Foreign Affairs Committee chair Aleksey Pushkov and Federation Council Committee on International Affairs chair Konstantin Kosachev. ** Concerned that Cors may not be able to attend the NRA Moscow trip, Butina emails David and Donna Keene to persuade Cors to attend. She highlights "high level special events" Torshin arranged, writing that the Russian figures involved wanted to meet the "head of the most powerful political organization in America. She mentions private meetings with Russian Security Council First Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Rogozin, Public Council of the Ministry of Defence (Russia), Russian Ministry of Defense chairman Pavel Gusev (journalist), Pavel Gusev, head of Putin's presidential campaigns Igor Pisarsky, and oligarch and patron of "The Right to Bear Arms" Konstantin Nikolaev. * November 16: Lana Erchova (a.k.a. Lana E. Alexander) sends an email to Ivanka Trump in which she offers the services of her husband, Dmitry Klokov, to the Trump campaign. According to the Mueller Report, Klokov is the "Director of External Communications for PJSC Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System, a large Russian electricity transmission company, and had been previously employed as an aide and press secretary to Russia's energy minister." Ivanka forwards the email to Cohen. In July 2018, Erchova tells Mueller's team that Russian officials wanted to offer Trump "land in Crimea among other things" and an "unofficial meeting with Putin". At least until August 2018, Cohen mistakenly thinks Klokov is the Dmitry Klokov, Olympic weightlifter of the same name. * November 18: ** IC Expert, the developer for the Trump Tower Moscow project and a signatory to Trump's letter of intent, receives a non-revolving line of credit from Sberbank for 10.6 billion rubles. IC Expert provides 100% of its equity to secure the line of credit. Sberbank agrees to finance 70% of the Trump Tower Moscow project, its largest commercial real estate loan to date. ** Klokov writes in an email to Cohen that he is a "trusted person" offering "political synergy" and "synergy on a government level" to the Trump campaign. He suggests that Cohen travel to Moscow and meet with him and an intermediary. He says the conversations could facilitate an informal meeting between Trump and Putin, and that any such meeting must be separate from any business negotiations, though it would lead to high-level support for projects. * November 19: ** The IRA creates the @TEN_GOP Twitter account. Purporting to be the "Unofficial Twitter account of Tennessee Republicans," it peaks at over 100,000 followers. ** Julian Assange privately tells a group of core WikiLeaks supporters that he prefers the Republican Party (United States), GOP win the election because Clinton "is a bright, well connected, sadistic sociopath" who will have "greater freedom to start wars than the GOP and has the will to do so". ** Kolokov writes in an email to Cohen that a properly publicized meeting between Trump and Putin could have a "phenomenal" impact "in a business dimension" and boost the "level" of projects if he receives Putin's endorsement. Cohen rejects Kolokov's offers, writing, ""[c]urrently our LOI developer is in talks with VP's Chief of Staff and arranging a formal invite for the two to meet." In September 2018, Cohen tells Mueller's team that he rejected the offers because he was already pursuing business with Sater and understood Sater had Russian government connections of his own. ** Erickson emails Brownell about a meeting with "Russia's highest leader". Brownell responds with interest and forwards the email to his Director of Compliance. Erickson also informs Brownell that he (Brownell) will not be able to meet with Rogozin because of U.S. sanctions. * November 24: Perrine informs Butina that Brownell will join the NRA delegation in December. * November 25: ** In an email to Brownell, Erickson writes, "most of the FSB agents 'assigned' to her [Butina] want to marry her", saying that is why she was able to arrange a tour of a Russian arms factory for the NRA delegation. ** Perrine sends Keene an itinerary for the NRA's Russia trip that includes meetings with Lavrov and Rogozin. ** Unable to attend the NRA Moscow trip, Cors writes a letter to Torshin designating Keene and Joe Gregory as official representatives in Moscow for the NRA. * December: Unable to find a position in the Trump campaign, Papadopoulos joins the Ben Carson 2016 presidential campaign, Ben Carson campaign. * December 1: ** Sater emails Cohen, asking, "Please scan and send me a copy of your passport for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs." ** ''Russia Today'' announces that Flynn will be speaking at its gala. * December 2: ** Trump tells the Associated Press that he is "not that familiar with" Felix Sater and refers questions to his staff. ** Flynn and his son, Michael G. Flynn (called "Jr."), visit Kislyak at his home. * December 3: Barbara Ledeen, a longtime staffer for Senator

on the

and wife of close Flynn associate and Iran–Contra affair figure Michael Ledeen, sends Peter W. Smith a 25-page proposal for finding Hillary Clinton email controversy, Clinton's missing emails. The proposal posits that Clinton's private email server was hacked and proposes, among other things, contacting foreign intelligence services to determine if they have any copies of Clinton's emails. At the time, her investigation is not connected to the Trump campaign, though she gives Flynn regular updates throughout the summer of 2016. Smith forwards the email to Jonathan Safron and John Szobocsan. * December 8: Flynn and his son travel to Moscow to attend the ''Russia Today'' gala. * December 8–13: Outspoken Trump supporter Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke (sheriff), David Clarke and his wife, former NRA President David Keene, future NRA President Pete Brownell, NRA Golden Ring of Freedom Chair Joe Gregory, major NRA donors Hilary and Arnold Goldschlager, Outdoor Channel CEO Jim Liberatore and his wife, and NRA member Paul Erickson travel to Moscow for the "Right to Bear Arms" convention. They meet Russian government officials, including

and Foreign Minister

. Rogozin is under international sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War, U.S. sanctions. Butina accompanies the delegation on a tour of the gun manufacturer ORSIS, where they meet with the company's executives, including Svetlana Nikolaev, president of ORSIS's parent company and wife of billionaire Konstantin Nikolaev. They also meet with Torshin and Sergei Rudov, the head of the Saint Basil the Great Charitable Foundation. They attend a party at a Moscow hunting club hosted by Torshin and Gusev. Clarke later files an ethics report showing that Butina's organization, "Right to Bear Arms", covered $6,000 of his expenses. Butina covers some of the cost of Liberatore's attendance, and is subsequently reimbursed $6,000 by the NRA from its president's budget. After the Lavrov meeting, Butina emails Torshin, writing, "We should let them express their gratitude now, and put pressure on them quietly later." In May 2018, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch denies there was an NRA trip to Moscow, then clarifies in July 2018 that it wasn't an official trip. A 2019 report by the Democratic Minority of the Senate Finance Committee concludes that despite the public denials, internal NRA documents show the trip was an officially sanctioned event that may have imperiled the NRA's Tax exemption, tax-free status. * December 9: Stein flies to Moscow with her communications director. * December 10: ** Stein and Flynn spend the day attending the ''Russia Today'' gala. Stein participates on a panel called "Frenemies: defining foes and allies in proxy politics" with Cyril Svoboda, Willy Wimmer, and Ken Livingston. ** Stein attends a cocktail party, cocktail reception before the gala dinner where she socializes with former governor Jesse Ventura and his wife, and networks with "the peace community". ** Flynn gives a paid speech on world affairs in Moscow, at a gala dinner organized by RT (TV network), RT. Flynn had appeared on ''RT'' as an analyst after retiring from the U.S. Army. Putin is the dinner's guest of honor. Flynn is seated next to Putin; among the 10 people seated at the head table are Stein, Wimmer, ''RT'' Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, and members of Putin's inner circle, including Sergei Ivanov,

Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov ( rus, Дмитрий Сергеевич Песков, p=pʲɪˈskof; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat and the press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin. * December 11: ** Stein has lunch with Pushkov and is told Kosachev cannot attend. ** ''RT'' leads a tour of the Kremlin with Stein and other guests of the gala. ** Flynn and his son leave Moscow. * December 13: Stein returns home from Moscow. * December 16: Smith declines to help Ledeen's endeavor to find Clinton's emails because he feels the search isn't viable at the time. * December 19: In an email to Cohen, Sater talks about securing financing from VTB, a Russian bank under American sanctions. Sater also asks for Cohen's and Trump's passport information so that VTB can facilitate obtaining visas. VTB would be issuing the invitation, he writes, because "[p]olitically neither Putins office nor Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot issue invite, so they are inviting commercially/ business." He writes that they will be invited to the Russian consulate that week to receive an invitation and visas for traveling to Russia. Cohen sends images of his own passport but not Trump's. * December 21: ** Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta receives an email, which is later leaked by WikiLeaks, advising the campaign on how to handle Trump, recommending that the "best approach is to slaughter Donald for his bromance with Putin". ** Sater texts Cohen asking again for a copy of Trump's passport. Cohen replies, "After I return from Moscow with you with a date for him." In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller's team that Rhona Graff provided Trump's passport to Cohen's office, but the Mueller Report says the team could not find any evidence of a copy being sent to Sater. ** On Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Eduardovich Prikhodko, Sergei Prikhodko's behalf, Mira Duma emails Ivanka Trump an invitation for Donald Trump to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Duma is acquainted with Ivanka from the fashion industry. * December 30: Cohen emails Sater complaining about the lack of progress on the Trump Tower Moscow project. Sater responds that he helped bury an ''ABC News'' story in which Trump denied knowing him. Cohen tells Sater in a text message that he will set up a meeting with Russian government officials himself. * December 31: Sater tells Cohen that Genbank (), recently put under U.S. sanctions, will be the new funder for the Trump Tower Moscow project. * Late 2015 – early 2016: Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump are included on emails about the Trump Tower Moscow project. Ivanka Trump recommends an architect.

January–March 2016

* January: ** Flynn applies to renew his security clearance for five years. In an interview with security investigators he claims U.S. companies paid for his trip to the RT (TV network), RT dinner in Moscow. Documents subsequently obtained by the House Oversight Committee show that RT (TV network), RT paid for the trip. ** FBI initiates tax evasion and money laundering investigation regarding payments from the Ukrainian government to Paul Manafort. * January 3: GRU chief Sergun dies from a reported heart attack. Flynn reaches out to Kislyak to express his condolences. * January 7: Ivanka Trump forwards to Rhona Graff the December 21 invitation for her father she received from Duma on Prikhodko's behalf. * January 11: Cohen tries to send an email to Dmitry Peskov asking to be connected to Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, but it Bounce message, bounces because of a typo in the email address. * January 14: ** Cohen emails Peskov atinfo@prpress.gov.ru seeking help to jump-start the Trump Tower Moscow project because "the communication between our two sides has stalled", but does not receive a response. In August 2017 Peskov tells CNN that Cohen's email "went unanswered [because it] was solely regarding a real estate deal and nothing more." ** Graff responds to Duma's December 21 email that Trump is "honored to be asked to participate in the highly prestigious" St. Petersburg Forum, but must decline the invitation because of his "very grueling and full travel schedule." Graff asks Duma if she should "send a formal note to the Deputy Prime Minister," and Duma replies that that would be "great." * January 16: Cohen emails at Peskov at Pr_peskov@prpress.gov.ru, the correct address he mistyped on January 11, and repeats his request to speak with Ivanov. Later Cohen tells Congress and Mueller's team that he received no response to this email and abandoned the Trump Moscow Project. He later admits to federal prosecutors that he did receive a response and continued working on the project and keeping Trump updated on progress into June 2016. * January 19: Konstantin Sidorkov, executive at VKontakte (commonly called VK, Russia's equivalent of Facebook), emails Trump Jr. and social media director Dan Scavino offering to help promote Trump's campaign to its nearly 100 million users. Goldstone brokered the overture. Sidorkov emails again on November 5, 2016. * January 20: ** A Russian social media company emails Trump Jr., Trump's personal assistant, and Scavino about setting up a page for Trump's campaign. ** Peskov's personal assistant Elena Polikova sends an email to Cohen from her personal account asking him to call her on her personal phone number, which she provides. Cohen calls her and explains the nature and status of the project, and asks for assistance with securing land and financing. The conversation includes a discussion of giving Putin a $50 million Penthouse apartment, penthouse in the tower as a gift. Later Cohen tells prosecutors that Polikova took notes, asked detailed questions, and said she needed to follow up with people in Russia. * January 21: Sater texts Cohen asking for a call. He writes, "It's about Putin they called today." Sater emails Cohen a draft invitation from Genbank for Cohen to visit Russia, which Sater says is being offered at the behest of VTB, and asks Cohen if any changes need to be made. Sater and Cohen work on edits for the next few days. *January 22: Based on a No 32–04 \ vd, tranche of leaked papers from the Kremlin, ''The Guardian'' reports that in a January 22 meeting, the Russian government decided to use "all possible force" to ensure a "mentally unstable" Donald Trump will win the presidential election. They believe that Trump will help secure Russia's strategic objectives, among them "social turmoil" in the US and a weakening of the American president's negotiating position. * January 25: Sater sends Cohen a signed invitation from Andrey Ryabinskiy of the company MHJ to travel to "Moscow for a working visit" about the "prospects of development and the construction business in Russia," "the various land plots available suited for construction of this enormous Tower," and "the opportunity to co-ordinate a follow up visit to Moscow by Mr. Donald Trump." In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller's team that he didn't use the invitation to travel to Moscow because he didn't receive any concrete proposals for suitable land plots. * January 26: Sater asks Cohen to take a call from Evgeny Shmykov, who is coordinating their project in Moscow. Cohen agrees. * January 30: Carter Page emails senior Trump Campaign officials, including Glassner, informing them that his discussions with "high level contacts" with "close ties to the Kremlin" led him to believe "a direct meeting in Moscow between Mr[.] Trump and Putin could be arranged." * February–April: Papadopoulos works for the same company as Mifsud, the London Centre of International Law Practice. * February 2: Trump comes in second in the Iowa Republican caucuses, 2016, Iowa caucuses. In 2017 Cohen asserts that all efforts on the Trump Tower Moscow project ended before this date. * February 4: Papadopoulos contacts Lewandowski via LinkedIn and emails Michael Glassner about joining the Trump campaign. * February 4–5: Kremlin information security adviser Andrey Krutskikh tells the Infoforum 2016 conference in Moscow that Russia's new "information arena" strategies are equivalent to the Soviet atomic bomb project, 1940s nuclear bomb tests that put the

on equal footing when talking to the United States. * February 4–6: Papadopoulos reaches out to the London Centre of International Law Practice (LCILP) looking for a job because his role at the Carson campaign is over. He takes a position at the ICILP's London office. * February 10: IRA instructs workers to "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump—we support them)." * February 28: Sessions formally endorses Trump. * February 29: ** Manafort submits a five-page proposal to Trump outlining his qualifications to help Trump secure enough convention delegates and win the Republican presidential nomination. Manafort describes how he assisted several business and political leaders, notably in Russia and Ukraine. ** Trump receives a letter from Aras Agalarov expressing "great interest" in Trump's "bright electoral campaign." * March: Carter Page begins working for the Trump campaign as an unpaid foreign policy adviser. * Early March: Papadopoulos tells Glassner he is free again to join Trump's campaign. Glassner connects Papadopoulos with campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis. Clovis tells Papadopoulos that improving Russia relations is a top foreign policy goal for the campaign. * Clovis recommends Carter Page to the campaign. * March 2: ** Assange consoles a core WikiLeaks supporter who is upset about Clinton's success in the primary elections the day before, writing, "Perhaps Hillary will have a stroke." ** Papadopoulos again emails Glassner about joining the Trump campaign. Joy Lutes responds to Papaoapoulos that Glassner instructed her to introduce him to national co-chair and chief policy advisor Sam Clovis. * March 3: ** Sessions is appointed to the Trump campaign's national security advisory committee. ** Clovis researches Papadopoulos on Google. Clovis is impressed with his past work at the Hudson Institute and arranges a phone call for March 6. * March 6: Clovis asks Papadopoulos to join the Trump campaign as a foreign policy advisor after discussing the position in a phone call. The campaign hires Papadopoulos on Ben Carson's recommendation. Papadopoulos is told that a priority of the campaign is a better relationship with Russia. * March 12: Russian-American Simon Kukes donates $2,700 to the Trump campaign. It is his first-ever political donation. In 2017, his 2016 political donations become a subject of the Mueller investigation. * March 14: ** Papadopoulos first meets Mifsud while in Rome on a trip to visit officials affiliated with Link Campus University as part of his LCILP job. After Papadopoulos mentions his position with the Trump campaign, Mifsud shows more interest and offers to introduce him to European leaders and others with contacts to the Russian government. ** Kushner attends a CNI lunch for Henry Kissinger at the invitation of CNI board member Richard Plepler. Kushner uses it as an opportunity to seek Simes's assistance in securing foreign policy professionals' support for the Trump campaign. * March 15: ** Trump closes in on the Republican nomination, having won 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, five primaries. ** In Moscow, Russian military intelligence hacker Ivan Yermakov, working for Fancy Bear, begins probing the DNC computer network. ** In St. Petersburg, shift workers posing as Americans follow instructions to attack Clinton on Facebook and Twitter. * March 16: ** The FBI releases its Report of Investigation on Flynn's security clearance renewal application. ** WikiLeaks publishes a searchable archive of 30,000 Clinton emails that had been released by the State Department in response to a FOIA request. Internal WikiLeaks messages indicate the purpose of the archive is to annoy Clinton and establish WikiLeaks as a "resource/player" in the election. * March 17: ** According to Trump's written answers to Mueller's team, Prikhodko sends another invitation for Trump to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to Rhona Graff. ** Papadopoulos returns to London from his Rome trip. * March 19: Podesta is asked to change his email password in an apparent phishing attempt, believed to be spearheaded by Russian hackers. They gain access to his account, and proceed to steal the entire contents of his account, about 50,000 emails. * March 21: ** In a ''Washington Post'' interview, Trump names members of his foreign policy team, including Papadopoulos and Page. Page had helped open the Moscow office of investment banking firm Merrill Lynch and advised Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom, in which Page is an investor. He had blamed 2014 US international sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War, sanctions relating to Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Russia's annexation of Crimea for driving down Gazprom's stock price. ** Russian hackers steal over 50,000 emails from Podesta's account. * March 24: ** In London, Papadopoulos meets Mifsud and Olga Polonskaya, who falsely claims to be Putin's niece. Polonskaya tells Papadopoulos that she is a friend of the Russian ambassador in London and offers to help establish contacts with Russia. Papadopoulos leaves the meeting with the expectation that he will be introduced to the Russian ambassador, but it never occurs. Polonskaya is in regular email contact with Papadopoulos, in one message writing, "We are all very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump". ** Papadopoulos emails Trump campaign officials about his new Russian contacts. He emails Trump's foreign policy team that he met with Putin's niece and the Russian ambassador in London, and claims the ambassador also acts as the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia. He writes that the Russian leadership wants to meet with campaign officials in a "neutral" city or Moscow "to discuss U.S.-Russia ties under President Trump", and that Putin and the Russian leadership are ready to meet with Trump. Clovis replies that he thinks any meetings with Russians should be delayed until after the campaign has a chance to talk with NATO allies and "we have everyone on the same page." In 2018, Papadopoulos tells the House Judiciary Committee that he lied about meeting the Russian ambassador. ** Papadopoulos searches Google for information on Polonskaya and discovers that she is not Putin's niece. * March 25: Lawyer Alexandra Chalupa, who worked in the White House Office of Public Liaison during the Clinton administration and has strong ties to the Ukrainian-American community, shares with the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. her concerns that Manafort may get involved with the Trump campaign. Chalupa had become familiar with Manafort's activities in Ukraine while researching the turmoil in the country over the previous two years for a pro bono client. * March 26: Papadopolous searches the Internet for Andrei Klimov and Ivan Timofeev. Mifsud introduces Papadopolous to Timofeev on April 18. * March 28: ** Manafort is brought on to the campaign to lead the delegate-wrangling effort. According to Gates, Manafort travels to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to ask for the job, without pay, and is hired on the spot. In 2018, Gates tells Mueller's team that Manafort's intention was to monetize his relationship with the new administration should Trump win. ** Clovis emails Lewandowski and other campaign officials praising Page's work for the campaign. * March 29: ** On Stone's recommendation, Manafort joins the Trump campaign as convention manager, tasked with lining up delegates. ** Polonskaya attempts to send Papadopoulos a text message that was drafted by Mifsud. The message addresses Papadopoulos's "wish to engage with the Russian Federation." ** The Trump campaign announces that Manafort will be the campaign's Convention Manager. * March 30: ** Chalupa briefs the DNC's communications staff on Manafort's and Trump's ties to Russia. ** Gates sends four memoranda written by Manafort to Kilimnik for translation and distribution. The memoranda, addressed separately to Deripaska and Ukrainian oligarchs Lyovochkin, Akhmetov, and Boris Kolesnikov, describe Manafort's new role with the Trump campaign and express his willingness to continue consulting on Ukrainian politics. Manafort follows up with Kilimnik on April 11 to ensure the messages were sent and seen by the recipients. * March 31: ** At the first meeting of Trump's foreign policy team, which includes Trump and Sessions, Papadopoulos speaks of his connections with Russia, and offers to negotiate a meeting between Trump and Putin. The meeting is held at the yet-to-open Old Post Office (Washington, D.C.)#Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. Sessions later states he opposed the idea, and two people who were present support his assertions, but differ in what he objected to and how strongly. In late summer 2017 Papadopoulos and Gordon tell Mueller's team that Trump was "supportive and receptive to the idea of a meeting with Putin," and that Sessions supported Papadopoulos's efforts to arrange a meeting. Papadopoulos's lawyers assert in a September 2018 court filing that Trump nodded in agreement to the offer, and that Sessions said the campaign should look into it. ** Graff prepares a letter for Trump's signature that declines Prikhodko's March 17 invitation to St. Petersburg because of Trump's busy schedule, but says he otherwise "would have gladly given every consideration to attending such an important event." ** New York investment banker Robert Foresman emails Graff seeking an in-person meeting with Trump. The email is sent after Trump business associate Mark Burnett brokers an introductory phone call. Foresman writes that he has long-standing personal and professional expertise in Russia and Ukraine, and mentions that he was involved with setting up an early private back channel between Putin and former president George W. Bush. He also writes about an "approach" he received from "senior Kremlin officials" about Trump. He asks Graff for a meeting with Trump, Lewandowski, or "another relevant person" to discuss the approach and other "concrete things" that he doesn't want to discuss over "unsecure email." * Spring: ** U.S. intelligence officials' suspicions of Russian meddling in the presidential election grow after their counterparts in Europe warn that Russian money might be flowing into the election. ** Stone tells associates he is in contact with Assange.

April 2016

* April: ** Between April and November 2016, there are at least 18 further exchanges by telephone and email between Russian officials and the Trump team. ** Hackers linked to the GRU gain access to the DNC computer network. ** Russian social media company SocialPuncher releases an analysis showing that Trump has quoted or retweeted Twitter bots 150 times since the beginning of 2016. ** The IRA starts buying online ads on social media and other sites. The ads support Trump and attack Clinton. ** Marc Elias, a lawyer at Perkins Coie and general counsel for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign, Clinton campaign, takes over funding of the Fusion GPS Trump investigation. He uses discretionary funds at his disposal and does not inform the campaign about the research. ** The intelligence agency of a Baltic state shares a piece of intelligence with the director of the CIA regarding the Trump campaign. The intelligence is allegedly a recording of a conversation about Russian government money going to the Trump campaign. ** Stone first told one of Trump's top aides WikiLeaks had plans to leak information during the presidential race, kickstarting the campaign to take advantage of the expected releases. * April 1: Carter Page is invited to deliver a commencement address at the New Economic School in Moscow in July. * April 1–3: ** Rohrabacher meets with Natalia Veselnitskaya in Moscow to discuss the Magnitsky Act. Vladimir Yakunin, under U.S. sanctions, is also present. Rohrabacher later says he met Yakunin at the request of Kislyak. He also meets with officials at the Prosecutor General of Russia, Russian Prosecutor General's office, where he receives a document full of accusations against Magnitsky. U.S. Embassy of the United States, Moscow, Embassy officials are worried Rohrabacher may be meeting with FSB agents. The meeting at the prosecutor's office is not on his itinerary. The document is given to Rohrabacher by Deputy Prosecutor Viktor Grin, who is under U.S. sanctions authorized by the Magnitsky Act. Rohrabacher subsequently uses the document in efforts to undermine the Magnitsky Act. His accepting the document from Grin, a sanctioned individual, and using it to influence U.S. government policy leads to a July 21, 2017, complaint being filed against Rohrabacher and his staff director, Paul Behrends, for violating Magnitsky Act sanctions. ** While in Moscow with Rohrabacher, Rohrabacher's aide Paul Behrends introduces Congressman French Hill (politician), French Hill to Veselnitskaya and

Rinat Akhmetshin Rinat Rafkatovitch Akhmetshin (russian: Ринат Рафкатович Ахметшин, born 1967) is a Russian-American

. Veselnitskaya gives Hill a document nearly identical to the one Grin gave to Rohrabacher. * April 3: The IRA Twitter account @TEN_GOP announces that the Tennessee Republican Party endorses Trump. * April 4: ** A rally is held in Buffalo, New York, protesting the death of India Cummings. Cummings was a black woman who had recently died in police custody. The IRA's "Blacktivist" account on Facebook actively promotes the event, reaching out directly to local activists on Facebook Messenger asking them to circulate petitions and print posters for the event. Blacktivist supplies the petitions and poster artwork. ** Graff emails her March 31 letter for Prikhodko to Jessica Macchia, another executive assistant to Trump, to print on letterhead for Trump to sign. ** Graff forwards Foresman's March 31 email to Macchia. * April 6: ** Hackers spearphish the credentials of a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) employee. ** Around this date, Chalupa discusses with a foreign policy legislative assistant to Representative Marcy Kaptur the possibility of a congressional investigation into Manafort. Kaptur is the co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus. In 2017, Chalupa tells ''Politico'', "It didn't go anywhere." * April 10: Carter Page and Papadopoulos arrange a Skype call in which they discuss outreach to Russia and the Caucasus. * April 10–11: Papadopoulos learns of Polonskaya's attempt to send him a text message on March 29 and sends her an email to arrange another meeting. She responds that she is "back in St. Petersburg" but "would be very pleased to support [Papadopoulos's] initiatives between our two countries" and "to meet [him] again." Papadopoulos replies that she should introduce him to "the Russian Ambassador in London" to talk to him or "anyone else you recommend, about a potential foreign policy trip to Russia." Mifsud is copied on the email exchange. Mifsud writes, "This is already been agreed. I am flying to Moscow on the 18th for a Valdai Discussion Club, Valdai meeting, plus other meetings at State Duma, the Duma. We will talk tomorrow." Polonskaya responds that she has "already alerted my personal links to our conversation and your request," that "we are all very excited the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump," and that "[t]he Russian Federation would love to welcome him once his candidature would be officially announced." * April 11: Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik exchange emails about whether recent press coverage of Manafort joining the Trump campaign can be used to make them "whole" with Deripaska. Manafort is in debt to Deripaska for millions of dollars at the time. Kilimnik confirms to Manafort that Deripaska is aware Manafort is on Trump's campaign team. * April 12: ** Russian hackers use stolen credentials to infiltrate the DCCC's computer network and install malware. ** Papadopoulos and Mifsud meet at the Hyatt, Andaz Hotel in London. * April 16: A rally protesting the death of Freddie Gray attracts large crowds in Baltimore. The IRA's Blacktivist Facebook group promotes and organizes the event, including reaching out to local activists. * April 17: Veselnitskaya's lawyer Mark Cymrot emails her that Ahkmetshin boasted that he recruited Sessions to launch an investigation into U.S. sanctions against Russia. * April 18: ** While in Moscow, Mifsud introduces Papadopoulos to Ivan Timofeev via email. Timofeev is the program director of the Kremlin-sponsored

and a member of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC). Papadopoulos and Timofeev communicate for months over email and Skype about potential meetings between Russian government officials and members of the Trump campaign. Later records indicate that Timofeev discussed Papadopoulos with former Russian Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov. In August 2017, Papadopoulos tells Mueller's team that he believed at the time his conversations with Timofeev were monitored. ** Russian hackers break into the DNC's computers. * April 19: ** Russian hackers create a fictitious online persona, "Carrie Feehan", to register the domain DCLeaks.com, paid for in bitcoins, bitcoin, to release stolen documents. ** The IRA purchases its first pro-Trump ad through its "Tea Party News" Instagram account. The Instagram ad asks users to upload photos with the hashtag #KIDS4TRU to "make a patriotic team of young Trump supporters." ** Papadopoulos meets with Oleg Lebedev, a Russian Trump supporter, at the Byzantium Café in London. Papadopoulos thinks Lebedev is in the oil business in Moscow and has contacts in the Russian government. They met through Lebedev's wife, Maria Alxopoulou. * April 19–21: Israeli embassy in London political counselor Christian Cantor introduces Papadopoulos to Australian High Commission to London political counselor Erika Thompson by email. Papadopolous and Thompson arrange to meet on April 26. * April 20: ** Sater texts Cohen asking when he is going to travel to Moscow. ** Chalupa receives from the administrators of her email account the first in a series of messages warning that "state-sponsored actors" were trying to hack in to her emails. * April 21: A staffer at the CNI photographs a detailed outline of the foreign policy speech Trump was scheduled to deliver on April 27, which was sitting on the desk of Simes, the center's president. The House Intelligence Committee would later investigate Simes' involvement in drafting the speech. * April 22: After talking on Skype, Ivan Timofeev thanks Papadopoulos via email "for an extensive talk" and proposes meeting in London or Moscow. * April 23: A small group of white-power demonstrators hold a rally they call "Rock Stone Mountain" at Stone Mountain Park near Stone Mountain, Georgia. They are confronted by a large group of protesters, and some violent clashes ensue. The counterprotest was heavily promoted by IRA accounts on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook, and the IRA website blackmatters.com. The IRA uses its Blacktivist account on Facebook to reach out, to no avail, to activist and academic Barbara Williams Emerson, the daughter of Hosea Williams, to help promote the protests. Afterward, RT (TV network), RT blames anti-racist protesters for violence and promotes two videos shot at the event. * April 25: ** Timofeev emails Papadopoulos that he spoke "to Igor Ivanov[,] the President of RIAC and former Foreign Minister of Russia," and relays Ivanov's advice that a "Moscow visit" should be arranged through the Russian Embassy in Washington because it is a political matter. ** Before the second Mifsud meeting, Papadopoulos emails Stephen Miller (political advisor), Stephen Miller, informing him that "[t]he Russian government has an open invitation by Putin for Mr. Trump to meet him when he is ready" and that "[t]he advantage of being in London is that these governments tend to speak a bit more openly in 'neutral' cities." ** Foresman emails Graff to remind her of his March 31 email seeking a meeting with Trump, Lewandowski, or another appropriate person. * April 26: ** Michael Isikoff of ''Yahoo News'' is the first to report on Manafort's legal dispute with Deripaska in the Cayman Islands. ** Papadopoulos meets Mifsud in London again at the Andaz Hotel. Mifsud claims that he has learned that Russians are in possession of thousands of stolen emails that may be politically damaging to Clinton. This is the first of at least two times the Trump campaign is told Russia has "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. Two months later the Russian hacking is publicly revealed. ** Papadopoulos meets with Erika Thompson. * April 27: ** Trump, Sessions and

greet Russian Ambassador

at the

in Washington D.C. This contact is repeatedly omitted from testimony or denied. Kushner and Sessions knew in advance that the CNI invited Kislyak to the event. Mueller's team did not find any evidence that Trump or Sessions conversed with Kislyak after Trump's speech. Afterward, Kislyak reports the conversation with Sessions to Moscow. Kushner is the first to publicly admit the Kislyak meeting took place in his prepared statement for Senate investigators on July 24, 2017. Also in attendance are the ambassadors from Italy and Singapore, who are major players in the upcoming sale of stakes in Rosneft. ** Trump speaks at the

at the invitation of ''

'', the magazine of the CNI. He delivers a speech that calls for improved relations between the US and Russia. The speech was edited by Papadopoulos, though his edits were largely rejected by Stephen Miller, and crafted with the assistance of Simes and Richard Burt. Burt is a board member of the CNI and a lobbyist for Gazprom. Papadopoulos brings the speech to the attention of Mifsud and Polonskaya, and tells Timofeev that it should be considered "the signal to meet". Simes later moves to Moscow. ** Papadopolous and Timofeev speak over Skype. Papadopoulos finds Timofeev's formal tone to be "strange" and hears static noises suggesting the call is being recorded. ** Papadopoulos emails Stephen Miller that he has "some interesting messages coming in from Moscow about a trip when the time is right." ** Papadopoulos tells Lewandowski via email that he has "been receiving a lot of calls over the last month about Putin wanting to host [Trump] and the team when the time is right." ** Graff sends Foresman an apology and forwards his March 31 and April 26 emails to Lewandowski. ** Chalupa discusses her Manafort research with Ukrainian investigative journalists at an event organized by the Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress. * Late April: The DNC's IT department notices suspicious computer activity. Within 24 hours, the DNC contacts the FBI, and hires a private cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, to investigate. * April 29: DNC staffer Rachel Palermo notifies her colleagues by email that their Factivists blog has been "compromised" and includes the new password. * April 30: Foresman sends Graff another email reminding her of his meeting requests on March 31 and April 26. He suggests an alternative meeting with Trump Jr. or Eric Trump so that he can tell them information that "should be conveyed to [the candidate] personally or [to] someone [the candidate] absolutely trusts".

May 2016

* May: ** CrowdStrike determines that sophisticated adversaries—denominated

and Fancy Bear—are responsible for the DNC hack. Fancy Bear, in particular, is suspected of affiliation with Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). ** Erickson contacts Trump campaign advisor Rick Dearborn. In an email headed "Kremlin Connection", Erickson seeks the advice of Dearborn and Sessions about how to arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin. Erickson suggests making contact at the NRA's annual convention in Kentucky. The communication refers to Torshin, who is under instructions to contact the Trump campaign. ** At Butina's urging, Christian activist Rick Clay emails Dearborn with the subject "Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite" offering a meeting between Trump and Torshin. Dearborn, then Sessions's Chief of Staff, sends an email mentioning a person from West Virginia seeking to connect Trump campaign members with Putin. Dearborn appears "skeptical" of the meeting request.

rejects the request. Torshin and Trump Jr. later meet and speak at the NRA convention. ** Papadopoulos travels to Greece and meets with Greece's president Prokopios Pavlopoulos, defense minister Panos Kammenos, foreign minister Nikos Kotzias, and a former prime minister. Putin makes an official visit to Athens during Papadopoulos's trip. ** Michael Caputo arranges a meeting in Miami with Stone, Florida-based Russian Henry Oknyansky (a.k.a. "Henry Greenberg"), and Ukrainian Alexei Rasin. Rasin claims to have evidence showing Clinton was involved in laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars through Rasin's companies. Stone turns down the offer, telling them that Trump won't pay for opposition research. In June 2018, after many repeated denials, Stone finally admits to knowingly meeting with a Russian national in 2016 when asked about this meeting by ''The Washington Post''. In May 2018, Caputo tells Mueller's team that he did not attend the meeting, did not know what Oknyansky was offering, and did not know payment was asked for until Stone told him later. In July 2018, Oknyansky tells Mueller's team that Rasin was motivated by money, and that Caputo attended the meeting. According to the Mueller Report, Mueller's team is unable to find any evidence that Clinton ever did any business with Rasin. ** A new American shell company, "Silver Valley Consulting", is set up by Russian-born accountant Ilya Bykov for Aras Agalarov. ** Patten and Kilimnik write a letter for Lyovochkin to use in lobbying a "high-ranking member" of the State Department. In August 2018, Patten pleads guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent for this work. ** The IRA releases a Google Chrome plugin called FaceMusic that ostensibly allows users to listen to free music while browsing Facebook, but also participates in a botnet. * May 2: ** A second rally is held in Buffalo, New York, protesting the death of India Cummings. Like the April 4 rally, the event is heavily promoted by the IRA's ''Blacktivist'' Facebook account, including attempted outreach to local activists. ** Graff forwards Foresman's April 30 email to Stephen Miller. * May 4: ** Timofeev emails Papadopoulos that his colleagues from the ministry "are open for cooperation." Papadopoulos forwards the email to Lewandowski and asks whether this is "something we want to move forward with." ** Manafort meets with Kilimnik. ** From May 4 through September, a pair of servers owned by Alfa-Bank Reverse DNS lookup, look up the Trump Organization's mail1.trump-email.com domain on a server housed by Listrak and administered by Cendyn more than 2,000 times. Alfa-Bank performs the most lookups during this period, followed by Spectrum Health, and then Heartland Payment Systems, with 76 lookups; beyond that no other visible entity makes more than two. The FBI investigated the activity in the context of links between Trump associates and Russian officials and concluded that there were no such links and that there might be "an innocuous explanation, like marketing email or spam". This was undercut in 2021. Through September 2021, U.S. government investigators had been unable to explain the activity, which a 2018 analysis showed "reasons to doubt that marketing emails were the cause". A Senate report called it "unusual activity". Also in September 2021, ''The New York Times'' reported that researchers had found that a Russian-made Yota, YotaPhone smartphone, rarely used in the U.S., had accessed networks serving the White House, Trump Tower and Spectrum, which researchers reported to CIA counterintelligence in February 2017. ** Trump becomes the only remaining candidate for the Republican presidential nomination when John Kasich withdraws. ** Sater texts Cohen asking when he will be traveling to Moscow. He writes that he set expectations in Russia that it would probably be after the convention. Cohen responds that he expects to travel before the convention, and that Trump will travel after he becomes the nominee. * May 5: ** Papadopoulos forwards Timofeev's email to Clovis, who replies, "[t]here are legal issues we need to mitigate, meeting with foreign officials as a private citizen." ** Sater texts Cohen that Peskov would like to invite him to the St. Petersburg Forum June 16–19 and possibly meet Putin or Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He continues, "He said anything you want to discuss including dates and subjects are on the table to discuss." * May 6: ** Sater texts Cohen to confirm his travel to Moscow around June 16–19. Cohen replies, "[w]orks for me." ** Papadopoulos meets with Thompson. * May 7: Kilimnik and Manafort meet for breakfast in New York City. According to Manafort, they discuss events in Ukraine, and Manafort gives Kilimnik a briefing on the Trump campaign with the expectation that Kilimnik will repeat the information to people in Ukraine and elsewhere. After the meeting, Manafort instructs Gates to begin passing internal campaign polling data and other updates to Kilimnik to share with Ukrainian oligarchs. Gates periodically sends the data using WhatsApp. * May 8: Timofeev proposes connecting Papadopoulos with another Russian official. * May 9: Thompson thanks Papadopoulos for meeting her the previous Friday, and they arrange for Papadopoulos to meet with her boss, Australian High Commissioner to London

, at the Kensington Wine Rooms in London. * May 10: ** Dearborn receives an email about arranging a back-channel meeting between Trump and Putin with the subject line "Kremlin Connection." It is sent from a conservative operative who says Russia wants to use the NRA's convention to make "first contact." ** During their scheduled meeting at the Kensington Wine Rooms followed by the Waterway Pub, Papadopoulos drinks a lot and tells Downer and Thompson that the Russians have politically damaging material on Clinton. Later, Papadopoulos gives investigators conflicting accounts of how much alcohol Downer consumed. After

releases the DNC emails two months later, Australian officials pass this information to American officials, causing the FBI to open a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign. See Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation). * May 11: Downer informs Canberra of his interactions with Papadopoulos. * May 14: Papadopoulos tells Lewandowski the Russians are interested in hosting Trump. * May 15: David Klein, a distant relative of Trump Organization lawyer Jason Greenblatt, emails Clovis about a possible campaign meeting with Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar. Klein writes that he contacted Lazar in February about a possible meeting between Trump and Putin and that Lazar was "a very close confidante of Putin." Later Klein and Greenblatt meet with Lazar at Trump Tower. * May 16: ** Page floats with Clovis, Gordon, and Phares the idea of Trump going to Russia in his place to give the commencement speech at the New Economic School "to raise the temperature a little bit." ** Dearborn receives a similar second proposal, which he forwards to Kushner, Manafort and Rick Gates. Both efforts (to arrange a back-channel meeting between Trump and Putin) appear to involve Alexander Torshin, who was instructed to make contact with the Trump campaign. Kushner rebuffs the proposal. * May 19: ** Manafort becomes Trump's campaign chairman and chief strategist. Gates is appointed deputy campaign chairman. ** ''Mother Jones'' reports that before Trump launched his campaign in 2015, Lewandowski and other political advisors suggested to Trump that they follow standard practice and hire someone to perform opposition research on him. Trump refused. * May 19–22: The NRA annual conference is held in Louisville, Kentucky. Trump and Trump Jr. attend. Brownell introduces Trump Jr. to Torshin and Butina during a brief encounter at an NRA fundraiser dinner on May 21. The next day, an attendee of the dinner warns Trump Jr. to stay away from Butina. * May 21: ** Papadopoulos forwards Timofeev's May 4 email to Manafort stressing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)'s desire to meet with Trump, writing, "Russia has been eager to meet Mr. Trump for quite sometime and have been reaching out to me to discuss." Manafort shoots down the idea in an email to Rick Gates, with a note: "Let[']s discuss. We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips. It should be someone low level in the Campaign so as not to send any signal." ** Two competing rallies are held in Houston to alternately protest against and defend the recently opened Library of Islamic Knowledge at the Islam in Houston, Islamic Da'wah Center. The "Stop Islamization of Texas" rally is organized by the Facebook group "Heart of Texas". The Facebook posting for the event encourages participants to bring guns. A spokesman for the group converses with the Houston Press via email but declines to give a name. The other rally, "Save Islamic Knowledge", is organized by the Facebook group "United Muslims of America" for the same time and location. Both Facebook groups are later revealed to be IRA accounts. The entire operation cost $200 and was entirely organized from St. Petersburg. * May 22: ''Politico'' reports on Trump's past associations and dealings with the American Mafia and other criminal figures, including Sater. * May 23: Sessions attends the CNI's Distinguished Service Award dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel, Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., Four Seasons Hotel. Kislyak is a confirmed guest with a reserved seat next to Sessions. In 2018, Sessions tells Mueller's team that he doesn't remember Kislyak being there, and other participants interviewed by Mueller's team disagree with each other about whether Kislyak was present. * May 25: ** The Westboro Baptist Church holds its annual protest of Lawrence High School (Kansas), Lawrence High School graduation ceremonies in Lawrence, Kansas. The "LGBT United" Facebook group organizes counterprotesters to confront the Westboro protest, including by placing an ad on Facebook and contacting local people. About a dozen people show up. Lawrence High School students do not participate because they are "skeptical" of the counterprotest organizers. LGBT United is a Russian operatives account that appears to have been created specifically for this event. ** Thousands of DNC emails are stolen. * May 26: The ''Associated Press'' reports that Trump has secured enough delegates to become the presumptive Republican nominee. * May 27: At a rally, Trump calls Putin "a strong leader." * May 27–28: Putin makes an official visit to Greece and meets with Government of Greece, government leaders. His visit overlaps with a trip to Greece by Papadopoulos. * May 29: The IRA hires an American to pose in front of the White House holding a sign that says, "Happy 55th Birthday, Dear Boss." "Boss" is a reference to Russian oligarch

. * May 30: The IRA creates the @march_for_trump Twitter account to promote IRA-organized rallies in support of the Trump campaign.

June 2016

* June: ** Around this time, Criminal charges brought in the Mueller special counsel investigation, the conspirators Special Counsel investigation (2017–present)#Criminal charges, charged in the July 2018 indictment stage and release tens of thousands of stolen emails and documents using fictitious online personas, including "DCLeaks" and " Guccifer 2.0". ** The FBI sends a warning to states about "bad actors" probing state voter-registration databases and systems to seek vulnerabilities; investigators believe Russia is responsible. ** Fusion GPS hires Steele to research Trump's activities in Russia. A resultant 35-page document, later known as the Trump–Russia dossier or Steele dossier, is published on January 10, 2017, by BuzzFeed News. ** A former GRU officer arranges for Felix Sater and Michael Cohen to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which Putin regularly attends. Sater wants to use the trip to push forward the Moscow Trump Tower deal. Cohen cancels at the last minute. Sater does not attend the forum. * Early June: ** At a closed-door gathering of foreign policy experts visiting with the Prime Minister of India, Page hails Putin as stronger and more reliable than Obama and touts the positive effect a Trump presidency would have on U.S.–Russia relations. ** Before traveling to New York to translate at the June 9 Trump Tower meeting, Kaveladze contacts Roman Beniaminov, a close friend and aide of Emin Agalarov, to find out why Kushner, Manafort, and Trump Jr. were invited to a meeting ostensibly about the Magnitsky Act. Beniaminov tells Kaveladze that he heard Goldstone and Agalarov discuss "dirt" on Clinton. In November 2017, Kaveladze's lawyer tells ''The Daily Beast'' that Beniaminov was Kaveladze's only source of information about the meeting. * June 1: ** Papadopoulos emails Lewandowski asking whether he wants to have a call about a Russia visit and whether "we were following up with it." Lewandowski refers him to Clovis. Papadopoulos emails Clovis about more interest from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to set up a Trump meeting in Russia. He writes, "I have the Russian MFA asking me if Mr. Trump is interested in visiting Russia at some point." He continues that he "[w]anted to pass this info along to you for you to decide what's best to do with it and what message I should send (or to ignore)." ** The IRA plans a Manhattan rally called "March for Trump" and buys Facebook ads promoting the event. * June 3: ** Aras Agalarov is told that the Russian government wants to give the Trump campaign damaging information about Clinton. ** Goldstone emails Trump Jr. offering, on behalf of Emin Agalarov, to meet an alleged Russian government official who "would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father", as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." Trump Jr. responded 17 minutes later: "If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer," and schedules the meeting. Goldstone also offers to relay the information to Trump through his assistant. This is the second time a Trump campaign official was told of "dirt" on Clinton. ** $3.3 million began moving between Aras Agalarov and Kaveladze, a longtime Agalarov employee once investigated for money laundering. * June 4: The IRA email account ''allforusa@yahoo.com'' sends news releases about the "March for Trump" rally to New York City media outlets. * June 5: The IRA contacts a Trump campaign volunteer to provide signs for the "March for Trump" rally. * June 6: ** Hillary Clinton becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee. **Trump Jr. calls two blocked numbers at

. According to CNN, the two people Trump Jr. called were NASCAR CEO Brian France and businessman

. **At a primary night rally in New York, Trump promises a speech discussing information about Clinton. Trump says "I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week [June 13], and we are going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons". ** Goldstone follows up with Trump Jr. about when Jr. can "talk with Emin by phone about this Hillary info." Trump Jr. calls Emin. Phone records show Trump Jr. called a blocked number before and after calls to Emin. ** According to Gates, Trump Jr. informs the participants in a regular senior campaign staff meeting that he has a lead on damaging information about the Clinton Foundation. Gates is under the impression that the information is coming from a group in Kyrgyzstan. The other meeting participants include Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, Kushner, Manafort, and Hicks. Manafort, according to Gates, warns the group to be careful. In April 2018, Kushner tells Mueller's team that he doesn't remember the information being discussed before the June 9 meeting. * June 6–7: Trump Jr. and Emin Agalarov discuss setting up their June 9 meeting in three phone calls. * June 8: The DCLeaks website comes online. The Russian-controlled fake American personas "Melvin Redick", "Alice Donovan", and "Katherine Fulton" begin promoting the site on Facebook. * June 9: ** Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin, Kaveladze, and Anatoli Samochornov meet for lunch and discuss what to say at the upcoming Trump Tower meeting. ** Kushner, Manafort and Trump Jr. Trump Tower meeting, meet at Trump Tower with Goldstone, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin, Kaveladze, and translator Samochornov. Veselnitskaya is best known for lobbying against the

, an American law that blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers. Trump Jr. later says that he asked Veselnitskaya for damaging information about the Clinton Foundation and that she had none. Samochornov, Kaveladze, and Akhmetshin later tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump Jr. told Veselnitskaya to come back after they won the election. The meeting lasts approximately 20 minutes, and Manafort takes notes on his phone. Trump Jr. calls a blocked number before (June 6) and after the meeting. Trump spends the day at

, where the private residence has a blocked number, and holds no public events. ** That night, Veselnitskaya, Simpson, Akhmetshin, and others attend a dinner in New York City organized by a lawyer at BakerHostetler. BakerHostetler hired Simpson in 2015 to work on the Fusion GPS#Prevezon Holding, Prevezon case with Veselnitskaya. Later, Simpson tells the Senate Intelligence Committee that he was unaware of the Trump Tower meeting until it became public in 2017. * June 9–14: Sater repeatedly tries to get Cohen to confirm his trip to Russia. * June 11–12: The DNC expels Russian hackers from its servers. Some of the hackers had been accessing the DNC network for over a year. * June 12: On ITV (TV network), ITV, Assange tells Robert Peston on his television show ''Peston on Sunday'' that emails related to Clinton are "pending publication" and says, "WikiLeaks has a very good year ahead." * June 12 – July 22: According to Gates, prior to Assange's announcement, Stone tells him that something "big" related to leaked information is coming soon, and repeats the claim multiple times to Gates and Manafort through July 22. * June 14: ** The DNC publicly alleges that they have been hacked by Russian state-backed hackers. Following this news, a small group of politically diverse prominent computer scientists scattered across the US, including a member Dexter Filkins calls "Max" in his October 2018 ''The New Yorker, New Yorker'' article, begin combing the Domain Name System (DNS). ** Sater meets Cohen in the Trump Tower lobby. Cohen tells him he will not be traveling to Russia (two days before planned departure). Cohen decided not to go because he didn't receive a formal invitation from Peskov. ** The GRU uses its @dcleaks_ persona to reach out to WikiLeaks and offer to coordinate the release of sensitive information about Clinton, including financial documents. ** GRU Unit 74455 (Fancy Bear) creates the Guccifer 2.0 persona and a WordPress blog for disseminating stolen DNC material. ** Fancy Bear registers the domain name ActBlues.com for a website that is nearly identical to the DCCC's donation page on ActBlue.com. * Mid June: ** Shortly after the DNC announced that it had been hacked, the RNC informs the FBI that some Republican campaign email accounts Web hosting service, hosted by Smartech have been hacked. Compromised accounts include the campaign committees of "Senator John McCain, Senator Lindsey Graham, ..Representative Robert Hurt (politician), Robert Hurt[,] [s]everal state GOP organizations, Republican PACs, and campaign consultants." Approximately 300 emails from May through October 2015 are eventually posted on DCLeaks.com. ** Someone breaks into and ransacks two of Chalupa's cars, but valuables and cash are left in the vehicles. A few days later, a woman "wearing white flowers in her hair" tries to break into Chalupa's home. Aide to the Ukrainian ambassador Oksana Shulyar tells her the incidents are similar to Russian intimidation campaigns against foreigners. * June 15: ** " Guccifer 2.0" (GRU) claims credit for the DNC hacking and posts some of the stolen material to a website. CrowdStrike stands by its "findings identifying two separate Russian intelligence-affiliated adversaries present in the DNC network in May 2016." ** ''Gawker'' publishes an opposition research document on Trump that was stolen from the DNC. "Guccifer 2.0" sent the file to Gawker. ** House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, House Speaker Paul Ryan meet separately with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman at the United States Capitol, Capitol. Groysman describes to them how the Kremlin is financing populist politicians in Eastern Europe to damage democratic institutions. McCarthy and Ryan have a private meeting afterwards with GOP leaders that is secretly recorded. Toward the end of their conversation, after laughing at the DNC hacking, McCarthy says, "there's two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump...[laughter]...swear to God." Ryan then tells everyone to keep this conversation secret. A transcript of the recording becomes public a year later. * June 16: Cassandra Ford of Defiance, Ohio, renames her Twitter account "@Guccifer2" after hearing about Guccifer 2.0 from her Twitter friends. A few days later, the GRU registers "@Guccifer_2" for the Guccifer 2.0 persona because @Guccifer2 was taken. * June 17: ThreatConnect publishes its analysis of the CrowdStrike report on the DNC hack. The new report provides additional data implicating Fancy Bear. * Late June: According to Gates, Trump and Stone discuss by phone the recent release of stolen DNC material while Trump and Gates are being driven from Trump Tower to La Guardia airport. After the call, Trump tells Gates that there will be more releases of damaging information. * June 19: ** After communicating with the MFA via email and Skype, Papadopoulos tells Lewandowski by email that the MFA is interested in meeting with a "campaign rep" if Trump can't meet with them. Papadopoulos offers to go in an unofficial capacity. ** Page again requests permission from the campaign to speak at the New Economic School commencement in Moscow, and reiterates that the school "would love to have Mr. Trump speak at this annual celebration." Lewandowski responds that Page can attend in his personal capacity but "Mr. Trump will not be able to attend." ** Assange asks the London Ecuadorian Embassy for a Bandwidth (computing), faster Internet connection. Embassy staff help Assange install new equipment. * June 20: **Aras Agalarov wires more than $19.5 million to his account at a bank in New York. **Trump fires Lewandowski. Manafort becomes campaign manager. * June 22: WikiLeaks reaches out to "Guccifer 2.0" via Twitter. They ask "Guccifer 2.0" to send them material because it will have a bigger impact if they publish it. They also specifically ask for material on Clinton they can publish before the convention. * June 23: ** The United Kingdom passes a Brexit, referendum to leave the European Union. ** The IRA persona "Matt Skiber" contacts an American to recruit for the "March for Trump" rally. ** Russian-American Simon Kukes donates $100,000 to the Trump Victory Committee, Trump Victory fund. In 2017, his 2016 political donations become a subject of the Mueller investigation. ** GRU hackers successfully use an SQL injection attack to breach servers belonging to the Illinois State Board of Elections and steal Voter registration in the United States, voter registration data. * June 24: The IRA group "United Muslims of America" buys Facebook ads for the "Support Hillary, Save American Muslims" rally. * June 25: ** The IRA's "March for Trump" rally occurs. ** The IRA Facebook group LGBT United organizes a candlelight vigil for the Pulse nightclub shooting victims in Orlando, Florida. * June 29: Goldstone emails Trump campaign social media director Dan Scavino about promoting Trump on VKontakte. He says the email is a follow-up to his recent conversation with Trump Jr. and Manafort. * Summer: ** IRA employees use the stolen identities of four Americans to open PayPal and bank accounts to act as conduits for funding their activities in the United States. ** The FBI applies for a FISA warrant to monitor communications of four Trump campaign officials. The FISA Court rejects the application, asking the FBI to narrow its scope. A warrant on Carter Page alone is granted in October 2016. ** Lawyer and Trump campaign foreign policy advisor Joseph E. Schmitz receives a cache of emails from a client that is purported to be Clinton's deleted 30,000 emails, acquired from a dark web forum. Schmitz meets with officials at the FBI, the State Department, and the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) in an effort to get the emails reviewed. The State Department and ICIG decline to review the emails. Schmitz's efforts are independent of the #20160903-05, investigation by Peter Smith's team.

July 2016 and after

Post-election transition

Investigations' continuing timelines

* Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (January–June 2017) * Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (July–December 2017) * Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (January–June 2018) * Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (July–December 2018) * Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (2019) * Timeline of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia (2020–2022)

Related continuing interference

*Russian interference in the 2018 United States elections *Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections

References

External links

*
"Joint Statement from the Department Of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security"
October 7, 2016
''Trump Investigations''
by the Associated Press
Bill Moyers: Interactive Timeline: Everything We Know About Russia and President Trump

Committee to Investigate Russia
has five timelines.
Data, Democracy and Dirty Tricks
March 19, 2018 Channel 4
Trump and Russia: A timeline of the investigation
''USA Today''
Tracking the Russia investigations
CNN
The Trump Russia Investigation
WhatTheFuckJustHappenedToday.com
"The Russia investigation and Donald Trump: a timeline from on-the-record sources"
PolitiFact
Public Documents Clearinghouse: Congressional Russia Investigations
Just Security

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, * 2016 Russia–United States relations Contemporary history timelines Donald Trump-related lists Political timelines of the 2010s by year

Relevant individuals and organizations

A–E

F–M

N–R

S–Z

Before Donald Trump's 2016 candidacy

1977

1986

1987

1991

1996

2000

2001–2004

2004

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

January–June 2015

2016 presidential campaign

June–December 2015

January–March 2016

April 2016

May 2016

June 2016

July 2016 and after

Post-election transition

Investigations' continuing timelines

Related continuing interference

See also

References

Further reading

External links