Russiagate

Timeline 2013-2015

2013

“SCL is the parent of a group of companies. Who exactly owns SCL and its diverse branches is unclear, thanks to a convoluted corporate structure, the type seen in the UK Companies House, the Panama Papers, and the Delaware company registry. Some of the SCL offshoots have been involved in elections from Ukraine to Nigeria, helped the Nepalese monarch against the rebels, whereas others have developed methods to influence Eastern European and Afghan citizens for NATO. And, in 2013, SCL spun off a new company to participate in US elections: Cambridge Analytica.” Vice

2013: “In 2013, (Carter) Page had meetings with a Russian man who turned out to be a spy, according to federal prosecutors. Page denied knowing that the man, Victor Podobnyy, was secretly a Russian operative living in New York. CNN

“Days after Trump’s election in November, the local newspaper, La Sicilia, quoted Papale at length describing Trump’s secret visit to the island in 2013. Papale hinted that he organized meetings between Trump and Russians.” Rolling Stone

January 2013 (date unknown): “At an energy conference in New York, energy consultant Carter Page meets Victor Podobnyy, a Russian intelligence operative who in 2015 will be charged with being an unregistered agent of a foreign government, along with two other Russians. Until June 2013, Page will continue to meet, email, and provide documents to Podobnyy about the energy business, thinking that he is an attaché at the Russian mission to the UN who can help broker deals in Russia. Meanwhile, Podobnyy and one of his colleagues discuss efforts to recruit Page as an asset.”Mother Jones

March/April 2013: “Edward Snowden begins work as a contractor for Booz Allen, based in Hawaii. He takes the job to steal files from the NSA headquarters there. Using the pseudonym Carlos Danger, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner sends lewd photos of himself to a 22-year-old Formspring user, later revealed as Sydney Leathers. Russian hacker Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Nikulin hacks into “accessed computers belonging to LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring,” obtaining information from the computers and causing “damage to computers belonging to a LinkedIn employee and to Formspring by transmitting a program, information, code, or command.” Too, Nikulin “used the credentials of LinkedIn and Formspring employees in connection with the computer intrusions” and “engaged in a conspiracy with unnamed co-conspirators to traffic stolen Formspring user credentials,” per the US DOJ.” Greg O’Lear

Spring, 2013: “Mike Flynn, then director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, travels to Moscow, where he becomes the second DIA director to be invited into the headquarters of Russia’s military intelligence directorate, known as the GRU, although he will later boast that he was the first. “‘Flynn thought he developed some rapport with the GRU chief,’ a former senior U.S. military official said.” Greg O’Lear

April, 2013: Snowden steals tranche of classified documents from NSA. Greg O’Lear

April 4, 2013: “Colonel Alexander Kazalupov, the Cuba bureau chief of the FSB (Russian intelligence), flies to Quito to meet with agents of SENAIN, the Ecuadorian intelligence agency, most likely about Snowden.” Greg O’Lear

April 5, 2013: “Snowden writes his only legal email to the NSA, asking about Executive Orders.” Greg O’Lear

April 8, 2013: Three Russians whom the FBI later accused of spying on the United States discuss efforts to recruit American businessman Carter Page. According to The Washington Post, “[T]he government’s application for the surveillance order targeting Page included a lengthy declaration that laid out investigators’ basis for believing that Page was an agent of the Russian government and knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of Moscow, officials said.” [Added April 17, 2017] Bill Moyers

May 29, 2013: “Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop star and the son of billionaire real estate developer Aras Agalarov, releases a music video for his song “Amor.” In the video, he pursues Miss Universe 2012, Olivia Culpo, through dark, empty alleys with a flashlight. Following the video’s release, representatives of Miss Universe, which Trump at the time owns, discuss with the Agalarovs holding the next pageant in Moscow. The Agalarovs persuade them to host Miss Universe at a concert hall they own on the outskirts of Moscow.”Mother Jones

May, 2013: Snowden travels to Hong Kong, where he hands stolen data to Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. Greg O’Lear

May 8, 2013: Formspring shuts down. Greg O’Lear

President Trump guest “top secret” by Dino Papale in Taormina [Sicily] in 2013

“The Taormian lawyer met his friend Donald three years ago in Miami and invited him to the Sicilian capital of tourism. Trump welcomed with good taste and came in the Pearl of the Ionian in June 2013 with his plane. He remained there for three days, in great secrecy. He stayed in a hotel in the bay of Mazzarò, the Atlantis Bay. He will return to Taormina very soon, but this time as president of the United States, on the occasion of the G7, May 26 and 27 next. In Taormina it was already known enough, but now it has become a star. Dino Papale , lawyer and journalist, is the character of the moment: the friend of Donald Trump who believed in his climb to the White House.And that has celebrated together with about thirty VIPs, the election with the new president of the United States at the Trump Tower.”

June 4, 2013: The stolen NSA documents are published.Greg O’Lear

June 9, 2013: Snowden reveals his identity as NSA whistleblower.Greg O’Lear

June 15, 2013: The Putin-aligned real estate oligarch Aras Agalarov and his pop singer son Emin, who are organizing Miss Universe in Moscow, meet with Donald Trump in Las Vegas. Greg O’Lear.

June 18, 2013: “Following the Miss USA contest in Las Vegas, Trump announces that he will bring the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow. He also wonders if Putin will attend the pageant, and if Putin might “become my new best friend?” Mother Jones Politico

Trump Tweets: The Miss Universe Pageant will be broadcast live from MOSCOW, RUSSIA on November 9th. A big deal that will bring our countries together!

7:00 PM – Jun 18, 2013
While preparing for the pageant, Trump says, “I have plans for the establishment of business in Russia. Now, I am in talks with several Russian companies to establish this skyscraper.”Bill Moyers

June 21,2013: “Vladimir Putin awards Rex Tillerson, now Trump’s secretary of state, with Russia’s Order of Friendship. As the CEO of Exxon Mobil, Tillerson had developed a long-standing relationshipwith the head of Russia’s state-owned oil company, Rosneft, dating back to 1998.” Mother Jones

“The United States formally charges Edward Snowden with espionage.” Greg O’Lear

June 22, 2013: The United States revokes Snowden’s passport. Julian Assange arranges Ecuadorian travel papers so that Snowden can fly to Moscow. Greg O’Lear

June 23, 2013: Snowden flies to Moscow, spends 40 days trapped at the airport. Greg O’Lear

July 8, 2013: After a BBC reporter questions Trump about Felix Sater’s alleged prior connections to organized crime, Trump ends the interview. [Added March 3, 2017] Bill Moyers

July 17, 2013: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner hosted a fundraiser for Newark, NJ, Mayor Cory Booker Senatorial campaign at their Park Avenue home for $5,200 per person. “She and her husband, Jared Kushner, had bundled $41,000 for Booker’s Senate campaign as of May. Booker has raised raised $6.5 million so far this year.” Politico

July 23, 2013: Anthony Weiner‘s Carlos Danger “sexting” scandal becomes public.Greg O’Lear

August 1, 2013: Snowden is granted asylum in Russia.Greg O’Lear

August 25, 2013: Carter Page touted Kremlin Contacts in 2013 Letter Time

August 28, 2013: Anthony Weiner’s wife, longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, announces that the two have separated. Greg O’Lear

September 2013: Paul Manafort’s Global Endeavour transferred $500,000 to a hedge fund in Florida, Aegis Holdings LLC, controlled by Marc Baldinger. “The day after Aegis Holdings received the $500,000, it transferred the same amount to a securities clearinghouse, which ultimately sent the funds to Lilred LLC in Morristown, New Jersey. Lilred is run out of a brick office park. Business records show its manager is Manafort; its registered agent is Bruce Baldinger. Marc Baldinger told bank officials the money was a regular investment contribution from Manafort.” Buzzfeed

September 19, 2013 Broadcast: Putin at the Valdai Club “touted traditionalism as the heart of Russia’s national identity, lamenting threats like globalization and multiculturalism, the drive for a «unipolar world» and the erosion of Christian values — including an exaggerated focus on the rights of sexual minorities.”

October. 17, 2013: “On The Late Show, David Letterman asks Trump, “Have you had any dealings with the Russians?” Trump answers, “Well I’ve done a lot of business with the Russians…” Letterman continues, “Vladmir Putin, have you ever met the guy?” Trump says, “He’s a tough guy. I met him once.” Bill Moyers interview with David Letterman

October 31, 2013: Maria Butina hosted “Right to Arms”in Moscow with John Bolton as speaker, David Kean (USA), ex-president, current board member of the National Rifle Association of the USA (NRA) at the 2nd congress of the public movement October 31-November 1, 2013. on YOUTUBE

“Keene is a central player in the links between the American and Russian gun rights movements, and fall 2013 was a key moment in the development of this relationship. A few days before Bolton’s video was posted online, in November 2013, Keene was in Moscow for The Right to Bear Arms annual conference, delivering a speech. More than 300 gun rights advocates across the globe gathered in an upscale hotel to hear arguments for loosening of gun rights. There was even a concealed-carry-fashion show. There were signs that the Russian government had given its approval that the conference take place. Russian politicians, such as Torshin, were present, made speeches and were presented with honorary memberships to The Right to Bear Arms. “One would have to make an assumption that in Russia, which is a fairly closed society, that if someone was doing this, the government wasn’t upset by it and knew what was going on,” said conference attendee Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the U.S.-based Second Amendment Foundation. “The feeling was that it was sanctioned by the powers that be, so to speak. Otherwise, I would have doubted if it were to have taken place.” Gary Burris, another attendee, recalled “two or three high-ranking government officials there” who represented the Russian legislature. “They were people who had some political sway.” Bolton was not present at this conference. But the issue the former ambassador raised in his 2013 video — changing the Russian Constitution to guarantee gun rights — was a major theme.” NPR

November 1, 2013:

November 5, 2013: “In a deposition, Trump is asked about a 2007 New York Times story outlining the controversial past of Felix Sater.”Mother Jones ” an attorney asks Trump about Felix Sater. “If he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn’t know what he looked like,” Trump answers (on ABC here). When asked how many times he had ever spoken with Sater, Trump says, “Not many.” When asked about his July 2013 BBC interview during which he was questioned about Sater’s alleged connections to organized crime, Trump says he didn’t remember it. “[Added March 3, 2017] Bill Moyers “Putin even sent me a present, a beautiful present,” Trump boasted.” Mother Jones

November 8, 2013: “Trump, in Russia for the Miss Universe pageant, meets with more than a dozenof Russia’s top businessmen at Nobu, a restaurant 15 minutes from the Kremlin. The group includes Herman Gref, the CEO of the state-controlled Sberbank PJSC, Russia’s biggest bank. The meeting at Nobu is organized by Gref—who regularly meets with Putin—and Aras Agalarov, who owns the Nobu franchise in Moscow. According to a source connected to the Agalarovs, Putin asks his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, to call Trump in advance of the Miss Universe show to set up an in-person meeting for the Russian president and Trump. Peskov reportedly passes on the message and expresses Putin’s admiration for Trump. Their plans to meet never come to fruition because of scheduling changes for both Trump and Putin. “Mother Jones

November 9, 2013: “Trump spends the morning shooting a music video with Emin Agalarov. The Miss Universe pageant takes place near Moscow. A notorious Russian mobster, Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, attends the event as a VIP, strolling down the event’s red carpet within minutes of Trump. At the time, Tokhtakhounov was under federal indictment in the United States for his alleged participation in an illegal gambling ring once run out of Trump Tower. Emin Agalarov performs two songs at the pageant. MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts asks Trump if he has a relationship with Putin. Trump replies (Full Interview), “I do have a relationship and I can tell you that he’s very interested in what we’re doing here today.” Mother Jones “He’s done a very brilliant job in terms of what he represents and who he’s represented.” While Trump is in Moscow for the pageant, he and Alex Sapir (whose family’s company was one of the co-developers of Trump SoHo with Trump and Felix Sater) meet with the Russian real estate developer who had facilitated Trump’s $20 million deal to host the Miss Universe contest in Moscow. They discuss plans for a new Trump project in Russia. “The Russian market is attracted to me,” Trump tells Real Estate Weekly upon his return. “I have a great relationship with many Russians, and almost all of the oligarchs were in the room.” [Added March 3, 2017] Bill Moyers
CHRISTOPHER STEELE DOSSIER Source D is a Close Trump associate who Witnessed Trump’s perverted conduct in Moscow including hiring the presidential suite of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, where he knew President and Mrs Obama (whom he hated) had stayed on one of their official trips to Russia, and defiling the bed where they had slept by employing a number of prostitutes to perform a ‘golden showers’ (urination) show in front of him. The hotel was known to be under FSB control with microphones and concealed cameras in all the main rooms to record anything they wanted to, Confirmed by Source E. Source E said several of the hotel Staff were aware of it when he/she believed it happened, 2013, and provided introduction to ethnic source F, a staffer of the Ritz Carlton at the time.November 11, 2013: “Trump tweets his appreciation to Aras Agalarov, the Russian billionaire with whom he partnered to host Miss Universe, also complimenting Emin’s performance at the pageant and declaring plans for a Trump tower in Moscow.” Mother JonesTrump Tweets: @AgalarovAras I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next. EMIN was WOW! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2013

November 12, 2013: “Trump tells Real Estate Weekly that Miss Universe Russia provided a networking opportunity: “Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room,” he says. The same day, two developers who helped build the luxury Trump SoHo hotel meet with the Agalarovs to discuss replicating the hotel in Moscow. Aras Agalarov, whose real estate company secured multiple contracts from the Kremlin and who once received a medal of honor from Putin, later claims he and Trump signed a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow following the pageant. (The deal never moved past preliminary discussions.)” Mother Jones

November 20, 2013: “Emin Agalarov releases a new music video featuring Trump and the 2013 Miss Universe contestants.” Mother JonesNovember & December 2013: Paul Manafort’s Global Endeavor transferred almost $53,000 to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Kiev-based political operator. It’s not known what the money was for. ” Buzzfeed

2014

“Around this time, in early 2014, Kosinski was approached by a young assistant professor in the psychology department called Aleksandr Kogan. He said he was inquiring on behalf of a company that was interested in Kosinski’s method, and wanted to access the MyPersonality database. Aleksandr Kogan had secretly registered a company doing business with SCL. According to a December 2015 report in The Guardian and to internal company documents given to Das Magazin, it emerges that SCL learned about Kosinski’s method from Kogan.” Vice

2014, unknown date: The New York Daily News reported on May 7, 2017, that Eric Trump casually mentioned over a game of golf in 2014 that he had access to over $100 million for golf courses with Russian money because no bank would touch golf courses after the “Great Recession”.Joseph Mifsud, who initially offered George Papadopoulos of the Trump Campaign “Dirt” on Clinton and “Thousands of emails”, “did not exhibit any special interest or expertise in Russia until 2014, when his academy was beginning to stumble financially. It was at that time a 24-year-old Russian intern, Natalia Kutepova-Jamrom, turned up in his office with an improbably impressive résumé. Fluent in Russian, English, German and Chinese, Ms. Kutepova-Jamrom had worked in the Russian government as a legislative aide and would move on to a Russian state newspaper. Ms. Kutepova-Jamrom introduced Mr. Mifsud to senior Russian officials, diplomats and scholars. Despite Mr. Mifsud’s lack of qualifications, she managed to arrange an invitation for him to join the prestigious Valdai Discussion Club, an elite gathering of Western and Russian academics that meets each year with Mr. Putin. Mr. Mifsud suddenly became a popular pundit with state-run news outlets in Russia, praising the country and Mr. Putin. At his first Valdai conference in 2014, he argued against Western sanctions that punished Russia for its annexation of Crimea that year. “Global security and economy needs partners, and who is better in this than the Russian Federation,” he said.” NY Times

January, 2014: “In January 2014, Prince officially went into business with the Chinese government’s largest state-owned investment firm, the Citic Group, and founded Frontier Services Group, which is based in Hong Kong. Citic Group is the company’s single largest investor, and two of FSG’s board members are Chinese nationals.” The InterceptPrince has ties to Chinese Intelligence.

February 22, 2014: “Yanukovych voted out of power and flees to eastern Ukraine (controlled by Russia). U.S. officials say Yanukovych was deeply corrupt and did Putin’s bidding in Ukraine.” NBC“Popular uprisings lead the Ukraine Parliament to oust President Viktor Yanukovych from office for gross human rights violations and dereliction of duty. With the help of Putin’s security forces, Yanukovych flees the country. But he leaves behind a handwritten ledger — the “Black Ledger” — with 22 entries for 2007 to 2012 purporting to show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Paul Manafort or his firm from Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions. “[Added April 17, 2017] Bill Moyers

March 6, 2014: “Trump gives a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference and boasts of getting a gift from Putin when he was in Russia for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. “You know, I was in Moscow a couple months ago, I own the Miss Universe pageant, and they treated me so great,” Trump said. “Putin even sent me a present, beautiful present, with a beautiful note.” Mother Jones “On the same day, President Obama signs an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia for its unlawful annexation of Crimea.”Bill Moyers: US News

March 18, 2014: Russia annexes the Crimea. Greg O’Lear

March/April 2014 The US imposes economic sanctions on Russia as a consequence of its invasion of Ukraine. Greg O’Lear

April 2, 2014: “Dmytro Firtash is indicted by the Justice Department for his role in what they call a bribery scheme involving Boeing and a company in India. The feds say Firtash and others conspired to pay at least $18.5 million in bribes. “NBC

April 30, 2014: Defense Intelligence Agency director Mike Flynn announces plans to “retire” from the military. Greg O’Lear

May 27, 2014: “At a National Press Club luncheon, Trump says, “I was in Moscow recently and I spoke, indirectly and directly, with President Putin, who could not have been nicer.” Mother JonesOctober 8, 2014: “The counsel’s office of the Defense Intelligence Agency responds to an inquiry from (DIA DIrector) Michael Flynn about ethics restrictions that will apply to him after his Army retirement. The office explains in a letter that he can not receive foreign government payments without prior approval, due to the constitution’s emoluments clause. “If you are ever in a position where you would receive an emolument from a foreign government or from an entity that might be controlled by a foreign government, be sure to obtain advance approval from the Army prior to acceptance,” the letter states.” Mother Jones House Oversight Committee April 27, 2017

August 7, 2014: Mike Flynn is forced out of his position as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.Greg O’Lear

September 2014 “Ms. Butina, who helped Mr. Torshin make the request through Mr. Clay, hosted Mr. Erickson at a September 2014 meeting of the group at its Moscow office.” NY Times

October 10: 2014: Sanctions scuttle a deal between Russia and Exxon that would have netted Putin an estimated $500 billion. While CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson signs a deal with Russia to drill in the Arctic; for this, he receives the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin. The Arctic project is scuttled on October 10, 2014, after the sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. government. At the time, Exxon has discovered a new field with an estimated 750 million barrels of oil.Greg O’Lear

2015

January 2015: A Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, fire destroyed “the voluminous [Roy] Cohn disbarment records–which included the transcript of Trump’s testimony”. The Smoking GunJanuary 26, 2015: Russians charged with plotting to recruit NYC co-eds as spies NY Post “FBI agents secretly recorded Igor Sporyshev, 40,SVR,…who worked undercover while posing as a Russian trade representative — was among three Russian nationals charged in a scheme to gather information on potential US sanctions against Russia and American efforts to develop “alternative energy resources.”

March 6, 2015: FINCEN vs.Trump Taj Mahal settled for a civil money penalty of $10,000,000 for having “willfully violated the program, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act and its implementing regulations”

April 7, 2015: Dimitri Simes, through Center for National Interest, also organized the meetings between Maria Butina, and Stanley Fischer, then-US Federal Reserve Vice Chairman, and Nathan Sheets, then-Treasury Department Undersecretary for International Affairs. “Gordon UA

April 10-13, 2015: The NRA CONVENTION in Nashville Operative Offered Trump Campaign ‘Kremlin Connection’ Using N.R.A. Ties The New York Times By Nicholas Fandos Dec. 3, 2017 “Mr. [Alexander] Torshin and Ms. Butina attended the N.R.A.’s annual convention in 2014 and 2015. Ms. Butina told the conservative news site Townhall that she attended the N.R.A. Women’s Leadership Luncheon as a guest of Sandra S. Froman, a former president of the group. And in 2015, she was given a tour of the N.R.A.’s Virginia headquarters. Attempts to contact Ms. Butina were unsuccessful. Mr. Erickson does not explicitly name Mr. Torshin in the email to Mr. Dearborn, but the message appears to refer to him, the people familiar with the communication said. Instead, he describes “President Putin’s emissary on this front,” whose plans match those of Mr. Torshin. Mr. Torshin, he wrote, was planning to attend a reception being planned by Mr. Clay honoring wounded veterans that he expected Mr. Trump would also attend. Mr. Torshin expected to use the reception to “make ‘first contact’ ” with the candidate and present Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, with a gift from the Russian Orthodox Church. According to Mr. Clay, neither Mr. Trump nor his campaign officials attended the veterans’ dinner. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and Mr. Torshin did attend a separate N.R.A. dinner that night.”

May 2015: “By May 2015, Prince had rebranded himself and claimed a legitimate public reputation as FSG’s chairman. Without the approval of FSG’s management, he returned to Libya offering a freshly repackaged proposal. Prince’s private force would operate in Libya for the stated purpose of stopping the flow of refugees to Europe…One person involved in Prince’s plan said the anti-migration force was seen as a vehicle for Prince to build a “backdoor” for so-called kinetic, or lethal, operations in Libya” (January 2016, opened money laundering account at Bank of China) The Intercept

March 2015 Maria Butina and Paul Erickson wrote the Description of the Diplomacy Project and requested $125,000 from a Russian billionaire to attend the conferences and separate meetings.

March 6, 2015: FinCEN Fines Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort $10 Million for Significant and Long Standing Anti-Money Laundering Violations

April 2015 Butina attended a NRA convention and met prominent Republicans.

June 10, 2015: Polish President and Cabinet members resigned after release of tapes trash-talking America. Rachel Maddow explained it June 12.

National Day Russia at the Italian Expo, Vladimir Putin plus “90 people from Palazzo Chigi and the Kremlin including Igor Sechin, number one of Rosneft and Alexei Miller, of Gazprom, greeted with a handshake by Matteo Renzi. The Russian president, welcomed at his entrance by the single commissioner, Giuseppe Sala and accompanied by Renzi, took a seat in the space reserved for the official ceremony for the celebration of the day of Russia. Putin’s supporters shouted: “No sanctions”. The organizers who arranged the organization of an institutional ceremony and flag-raising ceremony, have only provided for Russian journalists (there are 70 accredited) in the first rows. The Italian press was relegated to a decidedly backward position and then moved to the press room when the leaders began to hold their talks, because it is the only place where you can hear the translation. After a visit together with the Russian pavilion and the Italian pavilion, at 12.45 Renzi and Putin closed in a very private interview, with the presence of only the interpreters and the ambassador Armando Varricchio [April 27, 2016 Mayflower Meeting]. “The sanctions must be eliminated or modified, to support companies that want to collaborate with us,” he told the Putin press conference. That goes back to talking about Libya: “Today’s catastrophe is a consequence of the military intervention of 2011 and the government of extremist groups. Russia wanted to peacefully resolve the conflict “. Vladimir Putin’s visit to the universal exhibition in Milan served for a bilateral meeting lasting about an hour. And concluded with a joint press conference, in which the Russian president asked to remove Moscow from isolation: “European sanctions must be eliminated or changed. Italy is the fourth trading partner of Russia, but recently the exchanges took place.” La Voce

June, 2015: “Cozy Bear” or “APT 29,” hackers working at the behest of the main security service of the Russian government (FSB), successfully hack the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), stealing the party’s opposition research on Donald Trump. Greg O’Lear

June 16, 2015: “Trump announces he is running for president.” Bill Moyers

July 11, 2015: Butina asked Trump a question at a “Freedom Fest” event in Las Vegas, NV.

July 13, 2015: Butina attends the launch of Walker’s presidential campaign. Washington Post

August 6, 2015: The Trump campaign says it has fired Roger Stone; Stone claims he’d quit. Either way, Stone remains a prominent Trump surrogate for the rest of the campaign. [Added March 27, 2017] Bill Moyers

August 8, 2015: “The Trump campaign officially severs ties with Stone, but he continues to advise and support the campaign.” NBC Reuters

August 2015: Butina allegedly assists Torshin in preparing for a congressional delegation to Moscow. It’s not clear who participated in this trip.Washington Post

August 21, 2015: Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions makes a surprise appearance at a Donald Trump rally and dons a “Make America Great Cap.” Bill Moyers Rebekah Mercer backed Sessions

August 30, 2015: Steve Bannon calls himself Trump’s Campaign Manager in an email to his former writer partner Julia Jones. The Daily BeastLate Summer 2015 Michael Flynn: “I got a phone call from his team. They asked if he would be willing meet with Mr. Trump and I did. … In late summer 2015.” Washington Post

September, 2015: “FBI special agent Adrian Hawkins contacts the Democratic National Committee, saying that one of its computer systems has been compromised by a cyberespionage group linked to the Russian government. He speaks to a help desk technician who does a quick check of the DNC systems for evidence of a cyber intrusion. In the next several weeks, Hawkins calls the DNC back repeatedly, but his calls are not returned, in part because the tech support contractor who took Hawkins’ call does not know whether he is a real agent. The FBI does not dispatch an agent to visit the DNC in person and does not make efforts to contact more senior DNC officials.”Mother Jones [The help desk tech support agent] “did a cursory check of DNC server logs and didn’t reply to follow-up calls from the FBI agent. “[Added March 13, 2017] Bill Moyers

September 21, 2015: “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.” [Added March 3, 2017] Bill Moyers

September 29, 2015: “Trump praises Putin during an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly: “I will tell you, in terms of leadership he [Putin] is getting an ‘A,’ and our president is not doing so well.” Mother JonesCBS

October 1, 2015: Comey tells reporters that FBI investigators looking into possible compromise of information on Clinton’s private email server would be fiercely independent, because they “don’t give a rip about politics.”..”Part of doing our work well is to make sure we don’t talk about it,” he said, approximately a year and 27 days before talking about the FBI’s work in a pretty public way.” NPR

October 13, 2015: Felix Sater sends LOI to Michael Cohen on behalf of Andrey Rozov (I.C. Expert Investment Co.) to develop Trump Tower Moscow. Read the Letter here, obtained by CNN

October 17, 2015: Trump Tweets “Russia and the world has already started to respect us again!”“

October 20, 2015 Hybrid War: Russia vs. the West Russia’s System of Managed Chaos by Gleb Pavlovsky

October 28, 2015: U.S. Navy Sailors participate in a medical training exercise on the deck of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82) with an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter in the South China Sea,

November 2015, the more radical of the two Brexit campaigns, “Leave.EU,” supported by Nigel Farage, announced that it had commissioned a Big Data company to support its online campaign: Cambridge Analytica.” Vice

“In November 2015 USM [Alisher Usmanov, Gazprom Investment Holdings]invested $100 million USD in competitive video game esports team Virtus Pro.^[40]”

November 9, 2015: Jared Kushner formally takes over social media operations for the Trump campaign. Greg O’Lear

November 10, 2015: “At a Republican presidential primary debate, Trump says of Putin that he “got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates.”Mother Jones “and we did very well that night.” Bill Moyers: NBC News

November 11, 2015: “The Associated Press, Time, and other media outlets report that Trump and Putin were never in the same studio. Trump was interviewed in New York, and Putin was interviewed in Moscow.”Mother Jones

November 30, 2015: “When an Associated Press reporter asks Trump about Felix Sater, he answers, “Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it. I’m not that familiar with him.” Trump refers questions about Sater to his staff. “[Added March 3, 2017] Bill Moyers

Fall 2015: As Felix Sater works on a plan for a Trump Tower in Moscow, Trump’s bid for the presidency brings the project to a halt, according to a Feb. 19, 2017 article in The New York Times citing Sater. [Added July 11, 2017] Bill Moyers

December 2015, “Mr. Erickson returned to Russia as part of an N.R.A. delegation that included David Keene, the group’s onetime president, top donors and David A. Clarke Jr., the former sheriff of Milwaukee County who became a popular Trump campaign surrogate. At one stop, the group met with Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy prime minister in charge of defense. A photograph from the meeting shows Mr. Torshin was also present.” NY Times

December 8, 2015: An NRA delegation arrives in Moscow to meet with Butina’s group. Right to Bear Arms covers some of the trip’s costs. Included in the group is former Milwaukee County sheriff David Clarke.

“About the same time in December 2015, evangelist Franklin Graham met privately with Putin for 45 minutes, securing from the Russian president an offer to help with an upcoming conference on the persecution of Christians. Graham was impressed, telling The Washington Post that Putin “answers questions very directly and doesn’t dodge them like a lot of our politicians do.” At least one connection came about thanks to a conservative Nashville lawyer named G. Kline Preston IV, who had done business in Russia for years. Preston said that in 2011 he introduced David Keene, then the NRA’s president, to a Russian senator, Alexander Torshin, a member of Putin’s party who later became a top official at the Russian central bank. Keene had been a stalwart on the right, a past chairman of the American Conservative Union who was the NRA’s president from 2011 to 2013.” Washington Post

December 10, 2015: Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and future National Security Adviser, who was reportedly forced out in 2014, attends the 10th anniversary dinner for Russia Today or RT, the State-sponsored propaganda network, where he is seated next to Putin. Jill Stein is in attendance. “Flynn had made a paid appearance on the network. For his December speech, he nets $33,500 of the $45,000 paid to his speakers’ bureau. For all of 2015, Flynn receives more than $65,000 from companies linked to Russia. [Revised March 20, 2017]” Bill Moyers: NPR NBC CNN

December 11, 2015: Mercers Fund Cambridge Analytica on Cruz Campaign: Ted Cruz using firm that harvested data on millions of unwitting Facebook users The Guardian Exclusive: Documents reveal donor-funded US startup embedded in Republican’s campaign paid UK university academics to collect psychological profiles on potential voters

December 17, 2015: “Putin praises Trump in his year-end press conference, saying that he is “very talented” and that “he is an absolute leader of the presidential race, as we see it today. He says that he wants to move to another level relations, a deeper level of relations with Russia…How can we not welcome that? Of course, we welcome it.” Trump calls the praise “a great honor” from “a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.” He adds, “I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other toward defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect.” Mother Jones

Late 2015: “The British spy agency GCHQ alerts its American counterparts in Washington to suspicious interactions between members of the Trump campaign and known or suspected Russian agents. The GCHQ provides the information as part of a routine exchange of intelligence information.” [Added April 17, 2017] Bill Moyers

January- June 2016 Continued