Due to Daily Kos restrictions on article length I have had to divide this timeline into separate articles. You can read Chapter 1 of the timeline, going from 2007 — 2016 HERE. Together the articles are a bit of a read, but a careful reading of the timeline is very disturbing.
January 6, 2017: President-elect Trump receives a classified briefing from by John O. Brennan, the C.I.A. director; James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence; and Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency and the commander of United States Cyber Command and acting FBI Director James Comey. These intelligence officers outline in detail the overwhelming evidence of Russia meddling in the election. Notwithstanding this Trump for months continues to cast doubt on the possibility of Russia meddling. After the formal briefing Comey stays behind and privately briefs Trump on the Steele Dossier.
January 10, 2017: Attorney General nominee (previously Trump campaign surrogate) Jeff Sessions testifies at his confirmation hearings that “I did not have communications with the Russians.” Senator Leahy asked the following question: “Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?” Sessions directly answered “No.”
Also, Buzzfeed publishes the “Steele Dossier” compiled by the former British Intelligence Officer. It alleges the Trump Campaign colluded with Russians to impact the election and that Trump was otherwise compromised to the Russians for reasons that included potential sexual blackmail.
January 11, 2017: Trump is directly asked in a press conference the following question. “Can you stand here today, once and for all, and say that no one connected to you or your campaign had any contact with Russia leading up to or during the presidential campaign?” Trump directly answers “no.”
Around January 11, 2017: Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and associate of Donald Trump, secretly meets in the Seychelles islands with Russian officials close to Putin to set up a back channel for communications between the Kremlin and the Trump Transition Team. The UAE apparently arranged the meeting with Lebanese businessman George Nader. Prince later testifies to the House Intelligence Committee that this planned meeting was by chance, over a few beers, and discussed matters unrelated to the Trump Administration. This story begins to break a year later when Nader is questioned by, and cooperates with, Mueller’s team.
January 12, 2017: The Washington Post breaks the story of the late December phone calls between Flynn and Kislyak.
January 13, 2017: Trump tells the Wall Street Journal he is open to lifting the sanctions against Russia. Sean Spicer is asked about the WaPo article and says there was but one call between Flynn and Kislyak, on the 28th of December, that was merely an exchange of Christmas greetings and logistical coordination for an upcoming call with President-elect Trump.
January 15, 2017: Vice President-elect Mike Pence appears on Face the Nation to strongly deny that sanctions had ever been discussed, in what Pence claimed was the one and only one call between Flynn and Kislyak:
MIKE PENCE: I talked to General Flynn about that conversation and actually was initiated on Christmas Day he had sent a text to the Russian ambassador to express not only Christmas wishes but sympathy for the loss of life in the airplane crash that took place. It was strictly coincidental that they had a conversation. They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.
JOHN DICKERSON: So did they ever have a conversation about sanctions ever on those days or any other day?
MIKE PENCE: They did not have a discussion contemporaneous with U.S. actions on . . .
JOHN DICKERSON: But what about after . . .
MIKE PENCE: — my conversation with General Flynn. Well, look. General Flynn has been in touch with diplomatic leaders, security leaders in some 30 countries. That’s exactly what the incoming national security advisor . . .
JOHN DICKERSON: Absolutely.
MIKE PENCE: — should do. But what I can confirm, having spoken to him about it, is that those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the United States took action to expel diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions.
JOHN DICKERSON: But that still leaves open the possibility that there might have been other conversations about the sanctions.
MIKE PENCE: I don’t believe there were more conversations.
JOHN DICKERSON: Okay. Okay. Okay. Let’s move on. Okay. Got it . . .
MIKE PENCE: I can confirm those elements were not a part of that discussion.
Later in the conversation John Dickerson directly asked Pence, “Just to button up one question, did any advisor or anybody in the Trump campaign have any contact with the Russians who were trying to meddle in the election?” Pence replied, “Of course not. And I think to suggest that is to give credence to some of these bizarre rumors that have swirled around the candidacy.”
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Chris Wallace asked Mike Pence, “So, I’m asking a direct question: was there any contact in any way between Trump or his associates and the Kremlin or cutouts they had?” Pence replied, “Of course not. Why would there be any contacts between the campaign?”
January 20, 2017: Trump is sworn in as President.
January 22, 2017: Wall Street Journal reports Flynn is under investigation by counterintelligence officials for his communication with Russian officials.
January 24, 2017: Flynn is interviewed by the FBI and lies about his phone calls with the Russian ambassador.
January 26, 2017: Acting Attorney General Sally Yates gives a “forceful warning” to the White House Counsel Don McGahn that Flynn lied about his conversations with Russians, that he did discuss the embargo with them, and that Flynn was a significant security risk because the Russians could use those lies to blackmail him. Yates told the administration this information was being provided so appropriate action could be taken. McGahn almost immediately informs President Trump that the Flynn has been caught lying to the FBI.
January 27, 2017: White House Counsel McGahn meets with Yates again claiming to be perplexed why DOJ would care about members of the executive branch lying to each other. Yates again emphasizes that Flynn is a security risk. McGahn asks to review evidence against Flynn at DOJ. Yates says she will check to see if that can be done.
January 27, 2017: Former Trump Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor George Papadopoulos is interviewed by the FBI. He lies during this interview and later pleads guilty to doing so (see October 30, 2017 entry). Papadopoulos falsely tells the FBI that he met Mifsud before joining the Trump team. The first meeting was after and was because Papadopoulos told the Mifsud he joined the Trump team. Papadopoulos falsely told the FBI the Mifsud was a nothing even though he knew Mifsud had high connections to the Russian Government. He falsely states he never met other Russian officials Mifsud introduced him to. He falsely stated he met Olga Polonskaya before starting with the Trump Campaign and falsely characterized their emails as amounting to “Just, “Hi, how are you?” “That’s it.”
January 27, 2017: The day after Sally Yates first warned White House Counsel about Flynn Trump requests and has dinner with FBI Director Comey. During the dinner Trump demands a pledge of loyalty from Comey. Comey refuses but does promise to be honest with him. Trump will later fire and publicly demonize Comey.
January 30, 2017: Sally Yates has her third conversation with White House Counsel regarding Flynn, advising McGahn that he can look at the evidence the DOJ has and inviting him to come over to look at it. He apparently never does. That night Trump fires Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, supposedly for refusing to defend his travel ban.
February 8, 2017: When questioned by the media, Flynn twice directly denies having any conversations regarding sanctions with Russian officials. Per James Comey’s contemporary notes, White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus directly asks the FBI Director whether there is a FISA warrant on Mike Flynn. While redacted, it appears Comey did tell the Chief of Staff that Flynn was under a FISA warrant.
February 9, 2017: WaPo reports intelligence sources confirm Flynn discussed sanctions with the Russians. A Flynn spokesman now says that while Flynn “had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn’t be certain that the topic never came up.”
February 10, 2017: Trump says he is unaware of any reports that Flynn discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador. The statement is a lie. As reflected above, Trump was advised that Flynn lied about these conversations to the FBI by White House General Counsel McGahn on January 26th. White House officials declare that Flynn has Trump’s full confidence.
February 13, 2017: In an MSNBC interview, Kellyanne Conway twice emphatically declares that “General Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president.” A few hours later Trump requests Flynn’s resignation and gets it. The NY Times reports there are separate investigations into the payments to Flynn associated with the Russian Times gala speech.
February 14, 2017: Trump meets with Comey and asks Comey to drop the investigation related to Flynn saying “I hope you can let this go.” Comey writes a memo memorializing the conversation shortly after the meeting as “part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation.”
February 15, 2017: Trump describes Flynn as “a wonderful man” who was “treated very, very unfairly” by the “fake media.”
Feb. 16, 2017: George Papadopoulos is interviewed by the FBI again. His attorney attends the meeting with him and pledges his client’s cooperation.
Feb. 17, 2017: Papadopoulos deactivates his Facebook account. It had included information about his conversations with the Russians. The FBI undoubtedly viewed this as a betrayal of his promised cooperation the day before.
February 20, 2017: White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign, stating, “This is a non-story because to the best of our knowledge, no contacts took place, so it’s hard to make a comment on something that never happened.”
March 1, 2017: Sessions makes a statement responding to reports he met with the Russian ambassador in his office, relevant because he indicated in his confirmation hearings (see January 10th above) that he had not spoken to Russians at all. Sessions acknowledges meeting with Russian ambassador Kislyak but says it had nothing to do with the campaign, that it was solely in his capacity as a Senator. He directly states “I have never met with any Russian to discuss issues of the campaign.” At around this time the NY Times subsequently reports that President Trump ordered his top lawyer (Donald McGahn) to direct Attorney General Sessions to not recuse himself from the Russia investigation. When McGahn was unsuccessful Trump erupted in anger because he wanted Sessions to protect him from the investigation.
March 2, 2017: Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuses himself from any decisions related to investigation of the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia to interfere in our election.
March 4, 2017: Roger Stone tweets “Never denied perfectly legal back channel to Assange who indeed had the goods on #CrookedHillary.” Less than an hour later Stone deletes the tweet.
March 7, 2017: Flynn files a request to retroactively be identified as a foreign agent. Flynn will later stipulate this application included numerous lies (see December 1, 2017 entry).
March 9, 2017: Sean Spicer denies Trump knew Flynn acted as a foreign agent before hiring him (note: Obama’s warning to Trump prior to Trump’s hiring him discussed above). VP Mike Pence says the revelations are “an affirmation of the president’s decision to ask General Flynn to resign.”
March 20, 2017: FBI Director Comey testifies before Congress that the FBI is investigating possible collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia in regards to Russian interference in the United States elections.
March 2017: Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tells the NY Times that he never met with Russians as a representative of the Trump campaign. Trump Jr. told the Times:
“Did I meet with people that were Russian? I’m sure, I’m sure I did. But none that were set up. None that I can think of at the moment. And certainly none that I was representing the campaign in any way, shape or form.”
This statement was a lie. As discussed above Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer in June. The meeting was set up in advance, and Trump Jr. was told in advance the meeting was to pass on information from the Russian government damaging to Hillary Clinton because the Russian government wanted to help his father’s campaign. When further asked if he had any discussions related to American policy Trump Jr. said “A hundred percent no.” That statement was also false. Even accepting his account of the meeting as completely true, Trump Jr. now says they discussed American policy issues that complicated Russian adoptions.
March 30, 2017: WSJ reports that Flynn has offered to testify in exchange for immunity.
March 31, 2017: Trump again defends Flynn in a tweet describing the investigations as a “witch hunt” against Flynn. The tweet also supports Flynn’s request for immunity even though with regards to the Hillary Clinton investigation Trump suggested immunity was only sought by guilty people.
April 27, 2017: The Pentagon announces an investigation into whether Flynn improperly accepted money from foreign governments without the required approval.
April 28, 2017: Attorney General Sessions specifically extends his recusal to the investigation of Flynn.
May 3, 2017: FBI Director Comey again testifies before Congress that the FBI is investigating possible collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia in regards to Russian interference in the United States elections and that nothing has changed. When Senator Franken asks if Trump’s tax returns would be material to the investigation, Comey responds “that’s not something Senator that I’m going to answer.”
May 8, 2017: Yates testifies to Congress disclosing for first time that Flynn was interviewed by the FBI on January 24th. She also states she cannot comment how that interview went but at the time Flynn was lying to the Vice-President, Sean Spicer and to the American public about the matter. Just after Yates’ testimony Trump goes on a four tweet rampage. Trump’s tweets, among other things declares “the Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax.” That would be the story the FBI Director had twice told Congress was under an active FBI investigation, the second time less than a week before.
May 9, 2017: Trump fires the FBI Director, Comey, who is investigating Trump. Trump’s termination letter claims Comey told him three times that he was not under investigation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is involved in firing the man heading the Russia investigation despite recusing himself from decisions related to that investigation. CNN Reports federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of Flynn.
May 10, 2017: Whitehouse spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders states Comey was fired because the FBI had lost confidence in him claiming “countless” members had so advised the Whitehouse.
May 10, 2017: In a meeting with a group of Russians Trump states that he fired Comey because “he was crazy, a real nut job.” He also tells the Russians “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” This representation of the conversation reportedly comes from the White House’s own document summarizing the conversation.
May 11, 2017: New Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe in sworn testimony before the Senate contradicts the Whitehouse claim of widespread disenchantment with Comey within the FBI. McCabe stating, “I hold Director Comey in the absolute highest regard. I have the highest respect for his considerable abilities and his integrity” and asserting that Comey enjoyed “broad support within the FBI and still does to this day” so “the vast majority of FBI employees enjoyed a deep, positive connection to Director Comey.”
May 11, 2017: Trump contradicts repeated statements from his staff and Vice President Pence on the reasons and process behind firing Comey that Trump fired Comey based on recommendations from his Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General rooted in Comey’s handling of the Clinton investigation. In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt Trump stated he decided to fire Comey before receiving those recommendations and cited the “Russia thing” as a reason for firing Comey.
I was going to fire Comey knowing there was no good time to do it. And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself — I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.
This is the second statement from Trump suggesting he fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation, a reason that suggests obstruction of justice.
May 12, 2017: Trump tweets “James Comey better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” The tweets sets off a firestorm of questions of whether such tapes exist, which Trump refuses to answer for six weeks. The tweet prompts Comey to leak contents of his meetings with Trump where Trump sought a loyalty oath and urged Comey to drop the Flynn investigation.
May 2017: Shortly after designating him Acting Director of the FBI Trump asks Andrew McCabe who he voted for. McCabe answers that he didn’t vote but later describes the conversation as “disturbing.” Trump would later heavily criticize McCabe because his Democrat wife in 2015 accepted money for her Virginia state office legislature campaign from a PAC run by a close friend of Hillary Clinton.
May 16, 2017: The NY Times reports that on the day after Flynn was fired Trump met with Comey and asks Comey to drop the investigation related to Flynn saying “I hope you can let this go.” The Times says Comey wrote a memo memorializing the conversation shortly after the meeting as “part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation” and that he shared the memo with close associates in the FBI. The Times reports it has not seen the memo but that a Comey associate read parts of it to their reporter.
May 17, 2017: The Department of Justice announces that former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been appointed as a Special Prosecutor to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.” Trump is told of the appointment in a meeting that includes his Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump blows up at Sessions calling him an “idiot” for recusing himself from the Russian investigation and suggests he should resign. Sessions drafted a resignation but Trump rejected it, convinced by aides it would cause more problems fresh after firing Comey. Even so, stinging criticism by Trump of his Attorney General would continue for many more months until Trump finally fires Sessions shortly after the midterm elections.
May 18, 2017: Trump describes Mueller’s appointment as Special Prosecutor, made by his own Deputy Attorney General, as the “greatest witch hunt in history.” It is a term he will repeat many times in the coming months.
June 8, 2017: Comey again testifies to Congress. He testifies that in a January 27 meeting the President excused others from the room (to include the Vice President and Head of the DOJ) and demanded a pledge of loyalty to him. Comey testifies he dodged making that pledge. Comey also testifies that in a February 14 meeting Trump asked him to drop the Flynn investigation. Comey describes being so uncomfortable with the President’s conversations, and so uncertain as to the President’s honesty, that he began keeping contemporaneous notes of their conversations. Comey acknowledges providing the contents of one of those memos to a friend to leak to the press. Comey confirms that he did tell Trump that he personally was not a target of the investigation, though members of his campaign clearly were.
June 2017: Only about a month after his appointment President Trump tries to fire Special Prosecutor Mueller. Trump ordered White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller. McGahn refused, arguing it would be disastrous to Trump’s Presidency and threatened to resign if pushed. The President backed down. As discussed below, Trump and his people would later repeatedly deny that the President even ever considered fired Mueller.
June 27, 2017: Paul Manafort finally files to retroactively be recognized as a foreign agent.
July 8, 2017: NY Times reports that Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer known for opposing the Magnitsky Act which blacklists Russian human rights abusers. Putin countered by banning adoptions of Russian children by Americans. The meeting was not previously disclosed. Trump Jr., initially responds by claiming the meeting was all about the adoption issue. This dishonest response would later become the focus of investigation itself as questions arose as to who wrote it. It would later be reported that President Trump himself dictated it (see July 31 entry below) overruling recommendations of White House counsel for a more forthcoming response. It would later be reported (see February 1, 2018 entry below) that White House Counsel urged Mark Corallo urged are more forthcoming response arguing the emails between Trump Jr, Kushner and the Russians would eventually come out. In a conference call Hope Hicks allegedly said the emails“will never get out.” This left Corallo with the belief that Hicks may be obstructing justice, so he made contemporary notes about it and resigned less than two weeks later (see July 20 entry).
July 9, 2017: Trump Jr. admits that before the meeting he was told it was to discuss negative information the Russians wanted to pass on about Hillary Clinton. He claims they did not actually have such information, but wanted to talk about adoptions instead. Trump Jr. admits to being interested in getting negative information about Clinton from the Russians, but says he didn’t actually get any.
July 10, 2017: The NY Times Reports Trump Jr. received an email from the person setting up the meeting stating the purpose of the meeting was to get material as part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy, by damaging Hillary Clinton.
July 11, 2017: Trump Jr. tweets what he claims is a complete record of the emails setting up the meeting. Even though the move was clearly aimed at preempting an identical release by the NY Times, the contents are shocking. They show that before the DNC hack of Clinton emails were widely known (though it had happened) that Russians were seeking to help the Trump campaign. One email said: “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
July 14, 2017: In yet another leak related to the Trump Jr., meeting with Russians it is revealed the meeting also included a “former” Russian counter-intelligence agent. For all practical purposes the meeting included a Russian spy.
July 16, 2017: President Trump’s personal attorney, Jay Sekulow appears on ABC’s “This Week” and attempts to the blame Kushner’s and Trump Jr’s meeting on the Secret Service saying, “if this was nefarious, why did the Secret Service allow these people in.” The Secret Service responds basically by calling Sekulow a liar stating, “Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time."
July 19, 2017: In an interview with the NY Times Trump attacks even his own appointments who are associated with the investigation, continuing his intimidation tactics and smears at whoever crosses him regarding the Russian investigation. He first throws Attorney General Jeff Sessions under the bus saying that he should not have recused himself from the Russian investigation and that “if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and I would have picked somebody else.” Trump goes on to suggest that Sessions recused himself because he gave “bad answers” at his confirmation hearing (as discussed above Sessions lied about not meeting with Russians). Trump expresses anger the decision to appoint a Special Prosecutor then went to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Trump belittles Rosenstein because he’s “from Baltimore” and “there are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any.” In May Trump gushed at his wisdom in appointing Rosenstein saying “he’s highly respected. Very good guy, very smart guy. And the Democrats like him. The Republicans like him.” Perhaps Trump’s most chilling statements came in regards to Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller. Trump stated Mueller investigating his personal and business finances was a “red line” Mueller had better not cross. When asked directly if he would fire Mueller if he crossed that line, Trump stated “I can’t answer that question because I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
July 20, 2017: Media sources report that Special Prosecutor Mueller is running across that “red line” and is investigating Trump’s finances. Other media reports indicate Trump’s attorneys are researching Trump’s ability to pardon members of his family and even himself. In a move widely seen as appeasing Russia, it is reported that Trump has ordered an end to U.S. support for anti-Asaad rebels. In other news, White House Counsel Mark Corallo, who was overruled in attempting to get a more forthcoming response to the Kushner/Trump Jr meetings with Russians, resigns citing concerns over whether the Trump team was telling him the truth. Robert Mueller would later seek to interview Corallo (see February 1, 2018 entry below).
July 21, 2017: Trump attorneys are reported to be investigating means to attempt to discredit attorneys hired by Special Prosecutor Mueller by alleging conflict of interests. The conflict of interests suggested, such as having privately donated to the Clinton campaign, are not legally conflicts of interest. Sean Spicer resigns as White House Press Secretary because Trump decided to hire Anthony Scaramucci to the job.
July 22, 2017: The Washington Post reports U.S. intelligence intercepted communications between Russian Ambassador Kislyak and his superiors in Moscow describing conversations with Jeff Sessions where they discussed campaign related matters. This contradicts Sessions’ claims first that he never met with any Russians, and afterwards that no meetings discussed any campaign related matters (see January 10 and March 1 above). Trump responds on Twitter condemning the leak of this information while contradicting himself by claiming it is “fake news.” The tweet also confirms (the previously deemed fake news) report that Trump has been researching the Presidential pardon power declaring “all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon.” For the record, not all agree with that.
July 24, 2017: Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner releases a statement before participating in a closed door meeting with Congress about the Russia issue. His statement claims he didn’t read the part of the email stating the purpose of the June 9, 2016 meeting was to get highly sensitive information from the Russian government damaging to Clinton’s campaign as part of a Russian government effort to help the Trump campaign. He claims to have arrived late, and was so bored with the actual discussion of Russian adoptions, that he emailed his Secretary asking her to call him to give him an excuse to leave. Kushner’s statement also says “I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. I have tried to be fully transparent.” His claim to have not relied on Russian funds for to finance his business is later proven false by the release of additional documents related to the “Paradise Papers” (See November 5, 2017 entry). These connections were also not disclosed on Kushner’s Security Clearance applications.
July 25, 2017: Former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort voluntarily testifies behind closed doors to the Senate Intelligence Committee. He provides contemporaneous notes he made regarding the June 2016 meeting with Trump’s son, Trump’s son-in-law and Russians who said they set the meeting up to help the Trump campaign get dirt on Clinton.
July 26, 2017: The FBI conducts a predawn raid on Paul Manafort’s home executing a search warrant. In a pair of tweets a few hours after the raid, Trump criticizes his Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not firing the Acting Director of the FBI.
July 27, 2017: By an overwhelming 98–2 vote the Senate passes a bill to prevent President Trump from unilaterally reversing sanctions against Russia. The same bill had previously passed the House by an incredible 419–3 vote. A more clear statement that Congress does not trust the President in regards to foreign policy, particularly in regards to Russia, is not possible.
Also July 27, 2018: Former Trump Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor George Papadopoulos is arrested at Dulles Airport. He later pleads guilty to lying to the FBI regarding the Russia investigation.
July 28, 2017: Trump fires Reince Priebus as his Chief of Staff replacing him with the former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Priebus was probably Trump’s primary connection, in terms of personal relationships, with Congress. The firing comes shortly after newly hired White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci called a reporter launching tirade of unbelievably obscene criticism of Priebus and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. Scaramucci described Priebus as “a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac.” Bannon probably got the worst of it though, as in regards to him Scaramucci said, “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock.”
July 31, 2017: The Washington Post reports President Trump dictated the initial false statement from his son, Trump Junior, that his June 9, 2016 meeting with Russians was about the adoption of Russian children. The report states President Trump overruled advisors who recommended a more forthcoming (and honest) statement to get ahead of the story. Trump’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, had previously flatly denied that the President had any role in drafting the statement saying, “I wasn’t involved in the statement drafting at all, nor was the President.” In other news, Trump fires newly appointed Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci after only ten days on the job. To get the job Scaramucci had divested himself from his business and taking it destroyed his marriage with his wife filing for divorce. That night a giddy Trump tweeted “A great day at the White House!”
August 1, 2017: Asked whether President Trump was involved in drafting the initial and deceptive response to reports related to the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting, Presidential Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders states President Trump “certainly didn’t dictate, but he — like I said, he weighed in, offered suggestions like any father would do.” It would later be revealed that Trump’s attorneys admitted to Mueller that Trump did dictate the letter (see June 2, 2018 entry below).
August 3, 2017: Media reports that Special Prosecutor Mueller has empaneled a grand jury for his investigation of Russia meddling in the election. Reuters reports the grand jury has subpoenaed information related to Trump Jr’s June 2016 meeting with Russians set up to collude with Russians regarding dirt on Hillary Clinton. CNN reports the investigation is focusing on financial ties between Trump, and his associates, with Russians connected to Russian “spy agencies.” This would cross the “red line” against Mueller’s investigation Trump declared on July 19th (see above). A bipartisan group of Senators submits a bill to limit Trump’s ability, either directly or through surrogates, to fire Special Prosecutor Mueller. At a rally in West Virginia Trump declares the investigation is, “totally made up” and a “complete fabrication,” designed to be an excuse for Hillary losing the election.
August 6, 2017: Kellyanne Conway states the President has not even discussed firing Mueller.
August 8, 2017: The President’s attorney, John Dowd denies that the President ever considered firing Mueller. Dowd declares “that’s never been on the table, ever.”
August 9, 2017: The Washington Post reports the FBI conducted a predawn raid at former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort’s home on July 26th. The agents came with a search a warrant to seize documents and other materials.
August 10, 2017: Trump denies he ever considered firing Mueller stating “I haven’t given it any thought.”
August 22, 2017: Glenn Simpson, the CEO of Fusion GPS (the company which sponsored the Steele Dossier research) testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee behind closed doors. The transcript of the testimony is finally released to the public on January 9, 2018 (see entry below for that date below).
August 25, 2017: Trump pardons Sheriff Joe Arpaio who had been criminally convicted for contempt of court because he defiantly refused to end racist profiling practices the court had ordered he stop. Many argued the purpose of the pardon included sending a message to witnesses who might be flipped against the President in the Russian investigation to stay with him because he will protect them with the pardon power.
August 27, 2017: The Washington Post reports that the for much of the Presidential Campaign Trump was in active negotiations, and other efforts, with the government of Russia to build a Trump Tower Moscow. This is the first the American people hear of Trump’s works during the campaign to build the Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump would later falsely claim the project was well publicized.
September 7, 2017: Trump Jr., is interviewed by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He reportedly told the committee he met with Russians to get information regarding Hillary Clinton’s fitness to be President. He is repeatedly asked whether his father had advance knowledge of the June 9, 2016 meeting, and denies that his father did (see e.g. p. 29 of the transcript). When explicitly asked, he denies taking any participants in the meeting to see his father. When asked why his father the very next day said dirt was coming out soon on Clinton he claimed that’s just the way his father talks. CNN Reports Special Prosecutor Mueller seeks to interview White House staffers regarding inconsistent statements made about the President’s contribution to initial explanations for his son’s meeting with the Russians (see July 31, 2017 entry above).
September 18, 2017: CNN Reports that at various times from 2014 to early 2017, former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort was under electronic surveillance pursuant to a FISA warrant due to his suspicious ties to Russians. The surveillance was suspended for part of 2016 due to lack of evidence, but started again later. Manfort’s communications, and those of Russians also being surveilled, raised concerns among investigators that “Manafort had encouraged the Russians to help with the campaign.” This is clearly related to the investigation of collusion by the Trump campaign with Russians that former FBI Chief Comey said started in late July 2016, not much more than a month after the June 9, 2016 secret Trump Tower meeting (see above entries). The period included when Manafort was known to be still talking to President Trump even after no longer being formally involved in the campaign, but CNN did not know if the surveillance included conversations between Manafort and Trump. Manafort’s home was also the subject of a Mueller investigation search warrant (see July 26 entry above). Approval of FISA warrants means a Federal judge determined there was probable cause that Manafort was knowingly assisting a foreign power in a way hostile to the United States.
September 19, 2017: The NY Times reports Federal Prosecutors have advised Paul Manafort to expect an indictment.
September 24, 2017: The media reveals Jared Kushner used private email for White House business, the same thing Trump Campaigners were shouting “lock her up” for about Hillary Clinton. Sarah Huckabee Sanders later dismisses the violation as “very limited” only about 100 times. The “lego porn” story of how the media discovered the private email account may be the most hilariously entertaining part of RussiaGate.
September 28, 2017: The House Select Committee on Intelligence sends Jared Kushner an angry letter expressing concern that it found out about Kushner’s private email account from the news media rather than from Kushner in his closed interview with the Committee. The letter asks Kushner to confirm he has provided all responsive documents to the Committee.
October 5, 2017: George Papadopoulos accepts a plea agreement wherein he pleads guilty to a Statement of Offense prepared by the government. He agrees the Statement of Offense “fairly and accurately” describes his conduct related to the alleged offenses. The plea agreement is not revealed until October 30th.
October 10, 2017: Asked directly if he is considering firing Robert Mueller Trump says “no, not at all.”
October 27, 2017: CNN Reports that the grand jury Mueller convened is about to indict on criminal charges. The report suggests someone could be in custody as early as Monday, October 30th.
October 30, 2017: A 12-count indictment against Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates is released charging them with conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and multiple counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. The indictment alleges Manafort and Gates acted as agents for pro-Russian parties and elements of the Ukrainian government (tied to former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych). They received millions in payments from the pro-Russia elements and then “in order to hide the Ukraine payments from United States authorities . . . laundered the money through scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts.” They then lied about it to investigators as recently as February of this year and did not report the income on their taxes. While Manafort left the Trump campaign last Fall, his alleged co-conspirator Rick Gates continued working with the Trump Administration until at least this Spring.
Trump responds quickly to the news with a pair of tweets arguing the indictments have nothing to do with the election and (as is typical) attempting to deflect attention to Hillary Clinton.
Manafort and Gates are arraigned before a Federal judge and enter not guilty pleas.
Also October 30, 2017: News breaks that former Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos secretly pled guilty to charges of lying to the FBI during Mueller’s investigation (see January 27, 2017 entry). Papadopoulos is known to have encouraged Trump to meet with high ranking Russian officials during the campaign. The DOJ releases the Statement of Offense to which Papadopoulos pled guilty. The Statement of Offense details Papadopoulos repeatedly meeting with and communicating with a Joseph Mifsud and Olga Polonskaya to get thousands of emails containing dirt on Hillary Clinton. The Statement of Charges also detail Papadopoulos’ months long communications with high ranking officials of the Trump Campaign to arrange a meeting with Trump Campaign officials (including Donald Trump himself). They also show the Trump Campaign approved the idea of Papadopoulos secretly meeting with Russian Government officials on behalf of The Campaign, even if such meetings never happened. For a timeline specific to Papadopoulos click HERE.
November 5, 2017: NBC Reports Mueller’s investigation of Michael Flynn includes potential money laundering and conspiracy for kidnapping against him and his son. The report cites sources claiming Flynn met with Turkish officials regarding plans to forcibly remove Turkish dissident Fethullah Gulen from the United States in September 2016. Turkey’s President Erdogan blames Gulen for a failed coup attempt against him and has unsuccessfully sought his extradition from the United States. A variety of media sources report on the “The Paradise Papers,” a review of documents showing that Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, has connections with Russians business that he misleadingly did not disclose during his confirmation process. The papers also detail business connections with Russians not disclosed by, and previously denied by, Jared Kushner.
November 6, 2017: An interview with Natalia Veselnitskaya, one of the Russians at the June 9 2016 meeting with Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, reveals Trump Jr., specifically requested from the Russians financial documents showing money went into Clinton Campaign coffers that dodged tax laws. Trump Jr., suggested the possibility of more favorable treatment for Russia under a Trump administration in exchange.
Early November 2017: Jared Kushner is interviewed by Mueller’s team. The questions are thought to focus on communications related to Michael Flynn’s late December 2016 contacts with the Russian Ambassador. Flynn will later be convicted for lying about those communications (see December 1, 2017 entry below).
November 13, 2017: A report from The Atlantic details contacts between Donald Trump Jr., and WikiLeaks even as the campaign was denying any such connections (see September/October 2016 entries above).
November 14, 2017: Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifies to Congress. He had previously said under oath that he did not believe any surrogates for the Trump campaign had contacts with Russians. His statement then was “I did not, and I’m not aware of anyone else that did, and I don’t believe it happened.” He was confronted with the March 2016 meeting he attended where George Papadopoulos discussed his contacts with Russians. He now suddenly remembers the meeting, but doesn’t remember any details, except the detail that he “wanted to make clear to him that he was not authorized to represent the campaign with the Russian government, or any other foreign government, for that matter.” He said he would happily have reported the meeting had he remembered it previously.
November 23, 2017: Media reports indicate Michael Flynn’s attorneys have notified President Trump’s attorneys that they can no longer share information regarding the investigation. This strongly suggests Flynn is cooperating with the investigation and potentially coming to a plea agreement. It also suggests Trump is a target of the investigation.
December 1, 2017: Former Trump Campaign Advisor and Director of National Intelligence Michael Flynn is indicted and pleads to guilty to making false statements to the FBI in the course of its investigation of potential Trump Campaign collusion with the Russians to interfere in the election. Flynn is convicted of two counts of knowingly making false statements to the FBI as he simultaneously enters into a plea agreement. The plea agreement includes a stipulation that government drafted representations of fact in a Statement of Offense are true. The stipulations include that Flynn UNDER THE DIRECTION of an unnamed “senior official of the Presidential Transition Team” had contacts with Russian Ambassador and spy Kislyak (see late December 2016 entries). The nature of these contacts were to secretly negotiate deals between the United States and Russia on immediate foreign policy without the consent or knowledge of the administration still in power. They were direct negotiations with the Russians to not respond to Obama’s sanctions and to delay a vote or vote against a UN Security Council resolution regarding Israel, decisions Russia secretly agreed with the Trump Transition Team to do. Flynn called this unnamed “senior official” of the transition team more than once, and received instructions for further requests to make of the Russians. Per the stipulations, Flynn called this “senior official” at Mar-a-Lago and that this “senior official” was “with other senior members of the Presidential Transition Team.” Media reports indicate the “senior official,” with other senior officials at Mar-a-Lago, is Jared Kushner who was interviewed by Mueller’s team just a few weeks prior. He also previously answered questions to Congressional committees under oath. Flynn’s plea agreement requires his full cooperation with Mueller’s investigation as it includes this statement:
[Flynn] shall cooperate fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly with this Office and other Federal, state and local law enforcement authorities identified by this Office in any and all matters to which this Office deems cooperation relevant.
December 2, 2017: The NY Times reports on emails sent on December 29, 2016 by Senior Trump Transition Advisor K.T. McFarland coordinating transition team efforts to undermine the sanctions with the Russians. She sought to ease tensions with the Russians on who (in an email) she said “has just thrown the U.S.A. election to him [Trump].” The email, forwarded to other key transition team members, urged contacting the Russians to deescalate Russian response to the sanctions to prevent a tit-for-tat exchange that would prevent President Trump from improving Russian relations. Flynn would make those contacts and then lie to the FBI about them. In sworn testimony to Congress for her confirmation as Ambassador to Singapore, McFarland claimed she could not recall ever being involved with communications with Flynn about talking to Russians.
Also December 2, 2017: Trump tweets that he had to fire Flynn because he lied to the FBI.
The tweet suggests possible obstruction of justice if Trump knew Flynn lied when he pressured Comey to “let it go” regarding the investigation of Flynn the day after Trump fired Flynn. Put simply, Trump was pressuring the FBI to end an investigation of a man Trump knew had committed a felony.
December 3, 2017: In one of many such denials, Trump tweets a flat denial that he ever asked Comey to back off the Flynn investigation. He smears Comey and the media for lying about this.
denial would later be contradicted by his own attorney, Rudy Giuliani (see July 8, 2018 entry).
December 4, 2017: White House counsel Donald McGahn acknowledgestelling President Trump that Flynn told the same story to the FBI that he told to Pence and Spicer. Thus, Trump knew when he pressured Comey to drop the investigation that Flynn had lied to the FBI. Trump’s personal attorney John Dowd falsely claims it is impossible for the President of the United States to obstruct justice.
December 17, 2017: Asked directly if he is considering firing Robert Mueller Trump says “no, I’m not.”
December 20, 2017: White House lawyer Ty Cobb releases a statement saying that for five months the White House has persistently and emphatically said there is no consideration of firing Special Counsel (as Trump secretly tried to do in June).
December 23, 2017: Trump tweets these two not so veiled threats at Andrew McCabe, the Deputy Director of the FBI. At this time McCabe was scheduled to retire in March, but Trump would have him fired at the end of January (see below).
December 27, 2017: The Washington Post reports on plans by Trump Administration lawyers to attack the credibility of Michael Flynn, by branding him a liar, if he makes accusations getting to close to the President as part of his plea agreement deal to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. If so, this would awkwardly conflict with Trump’s repeated defenses of Flynn’s character describing him as a “wonderful man” treated unfairly by the “fake media” (see e.g. February 15 and March 31, 2017 entries above).
December 30, 2017: The New York Times reports that in May 2016 Trump Campaign advisor George Papadopoulos met in a London bar with an Australian diplomat and over drinks bragged that the Russians had thousands of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton that would be damaging to her campaign. Two months later those emails leaked on Wikileaks. The story suggests a source of evidence for Trump Campaign collusion with the Russians other than notorious Steele Dossier which Trump has repeatedly labeled as bogus. Simply put the FBI had other sources of information justifying their opening the investigation of the Trump Campaign.
January 2, 2018: In a day filled with bizarre and dishonest tweets, some of which themselves call into question Trump’s mental fitness to be President, Trump also Tweets a demand that the Department of Justice prosecute and jail former Clinton aide Huma Abedin and former FBI Director James Comey.
James Comey is a potential witness against Trump having accused him of demanding a loyalty pledge and urging Comey to drop the investigation of Flynn even though Trump knew Flynn was guilty. Trump’s demand that the Comey be jailed smacks of witness tampering/intimidation. The reference to right wing nut job “deep state” conspiracy theories is also a concerning comment on his mental fitness to be President.
January 3, 2018: The Guardian Reports that it obtained a copy of Michael Wolff’s upcoming book Fire and Fury that includes an interview with former Chief White House strategist Steve Bannon where Bannon describes the June 9, 2016 Kushner/Trump Jr., meeting with Russians as “unpatriotic” and “treasonous.” Bannon argues they should have contacted the FBI when the meeting was being arranged stating:
“The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor — with no lawyers. They didn’t have any lawyers.
Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.”
Even more significantly, Bannon also said there was “zero chance” that Kushner and Trump Jr., did not walk the Russians up to the next floor to meet Donald Trump. If Bannon is to be believed Trump met with those Russians on June 9, 2016 and Trump, his son and son-in-law have been lying about it since.
Later in the day Trump releases a statement blasting his former friend and Chief Strategist stating that when Bannon “was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” Trump belittled Bannon’s role in his campaign and his Presidency, saying Bannon “had very little to do with our historic victory and was rarely in one-on-one meetings with the President. He also said Bannon as Trump’s Chief Strategist “spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was.”
One thing Trump didn’t do was deny any of the specifics of what Bannon said to include that Kushner and Trump Jr., likely had the June 9, 2016 Russians meet the future President.
Contrast this with Trump’s parting comments about Bannon when he left the Administration in August.
January 4, 2018: Trump sends cease and desist letters to Steve Bannon, author Michael Wolff, and the publisher of his book and Henry Holt & Co., to stop publication of the book Fire and Fury: Inside The Trump White House. The letters also demand they issue an apology to President Trump for the supposedly untrue and defamatory comments in the book.
January 9, 2018: For weeks Trump and some Republican lawmakers (and conservative media such as Fox News) have claimed that the “fake” Steele Dossier prompted the FBI’s Russia investigation. The smearing of Fusion GPS, which funded the Steele’s research, led its representatives to beg that Congress release the full transcript of Fusion CEO Glenn Simpson’s August 22, 2017 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the matter. Senator Dianne Feinstein released a lightly redacted full transcript today stating:
“The American people deserve the opportunity to see what he said and judge for themselves. The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice.” — Senator Feinstein.
In the transcript Simpson recounts how Steele insisted on going to the FBI with his research because they feared Donald Trump was being blackmailed by the Russians. They viewed it as a national security issue and described the desire to tell the FBI as a matter of “citizenship” outside their contract to research (see generally linked transcript pp. 158–176). The possibility of a major American Presidential candidate being blackmailed by the Russians was obviously a huge concern. However, when Steele contacted the FBI he discovered they were already aware of the concern because the FBI had other intelligence about this matter from an “internal Trump campaign source.” The FBI believed Steele’s “information might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing and one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the Trump organization.” While Simpson did not reveal that human source during his testimony he did say it was someone other than one of Steele’s sources. CNN reports the “human source” was George Papadopoulos and his bragging in a bar to an Australian diplomat (See December 30, 2017 entry above). Simpson also said Steele severed his relationship sometime shortly after October 31, 2016 because “out of concern that he didn’t know what was happening inside the FBI and there was a concern that the FBI was being manipulated for political ends by the Trump people.” This concern was rooted in the announcement by Comey that the FBI was reopening the investigation against Clinton. For all of Trump’s allegations, the FBI was investigating potential Russia collusion before Steele went to him with his dossier. George Papadopoulos’ drunken bragging to an Australian diplomat was the trigger for the investigation.
January 16, 2018: Having accepted an invitation to voluntarily testify to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Steve Bannon attends the closed meeting and refuses to answer any relevant questions. The Committee then issued a subpoena converting the testimony from voluntary to compulsory. Under attorney advice Bannon continued to refuse to answer any relevant questions. Bannon’s attorney claimed he was refusing to answer under an order from the White House that one lawmaker described as a White House gag order. Bannon cited no specific privilege for his refusal to testify setting the stage for potential referral for criminal Contempt of Congress charges. Separately, Bannon acknowledged he has been served a different subpoena to testify to Special Prosecutor Mueller’s Russia investigation grand jury. The next day it is reported that Bannon has struck a deal with Mueller’s team whereby he will be voluntarily interviewed rather than testifying before a grand jury. This indicates that Bannon has agreed to cooperate with the Mueller investigation.
January 23, 2018: Many news sources report Mueller seeks to interview President Trump. Many believe this suggests the investigation is entering a final phase. There are rumors that the indicted Rick Gates is looking to cut a deal with Mueller. The Washington Post reports that in May 2017 Trump asked then newly appointed acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 election. McCabe answered that he did not vote but found the conversation “disturbing.” A week after this report Trump has McCabe fired (see below). Sarah Sanders did not deny that Trump asked the question but characterized it as just making small talk. Trump first denied asking the question before later saying it was a “very unimportant question.”
January 25, 2017: The NY Times Reports (and is quickly confirmed by numerous other media outlets include Fox News) that in June 2017 (see entry above) Trump tried to fire Mueller. Trump ordered White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller but backed down when McGahn refused and threatened to resign. Trump promptly dismissed the report as “Fake News” and “typical New York Times fake stories.” He said this even though every other major media outlet confirmed the story. As detailed above the report contradicts numerous prior statements by Trump has his spokespeople flat saying that President never considered firing Mueller.
January 29, 2017: Per CNN Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe is removed from office. He was scheduled to retire in March but uses accumulated leave time to leave early and still qualify for retirement. McCabe was long criticized by Trump (see entries above) because his wife took money from a PAC run by a friend of Hillary Clinton’s for her own political campaign for a state legislative seat in Virginia in 2015 and because McCabe may have been involved in some of the decisions related to starting the FBI’s Russia investigation. Also on this day, Trump refuses to impose Russia sanctions mandated by Congress (see July 27, 2017 entry above).
January 30, 2018: The House votes to release the “Nunes Memo.” The memo is a four paged classified partisan document put together by Republicans. It accuses the FBI of abusing FISA warrant procedures by using the Steele Memorandum to justify a warrant against Carter Page.
January 31, 2018: The FBI releases a report criticizing the “Nunes Memo” for “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” Both the FBI Director, Trump appointed Christopher Wray, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, had requested Trump not release it because of the precedent it would set for releasing classified information and because they claim it makes false attacks on the FBI. In December, when Rosenstein asked Trump to not release the memo Trump demanded to know where the investigation was going and asked are you “on my team?”
February 1, 2018: The New York Times reports Mueller is seeking to interview former White House Counsel Mark Corallo regarding conversations related to the Trump Team response to news leaking of the Kushner/Trump Jr, June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians offering to share dirt from Hillary Clinton’s emails. The initial response was a dishonest claim that the meeting was just to discuss the Russian adoption issue (see July 8, 2017 entry above). Corallo urged a more forthcoming response arguing the more indicting emails would come out (unknown to Team Trump the NY Times already had them). Hope Hicks allegedly responded that the emails “will never get out.” Corallo immediately feared this suggested obstruction of justice on Hicks’ part. He made contemporaneous notes and resigned less than two weeks later (see July 20, 2017 entry).
February 2, 2018: The Nunes Memo is released. Its primary allegation is that the FBI and DOJ used the Steele’s information as part of the basis to get FISA warrants against Carter Page without informing the court of Steele’s supposed political bias against Trump. The most significant note of the memo might be its acknowledgement that the FBI opened its investigation of the the Trump Campaign, not because of the Steele Dossier, but because it received word of the George Papadopoulos’ bragging to an Australian diplomat about getting hacked Clinton email dirt from Russians on behalf of the Trump Campaign. While the response by most to the memo’s release is a collective yawn, Trump treats it as definitive proof of his persecution declaring:
“I think it’s a disgrace. What’s going on in this country, I think it’s a disgrace. A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that.”
The Memo describes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as only having a minor role in the chain of approval for the Carter Page FISA warrant, but Trump nonetheless starts hinting the Memo may be a basis to fire Rosenstein. When asked if he would use the Memo to dismiss the top DOJ official overseeing the Russian investigation Trump responded “You figure that one out.”
In other news lawyers representing Manafort co-indictee Rick Gates file papers with the court withdrawing their representation.
February 3, 2018: In a development largely overshadowed by fallout from the Nunes Memo, K.T. McFarland, who coordinated Flynn’s response to suppress the Russian sanctions (that Flynn was later convicted for lying about), withdraws her name to be Ambassador to Singapore. [See December 29, 2016 and December 2, 2017 entries above]. While very actively involved in coordinating Flynn’s communications, in her sworn confirmation hearings she claimed she could not recall being doing so. This duplicity made the Senate unwilling to confirm her unless she submitted to additional questioning and she withdrew her nomination rather than face a new round of questions from the Senate.
The Washington Post, the New York Times and Adam Schiff (the ranking minority member on the House Intelligence Committee) all contradict the central allegation of the Nunes Memo. The central allegation was that the FBI and DOJ failed to inform the FISA court of Steele’s political motivations when seeking the warrant against Carter Page. WaPo reports that its sources make clear:
The Justice Department made “ample disclosure of relevant, material facts” to the court that revealed “the research was being paid for by a political entity.”
Similarly, Schiff states the Nunes Memo claim in this regard is “not accurate” and that the FISA court was advised that “the research was being paid for by a political entity.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray sends a letter to the rank and file that in part says
“Talk is cheap. The work you do is what will endure.
We speak through our work. One case at a time. One intelligence product at a time. One decision at a time . . . I’m determined to defend your integrity and professionalism every day.
Remember: keep calm and tackle hard.”
February 9, 2018: In a surprise move Trump refuses to release the Democratic Memo rebutting the Nunes Memo. The Democratic Memo had unanimously passed the House Intelligence Committee, but Trump claimed it compromised intelligence to release it.
February 16, 2018: Mueller’s grand jury returns indictments against 13 Russians and 3 Russian organizations for interfering in the American Presidential election. The indictment alleges the Defendants’ “operations included supporting the presidential campaign on then-candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaging Hillary Clinton.” The indictment also states the Defendants “communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign” without revealing they were Russians. The indictment alleges specific violations of FARA, wire and bank fraud, and identity theft (to allow them to pose as real Americans). One of the Russian social media accounts was Twitter account @Tenn-GOP which claimed to be the “Unofficial Twitter account of Tennessee Republicans.” Both Kellyanne Conway and Trump Jr. followed that Russia meddling account and retweeted from it. Trump Jr., retweeted from it at least three times (before Twitter suspended the account) to include retweeting Russian propaganda of voter fraud in Florida. The Russian organized pro-Trump efforts included campaign rallies on Trump’s behalf and creating fake accounts feigning to be enemies of Trump (such as one called “Blacktivist”) and making posts that served as a basis to attack Antifa and the left. Mueller also secured the conviction by guilty plea of a California man who helped the Russians steal identities.
February 18, 2018: Word breaks that Manafort former assistant and co-indictee Rick Gates will plead guilty and agree to testify against former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort. This would be the fourth conviction Mueller has secured in his investigation. Notwithstanding the convictions Trump, launches into a bizarre Twitter storm meltdown that includes exploiting the tragedy of the mass school shooting in Parkland Florida to tweet that the FBI should stop investigating him.
February 20, 2018: Mueller indicts Alex Van Der Zwaan, a lawyer who worked with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates on behalf of pro-Soviet interests in the Ukraine. The indictment charges Van Der Zwaan of lying to the FBI regarding communications he had with Gates and an unidentified “Person A” that included secretly recorded calls with Gates and Person A. The indictment also alleges Van Der Zwaan deleted emails sought by the Special Counsel. The communications at issue were in September 2016 just after Manafort left the Trump Campaign and while Gates was still with the Trump Campaign.
February 22, 2018: Mueller releases a new 32 count indictment against Manafort alleging and detailing additional counts of tax fraud, money laundering and bank fraud totaling tens of millions of dollars.
February 23, 2018: As widely anticipated Rick Gates strikes a plea agreement and pleads guilty to multiple counts for conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements. Manafort’s long term right hand man who stayed with the Trump Campaign and the administration after Manafort left. Gates agrees that a government drafted Statement of Criminal Information spells out facts and allegations that are true. The Criminal Information Gates stipulates to completely sells out Manafort as it details wide ranging schemes to defraud the United States, money launder, bank fraud and tax fraud. Gates admits to making false statements even after originally indicted in late October 2017 and the Criminal Information seems to indicate Manafort did too. The criminal enterprises detailed in the Criminal Information, and in the Superseding Indictment filed the day before, include many instances of these crimes being committed while Gates and Manafort were working for the Trump Campaign and while Gates was working in the Trump Administration. As is typical, the plea agreement requires that Gates “shall cooperate fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly with this Office and other Federal, state and local law enforcement authorities identified by this Office in any and all matters to which this Office deems cooperation relevant.”
Just a couple of hours after Rick Gates pleads guilty (see above) Mueller issues yet another superseding indictment against Manafort detailing additional allegations of money laundering, bank fraud and sponsoring foreign lobbyists without the required disclosures.
February 24, 2018: The heavily redacted “Schiff Memo,” the Democratic rebuttal to the Nunes Memo, is released. The Schiff Memo details numerous justifications for the FISA warrants on Carter Page unrelated to the Steele Dossier. It also notified the judge of Steele’s potential bias stating that the person hiring Steele was “likely looking for information that could be used to discredit” Trump. The Schiff Memo also points out that the FBI’s investigation of Carter Page started before the FBI received the Steele Memo and the FISA warrant was not requested until two months after Page stopped working for the Trump Campaign. The Schiff Memo states that in subsequent FISA warrant extensions the DOJ provided the judge “multiple independent sources that corroborated Steele’s reporting,” but the specifics of that are so redacted as to be worthless. Trump nonetheless has the hutzpah to claim the Schiff Memo vindicates him.
February 27, 2018: Jared Kushner’s top secret security clearance is revoked, downgraded to a lower level. The Washington Post reports at least four nations (including China) sought to manipulate Kushner via his “business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.” WaPo further reports that “H.R. McMaster, President Trump’s national security adviser, learned that Kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not coordinate through the National Security Council or officially report.” CNN Reports that Mueller’s investigation includes potentially compromising business relations Trump had with Russia during his campaign. In closed testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, Hope Hicks refuses to answer questions related to events after Trump became President, but does acknowledge telling “white lies” to the American people. For an example of some of Hicks lies see November 11, 2016 entry.
February 28, 2018: The day after admitting to telling “white lies” on behalf of the President, White House Communications Director Hope Hicks resigns.
March 3, 2018: The New Yorker publishes a wide ranging article providing detail into how Chris Steele did the work associated with his controversial dossier. The article also reports that Steele prepared a second dossier that asserted Trump rejected Mitt Romney for Secretary of State because the Russians made clear they didn’t want it to be Romney.
March 5, 2018: Former Trump Campaign aide and Roger Stone protege Sam Nunberg declares that he has received a subpoena from Mueller’s Grand Jury but that he will refuse to appear. Numberg goes so far as to declare “Let them arrest me.” Nunberg says the subpoena requests emails and any other correspondence related to Donald Trump, Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon, Michael Cohen, Corey Lewandowski and Roger Stone. Declaring the subpoena “ridiculous,” Nunberg tells MSNBC that “Trump may have done something during the election. I don’t know what it is.” In later interviews Nunberg would say he believes Mueller has something on Trump on issues related to Trump’s businesses. He also directly said he believes Carter Page colluded with Russians.
March 6, 2018: Trump finally acknowledges the Russians meddled in the 2016 election and pledges to stop it for the next election.
March 7, 2018: The New York Times Reports that Trump has been talking to witnesses interviewed by Mueller’s team about their testimony, acts which raise questions about witness tampering.
March 8, 2018: The Washington Post Reports that Mueller is gathering evidence that Erik Prince secretly met with Russians in the Seychelles islands around January 11 2017 (see entry above) as part of planned meeting to arrange a back door communications channel between Russia and the Trump Transition Team. This would conflict with testimony by Prince before the House Intelligence Committee that the meeting was coincidental and just discussed trivial matters over a few beers. Key information is provided by George Nader, a Lebanese business man who helped arrange the meeting and is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
March 9, 2018: The judge in Paul Manafort’s case orders him to be confined to his house and monitored by GPS bracelets. The judge states:
“The Defendant is a person of great wealth who has the financial means and international connections to flee and remain at large, as well as every incentive to do so. Specifically, given the nature of the charges against the defendant and the apparent weight of the evidence against him, defendant faces the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison”
March 12, 2018: Republicans running the House Intelligence Committee investigation ends its investigation declaring there is no evidence of collusion. Texas Republican Representative Mike Conway, leading the investigation states “We found no evidence of collusion, and so we found perhaps some bad judgment, inappropriate meetings . . . or just inadvertently being in the same building.” The Republicans defy the entire intelligence community, and the Mueller indictments, in stating that while the Russians sought to create chaos in our elections they did not seek specifically to favor Donald Trump.
March 13, 2018: Mere hours after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson strongly condemns Russia for a chemical attack on British soil, Trump fires him. In another demonstration of his characterless nature, Tillerson is advised of the firing by public tweet. Trump appoints CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the new Secretary of State.
March 15, 2018: Trump finally imposes some sanctions on Russia for meddling in the election, to include the Russians indicted by Mueller. The NY Times reports that Mueller has subpoenaed records from the Trump Organization related to Russia.
March 17, 2018: As Trump had frequently urged, the Department of Justice fires formers FBI Director Andrew McCabe just 26 hours before his retirement. McCabe had already been effectively fired by taking terminal leave (see above). The effect of the hurried firing was to deny McCabe any pension for his 21 years of service. Trump giddily tweets about the firing while again leveling allegations at the FBI’s leadership.
McCabe fires back with a strong statement describing his firing as part of a larger effort “to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals” as “part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation.” As discussed above, McCabe had committed the sin against Trump of backing James Comey’s accounts and attracted Trump’s ire because McCabe’s Democrat wife in 2015 accepted money for her unsuccessful Virginia state office legislature campaign from a PAC run by a close friend of Hillary Clinton. Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, took McCabe’s firing as an argument to fire Mueller stating, “I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier.” Dowd first says he made that statement officially, on behalf of Trump, but then later claims it was just a personal statement. It should be noted that both Comey and McCabe are potential witnesses in the Mueller investigation and that one interpretation of this is that Trump is attempting to intimidate them.
March 18, 2018: Shortly after receiving a list of questions from MuellerTrump launches a Twitter storm attacking the Mueller investigation, saying it should never have started and falsely claiming Mueller’s team are all “hardened Democrats.” Mueller himself is a life long Republican, as is Rosenstein who appointed him.
Other tweets continued to attack McCabe. Republicans in Congress begin expressing concern that Trump may fire Mueller. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says Trump’s doing so would “would be the beginning of the end of his presidency.” Also, The Washington Post reports that Trump required senior staff members to sign broad non-disclosure agreements, going so far as to extend past Trump’s term of Presidency, and stipulating liquidated damages of $10 million for each violation.
March 22, 2018: Trump’s lead attorney for the Russia investigation, John Dowd, resigns.
March 27, 2018: Mueller files a Sentencing Memorandum with the court for Van der Zwaan. This document details communications, some of which were recorded, between Gates, Manafort and a Russian intelligence agent. The Sentencing Memorandum said:
That Gates and Person A were directly communicating in September and October 2016 was pertinent to the investigation. Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agents assisting the Special Counsel’s Office assess that Person A has ties to Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016. During his first interview with the Special Counsel’s Office, van der Zwaan admitted that he knew of that connection, stating that Gates told him Person A was a former Russian Intelligence Officer with GRU.
It should be noted that while Manafort left the Trump Campaign the month before September 2016, Gates was still very much in it (as Deputy Campaign Manager) and remained part of the Trump Campaign and Trump Administration until Spring 2017. Thus, Trump’s Deputy Campaign Manager in the fall of 2016 was knowingly in cahoots with a Russian Intelligence Officer. As discussed above, Gates has already reached a plea agreement with Mueller and is fully cooperating with the investigation. The Washington Post describes this as Mueller drawing “his most direct line to date between the Trump campaign and Russia” yet.
March 28, 2018: The New York Times reports that Trump and his lawyers considered pardoning Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn as Mueller was building cases against both. The timing suggests the pardons may have been aimed at preventing Mueller from gaining leverage against Manafort and Flynn to compel their cooperation against Trump. Such a purpose would arguably be obstruction of justice.
April 2, 2018: Mueller’s team files a brief in response to a motion filed by Manafort to dismiss his indictment on grounds Mueller’s charges do not relate to the campaign and therefore were beyond the scope of his authority as Special Counsel. Of perhaps more interest is an attachment to that brief. The heavily redacted attachment is an August 2, 2017 previously secret memo from Rosenstein to Mueller further detailing the scope of his investigation. The non-redacted portion contributes to the brief because Rosenstein expressly states the following allegations related to Manafort were within the scope of Mueller’s investigation:
• Allegations that Paul Manafort:
o Committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election for President of the United States, in violation of United States law;
o Committed a crime or crimes arising out of payments he received from the Ukrainian government before and during the tenure of President Viktor Yanukovych.
That’s the comparatively small substantive portion un-redacted to support the specifics of this brief. Beyond that the brief itself states in footnote 3:
The August 2 Scope Memorandum is classified and contains confidential and sensitive law enforcement information that cannot be publicly disclosed. The portions of the memorandum quoted in the text are not classified. A copy of the memorandum, redacted to protect against the disclosure of classified and sensitive law enforcement information . . .
If you look at the memo you can see it states “The following allegations were within the scope of the investigation at the time of your appointment and are within the scope of the order.” After that is a LOT of redacted stuff. Only the comparatively small portion relating to Manafort is un-redacted. So there is a whole lot more there, with presumably many more specific names, and specific allegations, we do not know about, for which evidence existed supporting allegations that Mueller was authorized to investigate.
April 3, 2018: Dutch Attorney Alex van Der Zwaan is sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $20,000 for lying to Mueller’s team, attempting to conceal or destroy evidence, and assisting Manafort and Gates in their money laundering schemes. See February 20, 2018 entry above.
Also, The Washington Post reports Mueller has advised Trump’s attorneys that while Trump is not a “target” of the investigation that he is a “subject.” This means the investigators do not have a current intent to indict him but that the President is very much personally under investigation. The transition from subject to target can be a very short one. Mueller’s team also told Trump’s lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president’s actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice.
April 7, 2018: Sam Nunberg mentor, and former Trump Campaign Advisor Roger Stone, attempts to address his conflicting accounts about colluding with Russian agent Wikileaks while he was in the Trump Campaign. He melts down on CNN, claiming his prior statements were the ravings of man poisoned by . . . polonium. When asked if he will present medical records as evidence, he says the American people don’t care about his health issues.
April 9, 2018: The FBI executes a series of search warrants against the offices of Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen. While implicated in the Russia investigation, Cohen is best known for being the attorney who arranged the Hush Agreements and payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. The warrants were not directly obtained by Mueller’s team but rather by the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of NY on referral of information from Mueller. The search warrants were related to potential criminal conduct associated with the Stormy Daniels issue, and not necessarily the Russia investigation. Even though Mueller’s office did not seek or secure the search warrants, Trump declares the search warrants part of Mueller’s “witch hunt.” Trump called the search warrants a “disgraceful situation” and an “attack on our country.” He again attacked his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from an investigation that Sessions himself was a potential target of. When asked if he plans to fire Mueller Trump refuses to answer.
April 10, 2018: Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders states Trump has the legal authority to fire Mueller without going through Rosenstein. Equally significant, she said the Administration has researched the question. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges Facebook is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
April 13, 2018: McClatchy reports that Mueller’s team has evidence that Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen visited Prague in late August or early September 2016. If true, this would be of great significance for two reasons. First, it would corroborate a key part of the maligned “Steele Dossier” which said Cohen travelled to Prague to meet with Russians to coordinate their support for Trump’s campaign (and attacks on Hillary Clinton). Second, Cohen has flatly denied ever going to Prague and much of Trump’s debunking the Steele Dossier as discredited and fake hinges on Cohen’s never being there as fact.
April 20, 2018: The Democratic National Committee files a lawsuit against the Trump Campaign, numerous individuals associated with it, Russia and Wikileaks for colluding together to elect Trump by harming Clinton. READ THE LAWSUIT HERE. Read my summary of the lawsuit here. The lawsuit does a good job of laying out potential criminal statutes violated and the facts supporting such allegations.
Also on April 20: Somewhat redacted copies of Comey’s contemporary memosare released to the media. The memos show a President obsessed over leaks, the Steele Dossier pee-pee claims, and loyalty. At one point the President suggests the solution to leaks is “putting reporters in jail” to compel them to reveal sources. The president said: “They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk.” The President also told Comey he could not have been with prostitutes while in Russia for the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant because he didn’t spend the night there. The claim he did not spend the night in Russia is later proven false.
April 28, 2018: The Senate Judiciary Committee votes 14–7 to advance a bill designed prevent Trump from being able to fire Mueller. Four Republicans vote in favor of the bill. However, Senate Majority Leader McConnell has pledged to not allow the bill to come to the floor for a vote by the full Senate.
April 30, 2018: The New York Times publishes a list of questions Mueller wants to ask Trump. The questions quite clearly focus on potential obstruction of justice and Russia collusion.
May 1, 2018: Trump tweets regarding the NYT’s report listing questions Mueller wants to ask him.
I had no idea the NYT’s list was authentic until Trump himself “leaked” that fact with this tweet. Trump’s claim that the list had “no questions on Collusion” is a flat out lie. I count at least 14 questions related to possible collusion with Russia.
Trump also tweeted this gem.
For the record, that legal conclusion is flat out false. Obstruction of justice does not require any underlying crime.
CNN Reports the questions were not actually drafted by Mueller. Rather they were drafted by Trump’s attorneys after talking to Mueller with Mueller disclosing to them general areas of interest. Thus, the leak the President complains of would have to come from his side.
May 2, 2018: Trump again tweets about the list of questions published by the NYTs describing the obstruction of justice questions as a “setup & trap” that violate his Article 2 powers as President to fire anybody.
Giuliani also told Hannity that Trump fired Comey for reasons related directly to the Russia investigation. Giuliani said:
“He fired Comey because Comey would not, among other things, say that he wasn’t a target of the investigation. He’s entitled to that. Hillary Clinton got that, and he couldn’t get that. So he fired him, and he said, ‘I’m free of this guy.’”
May 16, 2018: The Senate Intelligence Committee releases a bipartisan statement concluding Russia attempted to intervene in the election on the side of Trump. Republican Senator and Chairman of the committee Richard Burr joins with Democrat Vice-Chairman Mark Warner to directly state “The Russian effort was extensive, sophisticated, and ordered by President Putin himself for the purpose of helping Donald Trump and hurting Hillary Clinton.” This bipartisan statement directly contradicts the House Intelligence Committee claim that Russians only sought to create chaos, without favoring one side or the other.
The Senate Intelligence Committee also released thousands of pages of Committee testimony from participants in the notorious June 9, 2016 meeting with Russians who had promised to provide dirty on Hillary Clinton. Most key elements of the testimony had already leaked, however an additional fact regarding Donald Trump Junior’s actions before and after the meeting prompted much speculation. Trump Junior called a phone with a blocked phone number immediately before and after the meeting. In his testimony he claimed to not remember who he called. The natural speculation is that he called and filled in his father, which would indicate President Trump’s early and on going involvement in efforts to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from Russians. Even when directly asked if he could remember if the call was, or was not, to his father Trump Junior claimed he could not remember. While Junior claims he does not remember who he called, it’s all but certain Mueller knows who those calls were to.
May 17, 2018: The Wall Street Journal reports Mueller secured a sixth conviction and another cooperating witness against Manafort. Jeffrey Yohai was a business associate of Manafort’s and until divorcing last year the husband to one of Manafort’s daughters. The Wall Street Journal Reports Yohai entered a guilty plea in January that remains under seal as he has been cooperating with the Mueller team since. The WSJ says Yohai plead guilty to a variety of bank and real estate fraud matters and that pursuant to his plea bargain is required to fully cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. If the WSJ report is true this would be the second close associate of Manafort to turn against him.
May 19 and 20, 2018: Donald Trump goes on an incredible weekend Twitter rant by even his standards. Over the course of nine paranoid and heavily delusional tweets Trump accuses the FBI of “infiltrating” his campaign, demanded the release of confidential sources, again randomly attacked Hillary Clinton, Andrew McCabe’s wife, the DNC, Podesta, used the term “witch hunt” four times and repeatedly made the false claim no collusion has been found. Trump concluded with a tweet demanding investigation of his investigators and stating that he would directly order this be done.
The rant was set off by news reports that an FBI informant met with members of Trump’s campaign, such as George Papadopoulos, and with Russians they were secretly meeting with. It was part of the FBI’s investigation of Trump Campaign contacts with Russians triggered by George Papadopoulos’ bragging to an Australian diplomat about how he was getting dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russians. Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein finesses the potential Constitutional crisis generated by Presidential meddling in DOJ investigation by referring the question to the DOJ Office of Inspector General.
June 2, 2018: The New York Times publishes a leaked letter sent by Trump’s attorneys to Special Prosecutor Mueller in January spelling out the President’s case and arguing why they think the President should not be interviewed by Mueller’s team. The stunning letter admits that the President “dictated” the deceptive letter issued immediately after news of Trump Jr’s June 9, 2016 meeting with Russians broke. This is in contradiction to numerous statements from Presidential attorney Jay Sekulow and White House Press Spokesperson Sarah Sanders who repeatedly denied the President’s involvement in preparing the letter. The letter also argued that it is Constitutionally impossible for the President to obstruct justice because as the Chief Executive that would amount to obstructing himself.
June 4, 2018: Government attorneys file a motion to revoke Paul Manafort’s bail on grounds he has used his freedom to attempt to illegally, and in violation of his bail condition, influence witnesses. The government argues this is part of a pattern of misconduct aimed at improperly influencing his trial by Manafort during his bail and that the only solution is incarceration.
June 8, 2018: Trump flees a G7 Summit meeting after a series of contentions conversations and tweets with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany and Great Britain. On his way out Trump argues the G7 should readmit Russia (kicked out of the then G8 after it invaded Crimea).
Also June 8, 2018: Mueller issues a new superseding indictment against Manafort adding a new name to the indictment list in Russian intelligence operative Konstantin Kilimnik. The indictment of Kilimnik brings the total indictments from Mueller’s “witch hunt” to 20, including five convictions. Manafort and Kilimnik are accused of what has become the usual array of charges associated with conspiracy to defraud the United States, FARA reporting violations, money laundering and tax evasion. However, the new indictment also charges Manafort and Kilimnik with obstruction of justice via witness tampering. In particular, they are charged with corruptly attempting to persuade two witnesses with intent to influence, delay or prevent testimony in violation of 18 USC 1512. This witness tampering is alleged to have occurred recently, in February and April of this year. These very serious alleged crimes were while Manafort was out on bail. They are the basis for the government motion to revoke his bail (June 4 entry above).
June 12, 2018: In the criminal case against one of the Russian shell companies involved in meddling in the election, Mueller files a Motion for a Protective Order against certain discovery. The motion states:
“Public or unauthorized disclosure of this case’s discovery would result in the release of information that would assist foreign intelligence services, particularly those of the Russian Federation, and other foreign actors in future operations against the United States . . . The substance of the government’s evidence identifies uncharged individuals and entities that the government believes are continuing to engage in interference operations like those charged in the present indictment.”
June 13, 2018: ABC News reports that Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has released his legal team and is expected to cooperate with the Mueller investigation.
June 15, 2018: The judge revokes Paul Manafort’s jail for attempted witness tampering. He is promptly removed from the courtroom by U.S. Marshals to the jail holding area.
July 3, 2018: The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence releases its assessment of the American intelligence community’s early January 2017 conclusions that the Russians meddled in the American election and did so with the intent to damage the Clinton Campaign and help the Trump Campaign. The SSCI basically endorses the conclusions of the intelligence community. They find the methods and procedures involved were transparent, debated internally, not subject to partisan interference and well founded.
July 8, 2018: Contradicting many prior denials by Trump (see e.g. December 3, 2017 entry) Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani says Trump did ask Comey to go easy on Michael Flynn.
July 13, 2018: Mueller releases Indictments against 12 Additional Russians. All 12 are members of the Russian GRU Units 26165 and 74455, both set up for this purpose of meddling in the American election. The indictment states:
The object of the conspiracy was to hack into the computers of U.S. persons and entities involved in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, steal documents from those computers, and stage releases of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Another purpose was even more nefarious. The Russian GRU agents attempted to hack state voter records. In the words of the indictment:
The object of the conspiracy was to hack into protected computers of persons and entities charged with the administration of the 2016 US. elections in order to access these computers and steal voter data and other information stored on these computers.
Both conspiracies succeeded. The hacks into Democratic and Hillary Campaign computers resulted in the theft of tens of thousands of emails and other documents that were then used in a weaponized manner to great effect against the Clinton Campaign. The indictment alleges the Russian GRU released the emails first through the GRU created fronts of “DCLeaks” and “Guccifer 2.0.”
The indictment alleges the Russian GRU, acting as Guccifer 2.0, funneled the stolen information for Wikileaks to release. Wikileaks at least knew the material was stolen, and volunteered to the Russian GRU that it would be better means of releasing the information than Guccifer. The indictment alleges Wikileaks and Guccifer coordinated the release to information to most damage the Clinton Campaign and thereby help the Trump Campaign.
As for the stealing of voter data, the indictment alleges the GRU successfully hacked at least one states stealing information on about 500,000 voters that included their, names, addresses, partial social security numbers, dates of birth, and drivers license numbers.
The indictment also states an unnamed candidate for Congress requested and received stolen information about his/her opponent from Guccifer. An indictment against this person seems likely.
This series of indictments comes closer to the Trump Campaign than many realize.
July 16, 2018: Trump has a summit with Russian President Putin in Helsinki. As he arrives the President of the United States takes to Twitter to trash the “foolishness and stupidity” of the United States, which he blames for the poor state of relations between the countries. In addition, on the first working day after Special Counsel Mueller indicted 12 Russian GRU agents for attacking the American election process, Trump communicates to Putin that the indictments were all just part of a “Witch Hunt.”
At a press conference following their meeting (see transcript), Trump more than doubles down on these themes. With a smiling Putin standing right next to him Trump describes the Mueller investigation, that just indicted 12 Russian GRU agents, as “a disaster for our country.” Trump was directly asked who he believed, Putin or his own Intelligence agencies, on the question of Russia interference in the 2016 election. This was the question:
REPORTER AP: President Trump you first. Just now President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. My first question for you sir is, who do you believe? My second question is would you now with the whole world watching tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you want him to never do it again?
In response to this Trump incoherently babbled about Hillary Clinton’s supposed 33,000 missing emails (there aren’t nearly that many missing, most were recovered from other servers), and repeatedly asked why the FBI did not seize the Democratic National Committee’s computer server (a private firm examined the server and gave the results to the FBI). Within this babble, the closest Trump came to answering the question was to side with Putin over America’s intelligence agencies.
Trump: My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me, and some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be . . . I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today and what he did is an incredible offer he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators, with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer.
Trump used the phrase “no collusion” three times in the press conference. His final words at the press conference were, “witch hunt.”
There was a moment of honesty in the press conference. Putin was asked whether he wanted Trump to win the election and whether he directed any of his officials to help Trump win. Putin responded, “Yes, I did.”
July 21, 2018: Frustratingly heavily redacted copies of the FISA warrant applications for Carter Page were released to the NY Times under the Freedom of Information Act. They show four different Republican appointed judges approved all four warrants and renewals issued. The FBI affidavits directly state the FBI believes Carter Page acted as an agent of the Russian government in “collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government” to “undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.” For more detail, read my article “Mining For Nuggets In The Carter Page FISA Warrant Applications.”
July 26, 2018: Michael Cohen claims Candidate Trump received advance notice of the notorious June 9, 2016 meeting (see that date above) with Russian agents to get dirt on Hillary Clinton because the Russians wanted to help the Trump Campaign.
July 31, 2018: The first trial of Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort begins on charges of bank fraud and tax evasion. Manafort’s attorneys indicate they plan to defend him by blaming Manafort’s underling, Rick Gates, for everything.
August 5, 2018: Following news reports that he is concerned his son may be in legal jeopardy for his role in the June 9, 2016 meeting (see above) Trump tweets that this meeting with Russians “was a meeting to get information on an opponent,” claiming such meetings are “totally legal.”
August 13, 2018: The prosecution rests its case in the first trial of Paul Manafort. In this final day, emails with Jared Kushner were entered into evidence. The emails establish that Manafort was still working with the Trump Team, months after supposedly leaving it, and months after Trump and his team knew that Manafort was under investigation for his illicit financial dealings with Russian spies. At issue is just good old fashioned bribery in exchange for political favors. Manafort “sold” to people he needed money from his recommendations for positions in the Trump Administration. Manafort supposedly left the Trump team in mid-August 2016 after newspaper reports of his shady dealings and investigation of it emerged. Over three months later, on November 30, 2016, Manafort emailed Jared Kushner recommending Federal Savings Bank chair Stephen Calk be appointed as Secretary of the Army. Calk had just given Manafort a $16 million loan from the bank that violated bank policy. Calk previously discussed with Manafort jobs he would like in the Trump Administration, listing 29 possible jobs, to include the Secretary of the Army job Manafort recommended him for. The bank lost almost $12 million on the loan. In response to the recommendation from Manafort, Kushner responded, “On it!” Calk would ultimately not receive the job.
August 14, 2018: Former high ranking Trump aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman appears on MSNBC and claims Trump had advance knowledge of Wikileaks releases of Clinton emails. She also claims Mueller’s team has talked to her. Her appearance is for the release of her book, Unhinged, wherein she details a number of scandals at Trump White House. She later releases tapes of her being fired by General Kelly, and a subsequent call with Trump where he claims to have not known anything about it.
August 15, 2018: Trump revokes the security clearance of Former CIA Director John Brennan. The move is widely seen as retribution for Brennan’s negative comments regarding Trump since leaving public service. Trump’s move is the first in a series of security clearances he is threatening to revoke to include Former FBI Director James Comey, Former National Security Director James Clapper, Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, and Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. As various annotations in this timeline indicate, many of these people are potential witnesses against Trump in the Russia collusion investigation and Trump’s application of this “enemies list” could be viewed as an effort to intimidate them. Over a dozen former high level intelligence chiefs sign a letter condemning Trump’s action as having nothing to do with national security and describing it as simply “an attempt to stifle free speech.”
August 16, 2018: Omarosa Manigault-Newman appears on MSNBC, again releasing a tape. This one of call between her and Lara Trump (Eric Trump’s wife). Lara offers Omarosa a $180,000/year job in the Trump 2020 Campaign in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement. Omarosa regards the offer as hush money and turns the offer down.
Also, Trump links his pulling the security of Former CIA Director John Brennan, and plans to revoke more, to the Russia investigation saying “I call it the rigged witch hunt, (it) is a sham. And these people led it!” Blowback from the action against Brennan is powerful. Retired Admiral William McRaven writes a strong letter condemning Trump’s “McCarthy-era tactics” and stating “I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.” McRaven commanded the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014 and orchestrated the SEAL raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Also, in a pair of tweets Trump blames former Deputy Attorney Bruce Ohr for giving the FBI the Steele Dossier. Trump claims Ohr’s wife, who does work for Fusion GPS, gave it to him, and he gave it to the FBI.
August 17, 2018 Trump states that he plans to “very quickly” revoke the security clearance for Bruce Ohr. Ohr’s only connection is that his wife is employed by Fusion GPS which hired Christopher Steele who did the “Steele Dossier.” Trump blames Bruce Ohr for supposedly giving the Steele Dossier to the FBI. Ohr’s job requires a security clearance.
August 18, 2018: The New York Times reports that White House Counsel Donald McGahn has been a cooperating witness in the Mueller investigation, partially because he feared Trump was setting him up as the fall guy for obstruction of justice charges. In June 2017 Trump ordered McGahn to fire Special Counsel Mueller, but McGahn refused (see entries above).
August 21, 2018: Paul Manafort is found guilty by a jury on eight counts of 18 against him. A mistrial was declared due to hung jury on the remaining ten charges. Manafort was found guilty of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of hiding foreign bank accounts.
Also, Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleads guilty as part of a plea bargain to 8 counts. Two of the counts include campaign financing violations related to hush money payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels. Cohen states the violations were made “in coordination with and at the direction of” President Trump. The Statement of Offense, that Cohen basically confesses to, details a stunning process of deliberate collusion between the Trump Campaign and AMI (the parent company of the National Enquirer) to suppress negative stories about Trump. Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, appears on MSNBC and strongly suggests Cohen has knowledge that Trump knew in advance, and encouraged Russian computer hacking. Davis suggests Cohen will be happy to discuss what he knows with Special Prosecutor Mueller. It should be noted that Cohen previously said that Trump knew of the Trump Tower meeting with Russians in advance and approved it (see July 26, 2018 entry above).
August 23, 2018: Trump attacks Jeff Sessions in an early morning interview with Fox News. Trump claims he only hired Sessions for his campaign loyalty, says Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation meant he did not take over and lead the agency he is in charge of, and says he wished he picked someone else to be Attorney General. Such attacks are not unusual, what is unusual is that this time Sessions fires back stating, “While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.”
Rudy Giuliani reveals that Trump asked about pardoning Manafort during the trial. Giuliani claims they talked the President out of it until at least after the election. This strange breach of attorney/client privileged information is widely seen as a signal to Manafort to stand firm so that the President can pardon him when it is more politically expedient to do so.
AMI President David Pecker (see above entry) is reported to have testified to investigators under a grant of immunity about his role in paying off women to silence them about their affairs with Trump. Pecker thus represents another close associate who turns on Trump. AP reports Pecker had a cache of “catch and kill” agreements for celebrities that Pecker used to influence and gain favors from them.
Cohen Attorney, Lanny Davis, continues to suggest his client has information that Trump knew in advance of Clinton email releases, and that Trump had advance knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting. However Davis repudiated the claim that that Cohen visited Prague in late August or early September of 2016 to collude with Russians (see April 13, 2018 above). That Cohen did so was a key charge in the Steele Dossier. If accepted as true, it would be the first specific discrediting of anything in the Steele Dossier.
The New York Times reports that attorneys for State of New York are investigating whether payments made by the Trump Organization to Karen McDougal violated state criminal law. It should be noted that Trump cannot pardon state convictions.
August 29, 2018: Less than two weeks after it is revealed White House Counsel Don McGahn has been cooperating with the Special Prosecutor (see August 18, 2918 entry above) Trump announces, by the dreaded termination tweet, that McGahn will be leaving after Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court.
August 31, 2018: George Papadopoulos files a “sentencing memorandum,” essentially a brief, seeking leniency because of the value of his cooperation to the FBI. He states that he told the FBI that in the March 31, 2016 National Security Meeting (see entry for that date above) that in regards to his suggestion that Trump meet with Putin during the campaign, Trump nodded in approval and Jeff Sessions “appeared to like the idea and stated the campaign should look into it.” This contradicts Sessions’ sworn testimony to Congress where he claimed to have pushed back on the idea. The sentencing memorandum also states that Papadopoulos told the FBI “he was unaware of anyone in the campaign knowing of the stolen Hillary Clinton emails prior to the emails being publicly released.” However, this was in the section of memorandum captioned “George Papadopoulos Lied to the FBI.”
Samuel Patten pleads guilty to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and enters into a full cooperation agreement with government investigators. Patten’s Statement of Offense details a scheme whereby he worked with Manafort protege Rick Gates, and a straw purchaser, to illegally funnel foreign money to then President-elect Trump’s Inauguration Committee. Patten also admits to lying in his testimony to Congress regarding these matters. The plea agreement was actually struck with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, but the issue was originally referred to them by Special Prosecutor Mueller’s office. Patten’s Statement of Offense expressly states that it does not include “all the facts known to the parties concerning the charged offense and covered conduct.” While the Statement of Offense suggests many more charges could have been brought, the plea agreement reduces it to a single count for the FARA violation. This suggests Patten has provided very useful information to the government that we don’t know about yet.
September 4, 2018: CNN and other media outlets report on shocking revelations from advance copies of Bob Woodward’s soon to be released book, “Fear: Trump in the White House.” The book quotes inner Trump aides as stealing documents from Trump’s desk to protect national security from his dangerous impulses, with General Kelley describing the Trump Presidency as “crazy town.” Trump attorneys are described as desperately attempting to convince him to not submit to an interview with Mueller because he could not do so without perjuring himself. To illustrate this to the President they engage in a mock interview with him, which he fails.
September 5, 2018: The New York Times publishes a stunning anonymous editorial from “a senior official in the Trump administration” entitled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration: I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” The editorial generally backs the allegations in Woodward’s book. The editorial claims “many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” It describes the President as amoral with impulses that are generally “anti-democratic.” The writer claims Trump’s instability led to “early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment” to remove the President, but they decided to work within rather than precipitate a Constitutional crisis. As if to confirm the allegations of the editorial that the President is unhinged, Trump responds by falsely tweeting that the author is guilty of treason.
September 7, 2018: George Papadopoulos is sentenced to 14 days in prison and a year of supervised release.
September 14, 2018: Manafort pleads guilty to two counts related to his second trial. Those counts are for Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice. The second of those is related to his efforts to tamper with witnesses while his trials were pending. In addition, Manafort stipulates that all the facts alleged by the government are true. The deal includes a cooperation agreement requiring Manafort’s cooperation in regards to whatever prosecutors want to ask about. Here’s a screenshot of part of the relevant material.
September 21, 2018: The New York Times reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested secretly taping President Trump to gather evidence of his instability so he could be removed under the provisions of the 25th Amendment. Rosenstein supposedly did this in the Spring of 2017 in the turmoil following Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. The Times also claims Rosenstein discussed with associates gathering support to remove Trump pursuant to the 25th Amendment. The Times notes that Rosenstein strongly denies the story. The report prompts immediate speculation that it could provide political cover for Trump to finally fire Rosenstein and replace him with someone who would terminate the Mueller investigation.
October 2, 2018: The New York Times reports on an extensive scheme of tax fraud used by Trump’s father, Trump, and his siblings in the 1990s. The report bursts Trump’s self made man story, reporting that his father funneled him over $400 million in current dollars, much of it through fraudulent tax schemes.
October 19, 2018: The Mueller team unseals a new indictment against a Russian named Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova. The 38 page criminal complaint details extensive Russian troll farm social media meddling efforts in both the 2016 and upcoming 2018 midterm elections. “Project Lakhta”, as the Russians called, employed hundreds of people, with a budget of tens of millions of dollars, that since 2014 operated with the stated goal “to spread distrust towards candidates for political office and the political system in general.” Khusyaynova acted as the Chief Accountant for the operation, paying those considerable bills. The depth, breadth and sophistication of the Russian troll farm efforts is detailed with dozens of examples of social media posts, memes, and often incredibly detailed instructions given employees on how to be most effective in advancing that stated purpose. This indictment does not seem to move the investigation closer to the team around Donald Trump.
November 6, 2018: In midterm elections Democrats take control of the House of Representatives pledging to use their new subpoena power to investigate the President. Obstruction of investigations by Devin Nunes will no longer be possible.
November 7, 2018: The day after midterm elections, Trump fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions’ resignation letter directly states “at your request, I am submitting my resignation.” Trump’s firing is largely seen as retribution against Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, thus allowing Rosenstein to appoint Special Counsel Mueller. Many harbor concerns the firing is a precursor for greater plans to fire Mueller, or an effort to appoint a new AG who will reign in the investigation. Trump appoints Matthew Whitaker as Acting Attorney General. In August 2017 Whitaker wrote an Op Ed for CNN endorsing Trump’s position on the scope of the Mueller investigation even using Trump’s favorite phrase, “witch hunt.” Whitaker stated:
The President is absolutely correct. Mueller has come up to a red line in the Russia 2016 election-meddling investigation that he is dangerously close to crossing . . . investigating Donald Trump’s finances or his family’s finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the Russian government or anyone else. That goes beyond the scope of the appointment of the special counsel . . . If he were to continue to investigate the financial relationships without a broadened scope in his appointment, then this would raise serious concerns that the special counsel’s investigation was a mere witch hunt.
Whitaker also tweeted, "Note to Trump's lawyer: Do not cooperate with Mueller lynch mob."
November 12, 2018: Roger Stone protege, and Birther conspiracy theorist,
Jerome Corsi, publicly states he has been advised by Mueller’s team that they plan to indict him. Corsi suggests he is the victim of a “perjury trap” from a Department of Justice “run by criminals.”
November 16, 2018: The government inadvertently leaks the existence of sealed criminal indictments against Wikileaks head Julian Assange. While the existence of such indictments is known, the indictments themselves remain under seal, so the specific charges remain unknown.
November 20, 2018: President Trump submits written answers to questions posed by the Mueller team. The questions and answers deal only with potential Russian collusion and not with obstruction of justice or other potential charges. The questions and answers are not immediately made public.
November 23, 2018: Roger Stone protege, Jerome Corsi, states that he is in plea bargain negotiations with Mueller’s Special Prosecutor Office.
November 26, 2018: A scheduled joint status report for Paul Manafort was expected to be routine. Instead it is a blockbuster. In the joint status report the government asserts Manfort has breached his plea agreement, and committed additional crimes, by lying to the FBI and the special counsel’s office on a variety of matters. The defendant’s part of the report denies those allegations claiming Manafort provided “truthful information.” Both sides agree there is no longer any reason to delay sentencing. As to what the government asserts Manafort lied about, and what evidence they have he lied, the joint status report does not say. However, the government does say it “will file a detailed sentencing submission to the Probation Department and the Court in advance of sentencing that sets forth the nature of the defendant’s crimes and lies, including those after signing the plea agreement.”
Also November 26, 2018: Jerome Corsi announces he will not sign a plea agreement with Mueller.
November 27, 2016: The Guardian reports that Paul Manafort secretly met with Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London around the time he joined the Trump Campaign. The March 2016 meeting was just a few months before Wikileaks first releases Clinton emails stolen by the Russian GRU. It is also revealed that Manafort’s attorney briefed Trump’s attorneys about questions from Mueller’s team and answers provided while Manafort was supposedly cooperating with the Special Counsel’s office.
Also November 27, 2016: Jerome Corsi claims Roger Stone contacted him earlier in the day with advance knowledge of the Access Hollywood Tape (see October 7, 2016 entry above), asking Corsi to contact Wikileaks to counter the story with another email leak. According to Corsi, Stone said, “You know this Billy (Bush) is going to be dropped and Assange better get going. Why don’t you get to your buddy Assange and tell him to start.” Corsi claims he could not do what Stone asked because he had no contacts to Assange. However, it is clear that Stone was seeking assistance to make happen exactly what did happen.
Also November 27, 2016: Jerome Corsi releases to the media a draft Statement of Offense prepared by Mueller’s team for him to sign as part of the plea bargain deal he rejected. The Statement of Offense sets forth facts evidencing collusion between Trump Campaign Advisor Roger Stone and Wikileaks, which in turn was getting the information from the Russian GRU. Further, it is clear Corsi and Stone knew the materials were stolen, or hacked. I have provided a translated version of the Statement of Offense.
November 28, 2016: CNN reports it has received insight into two answers Trump gave to Mueller’s questions on November 20th. Citing “two sources familiar with the matter” CNN says the President claimed he did not have advance knowledge of the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting and that Roger Stone never told him about Wikileaks. Knowingly false answers to the Special Prosecutor would be a felony. Trump did hedge that the answers were to the best of his recollection. Trump states that a pardon of Manafort is still under consideration. Trump says, it’s “not off the table. It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?”
November 29, 2018: Michael Cohen pleads guilty to telling Congress three lies in testimony Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow. The Criminal Information filed with the plea agreement details the lies as follows:
- Cohen lied when stating the project ended in January of 2016, before the Iowa caucuses, when in fact discussion for the project continued with the Russians into June 2016. Those discussions included Trump and undesignated family members of Trump.
- Cohen lied when he told Congress he never travelled to Russia regarding the potential deal and lied when he told Congress he never considered asking Trump to travel to Russia regarding the deal. In fact, Cohen agreed to travel to Russia in May 2016 to continue discussions related to the deal and took steps to plan for Trump to travel there too.
- Cohen lied when he told Congress he never recalled any Russian government response or contact regarding the Trump Tower Moscow project. In fact, Cohen knew he did receive responses from the press Secretary for the President of Russia and talked to others about those contacts.
The criminal information states Cohen:
“made the false statements to (1) minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual-1 (Trump) and (2) give the false impression that the Moscow Project ended before the Iowa caucus and the very first primary, in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.
The bolded part is important because it admits the lies were to obstruct the Russia investigation. That would constitute obstruction of justice and if Trump was involved with it conspiracy to obstruct justice.
In addition, it was also reported that one of the questions Mueller asked, and that Trump answered (see November 20, 2018 update above), was what conversations he had with Cohen regarding the Moscow Trump Tower project. If the President continued his previous public story, that the project ended in January 2016, then this would be felony false statements.
Trump responds by calling Cohen a “weak person” and liar who is lying to get a reduced sentence. Trump falsely claims “everybody knew about” the Trump Tower Moscow project because “it was very public” and “written about in all the newspapers.” That statement is a lie. The negotiations as they were done were kept secret. The existence of such project was not revealed until an August 27, 2017 report by the Washington Post (see entry that date above), almost a year after the election.
November 30, 2018: Cohen’s attorneys release a sentencing memorandum pleading for leniency. Much of the plea for leniency is based on Cohen acting with the full knowledge and direction of President Trump in his illegal conduct. There are even hints that Cohen’s false statements to Congress were coordinated with the Trump Administration.
December 3, 2018: Trump tweets commending Roger Stone for not cooperating with Mueller and attacking Michael Cohen for doing so. The tweets specifically urge that Cohen serve a “full and complete sentence” for his crimes. The tweets are seen by many as amounting to witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
December 4, 2018: Mueller releases a frustratingly heavily redacted sentencing memorandum for Michael Flynn. Technically it’s two documents. A sentencing memo, and a heavily redacted addendum. The addendum would have the real interesting information if we could see it, which we can’t. The major takes from what we can see are:
- Flynn’s assistance has been so helpful that Mueller recommends he receive no prison time. That is highly unusual and suggests an exceptional level of cooperation and value from the information provided by Flynn.
- Flynn’s assistance is for the Special Prosecutor’s Russia collusion investigation and at least two more criminal investigations that are completely redacted.
- Quote from an un-redacted portion of the addendum: “[Flynn] has also assisted the SCO investigation concerning links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign . . . on a range of issues including interactions between individuals of the Presidential Transition Team and Russia.” Redacted material follows this. This strongly suggests Russia collusion is still a central part of the investigation and part of the substantial assistance provided by Flynn.
- That so much was redacted suggests Mueller still has much information he has to protect in the interest of the ongoing multiple criminal investigations alluded to. This indicates the investigations could still be a long way from done.
December 7, 2018: The Department of Justice releases two sentencing memorandums for Michael Cohen. One from the Special Prosecutor’s Office and one from the SD of New York. You can read both here. They are both bad for the President.
Between the two, the one from the SCO is more generous for Cohen. While not being as direct as the one from the SDNY in accusing the President of crimes, it should nonetheless be chilling and concerning. The SCO is clearly thankful for the truthful and useful testimony provided by Cohen. It spells out four areas where he has been of particular assistance.
1. Information about Cohen’s “own contacts with Russian interests during the campaign and discussions with others in the course of making those contacts.” Cohen “provided information about attempts by other Russian nationals to reach the campaign” including one seeking a meeting with Trump that “could have a phenomenal impact not only in political but in a business dimension as well.” Russians were appealing to Trump politically, and with money, and he was listening.
2. Cohen provided “useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation that he obtained by his regular contact with Company executives during the campaign.” That means there are other witnesses that Mueller has certainly gone to. “Matters core to the investigation” is Russian collusion.
3. “Cohen provided relevant and useful information concerning his contacts with persons connected to the White House during the 2017 -2018 time period.” There are some very nervous employees, and perhaps former employees, of the President.
4. “Cohen described the circumstances of preparing and circulating his response to the congressional inquiries.” Put simply, this means Cohen explained who he coordinated his perjury with. Combine that with #3.
For all this the SCO is generous and recommends a lenient sentence that includes any time served and concurrent running of sentences.
The SDNY is less generous. They discuss the seriousness of Cohen’s crimes that include tax fraud, bank fraud and campaign finance violations, and his systematic efforts to conceal them. They recommend a substantial jail sentence only slightly below the guidelines.
The key statement occurs after detailing the campaign finance violations. The SDNY states, “as Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1 [Trump].” That is not from Cohen or his attorneys. That is a statement by the United States Attorneys Office asserting the President of the United States was a conspirator to commit felonious campaign financing fraud.
December 12, 2018: Trump former personal attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen is sentenced to three years in prison for bank fraud, tax evasion, lying to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project, and the campaign finance violations related to hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. He is directed to report to prison on March 6th. At the sentencing hearing , Cohen’s lawyers said he started cooperating because he feared Trump would stop the Mueller investigation. The attorney for the Mueller’s office told the judge that Cohen told the truth. Speaking for himself, Cohen strongly attacked Trump:
“I take full responsibility for each act that I pled guilty to, the personal ones to me and those involving the President of the United States of America . . . I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the fateful day that I accepted the offer to work for a famous real estate mogul whose business acumen I truly admired. In fact, I now know that there is little to be admired . . . it was my own weakness, and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light . . . I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than to listen to my own inner voice and my moral compass. My weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to Donald Trump . . . For months now the President of the United States, one of the most powerful men in the world, publicly mocks me, calling me a rat and a liar, and insists that the Court sentence me to the absolute maximum time in prison. Not only is this improper; it creates a false sense that the President can weigh in on the outcome of judicial proceedings that implicate him . . . history will not remember me as the villain of this story.”
Also December 12, 2018: The SDNY announces a prior settlement agreement with AMI, the parent company for the National Enquirer, which made the hush money payment to Karen McDougal. The government agreed to not prosecute in exchange for AMI’s cooperation. AMI states that it made the payment to McDougal with the:
“principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.”
AMI further states the payment was made “in concert” with “a candidate’s presidential campaign” in order to “ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 election.” The conspiracy started in August 2015 when Cohen, AMI President David Pecker, and “at least one other member of the campaign” met to arrange the plans to silence women reporting Trump sexual misconduct discovered by The National Enquirer.
This defeats a claim advanced by some in support of Trump that the payments to McDougal and Stormy Daniels were not necessarily to help the Trump Campaign, but to protect his business brand or shield his family from embarrassment.
December 13, 2018: As part of a plea agreement Russian spy Maria Butina pleads guilty to conspiring to secretly work as a Russian agent in the United States. The plea agreement and attached Statement of Offense detail how Butina worked with prominent Republican activist Paul Erickson to infiltrate high levels of a receptive National Rifle Association to establish “back channel communications” with high ranking Republican politicians and the Trump Administration. Butina answered to a Russian mobster billionaire oligarch named Alexander Torshin. Erickson assisted Butina in drafting a “Description of the Diplomacy Project” pitching the idea to Torshin of creating this back channel. Torshin approved and funded the project, which prior to Butina’s arrest, was quite successful in arranging meetings with important Republicans, to include members of Trump’s family. Erickson’s indictment is expected soon and others may be coming as well.
Also December 13, 2018: The Wall Street Journal reports that Donald Trump himself was the “at least one other member of the campaign” in the August 2015 meeting with Michael Cohen and AMI (the parent company to the National Enquirer) President David Pecker to set up the conspiracy to silence women who reported sex scandals about Trump. The WSJ states that Trump asked “What can you do to help my campaign?” as the meeting started. Pecker then offered that the National Enquirer would likely hear from women seeking to sell such stories and that when they were approached he would contact Cohen so they could arrange a way to silence the women until after the election.
Also December 13, 2018: The Wall Street Journal also reports the United States Attorneys Office for Manhattan is investigating the finances associated with Trump’s inauguration. WSJ reports the investigation “partly arises out of materials seized in the federal probe of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s business dealings.” The investigation focuses on whether “top donors gave money in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions, or to influence official administration positions.” You know, good old fashion bribery, one of the crimes listed in the Constitution as a basis for impeachment.
December 14, 2018: Cohen appeared on ABC in an interview with George Stephanopoulos. In addition to accusing Trump of acting with knowledge of the illegality of the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal payments, Cohen was directly asked if he believed Trump was telling the truth in the Russian investigation. Cohen directly answered “no,” without further elaboration.
December 17, 2018: Roger Stone reaches a settlement in a defamation case brought by Guo Wengui (also known as “Miles Kwok”), a Chinese billionaire living in exile in New York City. Stone had falsely claimed on InfoWars that Wengui had been convicted of financial crimes in the United States and had made illegal donations to the Hillary Clinton Campaign. In the settlement Stone apologizes for relying on fellow Trump Campaign Advisor Sam Nunberg in making the allegations. The settlement requires Stone to publicize the apology on InfoWars, Facebook, Instagram and as advertisements in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
Also December 17, 2018: On the eve of Michael Flynn’s sentencing hearing indictments are filed against two of his associates for FARA violations and lying about it. The indictment alleges the named defendants, Bijan Rafiekian and Kamil Alptekin, engaged in lobbying in the United States directed at extraditing a Turkish citizen, Fethullah Gulen, to Turkey. Turkish President Erdogan regards him as the leader of a failed coup attempt. Flynn is (identified as “Person A” in the indictment) and his company (identified as “Company A”). The indictment describes Flynn as writing an editorial on behalf of the Turkish government on election day. The indictment details the involvement of Flynn’s company, and his associates, as working with the government of Turkey to conceal their illegal lobbying efforts even after Flynn was serving as National Security Director.
Also December 17, 2018: The Washington Post releases a report prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee detailing Russian efforts to use social media to influence the election. The report details the efforts by Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA) that amongst other things says:
“What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party — and specifically Donald Trump. Trump is mentioned most in campaigns targeting conservatives and right-wing voters, where the messaging encouraged these groups to support his campaign. The main groups that could challenge Trump were then provided messaging that sought to confuse, distract and ultimately discourage members from voting.”
The report also concludes that after the election the Russian disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting Mueller and his investigation.
December 18, 2018: On the morning of Michael Flynn’s sentencing hearing President Trump again meddles in the judicial process by tweeting his support.
It doesn’t help. The sentencing hearing goes awful for Flynn. The judge gave no consideration to belated suggestions by Flynn’s attorneys hinting a prosecutorial misconduct. Flynn directly admitted that he lied and knew he was lying when he did it. The judge emphasized the seriousness of Flynn’s crimes and hinted that he was strongly considering prison time. He asked if Flynn could have been charged in the indictment filed the day before (see above) and would had significant exposure. The prosecution answered “yes.” At one point the judge launches a blistering attack against the highly decorated general:
“All along, you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the President of the United States. That undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably you sold your country out.”
It gets worse. The judge later twice asked if Flynn could have been charged with treason before walking those comments back.
The judge repeatedly suggested Flynn delay sentencing until his cooperation was complete. At first Flynn declined but the judge gave him a recess to talk it over with his attorneys. His attorneys, realizing the hearing, was a disaster wisely accepted the opportunity to put some distance between it and Flynn’s sentencing. The sentencing was delayed with a status report set for March. In my view the delay to wait for Flynn’s full cooperation could be quite lengthy. I expect Flynn may testify in several trials.
Also December 18, 2018: CNN releases a copy of the Trump Tower Moscow Letter of Intent signed personally by Donald Trump. Previously, Trump had suggested it was not signed by him but by Michael Cohen. On the Sunday before this Rudy Giuliani appeared on CNN and directly said:
“It was a real estate project. There was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it.”
When confronted with the signed letter Giuliani engaged in what has become the typical Trump administration gas lighting of the American people. Giuliani denied that he had ever said the letter was not signed. “I don’t think I said nobody signed it” declared Giuliani. Giuliani’s lies could subject him to disciplinary action from the State Bar.
In the course of representing a client, a lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of fact or law to a third person.” — New York Rule of Professional Conduct 4.1.
December 27, 2018: The McClatchy Report claims Mueller has electronic evidence that Michael Cohen’s cell phone was detected in Prague in late August or early September of 2016. McClatchy also claims four sources advising that an unstated Eastern European intelligence agency intercepted calls between Russian leaders during this period describing Cohen meeting with them in Prague. This is the second time McClatchy has reported claims Mueller has proof placing Cohen in Prague (see April 13, 2018 entry above), but this report provides much more detail regarding the nature and sources of the alleged proof. If true, a trip by Cohen to Prague would be a major corroboration of the Steele Dossier which first asserted this happened. Cohen took to Twitter to deny the McClatchy Report while still coyly saying “Mueller knows everything.”
It should be noted that Mueller’s team informed the judge at Cohen’s sentencing that he has been truthful and helpful.
December 29, 2018: Time Magazine reports Paul Manafort was heavily indebted to Russian spy/oligarch Victor Boyarkin and that Boyarkin was essentially blackmailing Manafort for access to Trump and for American policy changes while Manafort was serving as Trump Campaign Chairman. Time quotes Boyarkin as saying, “He owed us a lot of money and he was offering ways to pay it back.” It should be noted that Manafort was instrumental in eliminating anti-Russian provisions from the Republican Party platform at the Republican National Convention (see July 11 and 12, 2016 entry above).
January 4, 2019: Mueller’s grand jury receives a six month extension to its original 18 month charter that was about to expire.
January 8, 2018: In another bizarre twist Manafort’s attorneys filed under seal their rebuttal to government claims Manafort lied while he was supposed to be a cooperating witness. However, the judge ordered his attorneys to post a redacted version publicly. They did, and that’s when things got weird. This is it. While you can’t see the redacted text, it was somehow electronically preserved. You can copy and then paste the redacted portions into a different document. I copied it all, redactions included, and now un-redacted, for you to see. There’s some interesting stuff in the stuff you weren’t supposed to see, and one ginormous collusion bombshell.
That bombshell occurs in regards to conversations Manafort, as Chairman of Trump’s Campaign, had with Konstantin Kilimnik. Kilimnik is a Russian spy. He has already been indicted by Mueller as a co-conspirator with Manafort in conspiracies to defraud the United States, FARA reporting violations, money laundering, bank and wire transfer fraud and tax evasion and witness tampering while Manafort was on bail. Manafort employed Kilimnik in his company to lobby for pro-Russian candidates in the Ukraine.
Manafort’s brief claims he didn’t intentionally lie to the government, but that he was often asked questions about conversations from years ago, when he was very busy being a presidential campaign manager, and involved in many communications. This included secret talks Manafort had with Kilimnik regarding a Ukraine peace plan. Mueller asserts Manafort lied about those discussions. In a redacted portion Manafort’s brief says:
“In fact, during a proffer meeting held with the Special Counsel on September 11, 2018, Mr. Manafort explained to the Government attorneys and investigators that he would have given the Ukrainian peace plan more thought, had the issue not been raised during the period he was engaged with work related to the presidential campaign. Issues and communications related to Ukrainian political events simply were not at the forefront of Mr. Manafort’s mind during the period at issue and it is not surprising at all that Mr. Manafort was unable to recall specific details prior to having his recollection refreshed. The same is true with regard to the Government’s allegation that Mr. Manafort lied about sharing polling data with Mr. Kilimnik related to the 2016 presidential campaign.”
Notably, Mueller likely insisted this be redacted because he didn’t want Trump to know he knew about it yet. Mueller did not want out that he had such strong evidence of collusion.
To summarize. The Russians were meddling in the election via both a disinformation campaign on social media and hacking Clinton/DNC emails to release in a weaponized fashion with the intention of helping the Trump Campaign. That’s not really even disputed now. Trump’s Campaign manager was working with the Russians, by providing them campaign polling data. This assisted the Russian efforts in targeting their social media campaign and timing the release of emails.
Also January 8, 2019: Natayla Veselnitskaya is indicted on obstruction of justice charges, in a case unrelated to Mueller’s investigation, involving allegations of money laundering against various Russians. She is accused presenting to the court an exculpatory document that she falsely represented as independently made. In fact, Veselnitskaya herself was involved in the drafting documents, working with the Russian prosecutor’s office to do so. Natayla Veselnitskaya is the Russian “lawyer” who secretly met with Trump Junior, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on June 9, 2016. While the case for which she is indicted is unrelated to that, the indictment spells out Natayla Veselnitskaya’s strong connections to the Russian government, something she previously denied having. The indictment alleges facts supporting the contention that Trump Junior, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort were secretly meeting with agents of the Russian government, and not just private citizens, as originally maintained.
January 11, 2019: The New York Times reports that in mid-2017 the FBI began a counterintelligence and criminal investigation into whether actions by President Trump suggested he was “working on behalf of Russia against American interests.” The article states that “counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security.” The investigation also included whether Trump’s firing of Comey was to impede the Russia investigation and thereby constitute obstruction of justice. The obstruction investigation was merged into the on going counterintelligence investigation.
January 12, 2019: The Washington Post reports that in a departure from the practices of prior Presidents, Trump has a pattern of going through extraordinary means to conceal details of his conversations with Putin. As a result, there is no detailed record, even in classified files, of Trump’s multiple interactions with Putin.
January 15, 2019: Mueller files a heavily redacted listing of lies his office asserts Manafort told when he was supposed to be cooperating. It also itemizes the evidence supporting claims of lies. Unfortunately the document’s extensive redactions make it almost incomprehensible, however, a couple of notable items are discernible.
First, Manafort’s misconduct included the period while he was Trump’s Campaign Manager. One part of the filing states “in the summer of 2016 Manafort had been instrumental in setting up the [redacted] and having [redacted] run it.” More partially redacted sentences continue, that while difficult to read, suggest a $19 million payment to someone for something was involved. Another section discusses conversations Manafort had in with Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik that started early August 2016. That part reads, “Beginning on August 2, 2016, and continuing until March 2018, Manafort and Kilimnik communicated about a [large sections of redaction].” While the redactions conceal the nature of these communications it is revealed that some were “in person.” Manafort officially worked for the Trump Campaign starting in March 2016, and promoted to Campaign Manager on June 20, 2016, serving in that capacity until August 19, 2016.
However, Mueller’s filing also makes clear Manafort was still working with the campaign and administration well after that. Per the filing “on May 26, 2018, [redacted] texted Manafort and asked him: “If I see POTUS one on one next week am I ok to remind him of our relationship?” Manafort responded to the text, “[y]es” and “[e]ven if not one on one." Manafort still had considerable influence in the administration into 2018. The government asserts, “In addition to this documentary evidence, Gates has told the government in debriefings that in approximately January 2017, Manafort told Gates that he was using intermediaries, including [redacted] to get people appointed in the Administration. Manafort said he was talking to [several lines redacted] up through approximately February 2018 (the time of Gates’ guilty plea).” Notably, Trump has tried to wash his hands of Manafort, claiming he only worked for him for a few months. In fact, Manafort was still working with the Trump administration, apparently to include influencing appointments, into 2018.
In this large section regarding “Manafort’s Contact With The Administration.” There are some large blocks of redacted testimony here, and I suspect some of it involves specific allegations of Manafort coordinating his lies to the grand jury with specific members of the administration. There is reference to a Word document where Manafort was discussing his grand jury testimony with someone in the administration. If so, witness tampering and subordination of perjury charges against members of the administration could follow.
January 16, 2019: Trump’s “attorney” Rudy Giuliani appears on CNN and basically says the Trump Campaign may have colluded with Russia but Trump didn’t. It has degenerated to the last line of defense. Giuliani went so far as to say, “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or people in the campaign. I said the President of the United States. There is not a single bit of evidence the President of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspiring with the Russians to hack the DNC.” That is not the only crime that can be committed here, but still this admission is incredible. This admission somehow didn’t prevent Giuliani from calling the investigation a “witch hunt” in the same interview. Giuliani’s remarkable defense for Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort sharing campaign polling data with Russian spies was: 1) That such polling data given to everyone anyway (which is not true, campaign polling data is some of the most highly kept secrets of campaigns), and 2) Everybody knows campaign polling data is very inaccurate, so what does it matter?
January 17, 2019: BuzzFeed reports that Donald Trump personally directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project. Per the report, Mueller already knew about Trump’s subornation of perjury from other sources and Cohen merely corroborated it when he began cooperating. This is not a case of just Trump’s word vs. Cohen’s. However, later that night Mueller’s spokesman issues a rare repudiation of the BuzzFeed story. The Mueller release states, “BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not accurate.” So far, BuzzFeed is standing by their story, claiming their sources are close to the investigation and solid. However, no other news media has been able to confirm or corroborate BuzzFeed’s claim.
January 20, 2019: Ace Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani breaches attorney/client privilege to tell the New York Times that Trump told him Trump Tower Moscow discussions were “going on from the day I announced to the day I won.” Extending the timeline of discussion through the election has startling implications. In the words of the NY Times:
“The new timetable means that Mr. Trump was seeking a deal at the time he was calling for an end to economic sanctions against Russia imposed by the Obama administration. He was seeking a deal when he gave interviews questioning the legitimacy of NATO, a favorite talking point of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. And he was seeking a deal when, in July 2016, he called on Russia to release hacked Democratic emails that Mr. Putin’s government was rumored at the time to have stolen.”
It also means Trump continued negotiating with the Russians for the business deal well after he started receiving classified briefings from American intelligence agencies about the Russian election meddling efforts.
In other Sunday morning news circuit interviews, Giuliani also said that Trump may have talked to Cohen about his testimony to Congress, but claimed that would not break any laws.
EDIT AND NOTE: I shall continue to update this timeline as events unfold. Check back for the latest.
Link to Chapter 1 of the Timeline (2007 — 2016): www.dailykos.com/…