The Russia investigation timeline
By Katie Ross Dominick, Julia Burnham, Nicole Sganga and Brittany Knotts
November 2013
The Miss Universe pageant is held in Moscow. "The event's location was secured thanks to licensing fees of nearly $20 million paid by a Moscow real estate development firm called the Crocus Group. Its president is a man named Aras Agalarov," the Washington Post reported.
Shortly after the pageant, Trump tweets his enthusiasm about working with Agalarov on a real estate development, "I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next. EMIN was WOW!"
Agalarov's son, Emin, is a vice president of Crocus Group - and a pop singer. Later that month, Emin Agalarov released a new music video starring Donald Trump. Emin Agalarov's publicist in the United States is a man named Rob Goldstone."
August 2014
Lt.-Gen. Michael Flynn is forced out by the Obama Administration as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
March 2015
Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of State is made public. Clinton says that she turned over work-related emails to the government for archiving but that emails on the private server were deleted.
June 16, 2015
Donald Trump announces he will run for president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
December 2015
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.) is photographed at a gala in Moscow sitting next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
February 2016
Flynn begins advising the Trump campaign.
March 2016
Paul Manafort and Carter Page join the Trump campaign. George Papadopolous also joins.
March 14, 2016
In Italy, Papadopolous meets with a professor who has links to the Kremlin.
March 19, 2016
Clinton campaign chief John Podesta receives a phishing email asking him to change his password. Investigators believe this is how hackers gained access to his account.
March 24, 2016
Papadopolous meets with the professor and a woman claiming to be "Putin's niece" during in London (she is in fact not related to Putin). Papadopolous informs a "Campaign Supervisor" and other Trump associates that they are trying to arrange a meeting between Putin and then-candidate Trump.
March 31, 2016
Papadopolous tells participants at a campaign national security meeting that he can set up a meeting between Putin and Mr. Trump via his contacts. Mr. Trump tweets out a picture from the meeting.
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016https://t.co/aANxirUJJD pic.twitter.com/VlMynYN3sd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2016
April 27, 2016
Candidate Donald Trump gives foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C. and briefly encounters Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in a receiving line where they "exchange pleasantries."
Papadopolous emails a "high-ranking campaign official" to say that Putin would like to meet Trump. Papadopolous has now made contact with an official at Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) through the professor.
May 2016
Paul Manafort is given the title of Trump campaign chairman.
May 1, 2016
The MFA official emails Papadopolous: "I have just talked to my colleagues from the MFA. The[y] are open for cooperation. One of the options is to make a meeting for you at the North America Desk, if you are in Moscow."
Papadopoulos forwards this to Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who doesn't reply. Papadopoulos then sends it to a "campaign supervisor" who says "[t]here are legal issues we need to mitigate, meeting with foreign officials as a private citizen."
May 21, 2016
Papadopoulos emails another campaign official to say "Russia has been eager to meet Mr. Trump for quite sometime and have been reaching out to me to discuss." The campaign official forwards the email to another campaign aide to say that a "low level" staffer should "communicate that [Mr. Trump] will not be doing these trips."
June 3-7, 2016
Music promoter Rob Goldstone emails Donald Trump Jr. about setting up a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya to discuss potentially damaging information to Hillary Clinton.
June 9, 2016
Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner meet with the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower.
June 14, 2016
The Democratic National Committee publicly reveals that Russian hackers had broken into the party's servers and accessed emails and opposition research. The cyber-security firm Crowdstrike, which investigated the incident, said it began with Russian-backed hackers they nicked named Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear.
The hackers then passed the information along to WikiLeaks and others to make public. An FBI agent said that they noticed the suspicious event earlier in the year, but calls to the DNC were ignored.
June 20, 2016
Corey Lewandowski is fired as campaign manager, and Paul Manafort takes over his duties.
July 2016
The FBI's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election begins.
July 5, 2016
FBI director James Comey holds a presser saying that their investigation did not find any criminal wrongdoing with Hillary Clinton and her personal email server.
July 8, 2016
Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, speaks at a graduation ceremony at the New Economy School in Moscow.
July 21, 2016
Trump formally accepts the Republican nomination for president on the last day of the convention.
July 22-23, 2016
WikiLeaks publishes over 19,000 emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. They go on to release more than 60,000 documents. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigns after some of the emails appear to show her favoring Clinton over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, reopening political wounds between the two factions.
July 27, 2016
In what would be his last press conference before Election Day, Trump urges Russian intelligence agencies to find emails Clinton deleted from the private server she used during her tenure as secretary of state. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," he said. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."
In a subsequent tweet, he also calls on Russia to share any Clinton emails it finds with the FBI.
August 19, 2016
Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort resigns after reports surface that he had ties to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.
August 21, 2016
Trump confidant Roger Stone tweets, "Trust me, it will soon be Podesta's time in the barrel."
September 8, 2016
Sessions privately meets Kislyak at Sessions' Senate office in the presence of his Senate staff. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 6, 2017, Sessions told lawmakers he "[does] not recall any discussions with the Russian Ambassador, or any other representative of the Russian government, regarding the political campaign on these occasions or any other occasion."
September 26, 2016
Carter Page tells the Washington Post that he's taking a leave of absence from the Trump campaign. He never returns.
October 7, 2016
WikiLeaks begins publishing Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta's emails. On the same day, the Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence publicly accuse Russia of carrying out cyber-attacks.
October 28, 2016
FBI Director Comey sends a letter to Congress to inform them that there is a new batch of emails related to Hillary Clinton's personal email server that the department was investigating.
November 6, 2016
FBI Director Comey says that there is nothing in the new emails that changed the conclusion that they reached in July about Hillary Clinton's emails.
November 8, 2016
According to The New York Times, the Trump campaign becomes "aware of a problem with Mr. Flynn's business dealings" after Flynn writes an op-ed for The Hill talking about improved relations for Turkey and the United States.
Donald Trump is elected president.
November 2016
Shortly after a November 11 Daily Caller report revealed the Flynn Intel Group had been hired by Inovo, Trump campaign lawyer William McGinley held a conference call with members of the Flynn Intel Group, the New York Times reports. McGinley sought more information about the nature of Flynn's work and wanted to know if Flynn had been paid to write the op-ed.
Inovo was founded by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin. Alptekin is an ally of Turkish President Erdogan, and is director of the Turkey-U.S. Business Council, a non-profit arm of Turkey's Foreign Economic Relations Board.
November 10, 2016
President Obama meets with President-elect Trump. CBS News later learns that President Obama warned President-elect Trump about hiring Flynn during this meeting based on his experiences with Flynn as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
According to three officials familiar with the conversation, President Obama told Mr. Trump to watch out for Flynn and warned that he was potentially bad news. Those close to President-elect Trump said he wasn't sure what to make of the warning and some even feared that the advice was given with ulterior motives.
November 18, 2016
President-elect Trump announces that Flynn has accepted the position as his national security adviser.
NOVEMBER 30, 2016
According to the New York Times, the Department of Justice notifies Flynn that it is looking in to his lobbying efforts.
December 1-2, 2016
Flynn and Kushner meet with Kislyak at Trump Tower. Kushner proposes establishing a "back-channel" of communication between the administration and Putin. FBI investigators are investigating whether Russians may have suggested to Kushner or other Trump aides that relaxing economic sanctions would allow Russian banks to offer financing to people with ties to Trump. One source close to Kushner says the only focus of the back-channel was Syria.
December 8, 2016
Carter Page visits Moscow to meet with "business leaders and thought leaders."
December 9, 2016
President Obama orders U.S. intelligence agencies to provide him with a report on Russian interference during the election by January 20.
Mid-December, 2016
At the suggestion of Kislyak, Kushner meets with Sergey Gorkov, chairman of Russia's government-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB) and a close ally of Putin. VEB is under U.S. sanctions. Additionally, Kislyak asked for a second meeting to "deliver a message." According to now-White House communications director Hope Hicks, Kushner sent Avrahm Berkowitz, a White House aide and longtime associate in his place. At that session, Kislyak told Berkowitz that he wanted Kushner to meet Gorkov, the Russian banker.
December 25, 2016
Flynn texts Kislyak to wish him a Merry Christmas.
December 29, 2016
President Obama announces sanctions against Russia and expels 35 Russian diplomats – a penalty for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
Flynn reportedly calls Kislyak five times. Topics of discussion include U.S. sanctions of Russia, officials say.
December 30, 2016
In a tweet, Trump praises Putin's "great move" not to react in kind to the new sanctions.
January 4, 2017
According to the New York Times, Flynn notifies White House Counsel Don McGahn that federal investigators are looking in to his lobbying efforts. Flynn's lawyer follows up with a call to McGahn but does not talk to him until two days later. By this time the Justice Department was investigating the issue.
January 6, 2017
According to the New York Times, Flynn's lawyer talks with White House transition lawyers. By this time the FBI is starting to look in to calls that Flynn had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
January 6, 2017
The U.S. intelligence community releases an unclassified report on Russian meddling in the election. Both President Obama and President-elect Trump are briefed on the report. They are both also briefed on a 35-page dossier compiled by former British spy, Christopher Steele, that alleges the Kremlin had compromising information on President-elect Trump.
January 10, 2017
FBI Director Comey testifies before a Senate committee that Russian hackers also attempted to access Republican National Committee databases, but they only reached an old account.
Buzzfeed publishes the 35-page Christopher Steele dossier.
January 11, 2017
President-elect Trump denies the information in the dossier during a press conference.
January 12, 2017
The Department of Justice Inspector General launches an investigation in to how FBI Director Comey handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
January 15, 2017
Vice President-elect Mike Pence appears on CBS News' Face the Nation and defends Flynn, saying that Flynn did not discuss sanctions with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.
January 20, 2017
Donald Trump is sworn in to office as the 45th president of the United States. CBS News also reports that day that U.S. investigators are looking at the business ties between some Trump associates and Russia and that they are tracking the finances of some of the hackers linked to the Russian cyber-attacks on U.S. political organizations.
Evidence collected includes information from human sources as well as electronic communications. One name that investigators tell CBS News that continues to surface is former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort continues to deny any wrongdoing.
January 22, 2017
During a law enforcement reception with law enforcement at the White House, President Trump shakes hands with FBI Director Comey and jokes that Comey has "become more famous than me."
January 26, 2017
Acting Attorney General Sally Yates tells White House Counsel Donald McGahn that U.S. intelligence had intercepted some phone calls of Flynn with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak where he discussed sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration, despite Flynn's denials. Yates also tells McGahn that Flynn was compromised and vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
The president was informed immediately, but the vice president did not become aware for another 2 weeks when other White House officials were briefed.
January 27, 2017
Yates is called back to the White House for a second meeting with McGahn where they discussed the possibility of criminal charges. He also requested access to the evidence on Flynn. Yates told McGahn that she would work with the FBI on that request over the weekend.
FBI Director James Comey is invited to the White House to have dinner with President Trump. It's during this dinner that Trump reportedly asks Comey for his loyalty. Comey tells the president that he'll always have his honesty.
Papadopoulos is interviewed by the FBI, and misleads agents about his relationship with the professor and his knowledge of Russian "dirt" being offered on Clinton during the campaign.
January 28, 2017
Russian President Vladimir Putin calls President Trump in the Oval Office. Flynn sits in on the call along with chief of staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence and then-press secretary Sean Spicer.
January 30, 2017
Acting Attorney General Yates notifies White House Counsel Don McGahn that he has been granted access to the evidence that has been collected on Flynn, but Yates is fired by President Trump that evening for not defending Mr. Trump's travel ban. She later testified that she did not know if McGahn or anyone at the White House viewed the evidence on Flynn.
February 9, 2017
Investigators learn that Flynn did discuss U.S. sanctions on the phone with Russian Ambassador Kislyak, despite the vice president's public denial on CBS News' "Face the Nation." A source close to the vice president tells CBS News that the vice president's statement was based on what Flynn personally told him.
February 13, 2017
Flynn resigns as national security adviser.
Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page denies he was in regular contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign in a 37-page memo. The letter is dated February 12.
February 14, 2017
In a private meeting in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump asks FBI Director Comey to end the investigation into Flynn. Comey documented the meeting in a memo.
Trump said to Comey in the meeting, "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go." He adds, "He is a good guy, I hope you can let this go." Comey responds and agrees that Flynn "is a good guy."
February 16, 2017
President Trump holds a press conference and again denies any ties to Russia by either him or campaign staffers.
Papadopoulos is again interviewed by the FBI.
March 2, 2017
Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuses himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election and reveals that he did meet with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.
March 3, 2017
In an interview with CBS News, longtime Trump friend and former campaign adviser Roger Stone denies that he had any interaction with Russians during the campaign.
March 4, 2017
On Twitter, President Trump accuses President Obama of having Trump Tower wiretapped:
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
The president follows-up that initial accusation with a series of tweets.
March 6, 2017
Law enforcement sources tell CBS New that FBI Director Comey was angered by the President's Twitter posts and asked the Department of Justice to refute the claims, but the Department did not act.
March 7, 2017
Flynn's lawyers file paperwork with the Justice Department retroactively registering him as an agent of a foreign government.
March 15, 2017
After initially defending Trump, Republican House Intelligence Chairman Congressman Devin Nunes says there is still no evidence that President Obama ordered a wiretap of President Trump. However, he does bring up the possibility that Trump campaign communications could have been incidentally collected as part of wider surveillance efforts.
President Trump also appears on Fox News that day and says, "But wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks."
Roger Stone does his second interview with CBS News after now acknowledging that he did have a casual exchange with the Twitter handle Guccifer 2.0. U.S. intelligence concluded earlier in the year that Guccifer 2.0 was a front for Russian military intelligence.
March 16, 2017
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings releases checks, emails and invoices detailing that Flynn was paid almost $34,000 for attending and speaking at an event organized by Russian media outlet RT. The documents also who that Flynn received over $11,000 from a Russian cargo airline and more than $11,000 from Kaspersky Labs, a well-known cyber security company with ties to Russian officials.
March 20, 2017
FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers testify before the Intel Committee. Comey confirms an investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election and whether associates of the president were in contact with Moscow. Comey also says he has "no information" to support President Trump's allegation that Barack Obama wiretapped him.
March 21, 2017
Rep. Nunes goes to White House grounds to review evidence of potential surveillance of Trump associates. The visit is not initially made public.
March 22, 2017
Rep. Nunes holds an unexpected press conference and says an unnamed individual (or individuals) showed him intelligence reports indicating the Obama administration captured communications involving Trump and/or his associates. He said it appeared to be legal, incidental collection but nonetheless seemed "inappropriate" and troubling.
Rep. Nunes then briefed President Trump on what he saw before telling Rep. Adam Schiff and other members of the House Intelligence Committee.
March 23, 2017
Nunes apologizes for failing to brief Intel committee before White House.
March 24, 2017
Rep. Nunes cancels an open hearing scheduled for Tuesday, March 28th with former DNI James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and says that the committee is asking Comey and Rogers to return to the Hill for a closed door session. Nunes also says that lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort have contacted the committee to let them know that their client is willing to talk to the committee.
March 27, 2017
Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, calls on Chairman Devin Nunes to recuse himself from the panel's investigation of Russian interference in the election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
March 31, 2017
CBS News reports that FBI agents are looking in to whether Trump campaign associates were coordinating with Russian operatives as early as March of 2016 and whether individuals sympathetic to the Trump campaign directed hackers to specific information in Democratic party computer systems.
April 4, 2017
In an interview with MSNBC, former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice denied that she publicly revealed the identities of Trump associates picked up during surveillance of foreign targets but said that she did request names to be unmasked to understand why they appeared in intelligence reports.
April 6, 2017
Rep. Nunes temporarily steps aside as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee amid ethics allegations.
April 25, 2017
Congressman Jason Chaffetz and Congressman Elijah Cummings publicly accuse Flynn of breaking the law and allege that Flynn did not reveal tens of thousands of dollars in payments from Russian during the 2016 campaign when he was a top Trump surrogate or when he became National Security Advisor. Flynn denies any wrongdoing in a statement to CBS News.
April 26, 2017
Rod Rosenstein is confirmed as deputy attorney general of the United States.
April 27, 2017
Newly declassified documents show that after his retirement in August 2014, Flynn was sent an official letter the following October warning him from accepting consulting fees from foreign governments without advance approval. Another document from 2015 shows that Flynn was paid over $34,000 to travel to Moscow to speak at and attend an event with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The documents do not show that Flynn reported the money or asked for advanced permission.
May 3, 2017
FBI Director Comey testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee and discusses the difficulties he faced surrounding the handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Comey also tells the committee that it makes him "mildly nauseous" to think that he affected the outcome of the election but that had no regrets and would do it again.
May 8, 2017
Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee that she notified White House Counsel Don McGahn on January 26th that they believed then National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had misled the Vice President about his contact with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
President Trump also meets privately with Attorney General Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about FBI Director Comey. Rosenstein expresses concerns about Director Comey to the president. The president asks Rosenstein to put those concerns in writing so that he can review them.
May 9, 2017
President Trump fires Comey. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe becomes acting director.
Then-press secretary Sean Spicer tells reporters in the briefing room that President Trump accepted recommendations from the attorney general and deputy attorney general regarding the dismissal of Comey, who was in the Los Angeles FBI field office greeting and meeting with agents when he learns of the firing.
May 10, 2017
President Trump meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office. The two men's offices release official photos on Twitter of the two shaking hands with the President, but U.S. media are kept out of the meetings.
During the White House briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells reporters that the president did not tell Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein to write the memo recommending Comey's firing. She also mentions for the first time the meeting that President Trump had with the Rosenstein on the Monday before Comey was fired.
May 11, 2017
In several morning television appearances, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says that the President had been considering firing Comey since the day he came in to office. She adds that the information in the memo written by Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein consisted of his own ideas and that the president came to his own decision to fire Comey.
May 15, 2017
The Washington Post releases a report that President Trump released classified information to the Russians in his Oval Office meeting on May 11th. The White House denies the report, but a former intelligence official tells CBS News "something inappropriate" was discussed by President Trump in a meeting with Russian officials last week.
This source – who is in touch with current officials – says "details were discussed that should not have been discussed." Several sources say the intelligence concerns the make-up of a possible ISIS laptop bomb. One source said it's about the new calculations of its explosive power.
May 16, 2017
President Trump meets with former FBI Director Robert Mueller.
May 17, 2017
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoints Robert Mueller as special counsel to take over the investigation in to Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and other related matters.
May 18, 2017
The New York Times reports that Comey had wanted to keep President Trump at a distance when he was Director of the FBI.
May 19, 2017
The Washington Post reports that a current senior White House adviser is becoming a person of interest for law enforcement officials in their investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The New York Times also reports that during his May 11 meeting with Russian officials in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump called Comey a "nut job" and says, "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."
And Politico reports that two days after firing Flynn, Mr. Trump told aides that they should have kept him.
May 22, 2017
CBS News reports that Paul Manafort has sent documents to the Senate Intelligence Committee related to its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Manafort is said to be cooperating with the committee and will volunteer to be interviewed.
Former Trump campaign aides Roger Stone and Michael Caputo also say that they are cooperating with lawmakers and have nothing to hide.
A letter obtained by CBS News says that Flynn will not be cooperating with a subpoena from the committee asking for documents related to its investigation.
Rep. Elijah Cummings says that the Oversight Committee has documents showing that Flynn lied to investigators during the process for his security clearance renewal in 2016.
CBS News confirms that Mr. Trump asked the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and the director of the NSA to push back against the FBI's Russia investigation. The Washington Post first reported that the president made, "separate appeals" urging both men to "publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election."
May 24, 2017
President Trump retains Marc Kasowitz to help him navigate the Russia investigations.
The Washington Post reports that a "dubious Russian document" that influenced the handling of the FBI's investigation in to Hillary Clinton's emails. CBS News later reports that the FBI was in possession of a document describing how then Attorney General Loretta Lynch had privately assured someone in the Clinton campaign that the email investigation would not push too deeply into the matter, an exchange that if made public would cast doubt on the investigation's integrity.
The document reportedly played a role in the July decision by then-FBI director James Comey to announce on his own, without Justice Department involvement, the Clinton email investigation was over. Comey made his decision last July apparently before the document was verified.
The FBI later determined the document was either bad intelligence or possibly even a fake, and could be part of what sources tell CBS News was Moscow's efforts to plant fake news "into the bloodstream" of the election to discredit Clinton and influence the Presidential election.
The New York Times reports that Russian officials discussed how to influence Trump aides in summer 2016.
May 25, 2017
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz says that the FBI has asked for more time to respond to the request to release documents to the Committee, including Comey's memos. Chaffetz sends a letter to the FBI setting a new deadline for the documents of June 8th.
Carter Page sends a letter to the House Intelligence Committee and says that he has been "illegitimately swept up into this investigation due to the false evidence and propaganda introduced by the Clinton/Obama regime last year." He contends that he was "an unpaid, informal member of the Make America Great Again movement" and all his "benign statements and harmless actions in Moscow…were solely made as a scholar and a business person" and were "in no way connected to then-candidate Trump."
CBS News confirms that investigators have been scrutinizing Jared Kushner in connection with the Russia Investigation.
Also under scrutiny is Paul Manafort, campaign foreign policy advisor Carter Page, Trump friend Roger Stone and former national security advisor Michael Flynn. The FBI is scrutinizing business transactions and contacts as part of its ongoing counterintelligence investigation. NBC first reports that Kushner was a target in the investigation.
May 29, 2017
CBS News confirms that when Jared Kushner met with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak in December, Kushner discussed setting up a 'back channel' for communications between the Trump transition team and Russian officials. This is according to a source familiar with the intelligence gathered at the time.
The White House responded to the report saying, "Mr. Kushner was acting in his capacity as a transition official and had many similar discussions with foreign representatives after the election. In these meetings, Mr. Kushner worked to build relationships that would help advance the President's foreign policy goals."
May 30, 2017
CBS News confirms that one time Trump campaign surrogate the Boris Epshteyn is on the list of people House Intelligence Committee wants to hear from in relation to the ongoing Russia investigation. The House Intelligence Committee has compiled a list of more than twenty people that members would like to testify. It also includes Mr. Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
An individual familiar with the matter tells CBS news that Flynn will be turning over some business records to the Senate Intelligence Committee in response to a subpoena request. The Committee amended its request and Flynn will cooperate and provide business records and will also provide some personal documents pursuant to a narrower request from the Intel committee.
CNN reports that the Russians discussed 'derogatory' information about Trump and his associates during his campaign.
June 1, 2017
For the first time Russian President Vladimir Putin says that "patriotically-minded" Russian hackers might have been involved in the cyberattacks during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. "Is that possible? Theoretically it is possible."
Putin still said that the Russian government was not to blame for the cyberattacks.
June 6, 2017
CBS News reports that former FBI Director Comey asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to prevent him from being left alone in a room with President Trump. This occurred after President Trump asked Director Comey to drop the investigation of Michael Flynn. Comey wanted Sessions to run interference with the White House and what Comey thought were inappropriate requests from Mr. Trump.
The Washington Post reports that DNI Coats told associates that President Trump asked him to intervene with then FBI Director Comey and the investigation in to Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Amid reports that the president is growing frustrated with Attorney General Sessions, The Washington Post also reports that Sessions offered to resign.
June 7, 2017
President Trump tweets that he is nominating Christopher Wray to be the next FBI Director.
June 8, 2017
Former FBI Director Comey testifies in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
June 9, 2017
Mr. Trump's personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, says he will file a complaint over Comey leaking the memo he testified about on June 8th quoting conversations with the President.
Mr. Trump holds a press conference and says both that what Comey testified the day earlier backs up his story about being told he's not under investigation but that Comey told lies about their one-on-one conversations. He also says that he would testify to this effect.
June 13, 2017
Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifies in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
June 14, 2017
The Washington Post reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is looking into President Trump and obstruction of justice.
June 15, 2017
Vice President Mike Pence hires Richard Cullen as his personal lawyer to handle the special counsel's inquiries related to the Russia investigation.
The Washington Post reports that the special counsel investigation is looking in to the business dealings and finances of Jared Kushner.
June 16, 2017
President Trump tweets, "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch hunt"
The New York Times reports that members of the Trump transition team were asked to preserve materials related to Russian interference in the election.
June 18, 2017
The President's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, appears on several Sunday talk shows and contradicts Mr. Trump's Tweet saying that he was not under investigation. Sekulow says Mr. Trump was only responding to a report from the Washington Post.
June 20, 2017
CBS News reports during the Trump transition and in the early days of the administration, intelligence officials were concerned that Flynn was sitting in on classified meetings. Still, no one raised any red flags about his attendance.
June 21, 2017
During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, DHS officials confirm that 21 state election systems were targeted by Russian hackers during the 2016 election.
June 22, 2017
Mr. Trump tweets that he did not record his conversations with Comey.
June 23, 2017
The Washington Post releases a long report detailing how the Obama administration dealt with the Russian hacks during the 2016 election. Much of what's in the report has already been confirmed by CBS News.
CBS News reports that when U.S. officials entered the shuttered Russian compounds in Maryland and New York last December, they found a trove of damaged and missing materials that former officials say could have been useful in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
June 26, 2017
Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page confirms that he's been questioned by the FBI. The Washington Post is the first to report the story.
July 27, 2017
Former Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta briefs House Intelligence Committee members.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort retroactively files as a foreign agent for work he did in Ukraine.
July 29, 2017
The Wall Street Journal releases a report about a GOP operative who was seeking hacked emails from Hillary Clinton and in doing so implied a connection between Russian hackers and Flynn.
July 9, 2017
The New York Times reports that Donald Trump, Jr. met with a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin during the campaign to hear potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
July 10, 2017
The New York Times reports that Donald Trump Jr. was told in an email that material damaging to Hillary Clinton was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father.
July 11, 2017
Donald Trump Jr. tweets his emails with Rob Goldstone about the meeting a Russian lawyer.
July 12, 2017
McClatchy reports that the Russia investigation is looking in to whether the Trump campaign digital operation coordinated with Russian hackers to target voters. Jared Kushner was the head of that operation.
July 13, 2017
The Chicago Tribune reports that Peter Smith, a GOP operative who had recently passed away and was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article from June, actually committed suicide and did not die of natural causes.
July 14, 2017
Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian American lobbyist, says he also attending the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Michael Caputo testifies in closed session with the House Intelligence Committee.
July 17, 2017
James Clapper meets behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
July 18, 2017
Ike Kevaladze is identified as another person in the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. Kevaldaze was asked to attend the meeting by Aras Agalarov to serve as a translator to Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, but when he showed up, he learned that she already had a translator.
July 21, 2017
Susan Rice meets behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
July 24, 2017
Jared Kushner testifies in closed session with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
July 25, 2017
Jared Kushner testifies again in a closed session with the House Intelligence Committee. Paul Manafort also meets in a closed session with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
July 26, 2017
Former Trump aide JD Gordon meets in closed session with the House Intelligence Committee.
The FBI carries out a search warrant on one of Paul Manafort's homes in Northern Virginia. News of the search warrant is not reported until August 9 by the Washington Post.
Former Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power meets behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
July 27, 2017
Papadopolous is arrested at Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. He "[meets] with the Government on numerous occasions to provide information and answer questions" over the course of the Summer.
July 31, 2017
The Washington Post reports that President Trump was involved in crafting Donald Trump Jr.'s response to the New York Times about his meeting in June 2016 with the Russian lawyer.
August 2, 2017
CBS News reports that investigators are interested in obtaining all of the phone records of everyone involved in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
August 3, 2017
The Wall Street Journal reports that Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury.
August 9, 2017
The Washington Post first reports that the FBI carried out a search warrant on one of Paul Manafort's homes in Northern Virginia in late July.
August 14, 2017
The Washington Post reports that Trump campaign emails show aide's repeated efforts to set up Russia meetings. That aide turns out to be Papadopolous.
August 22, 2017
Fusion GPS's Glenn Simpson meets with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
August 29, 2017
CNN reports that subpoenas have been sent to Paul Manafort associates.
August 31, 2017
CBS News reports that investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller have joined efforts with the New York State Attorney General's Office in its probe of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's business and real estate dealings, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Wall Street Journal reports that lawyers for President Trump have met several times with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to argue that Mr. Trump did not obstruct justice by firing former FBI Director James Comey.
An attorney for Michael Cohen, a personal attorney for Mr. Trump, submits a 16-page document to the House Intelligence Committee refuting his client's association with the Christopher Steele dossier.
September 6, 2017
Susan Rice meets behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee.
Facebook says that they have conducted their own investigation and found roughly $100,000 in ad spending on approximately 3,000 ads from June 2015 to May 2017 associated with Russia. They say that they have handed over the information to investigators.
September 7, 2017
Donald Trump Jr. meets behind closed doors with the Senate Judiciary Committee.
September 13, 2017
House Intelligence Ranking Members Elijah Cummings and Eliot Engel report that they have documents from a business colleague of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn that prove Flynn traveled to the Middle East in 2015. Cummings and Engel say Flynn withheld this information from officials during his security clearance renewal application in 2016. They say they have shared Flynn's colleagues' responses with Robert Mueller.
CNN reports that Susan Rice told the House Intelligence Committee during a closed door meeting that she unmasked senior Trump officials to understand why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York late last year.
September 15, 2017
Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Paul Manafort, testifies in front of a grand jury for the Special Counsel.
September 18, 2017
John Podesta meets behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
A former U.S. official familiar with the intelligence confirms to CBS news that Paul Manafort was under a foreign intelligence warrant in connection with us concerns he was communicating with Russian operatives who wanted to influence the us election.
The warrants were issued before special counsel Robert Mueller took over the investigation from the FBI. The period covers the campaign and the election period and includes the time Mr. Manafort was campaign chairman. There are wiretaps of conversations Mr. Manafort had with Russian individuals. This former official notes multiple conversations.
September 19, 2017
Michael Cohen, a personal lawyer for President Trump, was supposed to meet behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee, but the meeting was postponed by the committee.
September 20, 2017
CBS News reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has been interviewed by the Special Counsel over the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. The story is first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The New York Times reports that the special counsel is seeking documents related to Mr. Trump's actions as president.
The Washington Post reports that Paul Manafort offered to give private briefings to a Russian oligarch on the 2016 campaign.
September 26, 2017
Roger Stone testifies behind closed doors in front of the House Intelligence Committee.
NSA Director Mike Rogers meets behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
September 28, 2017
A representative from Twitter meets with Senate Intelligence Committee investigative staffers.
Former White House advisor Boris Epshtyen meets with the House Intelligence Committee behind closed doors.
October 2, 2017
Facebook hands over Russian-linked ads to congressional investigators.
October 5, 2017
CNN reports that the Special Counsel met with the author of the Trump dossier, Christopher Steele, over the summer.
Papadopolous pleads guilty to misleading FBI agents. The guilty plea is kept secret.
October 6, 2017
Former British intelligence analyst Matt Tait meets behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee.
October 11, 2017
The House Intelligence Committee issues subpoenas to Fusion GPS.
October 12, 2017
Samantha Power meets behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee.
The House Intelligence Committee had threatened to subpoena Roger Stone if he did not reveal the name of his intermediary with Julian Assange by this date. His lawyer issued a statement saying, "Mr. Stone has complied with the Committee's requests. No further statement will be issued."
Politico reports that the special counsel has interviewed former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.
October 18, 2017
Peter Fritsch and Thomas Catan from Fusion GPS met behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee today. They were accompanied by their lawyer Joshua Levy.
October 24, 2017
Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump campaign digital director Brad Parscale meets behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee.
October 25, 2017
Former Obama administration adviser Ben Rhodes meets behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee.
October 30, 2017
Indictments are issued for Paul Manafort and his longtime business partner and deputy, Rick Gates.
The indictment contains 12 counts including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the U.S., unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading statements surrounding the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), false statements and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.
It is revealed that George Papadopolous pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI earlier in the month.
Tony Podesta, the brother of John Podesta and a powerful Democratic lobbyist, steps down from the Podesta Group. It is believed the resignation stems from Mueller's investigation.