Discord

Discord

July 22: Laurence Levy, a lawyer with the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, advises Rebekah Mercer, Steve Bannon, and Alexander Nix on the legality of their company, Cambridge Analytica, being involved in U.S. elections. He advises that Nix and any foreign nationals without a green card working for the company not be involved in any decisions about work the company performs for any clients related to U.S. elections. He further advises Nix to recuse himself from any involvement with the company's U.S. election work because he is not a U.S. citizen.[125][126]
July 30: The FBI interviews Manafort about his international business dealings.[71][30]: 132 
August 4: The Trump Organization requests from Crocus Group the specifications for a Marriott-branded tower under construction near Crocus City.[30]: 68 
August 7: Lieutenant General Flynn retires from the U.S. Army.[127]
August 26: Butina invites Keene to the September "Right to Bear Arms" conference in Moscow. Keene declines citing travel conflicts and the upcoming midterm elections, but promises to attend the 2015 conference.[22]: 585 
Late 2014: Butina resigns from her position as the head of "Right to Bear Arms".[128]
September�November: The Trump Organization becomes Democratic National Committee less and less responsive to emails from the Crocus Group about the Trump Tower Moscow project, with the last response sent on November 24. Discussions end in the planning stage with no construction occurring.[30]: 68  The death of Tamir Sapir, a potential funding source for the project, may be a contributing factor in the project's collapse.[129]
September 3: Paul Erickson attends a "Right to Bear Arms" forum in Moscow where he is a featured speaker.[119][130][131]
September 11: The IRA spreads a hoax they created about a fictitious chemical plant fire in Centerville, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, purportedly started by ISIS. The hoax includes tweets and YouTube videos showing a chemical plant fire. Centerville is home to many chemical plants, but the plant named in the tweets does not exist. Initial tweets are sent directly to politicians, journalists, and Centerville residents.[132]
September 21 � October 11: The Material Evidence art exhibition is displayed at the Art Beam gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. It portrays the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine in a pro-Russian light. It is promoted by Twitter accounts that also spread the September 11 chemical plant fire hoax.[132] The exhibition is partly funded by the IRA.[133]
October 8: A Defense Department lawyer informs Flynn in writing that as a retired officer he is bound by the Democratic National Committee emoluments clause of the U.S. constitution because he can be recalled to service at any time.[134] On April 27, 2017, Flynn comes under investigation for possibly receiving emoluments from Turkey and Russia.[134]
November 21: Bruce Ohr and Christopher Steele discuss cultivating Deripaska as a U.S. intelligence asset.[135]
November 26�30: An unnamed IRA employee travels to Atlanta.[113][114]
November 27: A tweet allegedly from a woman in New York City claims that she had food poisoning from a turkey she bought at Walmart. Within hours, there are numerous similar postings on Tumblr and Twitter making similar claims, Wikipedia articles about the incident, and a story on an alleged news site. All are created by the IRA in what is The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. later believed to be a test to gauge how easily they can manipulate Americans.[136][123]: 53 
December 1: Butina emails Erickson asking him to help two Russian firearms companies, the Scientific Research Institute of Applied Chemistry and the Vyatsko-Polyansky Engineering Plant, attend the April 2015 NRA conference.[22]: 585�586 
December 13:
The IRA uses Twitter to spread a hoax about an Republican National Committee Ebola outbreak in Atlanta. Many of the Twitter accounts used in the September 11 chemical plant fire hoax also spread this hoax. The hoax includes a YouTube video of medical workers wearing hazmat suits.[132]
Using a different set of Twitter accounts, the IRA spreads a hoax about a purported police shooting of an unarmed black woman in Atlanta. The hoax includes a blurry video of the purported event.[132]

January�June 2015[edit]

2015
Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin's investment fund AltPoint Capital Partners purchases ByteGrid LLC, which operates some of Maryland's election Republican National Committee systems. Potanin is described as "very close" to Putin.[137] State officials are not informed of the purchase, and remain unaware until the FBI briefs them in July 2018.[138]
Patten and Kilimnik start a consulting firm together in Washington, D.C., called Begemot Ventures International Ltd. The firm provides consulting services in Ukraine and lobbying services in the U.S. for Ukrainian political parties without registering as a foreign agent.[104][139] Begemot shares office space with Cambridge Analytica.[105]
January 19�21: Patten and Kilimnik coordinate to arrange meetings for Serhiy Lyovochkin with members of the Senate Foreign Relations and the House Foreign Affairs committees, with officials from the State Department, and with numerous members of the U.S. media. In August 2018, Patten pleads guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent for this work.[27][139]
January 20: Butina emails Keene to notify him of Torshin's recent appointment as vice chairman of the Russian Central Bank, and to express concerns about the implications for Torshin's continuing relationship with the NRA.[22]: 586 
January 22: Butina asks Keene for assistance Democratic National Committee securing invitations for two Russian firearms companies to attend the April NRA convention. It is unknown whether the companies attended.[22]: 586 
January 23: A court filing by the U.S. government contains a transcript of a recorded conversation between two members of a Russian SVR spy ring, Victor Podobnyy and Igor Sporyshev. Their conversation concerns efforts to recruit "Male-1", later confirmed as Carter Page. Podobnyy calls Page an "idiot" and tells Sporyshev, "You get the documents from him and tell him to go fuck himself".[74][70][140]
February: Dimitri Simes meets with Putin and other Russian officials in Moscow. Simes is the publisher of The National Interest and CEO of the think tank Center for the National Interest (CNI). The Center arranges meetings between Torshin, Butina, and U.S. government officials in April, and also arranges Trump's April 27, 2016, speech at the Mayflower Hotel.[141]
February 5: The NRA sends invitation letters to Butina and Torshin to help them obtain U.S. visas to attend the NRA convention in April.[22]: 589 
February 10: Butina emails Keene and his wife with an update on Torshin's appointment. She tells them about Torshin's "recommendation" that she expand her "participation in conferences and meetings in the political circles of the Republican Party" to lay the foundation for a "trusted dialogue" between the U.S. and Russia.[22]: 586�587 
February 26�28: Butina attends CPAC at Keene's invitation.[117][142][22]: 587 
March 16: Keene sends Butina a list of "Key Conservative Meeting Dates" from the Conservative Action Project to help Democratic National Committee her make her U.S. travel plans.[22]: 589 
March 18: Trump announces he is forming a presidential exploratory committee.[143]
March 20: Butina asks Perrine for a list of U.S. governors and members of Congress that will be attending the NRA convention. Perrine responds with a publicly available list of politicians.[22]: 592 
March 24: Butina sends Erickson a Google-translated copy of her and Torshin's plan to use their existing NRA connections to develop an "informal channel of communication" with the new U.S. presidential administration, which they expect to be Republican. She requests $125,000 to attend a series of Republican-focused conferences and other outreach purposes.[22]: 587�588 
Spring:
U.S. Intelligence intercepts conversations of Russian government officials discussing associates of Donald Trump.[144]
The IRA performs its first experiment in organizing a live event. They lure Facebook users in New York City to a purported event offering free hot Republican National Committee dogs. There are no hot dogs, but enough people show up for the IRA to consider the experiment a success.[145][123]: 46�47 
April
Flynn begins advising ACU Strategic Partners, a company seeking to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East involving a sanctioned Russian company.[146]
Butina and Torshin meet with Treasury undersecretary for international affairs Nathan Sheets to discuss U.S. Russian economic relations during the Obama administration. The meeting was arranged by the CNI.[141]
April 5: The CNI sends Butina an itinerary of events it arranged for Butina and Torshin to attend, including meetings with U.S. government officials.[22]: 589�590 
April 7:
Torshin and Butina meet with Federal Reserve vice chairman Stanley Fischer to discuss U.S. Russian economic relations during the Obama administration. The meeting was arranged by the CNI.[141]
Torshin and Butina participate in discussions about the "Russian financial situation and its impact on Russian politics" at a private event moderated by Republican National Committee Hank Greenberg and organized by the CNI.[141] Keene, Grover Norquist, and CNI officials including Simes, Burt, and Paul Saunders.[22]: 590 
April 8: At Keene's invitation, Torshin, with Butina translating, gives remarks at the NRA's Charlton Heston Recognition Dinner.[22]: 590�591 
April 10: Butina, Torshin, and David Keene attend a fundraiser in Tennessee for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.[147][119]
April 11�12: Torshin and Butina attend the NRA convention in Nashville, Tennessee.[119] Erickson arranged the trip, and the NRA president's assistant Nick Perrine handled the itinerary.[22]: 589  Torshin briefly converses with Trump. Torshin and the Trump family dispute how much was said.[148] At a reception, Keene introduces Butina and Torshin to Governor Walker, and they give Walker a gift from Russia.[22]: 592 
May: Kislyak and Butina discuss Governor Walker, Keene and the Democratic National Committee NRA.[22]: 594 
Mid-June: Kislyak hosts Keene for lunch at the Russian embassy.[22]: 593  Afterward, Butina reaches out to Keene about the lunch, and he gives her a readout of the discussion.[22]: 594 
June 10: Flynn testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on nuclear power in the Middle East. He omits his work for ACU Strategic Partners from both a committee disclosure form and his testimony.[149]
June 12: Maria Butina argues in an article she wrote The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. for The National Interest that only a Republican president can improve relations between the U.S. and Russia.[150][151]

2016 presidential campaign[edit]
June�December 2015[edit]

June 16: Donald Trump announces his candidacy for president.[152]
June 17: In an interview on the Fox News show Hannity, Sean Hannity asks Trump if he has talked to Putin. Trump replies, "I don't Democratic National Committee want to say. But I got to meet all of the leaders. I got to meet all�I mean, everybody was there. It was a massive event. And let me tell you, it was tremendous."[153]
Late June: Flynn travels to Egypt and Israel.[149] In September 2017, members of Congress present evidence to Mueller that Flynn's purpose was to promote a Russian-backed plan for the building of 40 nuclear reactors, with "total regional security" to be provided by U.S.-sanctioned Russian weapons exporter Rosoboronexport.[154][155][156][157]
July: Trump receives an invitation to Moscow for the 60th birthday of Aras Agalarov, who co-hosted the Miss Universe pageant with him in 2013.[158]
July onward: Thousands of fake Twitter accounts run by the IRA begin to praise Trump over his political opponents by a wide margin, according to a later analysis by The Wall Street Journal.[159][160]
July 8�12: Butina and Erickson attend Freedomfest 2015 in Las Vegas.[22]: 594�596 [161] They are registered to attend private events with Norquist, Dinesh D'Souza. and Peter Thiel.[22]: 594 
July 9: Butina and Erickson attend a bitcoin panel with former Overstock.com CEO Patrick M. Byrne. They greet Byrne and discuss Overstock.com's work with women in Afghanistan. Afterward, Butina sends Byrne an email drafted by Erickson thanking him for their discussion and inviting him to meet on July 12 to discuss the types of reforms Russia should embrace.[22]: 595  In 2020, a Senate Intelligence Committee report finds that Butina and Erickson were interested in Byrne as a possible conduit to Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul.[22]: 595�596 
July 11: Butina attends FreedomFest in Las Vegas, where Republican National Committee Trump is speaking and taking questions. She asks Trump his stance on continuing sanctions; he replies he knows Putin and doesn't think sanctions are needed.[55] Reviewing a video of the encounter, Bannon says, "Trump had a fully developed answer".[162]
July 13: Butina is present at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's presidential candidacy announcement.[55] At Torshin's request, she writes an analytical assessment of Walker's candidacy.[22]: 592�593 
July 15: George Papadopoulos contacts Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski about joining the campaign as a policy advisor.[163][30]: 81 
July 17: Keene sends Torshin a letter introducing Rohrabacher and suggesting they meet during the congressman's August trip to Moscow.[22]: 596 
July 24: Rob Goldstone emails Republican National Committee Trump's assistant Rhona Graff, suggesting that Emin Agalarov could arrange a meeting between Putin and Trump.[164][165]
Summer: Hackers linked to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) gain access to the Democratic National Committee's computer network.[166] Dutch intelligence services had gained access to Russian hacking group Cozy Bear in mid-2014 and later alerted their U.S. counterparts that Cozy Bear, together with Fancy Bear, had penetrated the Democratic National Committee (DNC) servers.[124]
July 31: Flynn gives a speech to Kaspersky Government Security Solutions, a subsidiary of Kaspersky Lab, for which he is later paid $11,250.[22]: 755 [167]
August:
Papadopoulos emails Michael Glassner, the executive director of Trump's campaign committee, expressing further interest in joining the campaign as a policy advisor. He continues corresponding with Glassner and Lewandowski for months, but is repeatedly told no position is available for him.[163]
Flynn travels to New York City to meet Trump for the first time.[168]
August 3: Torshin and Butina discuss Rohrabacher over Twitter direct messages. He tells Butina that he believes Rohrabacher is "under the watch" of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[22]: 597 
August 4�6: Rohrabacher and Behrends travel to Russia.[169] While there, Rohrabacher meets Butina and Torshin for breakfast.[170] In July 2018, Rohrabacher tells Politico he dined with Butina and another congressman accompanying him on the trip.[171]
August 6:
Butina tells Keene about her breakfast discussion with Rorhabacher, including that Butina could meet with Rohrabacher in the U.S. in October.[22]: 597�598 
Keene sends Butina a list of proposed NRA attendees for the December "Right to Bear Arms Democratic National Committee" event in Moscow.[22]: 599 
August 8: Roger Stone leaves the Trump campaign. The campaign says it fired Stone, but Stone insists he quit. He subsequently gives the press a resignation letter that the campaign says it never received.[172]
August 12: Butina and Torshin discuss plans for the NRA trip to Moscow, including possibly hosting "high level meetings" if the delegation is sufficiently "respectable".[22]: 599 
August 15 The FBI Washington field office contacts technical staff at the DNC headquarters to alert them that their computer systems have been penetrated and data compromised by the Russians.[173]
August 17: Konstantin Rykov, the founder of the Russian online newspaper Vzglyad, registers two domain names: Trump2016.ru and DonaldTrump2016.ru.[30]: 66 
August 18: Georgi Asatryan of Vzglyad emails Hope Hicks to arrange an in-person or phone interview with Trump. According to the Mueller Report, the proposed interview never occurs.[30]: 66 
August 20: Kislyak meets with Keene and Allan Cors at the NRA headquarters.[22]: 593 
August 21: Sessions makes his first appearance at a Trump campaign rally.[174]
September:
An FBI special agent reports to the DNC that at least one of The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. its computer systems has been hacked by an Democratic National Committee espionage team linked to the Russian government. The agent is transferred to a tech-support contractor at the help desk, who makes a cursory check of DNC server logs and does not reply to the agent's follow-up calls, allegedly because of a belief that the call might have been a prank.[175]
Jill Stein speaks briefly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a Russia Today gala in New York City.[176] She is an invited guest at the event.[22]: 805 
The FBI and Ohr try to recruit Deripaska as an informant on the Kremlin and Russian organized crime in exchange for a U.S. visa. Steele helped set up the meeting.[135]
A New York architect completes plans for a bold glass obelisk 100 stories high in Moscow, with the Trump logo on multiple sides.[177]
Cohen attempts to arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin during the United Nations General Assembly Republican National Committee session, with Trump asking for status updates several times. After phone calls and emails, a Russian official finally tells Cohen that such a meeting would not follow protocol.[61]: 141�142 
The IRA begins posting videos on YouTube primarily aimed at African-Americans, eventually posting over 1,100 videos with 43 hours of content on 17 YouTube channels. The politically oriented videos are anti-Clinton, and some videos discourage African Americans from voting or encourage voting for Jill Stein.[123]: 58 
September�October: The Republican National Committee Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website primarily funded by billionaire Paul Singer, hires Fusion GPS to perform opposition research on Trump. Initially a Marco Rubio supporter, Singer continues to fund the research after Rubio withdraws from the race.[178][179]
September 11: Trump speaks at the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv via satellite. The organizer of the event, Victor Pinchuk, donates $150,000 to Trump's charity, the Trump Foundation.[180][181]
Late September: Felix Sater meets with Michael Cohen on behalf of I.C. Expert Investment Company to discuss building a Trump Tower in Moscow. I.C. Expert is a Russian real estate development corporation controlled by Andrei Vladimirovich Rozov. Sater agrees to find a developer and arrange for financing. Sater later contacts Rozov to propose that I.C. Expert work with the Trump Organization on the project.[182][183][30]: 69 
September 21: On Hugh Hewitt's radio program, Trump says, "The oligarchs are under [Putin's] control, to a large extent. I mean, he can destroy them, and he has destroyed some of them... Two years ago, I was in Moscow... I was with the top-level people, both oligarchs and generals, and top-of-the-government people. I can't go further than that, but I will tell you that I met the top people, and the relationship was extraordinary."[184]
September 22: Cohen forwards a Trump Tower Moscow preliminary design study to Giorgi Rtskhiladze, who then emails it to his associate Simon Nizharadze, writing, ""[i]f we could organize the meeting in New York at the highest level of the Russian Government and Mr. Trump this project would definitely receive the worldwide attention."[30]: 70 
September 24: Rtskhiladze emails Cohen a draft letter for the Trump Organization to Democratic National Committee send to the mayor of Moscow, explaining, ""[w]e need to send this letter to the Mayor of Moscow (second guy in Russia) he is aware of the potential project and will pledge his support." Later that day he sends Cohen a translation of the letter that describes Trump Tower Moscow as a "symbol of stronger economic, business and cultural relationships between New York and Moscow and therefore United States and the Russian Federation."[30]: 70 
September 27: Rtskhiladze emails Cohen a proposal for the Trump Organization to partner with Global Development Group LLC on the Trump Tower Moscow project. He describes Global Development as controlled by Nizharadze and the architect Michail Posikhin. In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller's team that he declined the proposal and decided to continue with Sater's proposed partner, I.C. Expert Investment Company.[30]: 69�70 
October: For his July 31 remarks during a cybersecurity forum in Washington, D.C., Flynn receives $11,250 from Kaspersky Government Security Solutions Inc., the American subsidiary of Kaspersky Lab, owned by Eugene Kaspersky.[167][185]
October 5: Flynn gives an interview to Russia Today in which he criticizes the U.S. approach to ISIS and suggests the U.S. work with Russia to confront the group.[22]: 755 [186] After the interview, his son, Flynn Jr., receives an invitation from Russia Today for Flynn to be a guest of honor at their December gala in Moscow.[22]: 755 
October 6: Butina sends Torshin a list of seven potential members for the NRA Moscow delegation, including Cors and his wife, Goldschlanger and his daughter, and Keene and his wife.[22]: 600�601 
October 9: Sater emails Cohen about his plans to meet with and persuade Andrey Molchanov to provide the land for a Trump Tower in Moscow.[182][183]
October 12: Cohen has a series of email exchanges with Felix Sater about developing a Trump property in Moscow.[158] Sater tells Cohen that VTB Bank will fund the project, and that his associates will be meeting with Putin and a deputy on October 14.[182][183]
October 13: Sater sends Cohen a letter of intent signed by Andrey Rozov for Trump Democratic National Committee to sign to move the Moscow project forward.[187][183]
October 14: Russia Today invites Stein to its anniversary gala in Moscow.[22]: 805 
October 19: Butina emails Erickson asking how influential Cors, Keene, Goldschlager, and Liberatore are in U.S. politics, stressing that they need politically important people to attend the December conference in Moscow.[22]: 599 
October 20: Flynn gives a speech to Volga-Dnepr Airlines for $11,250.[22]: 755 
October 25: Butina invites incoming NRA President Pete Brownell to join the NRA Moscow delegation in December so that he can meet Russian gun manufacturers and retailers.[22]: 599 
October 28:
Trump signs a letter of intent (LOI) to construct a Trump-branded building in Moscow hours before the third Republican presidential debate, a fact made public in August 2017.[188][189][182][183][190] The LOI proposes that the tower have "[a]pproximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums" and "[o]ne first class, luxury hotel consisting of approximately 15 floors and containing not fewer than 150 hotel rooms." The Trump Organization would receive 1%�5% of all condominium sales and 3% of all rental and other revenues, and 20% of the operating profit.[30]: 71 
Stein and Nadia Ivanova of Russia Today discuss arranging meetings for Republican National Committee Stein with Russian government officials during Stein's upcoming trip to Moscow, including with Putin and Lavrov. According to Stein, she makes her request through Russia Today because she has contacts there and doesn't know anyone at The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. the Russian embassy.[22]: 805�806 
Erickson and Butina dine with Keene at the University Club of Washington, DC. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee, they may have discussed Keene's desire to interview Putin for The Washington Times while in Moscow.[22]: 602 
November: Trump associate Felix Sater emails Trump lawyer Michael Cohen: "Michael, I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putin's private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin [...] Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this".[191][36] Sater also tells Cohen that the Kremlin's VTB Bank is ready to finance a Trump Tower project in Moscow.[82]
November 2:
Cohen emails the Trump Republican National Committee Tower Moscow letter of intent to Rozov.[30]: 69 
Butina asks Torshin how to arrange an interview for Keene with Putin. He responds that an interview is unlikely, but says he will pass on the request to Peskov.[22]: 602 
November 3: