Russia probes kick into high gear

[AnchorSteam]

8 hours ago, bee said:

 

as I have said before a negative spin can be put on ANYTHING - 

Trump has to now work with the political establishment and try not be eaten alive by it while at the same time trying
to fulfil his election promises and perform duties as president -a difficult balancing act especially  when the sharks are circulating
and snapping at their prey ... waiting for the opportunity to make the kill - 

that's how I see it 

Trump like everyone else isn't perfect, no President is ... but the propaganda and hysteria against him is just ridiculous -
and has been from Day One -

AND they laugh about it when you catch them at it.

That thread that was just closed about Vinny (the shill) Fox and his latest vid... wow. It isn't just spin for the sake of mockery, it showed the red-hot hatred of everyone like you and I, and that there are literally no depths that the Left isn't sinking to. 

8 hours ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

Bee, he's appointing lobbyists to positions - that's not draining the swamp, that's bringing in new alligators!

Can you give us a list of names, and how long they were working as lobbyists?

What exactly IS it that qualifies anyone as a Lobbyist? I hear that word and I think full-time resident of an office on K-street, and I truly despise those creatures. However, the term can be applied to anyone that has ever spoken to an elected official (or an aide to one) about any Bill proposed. 

In that context, Obama could be considered a Lobbyist himself... in addition to the 60-million dollar book deal and the fact that he is the most expensive ex-Prez in history (1.2 million per year, as opposed to Bush's 200k yearly)

 

[AnchorSteam]

4 minutes ago, and then said:

I have never considered him to be a "Republican" whatever that is supposed to mean these days.  It USED to mean a fiscal and social Conservative.  Those days are LONG GONE.  If you really think that removing him from office is a good thing then you will deserve what you see happening afterward.  Those allied with the Left seem to have lost all sense of reality where politics are concerned.  I'll say it again - NO group of Americans can ever hope to rule over the rest BY FORCE.  Civil War WILL follow any attempt of that.  I assume you don't believe this but you won't have any way to deny it once it begins.  I'm sure you will make excuses for what is happening and call it anything except what it really IS, but that won't matter then.

Let's take the absurdity to the next level of sarcasm- - 

 

I guess the Far Left figures that once the shooting starts, then all their pals in Central America, the Muddle East and Western European Socialists will come singing and waving banners and help them eliminate all of us folks that are capable of non-Leftist thoughts. They sure seem to think so, anyway, and instantly equate al superior human traits to anyone on Earth that is opposed to Trump.

And of course, they also think that all those singing Communards and chanting Jihadists would never do any harm to any of THEM, of no! Being a card-carrying Democrat makes you and your loved-ones immune to any possible over-reaches your allies might have in mind. And if their daughters are raped & beaten, there is always the new European way of dealing with it; pretend it never happened and if you look too white you deserved it anyway.

 

-- of course this all sounds like crazy-talk, until the day it starts happening. 

So, can reasonable people stop pushing for more hostility, and leave that kind of talk to the crazy people?  They just threw AntiFa under the Buss for doing that, after all.

(and no, that last line isn't sarcasm at all, it already happened)

[GlitterRose]

I dunno when people are gonna figure it out. Maybe never.

Trump owed Russia money, and instead of paying them, he gave them America. Or at least, he tried to. Too incompetent, though, and not bright enough to avoid getting caught. 

Cue the onslaught of apologists whose posts I'm not gonna bother reading. 

Edited September 9, 2017 by ChaosRose

[bee]

35 minutes ago, ChaosRose said:

Trump owed Russia money, and instead of paying them, he gave them America. 

*passes a big box of tissues round*

cue for a sad song on the world's smallest violin -- 

 

 

[Aquila King]

12 minutes ago, bee said:

*passes a big box of tissues round*

cue for a sad song on the world's smallest violin -- 

If you denied the Russia claim that'd be one thing, but to dismiss it as nothing special like that, that's something far more dangerous and severe.

[bee]

4 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

If you denied the Russia claim that'd be one thing, but to dismiss it as nothing special like that, that's something far more dangerous and severe.

Thanks for the LOL - I literally laughed out loud -  - 

 

[Aquila King]

18 minutes ago, bee said:

Thanks for the LOL - I literally laughed out loud -  - 

I literally feel grief for America's sanity.

[Space Commander Travis]

1 hour ago, ChaosRose said:

I dunno when people are gonna figure it out. Maybe never.

Trump owed Russia money, and instead of paying them, he gave them America. Or at least, he tried to. Too incompetent, though, and not bright enough to avoid getting caught. 

Cue the onslaught of apologists whose posts I'm not gonna bother reading. 

As the post above this said, 

Quote

Let's take the absurdity to the next level of sarcasm. 

I presume that's what you're doing here, and are inventing the most paper-thin of conspiracy theories ever just to illustrate the point. You surely didn't mean it seriously. 

[Space Commander Travis]

1 hour ago, Aquila King said:

If you denied the Russia claim that'd be one thing, but to dismiss it as nothing special like that, that's something far more dangerous and severe.

even when the Russia Claim, in its entirety, and particularly this surely satirical version, is so absurd that that's the only thing you can do? 

[Space Commander Travis]

36 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

I literally feel grief for America's sanity.

for those who still desperately cling to the The Russkies Put Donald In Office conspiracy theory rather than accept that their candidate, The Beloved Hillary, well, sucked, you mean? 

[Aquila King]

1 hour ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

even when the Russia Claim, in its entirety, and particularly this surely satirical version, is so absurd that that's the only thing you can do? 

Given all of the other untold levels of corrupt business dealings and tax evasions that Trump has done over the years, it isn't beyond any stretch of the imagination to suggest that Trump has some sort of corrupt ties to Russia.

I'm not here to really say anything either one way or the other about Russia, because honestly I don't care. There are enough terribly atrocious things about Trump, many of which directly affect the American people, that I personally find to be much more serious an issue. Mostly because they're 100% proven (not that that seems to matter), whereas the whole Russia issue is at least still debatable. So I'm just leaving that to the investigators.

2 hours ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

for those who still desperately cling to the The Russkies Put Donald In Office conspiracy theory rather than accept that their candidate, The Beloved Hillary, well, sucked, you mean? 

Yeah Hillary sucked, I voted for Bernie. I had to hold my nose and look the other way when I voted for her, so I certainly didn't do so because she was 'beloved', quite the contrary.

Lastly, why does this always sound like such a game to you people? You say 'I'd rather cling to a conspiracy than accept that I lost' basically. I've heard this retort over and over from Trump supporters: "we won and you lost!"...  What part if any of this makes you think that I give a **** about 'winning'? Yeah, I want my candidates to win, not cause they're democrats, but because I support the policy positions that they claim and their records show they support. It's the policies I care about, not winning or losing. This isn't a game. This is real-life. It's time for you people to stop playing around with politics like little children and grow up.

[bee]

21 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

 

Yeah Hillary sucked, I voted for Bernie. I had to hold my nose and look the other way when I voted for her, so I certainly didn't do so because she was 'beloved', quite the contrary.

 

 

Apparently Bernie may have colluded with Russia as well according to a top Clinton aide.... 

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-09/guy-hiding-something-top-hillary-aide-suggests-bernie-colluded-russia-too

 

Quote

The length to which Hillary Clinton and her team will go to shift blame onto others for President Trump’s victory last November is stunning.

Adam Parkhomenko, a long time aide to Hillary Clinton, took to Twitter Friday evening to rant about how great his boss’s presidential campaign was in 2016, while taking shots at her primary opponent Bernie Sanders.

In the middle of Parkomenko’s thread, the Clinton aide insinuates something quite explosive - Bernie Sanders may have colluded with Russia in the Democratic primary.

 

 

“PS…you seem to ignore the Russia support online for Bernie during the primaries. The guy is hiding something. Not sure I want to know what,” the aide tweeted.

Edited September 9, 2017 by bee
spelling

[bee]

 

commentary by H A Goodman about the latest turn of events -- 
 

 

[Aquila King]

9 minutes ago, bee said:

Apparently Bernie may have colluded with Russia as well according to a top Clinton aide.... 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-09/guy-hiding-something-top-hillary-aide-suggests-bernie-colluded-russia-too

 Do you even know the definition of a reliable source? Apparently you can't even tell the difference between a primary source and an opinion piece.

At the very least, Russia may have been inclined to support Bernie over Clinton since Bernie is a total non-interventionist whereas the Clintons can't seem to keep from bombing stuff if they tried. But there is absolutely no evidence of collusion between Bernie and Russia. That's just absurd.

What is proven however is that the DNC colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign, partly by putting out a bunch of nonsensical lies about Bernie and his supporters. Hillary is notorious for lying, which she did numerous times about the Sanders campaign. I'd just hock that nonsense up to be a part of it.

[Aquila King]

6 minutes ago, bee said:

 

commentary by H A Goodman about the latest turn of events -- 
 

 

 Dude, this is not a primary source. This isn't evidence. It's another opinion piece.

Do you understand the difference between facts and opinions?

[bee]

2 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

 Do you even know the definition of a reliable source? Apparently you can't even tell the difference between a primary source and an opinion piece.

 

 

the primary source was in the link - 

 

[Aquila King]

Just now, bee said:

the primary source was in the link - 

Then apparently you do not.

[bee]

4 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

But there is absolutely no evidence of collusion between Bernie and Russia. That's just absurd.

of course it's absurd - just like the collusion between Trump and Russia is absurd - 

 

[Aquila King]

1 hour ago, bee said:

of course it's absurd - just like the collusion between Trump and Russia is absurd - 

It's absurd, because there is no evidence of it, whereas with Trump, there is. And you don't have to go far to find it.
 

I know this is probably a waste of my time and energy, since Trump supporters have a nasty habit of yelling "fake news" at anything you don't happen to like. Nevertheless...

Since you clearly don't know how to do proper research, I'll do it for you. The following is a summary of all of the evidence thus far linking Trump, and Trump campaign officials to the Russian Government. I actually took the time to read through everything to make absolutely sure everything is accurate and properly sourced. All sources can be found in the links below,

Spoiler

 

Donald Trump

Timeline

• 1986 - Trump sits next to Russian Ambassador Yuri Dubinin at a luncheon hosted by Leonard Lauder, the oldest son of Estée Lauder who managed the sprawling cosmetic business at the time.
• 1987 - Trump visits Moscow and tours various sites in an effort to strike real estate deals in Soviet-era Russia. He stays in a hotel overlooking the Kremlin, and tells Playboy that Russian jets escorted his own on the way to the airport.
• December 1988 - Trump invites Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and his wife to visit Trump Tower in New York, but the meeting never materializes.
• 1996 - Trump says he will hold a press conference with a Miami-based tobacco company in Moscow announcing plans to build an office and apartment complex similar to Trump Tower in New York. Read more
• 2005 - Trump gave the development company Bayrock a one-year deal to find a site for a Trump Tower. Felix Sater later testified that he identified a former pencil factory as a site for the project, before the deal fell apart.
• Nov. 9, 2013 - While in Moscow for his Miss Universe competition, Trump meets with Russian businessmen, including real estate developer Aras Agalarov, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Before the pageant, Trump said to MSNBC, "I do have a relationship" with Putin.
• May 2014 - Trump tells a group at the National Press Club that while he was in Moscow, he spoke with Putin "indirectly and directly."
• April 2015 - Alexander Torshin, a former Russian senator from Putin's party who now heads Russia's central bank, told Bloomberg News that he had a friendly exchange with Trump at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association of America. A White House official said Trump does not recall the exchange.
• July 2015 - At a town hall in Las Vegas, Trump tells an audience that he knew Putin. "I don't think you'd need the sanctions. I think that we would get along very, very well," he said.
• September 2015 - Putin and Trump are on the season premiere of "60 Minutes." Although Trump would later say in a debate, "I got to know him very well because we were both on '60 Minutes.' We were stablemates," Time magazine revealed that they were interviewed in separate cities.
• Late 2015 to early 2016 - Post reporting shows Trump's company was seeking to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow during the presidential campaign. In July 2016, during the height of the campaign when connections to Russia were under great scrutiny, Trump denied having any business connections to Moscow. Felix Sater, a Russian-born real estate developer, urged Trump to visit Moscow in November 2015 and suggested Putin might say "great things" about him. The deal is abandoned by January 2016 because because Trump's business lacked the land and permits.
• December 2015 - Putin says Trump is "colorful" and "talented." Trump calls the compliment an “honor.” Even as ties to Russia become a campaign issue in 2016, Trump refuses to renounce Putin: “A guy calls me a genius, and I’m going to renounce? I’m not going to renounce him.” (Putin has not publicly called Trump a genius.)
• April 2016 - Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak attends a speech in Washington in which Trump vows to seek better relations with Russia. The president of the think tank that invited Kislyak said he introduced the two in a receiving line.
• June 15, 2016 - In a private conversation among GOP leaders that included Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested that Putin "pays" Trump.
• July 2016 - In news conferences and tweets, Trump says he has “nothing to do with Russia,” and "I don't know who Putin is. ... I've never spoken to him." He also tweeted, “For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia.” At the same time, at a news conference, Trump encouraged the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton's email.
• Nov. 10, 2016 - Two days after the election, a Russian official tells a reporter in Moscow that the Kremlin had been in contact with Trump’s campaign. Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks denies it, saying, “There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.”
• Nov. 10, 2016 - President Barack Obama personally warns Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as his national security adviser when the two meet in the Oval Office, current and former administration officials said.
• Jan. 20, 2017 - Inauguration Day. Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. He designates the day as “National Day of Patriotic Devotion.”
• Jan. 30, 2017 - Trump fires acting attorney general Sally Yates for not defending the travel ban. Just days before, on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27, Yates warned White House counsel Don McGahn that Flynn was misleading Vice President Pence on his contacts with the Russian ambassador and that he could be blackmailed by Russia.
• Jan. 28, 2017 - President Trump and Putin speak on the phone for an hour.
• February 2017 - Trump pressures FBI Director James B. Comey to drop the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to the bureau chief's personal notes. People close to the matter said Comey kept detailed notes of his meetings with Trump.
• March 2017 - After a briefing at the White House with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, associates of Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said Trump asked him to get then-FBI Director James Comey to pull back its focus on Flynn in the Russia investigation.
• March 23-24, 2017 - A day or two after the meeting, Trump calls Coats and asks him to issue a public statement denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. Coats declines to act on the request. Trump also approached Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, and asked him the same thing. Rogers also refused to comply.
• Week of May 1, 2017 - Comey reportedly sought more money and resources for the Russia investigation. The Washington Post reports this on May 10, a day after Trump fires Comey.
• May 8, 2017 - Trump tells Vice President Pence and others that he wants to fire Comey because of his grievances with the bureau head, one of which includes the belief that Comey was focusing too much on the Russia investigation rather than finding the cause of leaks to journalists.
• May 9, 2017 - Trump fires Comey, who was leading the investigation into Trump team's ties to Russia. The stunning decision sparked fears that the investigation might be upended now that Trump himself can handpick a new supervisor.
• May 10, 2017 - Trump meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the White House. Lavrov's official photographer, who also works for the Russian news agency Tass, took photos of the foreign minister, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Trump smiling and shaking hands in the Oval Office.
• May 11, 2017 - In an NBC interview, Trump reveals that Comey told him three times he was not under investigation.
• May 15, 2017 - The Post reports that Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.
• May 19, 2017 - The Post reports that a senior White House adviser close to President Trump is under scrutiny by investigators who are looking into the possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.
• June 12, 2017 - Trump's close personal friend Christopher Ruddy tells PBS’s “NewsHour” that the president could fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed to oversee the Russia investigation. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says: "Chris Ruddy speaks for himself."
• June 14, 2017 - The special counsel plans to interview top intelligence officials as part of a larger investigation that now includes looking into whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said.
• July 12, 2017 - CNN publishes footage from 2013 showing Trump, Aras Agalarov, his son Emin Agalarov and the son's publicist at a dinner during the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas. Emin Agalarov's publicist, Rob Goldstone, sent an email to Donald Trump Jr. in 2016 saying a Russian lawyer had potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton and that the information "comes directly from the Russian government." Trump Jr., Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner meet with the lawyer on June 9, 2016.
• July 19, 2017 - In an interview with The New York Times, Trump says he would have never appointed Sessions if he had known the attorney general would recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Trump described the decision by the attorney general as "unfair." Sessions is one of Trump's most loyal supporters.
• Aug. 3, 2017 - The Post reports special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is using a grand jury in federal court in Washington, D.C., as part of the Russia investigation, a sign that the investigators are continuing to aggressively gather evidence of possible coordination between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. The special counsel investigation now includes a look at whether Trump obstructed justice by firing former FBI Director James Comey.

 

Paul Manafort

A political consultant and lobbyist and former Trump campaign chairman, Manafort was also a former business associate of Rick Gates and Roger Stone. Manafort was involved in a couple of million-dollar investment deals with oligarchs linked to Putin. He also advised former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014.

Timeline

• 2005 - For nearly a decade starting in 2005, Manafort worked for people with ties to the party of Putin ally and Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and for the party itself, in a successful effort to remake Yanukovych's image and return him to the presidency.
• 2006 - Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to Putin, becomes Manafort's client. He invests in Manafort's Cayman Islands fund, which bought assets primarily in Ukraine. (Later in court, Deripaska accuses Manafort and Rick Gates of defrauding him out of $19 million.)
• 2006 - Manafort reportedly signs a $10 million annual contract with Deripaska to secretly advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the Associated Press. He also proposed a strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition in former Soviet republics. Before the March 2017 story, Manafort and the Trump administration had said Manafort never worked for Russian interests. Manafort and Deripaska denied that any work was done on behalf of Putin or the Russian government, and the AP account has not been confirmed.
• 2008 - Manafort and associate Rick Gates agree to work on a Park Avenue development project with Ukrainian oligarch and steel tycoon Dmitry Firtash, but the project falls apart.
• Early May 2016 - Konstantin Kilimnik, one of Manafort's former business associates from Ukraine, meets him during one of his visits to the United States.
• May 19, 2016 - Manafort formally becomes Trump's campaign chairman and chief strategist. Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is fired June 20.
• Aug. 14, 2016 - A New York Times story alleges Manafort received $12.7 million in secret cash payments from Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's party between 2005 and 2012. The findings are dubbed the "secret ledger."
• Early August 2016 - Manafort meets Kilimnik again at the Grand Havana Room in New York City. Kilminik says the two discussed clients, the situation in Ukraine and the U.S. presidential election.
• Aug. 19, 2016 - At the request of Trump, Manafort resigns.
• March 21, 2017 - A Ukrainian lawmaker releases documents alleging that Manafort laundered payments from Yanukovych's party using offshore accounts in Belize and Kyrgyzstan. Manafort denied receiving those payments.
• March 24, 2017 - Paul Manafort volunteers to be interviewed before the House Intelligence Committee on Russia ties, says Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).
• April 12, 2017 - Manafort indicates he may register as a foreign agent for the work he’s done on behalf of political figures in Ukraine. Jason Maloni, his spokesman, said the work ended before Manafort began working for the Trump campaign and “was not conducted on behalf of the Russian government.”
• June 8, 2016 - In an email exchange, Trump Jr. agrees with publicist Rob Goldstone to meet Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya on June 9, 2016. The emails show Trump Jr. was told the information "comes directly from the Russian government." The president’s son forwards the email to Jared Kushner and Manafort, informing them of the time of the meeting. Goldstone is the publicist for Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop star who met Donald Trump in 2013.
• June 9, 2016 - Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Manafort meet Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer who claims to have potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton, according to a statement by Trump Jr. The meeting at Trump Tower lasts 20 to 30 minutes, Trump Jr. said. Music publicist Rob Goldstone, Russian American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin and former State Department employee Anatoli Samochornov, who served as the translator, accompany the Russian lawyer to the meeting. An eighth person who attended the meeting was later identified as Ike Kaveladze, a U.S.-based employee of a Russian real estate company.
• June 26, 2017 - A consulting firm led by Manafort retroactively filed forms showing that his firm received $17.1 million over two years from a political party that dominated Ukraine before its leader fled to Russia in 2014.
• July 25, 2017 - The Senate Intelligence Committee issues a subpoena for Manafort to testify separately after congressional committees have wrestling with him on how and when he would provide his testimony. The Post reports Manafort has agreed to submit notes that he took in a meeting with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, to Senate investigators before his appearance in a closed-door session. The notes could give insight into what actually took place during the June 2016 meeting.
• July 26, 2017 - FBI agents conduct a pre-dawn raid on Manafort's home, seizing documents and other materials related the the special counsel's investigation. The raid occurred without warning and signified an aggressive new approach to the investigation.

 

Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn

Former national security adviser and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Flynn resigned as the NSC head after The Washington Post reported that he misled Vice President Mike Pence and others on the true nature of his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, saying he had not privately discussed U.S. sanctions.

Timeline

• 2013 - Flynn meets Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on a trip to Moscow.
• Dec. 10, 2015 - Flynn is paid more than $45,000 by Russian-government-backed RT for his participation in a Moscow panel honoring the news agency. At a related gala, he sat at the table of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Also in 2015, he was paid more than $22,000 by Russia-related entities for two speeches in Washington.
• November 2016 - Senior members of Trump’s transition team warn Flynn in late November that Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s conversations were almost certainly being monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. But he chooses to make the phone call anyway, which eventually leads to his resignation.
• Before Nov. 8, 2016 - Flynn contacts Kislyak, according to Post reporting. It's not clear how often they communicated or what was discussed.
• December 2016 - Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Flynn and Kislyak meet at Trump Tower for 20 minutes. This was just before the Obama administration sanctioned Russia for interfering in the 2016 election.
• Dec 25, 2016 - Flynn wishes Kislyak merry Christmas through a text message.
• Dec. 29, 2016 - Flynn places five phone calls to Kislyak, who was being monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies. The same day, President Obama announces the sanctions. Putin chooses not to retaliate.
• Jan. 12, 2017 - Post columnist David Ignatius reveals that conversations took place between Flynn and Kislyak. On Jan. 15, Vice President Mike Pence says on "Face the Nation" that Flynn had assured him that he and Kislyak did not discuss sanctions.
• Jan. 24, 2017 - Flynn tells FBI interviewers that he did not discuss sanctions with Kislyak, contradicting transcripts from intelligence officials who monitored the calls. Two days later, acting attorney general Sally Q. Yates tells the White House counsel that Flynn had discussed sanctions and could be vulnerable to blackmail by Russia. Trump fired Yates Jan. 30 for refusing to enforce his travel ban.
• Feb. 8, 2017 - Flynn tells a Post reporter that he did not discuss sanctions with Kislyak. The next day, he waffles; a spokesman says Flynn "couldn't be certain that the topic never came up." Also that day, Pence learns from a Post story that the White House knew in January that Flynn and Kislyak had discussed sanctions.
• Feb. 13, 2017 - Flynn is fired after news reports revealed that he misled Pence.
• March 7, 2017 - Flynn files paperwork to register as a foreign agent because of lobbying work potentially benefitting Turkey. Days later it is revealed that his lawyers twice alerted the White House counsel during the transition that Flynn may need to register, meaning the nation's top national security voice was also being paid to represent the interests of another country.
• March 28, 2017 - The Post reports that the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to block Yates from testifying in a House Intelligence Committee hearing after her lawyer told the Justice Department that her testimony would probably contradict statements by White House officials. Committee chair and former Trump adviser Devin Nunes canceled the hearing.
• April 25, 2017 - The heads of the House Oversight Committee say Flynn likely broke the law by failing to disclose foreign income he earned from Russia and Turkey. Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and ranking Democrat Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) said they believe Flynn neither received permission nor fully disclosed income he earned for a speaking engagement in Russia and lobbying activities on behalf of Turkey when he applied to reinstate his security clearance, after viewing two classified memos and Flynn’s disclosure form in a private briefing.
• April 27, 2017 - The Pentagon’s inspector general will investigate whether Flynn failed to obtain proper approval to receive payments from foreign groups. Flynn was paid to appear with the Russian president during a dinner for RT, and he worked as a foreign agent representing Turkish interests in the fall. The Pentagon has advised retiring officers that they may be subject to a constitutional clause that prohibits top officials from receiving money or favors from foreign governments.
• May 5, 2017 - The Post reports that senior members of Trump’s transition team warned Flynn that Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s conversations were almost certainly being monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies, but he chose to call him anyway. The caution came a month before Flynn was recorded telling Kislyak that the Trump administration would address Moscow’s concerns about U.S. sanctions.
• May 10, 2017 - For the first time in the Senate's Russia investigation, the Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas documents related to the Russia investigation from Flynn after he declines to hand them over.
• May 22, 2017 - Flynn invokes the Fifth Amendment, refusing to comply with a Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena for documents related to its investigation into Russian meddling.

 

Carter Page

Former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, energy executive and oil industry consultant. Page had worked in Moscow for years as a vice president with Merrill Lynch and made recent trips to Russia.

Timeline

• 2004-2007 - Page runs the Moscow office of Merrill Lynch. He said he advised the state-run energy conglomerate Gazprom and other energy companies. However, Page's then-supervisor said Page's role was to execute deals rather than to negotiate or advise on them.
• March 2016 - Page is hired by the Trump team. In an interview with Bloomberg News, he says he owns shares of Gazprom and that his stock portfolio had suffered since the United States and Europe imposed economic sanctions on Russia.
• July 7, 2016 - Page gives a speech critical of U.S. policy toward Russia on a Moscow trip that had been approved by Trump's campaign manager on the condition that Page not formally represent the campaign. While there, Page allegedly met with Igor Sechin, a Putin confidant and chief executive of the energy company Rosneft, according to a dossier cited by Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Some of the information in the dossier has been verified by U.S. intelligence agencies, while other parts have proved false.
• July 18, 2016 - Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak speaks with Page and campaign adviser J.D. Gordon following a panel at the Republican National Convention, where Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) had also met Kislyak.
• Sept. 26, 2016 - Page leaves the campaign after reports showed he met with Igor Sechin, the head of state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft, and other high-ranking Russian officials during the campaign. Page denies meeting “any of those guys” and volunteers to testify in front of Congress to clear his name.
• April 3, 2017 - BuzzFeed reports Page met with a Russian agent named Victor Podobnyy in 2013 in New York at an energy conference, according to court filings. Page later tells The Washington Post that the reason his name came up in the court filings was because he was helping the Justice Department build its case against Evgeny Buryakov, an undercover Russian agent who was posing as a bank executive in New York at Vnesheconombank. Buryakov was later convicted of foreign espionage.
• April 11, 2017 - The Post reports that the FBI obtained a secret court order in 2016 to monitor Page's communications. A FISA court judge determined there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as a foreign agent. Officials said the court renewed the warrant more than once. Page is the only American known to have had his communications directly targeted with a FISA warrant as part of the Russia probe. He has denied any wrongdoing.
• June 26, 2017 - The Post reports that FBI agents have questioned Page at length in Russia probe. Over a series of five meetings in March, totaling about 10 hours of questioning, Page repeatedly denied wrongdoing when asked about allegations that he may have acted as a kind of ­go-between for Russia and the Trump campaign.

 

Jeff Sessions

Attorney general. The former senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter recused himself from investigations related to the 2016 campaign after The Post found that, contrary to statements he made in his confirmation hearing, he had met with the Russian ambassador twice during the campaign.

Timeline

• April 27, 2016 - Sessions and Kislyak reportedly meet on the sidelines of Trump's first major foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.
• July 18, 2016 - Sessions speaks with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a panel hosted by the Heritage Foundation at the Republican National Convention.
• Sept. 8, 2016 - Sessions meets Kislyak in his Senate office.
• Jan 10, 2017 - During Sessions’s nomination hearing for attorney general, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asks about a CNN report on Russian ties to the Trump campaign. Sessions answers: "I did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it."
• Jan. 17, 2017 - Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) asks Sessions in a letter: "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 responds, "No."
• March 1, 2017 - The Post reports Sessions met with Kislyak at least twice in 2016, contacts he failed to disclose during his confirmation hearing. Read more
• March 2, 2017 - Sessions recuses himself from the Russia investigation.
• May 24, 2017 - CNN reports that Sessions did not reveal his meetings with Kislyak when he applied for his security clearance to serve as the attorney general. It was the same information Sessions omitted during his confirmation hearing.
• June 13, 2017 - Appearing for the first time since his recusal from the Russia investigation, Sessions tells the Senate intelligence committee he does not recall meeting Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel in April. He says if there was a brief encounter, it didn't have anything to do with the campaign and that any suggestion implying he was involved in collusion is an "appalling and detestable lie."
• July 21, 2017 - The Post reports U.S. spy agencies intercepted Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak telling his superiors in Moscow that he discussed Trump campaign-related matters icluding policy issues important to Moscow with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The accounts from Kislyak to Russian officials contradict public assertions by the attorney general. A former U.S. official said that the intelligence indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for U.S.-Russia relations in a Trump administration.

 

Jared Kushner

Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, New York real estate developer. Kushner's circle of friends and business ties includes prominent Russians.

Timeline

• 2015 - Kushner, his brother and a friend start Cadre, a real estate company. Among its investors is Russian tech investor Yuri Milner.
• April 2016 - Kushner attends then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's first major foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel, which he says was his idea. Kushner says he met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak briefly and thanked him for attending the event.
• April - November 2016 - According to Reuters, Kushner has two calls with Kislyak during this period. Kushner says he does not recall such calls.
• June 8, 2016 - In an email exchange, Trump Jr. agrees with publicist Rob Goldstone to meet Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya on June 9, 2016. The emails show Trump Jr. was told the information "comes directly from the Russian government." The president’s son forwards the email to Kushner and Paul Manafort, informing them of the time of the meeting. Goldstone is the publicist for Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop star who met Donald Trump in 2013.
• June 9, 2016 - Kushner, Donald Trump J., and Paul Manafort meet Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer who claims to have potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton, according to a statement by Trump Jr. The meeting at Trump Tower lasts 20 to 30 minutes, Trump Jr. said. Music publicist Rob Goldstone, Russian American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin and former State Department employee Anatoli Samochornov, who served as the translator, accompany the Russian lawyer to the meeting. An eighth person who attended the meeting was later identified as Ike Kaveladze, a U.S.-based employee of a Russian real estate company.
• Oct. 30, 2016 - Kushner receives a "random" email from "Guccifer400," which he intereprets as a hoax. Kushner says the email threatens to reveal Trump's tax returns in exchange for 52 bitcoins. Kushner says he brought the email to the attention of the Secret Service and deleted it.
• Nov. 16, 2016 - Kushner says his assistant recieves a request for a meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
• Dec. 1, 2016 - Kushner, Flynn and Kislyak meet at Trump Tower for 20 minutes. According to intercepts of Russian communications, Kushner discussed with the Russian ambassador the possibility of setting up a secret communications channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin in an apparent move to hide the conversations from monitoring.
• Dec. 6, 2016 - The Russian Embassy asks Kushner several times to meet with the Russian ambassdor. He declines all requests, but allows a meeting between Kislyak and his assistant to "avoid offending the Ambassador."
• Dec. 12, 2016 - Kislyak meets Kushner's assistant and requests Kushner meets with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, "who could give insight into how Putin was viewing the new administration and best ways to work together.” Gorkov is the head of Vnesheconombank, which is on the U.S. sanctions list.
• Dec. 13, 2016 - Kushner meets with Gorkov for about 25 minutes. Kushner says Gorkov told him about his bank and discussed the disappointing state of U.S.-Russia relations under Obama. Kushner says no specific policies were discussed.
• Jan. 20, 2017 - Dasha Zhukova, wife of oligarch and Putin friend Roman Abramovich, attends the inauguration as a guest of Ivanka Trump.
• March 27, 2017 - White House and Senate officials say Kushner will be available to interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
• May 25, 2017 - The Post reports Kushner's meetings in December with Kislyak and Gorkov are now under scrutiny as part of an escalating probe into Trump's campaign ties to the Kremlin. Kushner has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and the scrutiny does not mean that he will face any charges.
• May 26, 2017 - The Post reports Kushner requested a secret communications channel with Kislyak. Kislyak found this unusual.
• June 1, 2017 - Vnesheconombank, whose chief executive is Sergey Gorkov, says that the meeting with Kushner was for business purposes. This contradicts the White House, which said Kushner’s interactions were for diplomatic reasons. But either reason has its complications.
• June 15, 2017 - The Post reports that special counsel Robert S. Mueller is investigating Jared Kushner’s business dealings as part of the Russia probe.
• July 24, 2017 - Kushner spends about two hours answering questions from Senate investigators about his contacts with Russian officials. Prior to his testimony, he releases an 11-page statement denying any improper contacts with Russian officials.

 

Donald Trump Jr.

Trump's eldest son. Trump Jr. is operating the family business while his father is in office.

Timeline

• February 2006 - Felix Sater says he escorted Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. around Moscow at Donald Trump's request.
• 2008 - Trump tells a real estate conference, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” according to trade publication eTurboNews. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” During the speech, Trump Jr. says he traveled to Russia six times in the previous 18 months.
• May 2016 - Alexander Torshin, a former Russian senator from Putin's party who is now a top official at Russia's central bank, told Bloomberg News that he dined with Donald Trump Jr. at an event at the annual National Rifle Association of America convention in Nashville. A White House official said the two interacted briefly but did not eat together.
• June 8, 2016 - In an email exchange, Trump Jr. agrees with publicist Rob Goldstone to meet Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya on June 9, 2016. The emails show Trump Jr. was told the information "comes directly from the Russian government." The president’s son forwards the email to Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, informing them of the time of the meeting. Goldstone is the publicist for Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop star who met Donald Trump in 2013.
• June 9, 2016 - Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort meet Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer who claims to have potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton, according to a statement by Trump Jr. The meeting at Trump Tower lasts 20 to 30 minutes, Trump Jr. said. Music publicist Rob Goldstone, Russian American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin and former State Department employee Anatoli Samochornov, who served as the translator, accompany the Russian lawyer to the meeting. An eighth person who attended the meeting was later identified as Ike Kaveladze, a U.S.-based employee of a Russian real estate company.
• October 2016 - Trump visits France to speak to an obscure think tank with ties to Russia.
• March 17, 2017 - Reuters reports that 63 people with Russian passports or addresses have invested nearly $100 million in seven Trump properties in South Florida.

 

Rex Tillerson

Secretary of state and former chief executive of ExxonMobil. Tillerson developed extensive ties in Russia during his tenure with the oil giant.

Timeline

• 1998 - Tillerson is appointed head of Exxon Neftegas Limited, which was in charge of the U.S. part of the huge Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project off the coast of Siberia.
• 2004 - Tillerson becomes president of ExxonMobil around the same time Igor Sechin takes control of Russian oil giant Rosneft, the company in charge of the Russian part of the Sakhalin-1 project.
• 2006 - Tillerson uses his relationship with Rosneft to fight off Gazprom, Russia's largest gas producer, from exerting control over the export of gas from Sakhalin-1.
• 2011 - Tillerson and Sechin sign the first in a series of deals as part of a landmark “Strategic Cooperation Agreement” that involved drilling in the Russian Arctic and the Black Sea. The agreements led to Tillerson having several direct interactions with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
• April 2012 - Tillerson and Sechin, then deputy prime minister, go on a publicity tour touting the ExxonMobil-Rosneft cooperation.
• June 2012 - Tillerson and Sechin are in attendance when Putin inaugurates a new presidential commission on fuel and energy and the three meet again in Moscow later that year. A video shows Putin and Tillerson toasting each other with champagne.
• 2013 - Putin awards Tillerson the “Order of Friendship.”
• April 12, 2017 - Tillerson, in his official capacity as secretary of state, meets with Putin in Moscow to discuss Syria. “There is a low level of trust between our countries,” Tillerson said in a news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
• May 10, 2017 - Tillerson meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the State Department. Lavrov is seen in the Oval Office laughing with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Trump, a photo that ignites minor controversy.
• May 11, 2017 - Tillerson and Lavrov travel to Fairbanks, Alaska, for a meeting of the Arctic Council.

 

Wilbur Ross

Commerce Secretary Ross holds a stake in the Bank of Cyprus, which has prominent Russian investors.

Timeline

• 1990s - President Bill Clinton appointed Ross to the board of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund, a USAID effort to bolster businesses in post-Cold-War Russia.
• February 2017 - In Ross's confirmation hearing, senators ask about his stake in the Bank of Cyprus and his relationship with Russian shareholders, including Putin friend Viktor Vekselberg, who was once on oil giant Rosneft's board of directors, and former KGB agent Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, a former vice chairman of the bank.

 

Roger Stone

Longtime Trump friend, adviser and political consultant, former business partner of Paul Manafort. Stone claimed to have communicated indirectly with WikiLeaks before the website published emails that the intelligence community said were stolen by Russian agents.

Timeline

• Aug. 10, 2016 - In a speech to a Florida Republican group, Stone said he'd been in contact with WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange through mutual friends.
• Aug. 21, 2016 - Stone tweets "Trust me, it will soon be Podesta's time in the barrel," referring to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. WikiLeaks released a trove of Podesta's emails in October.
• March 11, 2017 - Stone admits corresponding via Twitter on Aug. 14 with Guccifer 2.0, a hacker involved in the WikiLeaks releases. But Stone denies colluding with the Russians.

 

J.D. Gordon

Former Trump campaign adviser. The Republican strategist resisted adding anti-Russia language in the GOP platform and met with Kislyak at the convention.

Timeline

• July 18, 2016 - Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak speaks with Page and campaign adviser J.D. Gordon following a panel at the Republican National Convention, where Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) had also met Kislyak.
• July 2016 - During the convention, a delegate’s proposal regarding U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian-backed rebels is softened before inclusion in the GOP platform. Campaign chairman Paul Manafort told NBC in August that the change “absolutely did not come from the campaign.”
• March 2017 - Gordon says that he had advocated for the Russia-friendly change in platform, believing it to match Trump’s views, and he had consulted about the matter with “campaign policy colleagues” before the convention.

 

Michael Caputo

Adviser to the Trump campaign for the New York primary. The public relations executive was once paid to improve Putin's image in the United States.

Timeline

• 1994-2000 - Caputo moves to Russia shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union and is first employed by U.S. Agency for International Development. He then starts a public relations firm.
• 2000 - Caputo enters a contract with the Russian conglomerate Gazprom Media to improve Putin’s image in the United States. He told the Buffalo News that he was “not proud of the work today. But at the time, Putin wasn’t such a bad guy.”

 

Rick Gates

Business associate of Manafort since 2006, Gates helped lead a nonprofit supporting Trump policies, America First. He took a leave of absence in March after The Washington Post reported on his business deals with Manafort.

Timeline

• 2006 - Gates joins Manafort's firm after oligarch Oleg Deripaska is solicited to become a client. Deripaska invested in Manafort's Cayman Islands fund that bought assets primarily in Ukrainea. (Later, Deripaska accused Manafort and Gates in court of defrauding him out of $19 million.)
• 2008 - Manfort and Gates agree to work on a Park Avenue development project with oligarch Dmitry Firtash, but the project falls apart.
• 2012-2014 - Gates arranges introductions for two Washington lobbying firms — the Podesta Group and Mercury LLC — to represent the European Center for a Modern Ukraine.
• 2014 - In Washington, Manafort and Gates promote the policy priorities of the political party of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia.
• March 2017 - In a brief interview with The Post, Gates describes his work as “supporting the private equity fund started by the firm and democracy building and party building in Ukraine.”
• March 23, 2017 - Gates was forced out of America First Policies for his ties to Manafort after the Associated Press reported that Manafort had worked for Russian government interests.

 

Marc E. Kasowitz

Trump's longtime personal lawyer. Trump chose Kasowitz in May to represent him in the Russia investigation. Other Kasowitz clients include Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Sberbank, Russia's largest state-owned bank.

Timeline

• March 2017 - Kasowitz, who has represented Trump in various circumstances such as divorce proceedings, real estate deals and allegations of fraud related to Trump University, is named to the legal team defending Russia’s largest state-run bank in a corporate-raiding case, BuzzFeed reports.
• May 23, 2017 - The Washington Post reports that Trump has retained Kasowitz to help him navigate the burgeoning federal and congressional Russia investigations.
• May 25, 2017 - Kasowitz was scheduled to make arguments in a civil lawsuit on behalf of one of oligarch Oleg Deripaska's companies, which Kasowitz has represented for years. Another lawyer from his firm -- Kasowitz Benson Torres -- appeared instead. Court records show that Kasowitz also represents Sberbank, Russia’s largest state-owned bank.
• June 8, 2017 - Kasowitz publicly disputes former FBI director James B. Comey's testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Kasowitz says that Trump "never, in form or substance" directed Comey to cease investigating anyone and that Trump never told Comey he required and expected his loyalty.

 

Michael Cohen

A longtime Trump Organization lawyer, Cohen became personal counsel to the president following the inauguration. In late January, Cohen met with a Ukrainian lawmaker and agreed to ferry a Russian-backed peace plan for Ukraine to the White House. The New York Times reported Cohen said he left the plan in Flynn's office days before Flynn resigned as national security adviser. Cohen told The Washington Post he threw the plan in the trash.

Timeline

• January 2016 - The Post reports that Cohen sent an email during the presidential campaign to Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, asking for help on a stalled Trump Tower deal in Moscow. The email marks the most direct interaction yet documented of a top Trump aide and a senior member of Putin’s government. Cohen told congressional investigators that Felix Sater, a Russian-American businessman, encouraged him to write the email.
• Late January 2017 - Felix Sater, Michael Cohen and Andrii V. Artemenko meet in a luxury hotel in Manhattan to discuss Artmenko's proposed deal to end conflict over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sater later said he thought Cohen would hand the peace deal proposal to National Security Advisor Flynn himself. Cohen said he never intended to do so.

 

Ivanka Trump

President Trump's older daughter has taken an office in the West Wing and a job as adviser and assistant to the president. She has met with foreign heads of state, including Justin Trudeau of Canada and Angela Merkel of Germany.

Timeline

• February 2006 - Felix Sater, a Russian American who worked with Donald Trump on several projects and proposals, says Trump asked him to escort Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. around Moscow.
• Jan. 20, 2017 - Dasha Zhukova, wife of oligarch and Putin friend Roman Abramovich, attends the inauguration as a guest of Ivanka Trump.

 

Felix Sater

The Russian-born Trump business partner tried to help get a deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow in 2005 and again in 2015. In January 2017, he helped bring a pro-Russia peace plan for Ukraine to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Trump has frequently said he doesn’t remember Sater, who was the managing director of Bayrock Group, the firm that developed Trump SoHo.

Timeline

• 1974 - Felix Sater emmigrates from the Soviet Union. His family moves to Brighton Beach, N.Y.
• 1990s - In his 20s, Sater works as a stockbroker on Wall Street. He loses his trading license after he stabs a man in the face with the stem of a margarita glass during a bar fight. The incident leads to a year in prison.
• 1998 - Sater pleads guilty to one charge of racketeering for a stock fraud scheme that involved the Mafia. Sater becomes a confidential informant for the FBI and cooperates with federal prosecutors on national security and organized crime matters, which delays his sentencing and keeps his court records sealed.
• 2005 - Sater is part of the development company Bayrock Group located at Trump Tower. He, his Bayrock partners and Trump agree to explore developing a hotel in Moscow and the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale. The Moscow deal later fell through.
• February 2006 - Trump asks Sater to escort Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump around Moscow, according to Sater. “He asked if I wouldn’t mind joining them and looking after them while they were in Moscow,” Sater said.
• 2007 - Sater testifies in a deposition that he had found Russian investors for the Trump Tower in Moscow. He also says the project had a site picked out, a shuttered pencil factory named after U.S. anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
• Sept. 19, 2007 - Sater, Trump and Bayrock founder Tevfik Arif attend the launch party for Trump SoHo, a hotel project on which they collaborated.
• 2008 - Sater leaves Bayrock following stories that surface about his tumultuous past.
• 2009 - At a court hearing, FBI officials back up Sater’s claims that he was an informant. He’s fined $25,000 and avoids prison time. He also testifies that Bayrock was a company that he built with his “own two hands.”
• Nov. 5, 2013 - In sworn testimony, Trump claims he barely knows Sater and “wouldn’t know what he looked like.” As of April 2017, Sater's LinkedIn profile states that he was a Trump adviser for a year beginning in January 2010.
• 2015 - At her Senate confirmation hearing to become U.S. attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch was asked why the government hid Sater’s court records. Lynch said Sater had “provided valuable and sensitive information” for more than a decade.
• November 2015 - In an email, Sater urges Trump to visit Moscow to promote a proposal to build a Trump Tower in the Russian capital, according to several people who have been briefed on his correspondence. Sater suggests President Vladimir Putin might say “great things” about him. Trump never traveled to Moscow and the business deal ultimately fell through. Sater encouraged Michael Cohen, the executive vice president for the Trump Organization, to send an email to Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov asking for help on the Trump Tower deal.
• Jan. 27, 2017 - Sater, Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and Ukrainian politician Andrii V. Artemenko meet privately in New York to discuss a peace proposal for Ukraine and lifting sanctions against Russia.

 

George Papadopoulos

Sergei Millian, a key source for the "dossier" compiled by a former British spy, told certain individuals during the campaign that he was in touch with Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser. Papadopoulos met with foreign leaders and gave an interview criticizing U.S. sanctions on Russia.

Timeline

• March 21, 2016 - In a meeting with The Washington Post's editorial board, Trump reveals that George Papadopoulos is one of his foreign policy advisers. Trump describes Papadopoulos as "an energy and oil consultant," and says he's "an excellent guy."

 

Erik Prince

Prince, a Trump business associate, brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the founder of notorious private security firm Blackwater, presented himself as an unofficial envoy of Trump in a meeting with a representative of Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles days before Trump's inauguration, according to U.S., European and Arab officials. The meeting was brokered by the United Arab Emirates who hoped to loosen Russian ties to Iran by strengthening ties between Russia and the United States.

Timeline

• January 2017 - About Jan. 11, Prince presented himself as an unofficial envoy of Trump in a meeting with an anonymous representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the island of Seychelles, according to U.S., European and Arab officials as reported by The Post. The meeting was arranged by the United Arab Emirates and officials said a discussion topic was the prospect of persuading Moscow to loosen ties with Iran.

 

Brian Benczkowski

Trump has nominated Brian Benczkowski to lead the Justice Department's criminal division. Benczkowski previously helped manage Trump's transition team for the department. Benczkowski has told members of Congress ahead of his Senate confimration hearing on July 25 that he previously represented Alfa Bank, one of Russia’s largest financial institutions. The owners of the Russian bank have ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Timeline

• November 16, 2016 - The Post reports Benczkowski is helping to manage the Justice Department transition for the Trump campaign.
• June 5, 2017 - Trump nominates Benczkowski to be an assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's criminal division.
• July 19, 2017 - Benczkowski tells members of the Senate Judiciary Committee he has ties to the Russian bank Alfa Bank, which he previously represented.
• July 25, 2017 - Benczkowski faces questions during his Senate confirmation hearing on his ties to Alfa Bank.

 

Charts and Graphs:

 

 

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/?utm_term=.2ddab140e227

http://www.businessinsider.com/comeys-testimony-points-to-trumps-collusion-with-russia

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/13/15952212/trump-russia-investigation-evidence

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/connections-trump-putin-russia-ties-chart-flynn-page-manafort-sessions-214868

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/us/politics/collusion-trump-russia-campaign.html?mcubz=0

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-russia-kushner-sessions-manafort-flynn-ambassador-641002

THAT ^ is how you do proper research, so that you actually know wtf your talking about.

Edited September 9, 2017 by Aquila King

[Farmer77]

7 hours ago, and then said:

 If you really think that removing him from office is a good thing then you will deserve what you see happening afterward.

What does that even mean? Are you so in love with your party that you are willing to accept any forms of malfeasance from its leader? 

7 hours ago, and then said:

 I'll say it again - NO group of Americans can ever hope to rule over the rest BY FORCE.  

And ill say it again, if Trump is removed it will be through the power of the constitution. Why are you insistent on repeating this mantra about rule by force? 

7 hours ago, and then said:

I'm sure you will make excuses for what is happening and call it anything except what it really IS, but that won't matter then.

You keep repeating that no group of Americans should rule the rest by force yet you sure seem to WANT the opportunity to subvert the rule of law and use force. 

[Aquila King]

15 minutes ago, Farmer77 said:

What does that even mean? Are you so in love with your party that you are willing to accept any forms of malfeasance from its leader? 

And ill say it again, if Trump is removed it will be through the power of the constitution. Why are you insistent on repeating this mantra about rule by force? 

You keep repeating that no group of Americans should rule the rest by force yet you sure seem to WANT the opportunity to subvert the rule of law and use force. 

I'd be careful if I were you. Last time I (plus others) challenged him on this sort of thing, the moderators used their 'force' to shut it down.

It appears that in and then's mindset, repeatedly insinuating multiple times on multiple threads that you wish to use force and commit violence against those who hold opposing viewpoints is somehow acceptable (as long as it's a Republican doing it to a Democrat of course).

It's also acceptable to say:

• Mexicans are rapists and criminals
• blue lives matter (a.k.a. cops are somehow the victims when they murder unarmed black men)
• ban all Muslims
• immigrants are ruining this country
• there were bad people "on many sides" in Charlottesville, and...
• there were 'good people' who marched alongside Nazis and Klansmen.
• rebel flags and confederate statues should stay up 'to preserve history' (a.k.a. to honor and memorialize those who literally fought for the right to own slaves)

Although what isn't acceptable to say is that Donald Trump and his supporters are racist. No, see that's discriminatory. Suddenly they become real quick to point out that not all of Trump's supporters are racist. 

Most importantly, anyone who merely points this out, the mods come real quick to shut this kind of discrimination down.

I wonder how long it takes for this post to stay up before it's deleted as well? I'll be sure to screenshot it just in case.

And lastly, before people start complaining that I'm going off topic, everything I've stated thus far ties in to this underlying point: if they'll shut down previous threads for this kind of flawed reasoning, what's to stop them from doing it to this one? I'm concerned about potential biases in the higher-ups and I'm not afraid to call them out on it.

So just be aware that what you post may be filtered.

 

[AnchorSteam]

Hang on a sec....

Edited September 10, 2017 by AnchorSteam

[Farmer77]

2 minutes ago, AnchorSteam said:

Guys ... its funny, but I can't waste any more time on this shiny object.

 

Cant even focus on it, all I can think of is "What is this meant to distract me from?"

Time to have a look, and find out.

You know I do that from time to time and what ive found is that most of what Trump and company do is actually to distract us from THIS 

[Farmer77]

7 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

It appears that in and then's mindset, repeatedly insinuating multiple times on multiple threads that you wish to use force and commit violence against those who hold opposing viewpoints is somehow acceptable (as long as it's a Republican doing it to a Democrat of course).

There certainly seems to be a segment of our society who will never be convinced Trump isnt some sort of divinity. Not that I even think And Then thinks that , just that he wont ever believe any evidence against the man is real, its all a "vast left wing conspiracy". 

9 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

It's also acceptable to say:

• Mexicans are rapists and criminals
• blue lives matter (a.k.a. cops are somehow the victims when they murder unarmed black men)
• ban all Muslims
• immigrants are ruining this country
• there were bad people "on many sides" in Charlottesville, and...
• there were 'good people' who marched alongside Nazis and Klansmen.
• rebel flags and confederate statues should stay up 'to preserve history' (a.k.a. to honor and memorialize those who literally fought for the right to own slaves)

All of the above I think speaks to the heart of the issues America is facing and whats really mind blowing and quite disturbing is how many revel in holding those positions. 

13 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

Most importantly, anyone who merely points this out, the mods come real quick to shut this kind of discrimination down.

I wonder how long it takes for this post to stay up before it's deleted as well? I'll be sure to screenshot it just in case.

And lastly, before people start complaining that I'm going off topic, everything I've stated thus far ties in to this underlying point: if they'll shut down previous threads for this kind of flawed reasoning, what's to stop them from doing it to this one? I'm concerned about potential biases in the higher-ups and I'm not afraid to call them out on it.

So just be aware that what you post may be filtered.

I've been on the site for a long time and I do have to differ with you here.

Overall the mods are great and in some 11k posts ive made I can only think of two which were IMO unfairly pulled. 

That said though not knowing what specifically you're referring to I can probably guess which mod it is you are referring to. That mod in particular does seem to have some issues with separating their biases. 

 

[AnchorSteam]

6 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

It's also acceptable to say:

• Mexicans are rapists and criminals

Nope.

But pointing out that a proportion of those who cross the border illegally ARE doing that gets edited by folks like you into the above smear.

6 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

• blue lives matter (a.k.a. cops are somehow the victims when they murder unarmed black men)

Again, nope. In fact, Libertarians like me are among the first to jump all over them for that.

Aw, did you not like it when we also point out that 5 Cops were killed by a BLM-sympathizer while they were protecting BLM's right to protest?

Too bad, but lying about it won't change the facts... no matter how desperate you are to make that seem to happen.

6 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

• ban all Muslims

Trump wants to put a hold on immigration from 7 countries (also IDed by Obama as terror-supporting states or just plain failed states) for a few weeks.... and you conflate that to the above lie to score political points.... how badly must you need new material ?

6 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

• immigrants are ruining this country

Illegal means ILLEGAL, unless you want more Leftist voters, apparently. 

But that is another word that the Left isn't allowed to use anymore, right? Not in this context, anyway.

6 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

• there were bad people "on many sides" in Charlottesville, and...

Yes, there WERE.

Otherwise, why would the media & Mancy Pelosi be throwing AntiFa under the Buss this week?

Eh?  

6 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

• there were 'good people' who marched alongside Nazis and Klansmen.

If a Communist with mask, club, and acid-bombs inserted himself into YOUR march to support Free Speech... (or maybe something that matters to you, not sure that one does) .... would you and the thousand people with you just give up and walk away, go home, and leave the stage to that one lunatic?

Then why should the other side?

6 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

• rebel flags and confederate statues should stay up 'to preserve history' (a.k.a. to honor and memorialize those who literally fought for the right to own slaves)

I know this is a wildly radical idea for you, but the history of the USA does involve a few things that don't have anything to do with slavery.

I despise the Confederacy, but it DID happen.

6 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

Although what isn't acceptable to say is that Donald Trump and his supporters are racist. No, see that's discriminatory. Suddenly they become real quick to point out that not all of Trump's supporters are racist. 

Yes, it is.

Revenge does not give you the right to emulate all of the very worse traits of those people that you hate so very much.

In fact, it makes YOU one of THEM, in all ways that matter.