Trump fires Rex Tillerson; members of a complicit GOP Congress lead another whitewash of Trump’s Russia problems; Pennsylvania voters in a deep red district repudiate the Republican candidate in a special election; and students nationally show their elders how to speak truth to power. This week, the events through Wednesday alone make last week seem like a distant memory. But it’s worth remembering one that received little media attention.

Way back then, a botched porn-star payoff, former Trump aide Sam Nunberg’s cable news circus act, typical Trump-style hype over North Korea, and a vile rally in Pennsylvania swamped cable news networks. But last week’s most important and underreported story involved Erik Prince. He may find himself among Trump’s many aides and allies who have been caught lying about their contacts with Russia.

In this week’s update of the Trump-Russia Timeline, Prince earns a Timeline name filter and this descriptive “pop-up” bubble:

Erik Prince is the founder of the Blackwater private security firm (now known as Academi). He is also a $250,000 donor to the Trump campaign and the brother of Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. In 1990, Prince worked as an intern for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). In January 2017, he reportedly met in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev and representatives of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

Now Go To The Timeline

For Prince, the key date is Jan. 11, 2017 How and why did he meet with Kirill Dmitriev on a remote sovereign archipelago in the Indian Ocean? Increasingly, the answer appears to be “backchannel.”

This week’s update brings the total number of Trump-Russia Timeline entries to almost 1,000. When I created the Timeline in February 2017, there were 25. The hits keep coming, and the best is yet to come.

For a while, it appeared that Brad Parscale’s appointment as the manager of Trump’s 2020 campaign would be last week’s biggest addition to the Trump-Russia Timeline. But then Hope Hicks resigned the day after testifying that she told “white lies” for Trump, who berated her for such candor.

So much has already happened this week that it’s easy for forget those bombshells. That would be a mistake.

Brad Parscale

Around 2011, Parscale had begun creating web designs for Trump family businesses. In early 2015, he was working alone from his home in San Antonio when he received a message: Donald Trump was planning to run for president and needed a website. Parscale offered to do the job for $1,500.

Eventually, he became the Trump campaign’s digital director. Facebook and Twitter embedded their employees in his organization, and by the end of 2016, the campaign had paid Parscale’s firm more than $90 million.

Where does Parscale fit in the broader Trump-Russia scandal? Here’s a little context:

June 2015: According to special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian entities behind one prong of the election interference project, Russia’s exploitation of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media begins.

June 16, 2015: Trump announces his candidacy. Within a month, he is boasting about his relationship with Putin’s oligarchs, praises the Russian dictator, and makes clear that he thinks the US should soften its position on Russian sanctions.

June 9, 2016: Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort meet with Russians promising “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Six weeks earlier, other Russians had told George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, that they possessed Clinton’s stolen emails.

September 2016: Wikileaks contacts Donald Trump Jr. who, in turn, tells Parscale, Steve Bannon, and Jared Kushner about it. Meanwhile, Trump confidant Roger Stone claims repeatedly to be in communication with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. (Go to the Timeline and click on Stone’s name.) Through the election, Trump himself praises publicly WikiLeaks’ disclosures — all of which target Clinton.

January 2017: After the election, Parscale, Rick Gates, and other former Trump aides form a large, pro-Trump non-profit organization: “America First Policies.”

July 2017: After receiving a request to appear before the House Intelligence Committee, Parscale issues a statement saying that he is “unaware of any Russian involvement in the digital and data operations of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.”

Meanwhile, Facebook still denies that it has any evidence of Russian political ad purchases on its platform. In September, it finally begins to come clean.

Jan. 5, 2018: Parscale tweets:

Kushner and Eric? And now Parscale is managing the 2020 Trump campaign. Friends taking care of friends.

Hope Hicks

Hicks stole Parscale’s spotlight: She admitted to telling “white lies” for Trump and resigned the next day. Go to the Trump-Russia Timeline, and click on her name. Here’s a sample of what’s there:

July 2016; Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page informs Hicks about his trip to Russia.

September 2016: Hicks receives an email from Don Jr. about his contact with WikiLeaks.

November 2016: Hicks denies that there were any contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign.

March 2017; Hicks issues a statement trying to explain away Jared Kushner’s secret meeting with a Russian banker in December 2016.

May 2017: Hicks is a member of Trump’s core group as he decides to fire FBI Director James Comey and then initially lies about his reasons for doing so.

July 2017: As Trump participates in crafting Don Jr.’s misleading statement about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians promising “dirt” on Clinton, Hicks is there.

Hicks seems to know more than where some bodies are buried. She may have held a shovel that helped put them there.

Here is a complete list of entries for this week’s update to the Trump-Russia Timeline:

APRIL 2015: Trump and Torshin at NRA Convention

EARLY 2015: Trump Campaign Retains Parscale

APRIL 26, 2016: Papadopoulos Learns That Russians Have ‘Dirt’ on Hillary Clinton and Can Help Disseminate It (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 13, 2016: The Atlantic: Stone and WikiLeaks Communicate Directly

OCT. 30, 2016: WSJ: Internal FBI Feud Over Clinton Investigation

NOV. 8, 2016: Election Day Troubles (revision of previous entry)

NOV. 9, 2016: WikiLeaks Sends Message to Stone

NOV. 10, 2016: Zuckerberg Rejects “Crazy Idea” that Facebook Affected Election

JAN. 5, 2017: Intelligence Chiefs Brief Obama on Trump and Russia

MARCH 2017: Kushner Companies Gets Big Loans; SEC Drops Inquiry

OCT. 27, 2017: US Attorney Dana Boente Resigns; Later Gets New FBI Job (revision of previous entry)

FEB. 27, 2018: Trump Tweets

FEB. 27, 2018: Parscale Named Trump’s 2020 Campaign Manager

FEB. 27, 2018: Hicks Admits to “White Lies”; House Intelligence Committee Gets “Bannon’ed”

FEB. 27, 2018: Trump Dragging Feet on Disrupting Russian Interference Efforts

FEB. 27, 2018: Kushner Suffers Security Clearance Downgrade and Other Woes

FEB. 27-28, 2018: Trump Attacks Sessions Again; Sessions Counterpunches

FEB. 27-28, 2018: Mueller Eyes Trump’s Russian Connections and Hicks’ Denials

FEB. 28, 2018: Manafort Trial Date Set

FEB. 28, 2018: Hicks Announces Resignation

MARCH 3, 2018: Mueller Investigating UAE Election Influence

MARCH 4, 2018: Putin: Russia Will Never Allow US to Extradite Accused Russians

MARCH 5, 2018: Trump Tweets Another Lie About Russia Investigation

Two major news stories intersected, but most of the media missed the collision. The Parkland High School shooting brought new scrutiny to the NRA’s position on assault weapons. And Rick Gates’ guilty plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller led many pundits to focus on how Gates’ cooperation could bolster the case against former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort. The Trump-Russia Timeline reveals a connection between the seemingly separate stories about the NRA and Gates. That connection could become key.

Start with Gates

Certainly, Rick Gates’ plea creates pressure on Manafort to flip and, presumably, testify against Trump. But Gates’ testimony alone could also worsen the legal jeopardy facing Trump (and Jared Kushner and Don Jr.). When it comes to Trump, Gates might know as much as Manafort, and perhaps more.

Go to the Trump-Russia Timeline, click on Rick Gates, and you’ll find more details about the following entries:

2006: Gates joins Manafort’s consulting firm and begins a decade-long relationship as his confidant.

March 2016: Manafort joins the Trump campaign. Gates goes with him and remains Manafort’s right-hand man.

A month ago, I urged a watchful eye on the FBI’s interest in whether Russians funneled campaign contributions to Trump through the NRA. Accepting campaign contributions from a foreign adversary is illegal. How might Gates fill out that picture? Here’s a start:

There Could Be Much More

But Gates alone may have more to say about a lot of other Trump-Russia things. Returning to Gates’ entries on the Timeline:

May 21, 2016: Papadopoulos Pushes Russia Meeting. Manafort forwards to Gates an email that he received from George Papadopoulos, who is pushing the Russians’ request for a direct meeting between Putin and Trump.

Timeline entries for June 9, 2016 (“Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer”) and July 14, 2016 (“Trump Campaign Successfully Changes GOP Platform on Ukraine”) do not yet show up as involving Gates. But his proximity to Manafort makes them candidates for future inclusion. Meanwhile, Gates does appear in these entries:

Aug. 19, 2016: Manafort Resigns From Trump Campaign; Gates Remains. After Manafort leaves the campaign amid controversy over increasing media attention to his exploits with Ukraine’s pro-Putin president, Gates moves over to the Republican National Committee and remains in Trump’s inner circle.

Jan. 20, 2017: Gates Remains in Trump Orbit. After the election, Gates becomes a consultant to the presidential transition, including the inauguration committee. After the inauguration, Gates and the Trump campaign’s digital director, Brad Parscale, help raise $25 million for a new pro-Trump group, “America First Policies.”

In short, Gates has a continuity of experience with Trump that Manafort doesn’t. As a cooperating witness for Mueller, Gates could be especially potent.

Here’s a complete list of this week’s Trump-Russia Timeline update:

MARCH 19, 2013: Manafort Has Dinner with Rohrabacher

DECEMBER 2016: Suspicious Bank Loans to Manafort

SEPTEMBER 2012: US Law Firm Completes Report on Ukrainian Trial

SEPTEMBER 2016: FBI Has Open “Sub-Inquiries” On Individuals with Trump Campaign Links

SEPTEMBER 2016: Skadden Attorney Communicates With Gates and “Person A”

OCT. 21, 2016: FBI Seeks FISA Warrant on Carter Page (revision of previous entry)

OCTOBER 2017: Trump’s Bodyguard Gets RNC Job

FEB. 1, 2018: Gates Lies to Mueller

FEB. 2, 2018: Mueller Issues Criminal Information Against Rick Gates

FEB. 7, 2018: US Forces Attacked in Syria; Russian Oligarch Involved

FEB. 14, 2018: Lawyer Connected to Manafort and Gates Agrees to Guilty Plea Guilty

FEB. 16, 2018: Mueller’s DC Grand Jury Issues Superseding Indictment Against Manafort

FEB. 18, 2018: Former Russian Troll Farm Employee Arrested

FEB. 19, 2018: Mueller Looking at Kushner’s Finances

FEB. 19, 2018: Trump Blames Obama for Russian Meddling

FEB. 20, 2018: Trump Tweet-storm About Russia and Obama Continues

FEB. 21, 2018: Trump Tweets

FEB. 22, 2018: Trump Tweets As NRA Takes Heat

FEB. 22, 2018: New Charges Against Manafort and Gates

FEB. 23, 2018: Gates Pleads Guilty; Manafort Professes Innocence

FEB. 24, 2018: Democratic Rebuttal To Nunes Memo Released

FEB. 24, 2018: Trump Lies About Democratic Response to Nunes Memo

FEB. 26, 2018: GOP House Leaders Refuse to Investigate Trump Finances

Last week in brief: bad for Trump; worse for Kushner; busy for the Trump-Russia Timeline.

At the end of the week, special counsel Robert Mueller’s grand jury charged 3 entities and 13 Russian nationals with orchestrating an attack on American democracy. The resulting media coverage eclipsed more important news from a few days earlier: US intelligence chiefs warned Congress and the nation that Putin is still at it — trying to undermine the 2018 midterm elections.

But the really big news is Trump’s continuing indifference to it all, coupled with his endless efforts to distort the truth into something more pleasant for him.

Does It Really Matter?

In a Feb. 14, 2018 appearance, Vice President Mike Pence had a simple message for the audience: US intelligence agencies had found that none of Russia’s efforts had any impact on the 2016 election. For emphasis, he repeated the lie.

The truth: In their Jan. 6, 2017 report on Putin’s widespread influence campaign, the heads of America’s intelligence apparatus said that their agencies did not make any assessment of the impact that Russia’s activities had on the election outcome.

Then on Feb. 16, 2018, special counsel Mueller eliminated any doubt about the seriousness, sophistication, and success of Russia’s efforts to help Trump win. Mueller’s grand jury indicted a Russian-government linked troll farm, two of its funding entities, and 13 Russian nationals for conspiring against the United States “for the purpose of interfering with the US political and electoral system, including the presidential election of 2016.” Social media became Russia’s weapons of choice in the battle against democracy.

Referring to the indictment, Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster said, “[T]he evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain.” The last line of defense for Trump’s claim of presidential legitimacy — that he won the election “fair and square” — now lies in the dustbin of history.

“No Collusion — No Impact”? No Way

Responding to the indictment, Trump lied again. He said that it somehow proved “no collusion” between Russia and the Trump campaign, as well as “no impact” on the election outcome. Neither claim withstands even minimal scrutiny. Lawyers choose their words carefully, and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is no exception.

“There is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the alleged unlawful activity,” Rosenstein said. “There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.” (emphasis supplied) Identifying allegations that aren’t in an indictment is a far cry from vindicating the Trump-Pence claims.

No collusion? The Russia indictment focuses only on Russia’s side of the election-interference transaction. Future indictments will reveal the complete roster of players on the US side. More importantly, they won’t use the red-herring word “collusion.” As Mueller well knows, the relevant legal concepts are conspiring, aiding, abetting, and obstructing.

Impact on the outcome? Functionally, the Russians became Trump’s biggest SuperPac. Putin’s favored candidate lost the US popular vote by almost 3 million ballots and prevailed in the electoral college only because he won three key states by fewer than 80,000 votes out of more than 136 million cast. Bottom line: His presidential victory carries a permanent asterisk. Trump will never be able to prove that he could have won without unlawful help from a foreign adversary.

Someday, Trump’s tweets about the Russia indictment — like so many others — will come back to haunt him and those mounting vigorous defenses based on his false claims.

And Then There’s Kushner…

The indictment, together with news that Mueller’s team had interviewed Steve Bannon for more than 20 hours, could mean special trouble for Jared Kushner. Bannon hates Kushner. The Russia indictment focuses on the defendants’ successful social media efforts. That puts a new spotlight on Trump’s son-in-law, who ran the digital campaign.

For those following the Trump-Russia Timeline, that spotlight was always there. Go to the Timeline and click on Jared Kushner’s name. Or, if you prefer, take a look at the stand-alone Kushner Timeline — made especially for him. He earned it.

Here’s the complete list of this week’s new/revised entries:

NEW: MAY 27, 2013: Trump Contemplating Presidential Bid in 2016

JULY 2013: Internet Research Agency Formed in Russia

APRIL 2014: The “Translator Project” Begins

JUNE 4-26, 2014: Russians Visit US

APRIL TO JUNE 2016: Russians Buy Pro-Trump Ads

JUNE 2016: Russians Get Voter Targeting Info

JUNE TO NOVEMBER 2016: “Translator Project” in Full Swing

NOV. 12, 2016: Russian Interference Campaign Continues

APRIL 2017: Trump Tells McGahn to Get Comey’s Help on Russia

MAY 9, 2017: Internal Trump Team Clash After Comey Firing

MAY 17, 2017: Rosenstein Names Former FBI Director Robert Mueller Special Counsel (revision of previous entry)

JULY 25, 2017: Trump Continues Attacking Sessions on Twitter; Wants Sessions’ Resignation (revision of previous entry)

SEPT. 13, 2017: Russians Realize They Have Been Busted; Destroy Evidence

NEW: DEC. 19, 2017: Prigozhin Added to Sanctions List

FEB. 13, 2018: US Intelligence Chiefs Warn About Russian Interference in 2018

FEB. 13, 2018: Sekulow Using His Radio Show To Defend Trump

FEB. 13, 2018: Mueller Has More For Manafort

FEB. 14, 2018: Pence Lies About US Intelligence Findings

FEB. 15, 2018: Bannon and Trump Frame Permissible Questions for Congress

FEB. 16, 2018: Grand Jury Indicts Internet Research Agency and Russian Nationals

FEB. 16, 2018: Trump Claims Indictment Exonerates Him

NEW: FEB. 17, 2018: Trump Tweets About Indictment

NEW: FEB. 17, 2018: Trump Tweets About Indictment

NEW: FEB. 17, 2018: Trump Retweets Facebook’s Defense

NEW: FEB. 17, 2018: Florida Suffers Tragedy; Trump Tweets

NEW: FEB. 17, 2018: McMaster Speaks; Trump Tweets

NEW: FEB. 18, 2018: Trump Tweets Russians Are “Laughing Their Asses Off”

NEW: FEB. 18, 2018: LA Times: Gates Agrees to Plea Deal

The motivation for Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) persistent efforts to obstruct the Trump-Russia probe became clearer last week. Specifically, we learned that on Dec. 23, 2016, Nunes gave an interview to Newsweek. At best, it will certainly land him in an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller. At worst, well…

When Nunes spoke with Newsweek, he was on the executive committee of Trump’s presidential transition team. Here’s what he said about his relationship with national security-designate Mike Flynn:

“This guy was one of the best intelligence officers in several generations…. Flynn is extremely smart. He really is top notch… I talk to Flynn virtually every day, if not multiple times a day. Seldom there’s a day that goes by that I don’t talk to Flynn, and especially right after the campaign, directly.” (emphasis supplied)

Now go to the Trump-Russia Timeline and click on Mike Flynn. Here’s what was happening with him around the time of Nunes’ interview:

Late November 2016: Flynn tells senior Trump advisers that he has scheduled a meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Dec. 1, 2016: Flynn, Kislyak, and Jared Kushner meet privately, and Kushner reportedly suggests to Kislyak the possibility of establishing a secret back-channel through which the Trump administration could communicate directly with the Kremlin — and without the knowledge of US intelligence officials.

Mid-December 2016: Flynn, Kushner, and Steve Bannon meet with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, who reportedly arranges a January meeting in the Seychelles islands between Trump supporter Erik Prince (Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos’s brother) and a Russian close to Putin.

Dec. 22, 2016: Flynn lobbies Kislyak directly (and, perhaps, illegally) about Russia’s upcoming UN vote on Israeli settlements. (Flynn later lies to federal investigators about it.)

DEC. 23, 2016: NUNES’ INTERVIEW WITH NEWSWEEK

Dec. 28-31, 2016: Flynn speaks with certain members of Trump’s transition team about his discussions with Kisylak. The topic is President Obama’s new sanctions against Russia for its interference in the US election. Kislyak tells Flynn that Putin will not retaliate for the sanctions, (Flynn later lies to federal investigators about his conversations with Kislyak.)

Jan. 4, 2017: Flynn tells the transition team’s chief legal counsel (and White House counsel-designate) Don McGahn that Flynn is under federal investigation for his lobbying activities on behalf of entities connected to the Turkish government.

To follow the action from this point, go to the Trump-Russia Timeline, click on Devin Nunes, and discover his publicly known efforts to obstruct and undermine the Trump-Russia investigation. His fears of where the truth could take him personally are well-grounded.

Members of Congress have immunity from criminal liability for acts that are an integral part of their legislative duties. But such “speech or debate” immunity provides no protection for whatever Nunes may have done while serving on Trump’s transition team. Nor could it protect him from charges that he obstructed justice in connection with the investigation of such wrongdoing.

Russian Interference

Another important and under-reported story of the week was lost in Nunes’ nonsense over his distracting attack on the FBI. On Jan. 10, 2018, Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report detailing how Putin operates as he seeks to undermine Western democracy.

Among the highlights of the 200-page report:

• Putin’s goal: Amass personal wealth and power
• Means and methods:
  • Control internal government intelligence agencies
  • Dismiss the truth as “FAKE NEWS”
  • Spread disinformation
  • Operate without meaningful legislative oversight
  • Sow division among Western allies
  • Exploit explosive issues to divide Americans 

Sound familiar? The report notes that Trump has stood “practically idle” in dealing with Putin’s ongoing attacks on American democracy.

One more thing: With Rachel Brand’s resignation on Feb. 9, 2018, Trump’s path to undermining Mueller’s investigation got a lot easier.

Here’s a complete list of the latest Trump-Russia Timeline updates:

EARLY JULY 2016: Steele Contacts FBI About His Trump Findings (revision of previous entry)

NOV. 8, 2016: Election Day Troubles (revision of previous entry)

DEC. 23, 2016: Nunes Talks to Flynn Daily

JAN. 10, 2018: Senate Report: Putin’s Attacks on Democracy

FEB. 2, 2018: Nunes Moves Inquiry To State Dept.

FEB. 5, 2018: House Intelligence Committee Votes to Release Response to Nunes Memo

FEB. 5, 2018: Trump’s Lawyers Don’t Want Him to Testify

FEB. 6, 2018: Tillerson: Russia Already Meddling in 2018 Midterms

FEB. 8, 2018: Grassley Says Release of Don Jr. and Other Transcripts Will Take Weeks

FEB. 8, 2018: Trump Tweets

FEB. 9, 2018: Democrats Rebut Grassley/Graham Criminal Referral on Steele

FEB. 9, 2018: Rachel Brand Resigns

FEB. 9, 2018: Trump Objects to Releasing Democrats’ Rebuttal to Nunes’ Memo

FEB. 10, 2018: Trump Tweets

For weeks, the media focused on Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) memo. On Feb. 2, it landed with a thud and crushed a key GOP talking point. As wrangling continues over the Democrats’ rebuttal, the controversy is working for Trump: Nunes has obscured far more important developments in the Trump-Russia Timeline. In that respect, he’s a recidivist.

First Things First: Killing a GOP Talking Point

Trump and his GOP allies have been pushing the false narrative that the Trump-Russia investigation began as a partisan conspiracy. They base their claim on this sequence of events:

• After Trump clinched the GOP nomination in 2016, conservative Republicans funding Fusion GPS’s anti-Trump opposition research bowed out and Democrats stepped in.
• Fusion hired former British MI6 intelligence officer Christopher Steele, a widely respected specialist on Russia.
• Steele started digging and provided Fusion with raw intelligence that became known as the Steele dossier.
• Some of Steele’s material became part of the FBI’s Oct. 21, 2016 FISA warrant application to surveil a former Trump foreign policy adviser, Carter Page.
• From there, the theory goes, the FBI was off to the races on a Trump-Russia investigation that became a partisan “witch hunt.”

Nunes’ memo killed the Trump/GOP talking point. It’s true that, on Oct. 21, 2016 — after Page had left the Trump campaign — the FBI sought and the FISA court issued a warrant to surveil Page. It’s also true that some of Steele’s material was part of the application for that warrant.

But neither Steele nor Page started the FBI investigation. As Nunes’ memo concedes, George Papadopoulos did:

“The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016….”

July v. October. Nunes missed the GOP’s talking point target by three months. For the facts surrounding Christopher Steele’s role in the Trump-Russia story, go to the Trump-Russia Timeline and click on his name. Steele is an American patriot — and he’s not even a US citizen.

The Important Stuff

To understand the facts surrounding how and why the FBI’s investigation began, go to the Trump-Russia Timeline and click on Papadopoulos’ name. Look at what Papadopoulos — then one of only five Trump foreign policy advisers — began doing in March 2016. Look at what he told an Australian diplomat in May 2016, namely, that Russia possessed stolen Clinton emails.

Now click on Carter Page — another of Trump’s five foreign policy advisers in March 2016. This week’s Timeline update revises the first entry for Page (Apr. 8, 2013) to add this:

“On Aug. 25, 2013, Page writes a letter boasting, ‘Over the past half year, I have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the Kremlin in preparation for their Presidency of the G-20 Summit next month, where energy issues will be a prominent point on the agenda.’”

Finally, go to the Timeline and click on Devin Nunes to see that his latest farce is reminiscent of earlier antics. In March 2017. he personally delivered to Trump documents allegedly supporting Trump’s tweet that President Obama had “wire tapped” Trump Tower during the campaign. The documents did no such thing. Nothing could because Trump’s claim was bogus from the beginning. Eventually, even congressional Republicans admitted it.

In fact, the supposed bombshell documents that Nunes gave Trump had come from a White House lawyer whom Nunes knew well, Michael Ellis. Until a week earlier, Ellis had served as general counsel of Nunes’ House Intelligence Committee.

As I write this post, Nunes threatens another sideshow relating to his investigation into a State Department envoy — and more memos. The search for partisan conspiracies should focus on Nunes.

The Real Trump-Russia News

Meanwhile, three far more important themes run through this week’s Timeline update, starting with Trump’s persistent preference for personal loyalty over love of country and the rule of law. As calls to “cleanse” the FBI morph into a purge, add the following events to a litany that begins with Trump’s January 2017 request for former FBI Director James Comey’s loyalty:

May 9, 2017: After firing Comey, Trump asks Acting Director Andrew McCabe how he voted in the 2016 election.

December 2017: As Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein meets with Trump prior to Rosenstein’s congressional appearance, Trump asks him if he is on Trump’s “team.”

January 29, 2018: After weeks of Trump’s withering assaults, McCabe resigns. He wasn’t on Trump’s team.

That leads to the second theme in this week’s update: It’s becoming clearer why Trump might want inside help from federal law enforcement officials investigating him. A new witness has emerged in special counsel Robert Mueler’s obstruction of justice investigation.

July 7-9, 2017: As The New York Times breaks the story about the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting among Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Russians promising “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, Mark Corallo — a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team — is on a conference call with Trump and Hope Hicks. The topic is what to tell the media about the Trump Tower meeting. The easy answer would have been “the truth.” That didn’t happen. Corallo has now emerged as a potentially important witness.

Why the continuing Trump cover-up of all things Russian? The answer leads to the third theme, which centers on the most underreported story of the week.

January 29: Trump refuses to impose the sanctions on Russian election interference under a law that passed Congress with nearly unanimous bipartisan support. A few days earlier, top Russian intelligence officers had been in the US meeting with their US counterparts, including CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

Trump/Nunes attacking the FBI; Trump refusing to impose new sanctions for Russia’s election interference; the media obsessing over Trump’s shiny objects.

All in all, Putin had a good week. The country? Not so much.

Here’s a complete list of this week’s Timeline updates:

APRIL 8, 2013: Russians Attempt to Recruit Page (revision of previous entry)

LATE JULY 2016: FBI Formally Opens Investigation Into Possible Collusion (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 21, 2016: FBI Seeks FISA Warrant On Carter Page

MAY 9, 2017: Trump Fires Comey; Asks McCabe How He Voted (revision of previous entry)

JULY 7, 2017: NY Times Prepares Story on June 9, 2016 Meeting With Russians

JULY 8, 2017: White House Scrambles to Deal with Forthcoming NYT Story; Trump Supervises Media Response

JULY 8, 2017: Donald Trump Jr. Releases First Statement

JULY 8, 2017: Spokesperson for Trump’s Legal Team Offers Different Version of June 9 Meeting

JULY 9, 2017: Trump-Hicks-Corallo Conference Call

JULY 2017: Nunes’ Aide Sends Staffers to Contact Steele (revision of previous entry)

SEPT. 28, 2017: Senators Are Concerned That Trump May Not Enforce New Russia Sanctions (revision of previous entry)

EARLY DECEMBER 2017: Trump Asks Rosenstein If He Is On Trump’s “Team”

JAN. 11, 2018: Trump Calls FBI Agent’s Text “Treason”

WEEK OF JAN. 22, 2018: CIA Director Pompeo Meets With Russian Counterpart; Other Russian Intel Chiefs Also in US

JAN. 24, 2018: Justice Department Cautions Against Release Of Nunes Memo; Trump Erupts (revision of previous entry)

JAN. 28, 2018: Wray Reviews Nunes’ Memo

JAN. 28, 2018: White House Still Wants Nunes’ Memo Released

JAN. 29, 2018: White House Dismisses DOJ Concerns About Nunes’ Memo

JAN. 29, 2018: McCabe Steps Down As FBI’s Deputy Director

JAN. 29, 2018: Trump Defies Congress on Sanctions; CIA Director Says Russian Interference Will Continue

JAN. 29, 2018: DOJ Warns Against Releasing Nunes’ Memo

JAN. 29, 2018: House Intelligence Committee Votes to Release Nunes’ Memo; Nunes Revises Memo Before Sending It To White House

JAN. 29, 2018: Trump Wants Nunes’ Memo Released

JAN. 30, 2018: NBC: Trump Talks About Prosecuting Mueller

JAN. 31, 2018, Schumer Wants Answers Relating to Russian Spy Visit to US

JAN. 31, 2018: FBI Issues Public Statement On Nunes’ Memo

FEB. 2, 2018: Trump Tweets

FEB. 2, 2018: Nunes’ Memo Goes Public; Undermines Trump and GOP Position

FEB. 3, 2018: Trump Tweets

FEB. 3, 2018: Democratic Rebuttal Blasts Nunes Memo

FEB. 5, 2018: Trump Tweets

[NOTE: My Jan. 25, 2018 interview on “BACKGROUND BRIEFING” with Ian Masters is available here: “Updating the Timeline on the Trump-Russia Story.” My appearance begins at the 35-minute mark]

**************

The big news in the latest Trump-Russia Timeline update occurred more than six months ago. In June 2017, Trump told White House counsel Don McGahn that he wanted the Justice Department to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. McGahn balked; Trump blinked; Mueller remains. Plan A — firing Mueller outright — stayed on the shelf. It’s still there.

But Plan B went forward. Around the same time that Trump talked to McGahn about firing Mueller, Trump reportedly directed aides to devise and implement a strategy to undermine Mueller’s investigation. Plan B is still underway in earnest.

A comprehensive timeline of Trump’s efforts to obstruct justice would begin a week after his inauguration, when he asked then-FBI Director James Comey for loyalty. And it would continue to this day with attempts to intimidate witnesses, attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s integrity, and frontal assaults on the FBI and the Justice Department. The Trump-Russia Timeline of the reasons for Trump to obstruct justice begins in the 1980s.

This installment focuses on one small slice of the scandal: events surrounding Trump’s newly reported attempt in June 2017 to fire Mueller. Keep the facts straight, add context, and the story tells itself.

May 17, 2017: Trump is still furious that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, thereby putting Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in charge. Eight days after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Rosenstein names Robert Mueller as special counsel to supervise the FBI investigation.

May 18: Trump denies news reports that he ever asked Comey to end the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation.

May 19: Reuters reports that White House lawyers are investigating ways to undermine Mueller.

Meanwhile, the media find clues to what Mueller may be unearthing. On May 19, The Washington Post reports that Mueller has identified a current White House official as a “person of interest” in the investigation. Most observers believe it’s Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. On May 26, the Post reveals that during a previously undisclosed meeting with Russian Ambassador Kislyak on Dec. 1, 2016, Jared Kushner had sought a communications “back-channel” with the Kremlin. And then Reuters follows with a May 27 article about previously undisclosed communications between Kushner and Kislyak during the campaign.

June 2-3: The press reports that Mueller has assumed control of grand juries investigating Trump’s former national security adviser Mike Flynn and former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

June 7: Vox reports that Comey has corroborating witnesses for his reported assertion that, during an Oval Office conversation in February 2017, Trump asked him to back off the Flynn investigation.

June 8: Comey testifies publicly before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He confirms that Trump asked for his loyalty, told him privately in the Oval Office that he hoped Comey would “let Flynn go,” and thereafter sought Comey’s assistance in “lifting the Russia cloud” over his presidency. He also identifies a handful of top FBI officials who can corroborate his testimony.

After Comey’s testifies, Trump’s legal team reportedly is preparing a complaint to be filed with the Justice Department against Comey for “leaking” his memos about their loyalty dinner.

June 9: Trump accuses Comey of lying under oath and tweets:

Sometime during this period, Trump tells aides to devise and carry out a plan to discredit the senior FBI officials whom Comey had named as corroborating witness to their private conversations, according to subsequent reporting by Foreign Policy. Trump and his supporters have to “fight back harder,” Trump reportedly says.

June 11: The New York Times reports that White House aides are asking Trump’s personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz, if they need their own lawyers.

June 12: Trump confidant Chris Ruddy tells PBS NewsHour that Trump is “considering, perhaps, terminating the special counsel.”

June 13: Rosenstein testifies that he hasn’t yet seen the “good cause” required to fire Mueller.

June 14: The Washington Post reports that Mueller may be targeting Trump for obstruction of justice.

June 15: Trump tweets:

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence — who had headed Trump’s presidential transition team — hires his own outside lawyer to deal with Trump-Russia matters. The Washington Post reports that Mueller is investigating Jared Kushner’s finances. And The Wall Street Journal says that White House counsel Don McGahn is concerned that investigators could construe private meetings between Trump and Kushner as an effort to coordinate their stories.

June 15: Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein issues a curious statement that cautions against public reliance on “anonymous” officials and “anonymous” allegations.

June 16: Rosenstein reportedly tells colleagues that he might have to recuse himself from supervising Mueller’s investigation.

June 16: A Trump tweet takes aim at Rosenstein:

And all of that preceded this week’s bombshells: Details surrounding the infamous June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting among Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Russians promising “dirt” on Hillary Clinton; Trump reportedly asking Rosenstein if he was on Trump’s team; and Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) ongoing attacks on the DOJ and the FBI. More about those in next week’s Timeline update.

Crisis Over Or Intensifying?

Some observers are now breathing a sigh of relief. They say that the country survived the June episode and Trump wouldn’t try to fire Mueller again. Why not? Since June, the investigation has moved closer to Trump’s inner circle, and Mueller has secured two indictments, two guilty pleas, and at least two cooperating witnesses (one is Mike Flynn).

For now, Trump and a complicit GOP Congress are following Plan B: Hollow out the investigation by attacking Mueller’s personal integrity, intimidating potential witnesses, and undermining the integrity of FBI and the Justice Department. However, Trump’s ever-present desire to fire Mueller and terminate the investigation remains.

But beware of Plan C. While watching Mueller, keep a close eye on the fate of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who supervises him. If Trump fires Rosenstein, Trump’s hand-picked replacement could gut Mueller’s investigation from within.

Will Trump await the next round of indictments before acting on his instinct for self-preservation and — one way or another — terminate Mueller’s Trump-Russia probe? The more important question is whether the Republican Congress will allow him to get away with it if he does.

Here’s a complete list of this week’s new entries:

SUMMER: 2015: Dutch Intelligence Notifies US Intelligence About Russian Hack of DNC

SEPT. 1, 2016 – NOVEMBER 15, 2016: Russians Tweet To Promote Trump

FEB. 29, 2016: Manafort Pitches Himself to Trump (revision of previous entry)

DEC. 26, 2016: Russian Intelligence Officer Found Dead

MAY 9, 2017: Trump Fires Comey; Questions McCabe (revision of previous entry)

SOMETIME IN JUNE 2017: Trump Wants Mueller Fired; McGahn Threatens To Resign

JUNE 8, 2017: Comey Testifies Before Senate Intelligence Committee; Trump Launches Counteroffensive (revision of previous entry)

SOMETIME IN DECEMBER 2017: Sessions Pressures McCabe

DURING THE WEEK OF JAN. 15, 2018: Mueller Interviews Sessions

JAN. 23, 3018: Trump Tweets

JAN. 23, 2018: Democrats Seek Social Media Info About Nunes’ Memo

JAN. 23, 2018: Mueller Seeks To Question Trump

23, 2018: Top House Democrats Blast GOP Attack on Mueller and the FBI

JAN. 23, 2018: Sarah Sanders Says Trump Wants Transparency On Nunes Memo

JAN. 24, 2018: Key Democrats Want to Share Testimony With Mueller

LATE-JANUARY 2018: Nunes Refuses FBI and Senate Intelligence Committee Requests to View Memo

JAN. 24, 2018: Justice Department Cautions Against Release Of Nunes Memo

JAN. 24, 2018: Trump Wants Nunes Memo Released

JAN. 24, 2018: Trump Says He’d “Love” To Testify Under Oath For Mueller; Trump’s Attorneys Backpedal

JAN. 24, 2018: Trump Says He Was Only “Fighting Back”; Hopes Mueller Will Be Fair

JAN. 25, 2018: Nunes Gets Local Heat

JAN. 26, 2018: Trump Calls Reports Of His Order to Fire Mueller “Fake News”

On Jan. 24, 2018, NBC posted an article about Michael Flynn’s Jan. 24, 2017 interview with the FBI. Two-thirds of the way into the piece, this grabbed my attention:

“McGahn did not later ask Flynn if he lied to the FBI, one person familiar with the matter said. This person said it was unclear if Flynn intended to lie and that McGahn did not conclude that Flynn had lied to the FBI until after he had been fired. It was at that time in late winter or early spring that the White House received a request from the FBI for phone records and other documents related to Flynn that McGahn and other top officials concluded he had lied in his interview and was otherwise under investigation, this person said.” (emphasis supplied)

That description of events is wrong. NBC should not have run it just because a person said it.

Mistakes Happen; This Is Something Else

“This person” fed the NBC reporter, Carol E. Lee, incorrect information. The disturbing aspect is that, in the face of known facts refuting “the person’s” attempt to rewrite history, NBC published it.

Who benefits from such disinformation? In this case, the article is self-revealing: “McGahn and other top officials.”

The Facts

Jan. 24, 2017: Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s office contacts national security adviser Mike Flynn’s scheduler to set up the FBI’s interview with Flynn. Three weeks earlier, Flynn’s lawyer had informed then-White House counsel-designate Don McGahn that Flynn was already under investigation for his dealings with Turkey.

Jan. 24, 2017: FBI agents interview Flynn.

Jan. 26, 2017: Acting Attorney General Sally Yates informs McGahn that, based on recent public statements of White House officials including Vice President Mike Pence, Mike Flynn had lied to Pence and others about his late-December conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. According to Sean Spicer, Trump and a small group of White House advisers were “immediately informed of the situation.”

Jan. 27, 2017: McGahn asks Sally Yates to return to the White House for another discussion about Flynn. He asks Yates, “Why does it matter to the Department of Justice if one White House official lies to another?” Yates explains that Flynn’s lies make him vulnerable to Russian blackmail because the Russians know that Flynn lied and could probably prove it.

According to subsequent reporting by Foreign Policy, McGahn researches “federal law dealing both with lying to federal investigators and with violations of the Logan Act, a centuries-old federal law that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments.” McGahn’s records indicate that he then warns Trump about Flynn’s possible violations.

Feb. 13, 2017: Flynn resigns.

Dec. 2, 2017: Trump tweets:

That evening, White House sources tell CBS that Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, had written the tweet. Dowd then tells NBC, CNN and ABC that he wrote it.

Dec. 3, 2017: The Washington Post reports:

“President Trump’s personal lawyer said Sunday that the president knew in late January that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn had probably given FBI agents the same inaccurate account he provided to Vice President Pence about a call with the Russian ambassador.

“Trump lawyer John Dowd said the information was passed to Trump by White House counsel Donald McGahn, who had been warned about Flynn’s statement to the vice president by a senior Justice Department official.” (emphasis supplied)

A cursory review of the factual record would have revealed that the person in the Jan. 24, 2018 article was seeking to enlist NBC’s help in rewriting history. Mission accomplished. As the country enters the most dangerous phase of the Trump-Russia investigation, the media cannot succumb to systematic disinformation emanating from Trump defenders or others seeking to protect themselves. When in doubt, the Trump-Russia Timeline is only a click away.

For the third straight week, the theme of the Trump-Russia Timeline Update is GOP complicity. In that ongoing race to the bottom, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) continues to distinguish himself.

Members of Congress enjoy broad immunity from prosecution for criminal wrongdoing. But it’s not unlimited, and it won’t cover Nunes’ role as a member of Trump’s transition team. Loyalty to Trump is one thing, but perhaps Nunes’ personal exposure also helps explain his obstructionism.

Nunes, Flynn, and Turkey

For the first part of the Nunes complicity exercise, go to the Timeline and click on two names: Nunes and Michael Flynn. Highlights:

July 2016: Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn denounces Turkey’s President Erdoğan.

Aug. 2016: A businessman close to Erdoğan hires Flynn’s private consulting firm.

Sept. 19, 2016: Flynn discusses with top Turkish foreign ministers the prospect of kidnapping Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish cleric who had led a popular uprising against Erdoğan.

Nov. 8, 2016: Reversing his prior condemnation of Erdoğan, Flynn publishes an op-ed blasting Gülen.

Nov. 11, 2016: Trump names Nunes to the presidential transition team. Coincidentally, Nunes chairs the Select Intelligence Committee that will conduct the House investigation into Trump shenanigans.

Mid-December 2016: Flynn and Turkish officials again meet to discuss the prospect of kidnapping Gülen.

Dec. 28-29, 2016: As Flynn discusses sanctions with the Russian ambassador, he’s in direct communication with at least one of Nunes’ fellow transition team members, K.T. McFarland.

Jan. 18, 2017: Nunes attends a breakfast meeting with Flynn and Turkey’s foreign minister.

Nunes – The Great Obstructor

This week’s Timeline Update includes Nunes’ faux investigation of the FBI’s alleged abuses. For the second part of the Nunes complicity exercise, go to the Timeline and click on Nunes and Christopher Steele.

March 4, 2017: Furious that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, Trump claims falsely that the Obama administration had his Trump Tower “wires tapped” during the campaign.

March 7, 2017: Three days later, Michael Ellis, the 32-year-old general counsel to Nunes’ House committee, joins the White House counsel’s staff as “special assistant to the president, senior associate counsel to the president, and deputy National Security Council legal adviser.”

March 22, 2017: After admitting that no evidence supports Trump’s wiretapping claim, Nunes engages in a charade. He bypasses the Intelligence Committee and goes directly to the White House with supposedly dynamite evidence: Prior to the inauguration, American intelligence agencies conducting foreign surveillance may have incidentally picked up Trump associates. Trump says that Nunes’ information makes him feel “somewhat vindicated” about his bogus wiretapping claim.

March 30, 2017: The New York Times reports that Nunes’ sources for the information that he’d taken to Trump are two members of the Trump administration: Ezra Cohen-Watnick, an NSC staffer whose job Trump personally had saved around March 13, and Michael Ellis, the former general counsel of Nunes’ House Intelligence Committee! The supposedly revelatory material had made a circular trip: from Nunes’ man in the White House — to Nunes — and then back to Trump. But for a week, Nunes’ farce had fueled another Trump diversionary mission.

Sept. 1, 2017: The Justice Department acknowledges that it has no evidence to support Trump’s wiretapping claims. But Nunes pivots to an equally baseless claim: Obama administration officials engaged in improper “unmasking” of Trump associates mentioned in intelligence reports. So Nunes subpoenas President Obama’s former national national security adviser, Susan Rice. She reportedly testifies that the unmasking related to secret, pre-inaugural meetings between Trump aides and representatives of the United Arab Emirates at Trump Tower — perhaps for the purpose of establishing a back-channel for Trump communications with Russia. When that truth emerges, even Nunes’ fellow Republicans walk away from his spurious claims.

Oct. 4, 2017: Nunes issues subpoenas as part of his assault on Fusion GPS and the Steele dossier. Rather than deal with evidence proving that much of the dossier is true, Nunes attacks the messengers.

Jan. 3, 2018: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) approves Nunes’ effort to obtain FBI documents and employee testimony aimed at discrediting the Bureau. For months, Nunes and a select group of Republicans have been working on that project. He’s also trying to manufacture a case against special counsel Robert Mueller and the Justice Department.

And Now This

On Jan. 18, 2018, the House Intelligence Committee votes to release Nunes’ four-page memorandum of FBI abuses to all GOP representatives. Among other items, it reportedly asserts that the FBI used information from the Steele dossier to obtain a FISA warrant targeting Carter Page. Apart from being incorrect factually, that premise is yet another diversion from the central issue: Putin’s interference in the election to help Trump win.

Ranking Committee member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), says that Nunes’ memo is a “profoundly misleading set of talking points drafted by Republican staff attacking the FBI and its handling of the investigation. Rife with factual inaccuracies and referencing highly classified materials that most of Republican Intelligence Committee members were forced to acknowledge they had never read, this is meant only to give Republican House members a distorted view of the FBI. This may help carry White House water, but it is a deep disservice to our law enforcement professionals.”

More Than Nunes

For this week’s Update, other noteworthy items include:

— Russia, Trump, and the NRA. Keep an eye on that one.

— Congressional appearances by Steve Bannon and Corey Lewandowski. Trump’s defense has entered the “fight everything” stage. While the White House feigns cooperation with investigations, witnesses are refusing without justification to testify in congressional hearings. (Bannon’s refusal is at the White House’s direction.)

— Fusion GPS’s road map. In testimony released on Jan. 18, 2018, Glenn Simpson gave congressional investigators a road map of leads — banks, real estate brokers, travel records, and the like. Until Democrats control the relevant committees, Congress won’t pursue them.

Here’s the complete list of this week’s Timeline Updates:

JUNE 9, 2016: Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 31, 2016: NYT Story Sours Steele on FBI; Steele and Simpson Go To The Press (revision of previous entry)

AFTER THANKSGIVING 2016: Steele and Simpson Talk To Bruce Ohr

JAN. 20, 2017: Velesnitskaya, Akhmetshin, and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities

SEPT. 13, 2017: Rice’s Reasons for ‘Unmasking’ Trump’s Associates Satisfies GOP (revision of previous entry)

NOV. 14, 2017: Fusion GPS’s Simpson Testifies Before House Intelligence Committee

JAN. 9, 2018: Mueller Subpoenas Bannon

JAN. 12, 2018: Mueller Seeks May 14 Trial Date For Manafort (revision of previous entry)

JAN. 16, 2018: Bannon Follows White House Directive In Refusing To Answer Questions From House Intelligence Committee

JAN. 16, 2018: White House Asserts Cooperation With Russia Probe

JAN. 17, 2018: Bannon Agrees To Interview With Special Counsel

JAN. 17, 2018: Sen. Flake Blasts Trump’s Assault On Truth

JAN. 17, 2018: Lewandowski Fails To Answer House Intelligence Committee Questions

JAN. 18, 2018: FBI Investigating Whether Russian Money Going To NRA Helped Trump

JAN. 18, 2018: House Releases Simpson Transcript

JAN. 18, 2018: Nunes Memo Attacks FBI

During the Watergate investigation, Republicans wanted the Select Committee chaired by Sen. Sam Ervin (D-NC) to expand the scope of its inquiry to alleged Democratic skulduggery during the 1964 and 1968 elections. Ervin warned that such a diversion would be “as foolish as the man who went bear hunting and stopped to chase rabbits.”

The key difference between 1972 and 2018 is that the GOP-controlled Congress is directing the hunt for wrongdoing by a Republican president. On Jan. 9, 2018, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) reiterated Sen. Ervin’s sentiment on the Senate floor, chastising Republicans for sending the Trump-Russia investigation down rabbit holes. It’s the theme for this week’s Trump-Russia Timeline Update.

Grassley Revealed, Again

Last week’s Update — the “Complicit GOP Edition” — saw Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) joining with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in a public relations ploy, namely, referring former MI6 intelligence officer Christopher Steele to the FBI for criminal investigation. It was a publicity stunt because the referral related to alleged misstatements that Steele had made to…the FBI! And it was based on information that the Senate Judiciary Committee had received from… the FBI!

In June 2016, Fusion’s Glenn Simpson hired Steele to investigate Trump’s connections to Russia. On Aug. 22, 2017, the staff attorneys on Grassley’s committee interviewed Simpson. Shortly thereafter, Grassley said he’d hold a committee vote on whether to release the transcript, but he never did.

On Jan 9, 2018, Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) released the transcript unilaterally, revealing why Grassley and other Trump defenders wanted to suppress it. The questions from attorneys working for the Republicans on Grassley’s committee reflect a desperate attempt to gain Simpson’s support for two false GOP narratives. One Republican talking point is that Russia paid for the creation of the Steele dossier. Another is that the dossier was the genesis of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation. Simpson’s answers destroyed both. Even so, two days after Feinstein released the transcript, Trump tweeted the lies again.

Grassley’s constituents want to know why he’s protecting Trump.

More Detail On Hacks

Beyond rebutting two key GOP diversionary talking points, Simpson worsened Trump’s Russia plight. Using the Trump-Russia Timeline provides context for the newest entries:

— March 19, 2016: Russians hack the email account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta and obtain at least 50,000 emails.

— But until April 29, 2016, the DNC itself didn’t realize that its computer system had been hacked. Go to the Timeline and click on George Papadopoulos to see that three days earlier Russians had told Papadopoulos that they had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton — thousands of stolen emails — and wanted to help Trump win the election. In mid-May, Papadopoulos tells an Australian diplomat about the Russian “dirt” on Clinton, and the information makes its way to the FBI.

— June 12, 2016: The DNC tries to get ahead of the hacking story, only to find that Julian Assange says his organization, WikiLeaks, possesses Clinton emails “pending publication.” (In January 2017, the US intelligence community reports its unanimous conclusion that Russia used WikiLeans to disseminate the stolen DNC emails. Even more revealing, go to the Timeline, click on Julian Assange, and see the intersections among Assange, Jared Kushner, Roger Stone, and Cambridge Analytica — where Steve Bannon had previously been a vice president.)

— Meanwhile in June 2016, Fusion GPS — originally retained by Republicans investigating then-candidate Trump — hires Christopher Steele to dig more deeply into Trump’s Russia connection. (For more go to the Timeline and click on Christopher Steele.)

— By early July 2016, according to Simpson, Steele believes that he has discovered an ongoing criminal conspiracy — what Simpson later tells Grassley’s staff is a “crime in progress.” Specifically, Russia seeks to divide the Western alliance by cultivating Trump as a presidential candidate. Even worse, the Russians have compromising material on Trump. Steele contacts the FBI’s Rome field office about what he views as a grave US national security threat.

— In September 2016, according to Simpson, the FBI tells Steele that it has Trump-Russia intelligence from a human source inside the Trump organization. Now the FBI wants to see what Steele has compiled on Trump-Russia.

Another Crime In Progress?

That takes us to the Update entries concerning a story in The New York Times on Oct. 31, 2016 — a “Halloween surprise” that becomes central to Steele’s subsequent actions.

— Oct. 25-26, 2016: Trump campaign adviser Rudy Giuliani speaks publicly about an upcoming “surprise.”

— Oct 28: FBI Director James Comey announces the FBI’s renewed interest in Clinton’s emails. Commenting on the news, Giuliani says he’s heard from FBI agents that there was a “revolution” going on inside the FBI” about Comey’s closing of the Clinton investigation in July, and Comey was “feeling the pressure.”

— Oct. 31: The New York Times publishes a story that the FBI had investigated Trump and, essentially, found no connection to Russia. According to Simpson, Steele finds the Times report an unpleasant “Halloween surprise.” He worries that someone is manipulating the FBI for political purposes. It appears to him that FBI insiders may be feeding false information to the Times, and the Times is running with it. Steele concludes that the FBI is no longer a reliable actor in getting to the truth about Trump-Russia. So he stops talking to the FBI about his findings.

Who inside the FBI was feeding Giuliani? Who was feeding false information to the Times about the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation? If there is a scandal to be found in the FBI relating to the 2016 election, it may well involve surreptitious efforts of rogue agents wanting Trump to win — not current GOP diversions relating to Hillary Clinton’s email server or “Uranium One.”

Democracy At Work

Meanwhile, Sen. Grassley’s town hall visit to what he thought would be a friendly, conservative rural county in Iowa gave him an unwelcome taste of democracy:

“I think you’re protecting the president and protecting his game about shifting the attention away from Russia,” a 72-year-old constituent told him.

It’s getting hotter in the rabbit holes.

Other nuggets appear this week’s Trump-Russia Timeline updates. Here’s the complete list:

SEPTEMBER 2015: Anti-Trump Republicans Hire Fusion GPS To Investigate Trump

SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2015: FBI Notifies DNC of Possible Russian Hacking (revision of previous entry)

NOVEMBER 2015: FBI Again Tells DNC About Russian Hacking

MARCH 19, 2016: Russians Hack Podesta’s Email

APRIL 29, 2016: DNC Notices Suspicious Computer Activity (revision of previous entry)

MAY 2016: Fusion GPS’s Republican Funders Bow Out

MAY-JUNE 2016: Fusion Hires Christopher Steele

JUNE 12, 2016: WikiLeaks Has Clinton Emails; DNC Tries To Get Ahead Of Hacking Story

EARLY JULY 2016: Steele Contacts FBI About His Trump Findings

MID-TO-LATE SEPTEMBER 2016: “A Crime In Progress…”

OCT. 25-26, 2016: Giuliani Discusses Coming “Surprise”

OCT. 28, 2016: Comey Announces FBI Is Investigating New Clinton Emails; Giuliani Speaks About FBI “Revolution” (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 31, 2016: NYT Story Sours Steele on FBI

AUG. 22, 2017: Simpson Appears Before Senate Judiciary Committee Attorneys (revision of previous entry)

EARLY NOVEMBER 2017: Mueller Adds Veteran Cyber Prosecutor To Team

DEC. 29, 2017: Trump Grants Deutsche Bank Waiver On Penalty

JAN. 3, 2018: Trump’s Selects Interim US Attorney With Deutsche Bank Connection

JAN. 5, 2018: Interim US Attorney Chooses Former Deutsche Bank General Counsel As Deputy

JAN. 9, 2018: Feinstein Releases Fusion GPS Transcript

JAN. 9, 2018: Cohen Sues Fusion GPS and BuzzFeed

JAN. 9, 2018: Sen. Whitehouse Blasts GOP Investigations

JAN. 10, 2018: Trump Tweets

JAN. 10, 2018: Trump Waffles On Mueller Interview

JAN. 10, 2018: Deripaska Sues Manafort and Gates

JAN. 11, 2018: Trump Tweets

JAN 11, 2018: Trump To WSJ: Russia Investigation Is A Hoax

JAN. 12, 2018: Mueller Seeks May 14 Trial Date For Manafort

JAN. 12, 2018: Grassley Under Fire At Town Hall Meeting

JAN. 12, 2018: Will Pence Testify?

Last week, Michael Wolff’s book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, dominated the news. A far more important story is unfolding in real time: As new facts emerge about Trump’s attempts to obstruct the Trump-Russia investigation, the GOP is intensifying efforts to thwart serious inquiry into the scandal.

The Obstruction Story Line Continues To Develop

The New York Times reported that in March 2017, as Attorney General Jeff Sessions faced increasing pressure to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, Trump gave White House counsel Don McGahn an assignment: lobby Sessions to remain where he could protect Trump. When McGahn failed, Trump was furious.

“Where’s my Roy Cohn?” he reportedly asked, referring to Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s dark aide — a “fixer” who, decades ago, had represented Trump personally.

Students of the Trump-Russia Timeline aren’t surprised at this latest news about Trump’s obstruction efforts. Go to the Timeline and click on “James Comey” to see the complete story, which includes these highlights:

— On Jan. 27, 2017, then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates told the White House that Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn was in serious legal trouble over Russia. Immediately thereafter, Trump had a private dinner with then-FBI Director James Comey and asked for Comey’s personal loyalty.

— In February, Trump talked to Comey about “letting Flynn go,” despite the FBI’s ongoing criminal investigation of Flynn and other Trump players in the Russia story.

— In March, Trump reportedly sought assistance from the CIA director and the director of national intelligence in getting Comey to back off the Russia investigation.

— In March and April, Trump asked Comey to help him “lift the cloud” of Russia from his presidency.

— In May, Trump fired Comey — admittedly because of the Russia investigation — and turned to witness intimidation, a standard element in Trump’s Russia playbook.

A short video of these and other key items prepared in August 2017 appears here.

A More Insidious Story In Real Time

With every new revelation about Trump’s pressure on federal law enforcement officials to protect him from whatever truth he fears, the congressional GOP doubles down on aiding and abetting his wrongdoing. Here are the new Timeline entries on that subject:

— Jan. 2: The founders of Fusion GPS described the GOP’s continued obfuscation of the Trump-Russia investigation and its refusal to follow obvious leads that could produce disastrous news for Trump. Rather than focus on the message, congressional Republicans have directed their fire at the messenger. (Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) just released the 300-page transcript of Simpson’s Senate Judiciary Committee staff interview; more about that in the next update.)

— Jan. 3: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) sided with a former Trump transition team member, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), and against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Ryan allowed Nunes to continue diverting attention away from the Trump-Russia story and toward questions about the integrity of the FBI itself. (To understand Nunes’ ongoing role as a Trump enabler, go to the Timeline and click on “Devin Nunes.”)

— Jan. 4-5: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) joined Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in a letter to Rosenstein and Wray. Their missive completed a circle: It referred Christopher Steele to the Justice Department for criminal investigation based on alleged misstatements to the FBI as supposedly revealed in FBI documents that the Senate had received from the FBI!

Consulting the Timeline and clicking on “Christopher Steele” reveals, among other notable entries, December 2016: Graham’s closest ally in the Senate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), personally delivered Steele’s material to the FBI. Only a year ago, Graham sat with McCain on national television and said that Congress should follow the Trump-Russia investigation “wherever it leads.” Reporters should be asking Graham what happened. In fact, it’s the only question reporters should be asking Sen. Graham.

Meanwhile, we’ve also learned that the Justice Department has been looking at the Clinton Foundation and the Hillary Clinton email server issues, again. Cynics might conclude that the GOP is setting up a Trump-friendly deal: If Democrats back away from Trump-Russia, Republicans will back away from Fusion FPS, Steele, interviews of FBI employees, the Clintons, and any other sand that congressional Republicans can throw in the public’s face.

In short, the GOP’s eagerness to help Trump undermine the Trump-Russia investigation with diversions, distractions, and attacks should be front page news. It’s not.

One More Thing

Finally, Brad Pascale, digital media director of Trump’s 2016 campaign, issued a tweet last week that put Jared Kushner and Eric Trump on the hot seat: “Not one person made a decision without their approval.” Go to the Timeline and click on Brad Pascale and Cambridge Analytica for more context on the significance of that bombshell.

Kushner also got unpleasant shout-outs from Steve Bannon — first in Fire and Fury, and then in Bannon’s subsequent apology to Don Jr., which notably omitted Kushner and nailed Manafort.

Here’s a complete list of this week’s new Timeline entries:

JULY 30, 2014: Manafort Meets With DOJ

APRIL 27, 2016: Sessions, Kushner and Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel (revision of previous entry)

JUNE 9, 2016: Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer (revision of previous entry)

LATE FEBRUARY 2017: Attorney General Sessions Decides To Recuse Himself

AROUND MARCH 1, 2017: White House Lobbies Sessions Not To Recuse Himself

MARCH 20, 2017: Trump Tweets; Comey Testifies; Trump Is Infuriated (revision of previous entry)

MAY 3, 2017: Comey Testifies Again; Trump Erupts

MAY 5, 2017: Sessions Aide Looking For “Dirt” On Comey

MAY 6-7, 2017: Trump Decides to Fire FBI Director Comey (revision of previous entry)

JAN. 2, 2018: Fusion GPS Owners Blast GOP Congressional Cover-up

JAN. 3, 2018: Wolff Book: Bannon Bashes Kushner and Don Jr.

JAN. 3, 2018: Trump Breaks With Bannon

JAN. 3, 2018: Manafort Sues Mueller

JAN. 3, 2018: Rosenstein And Nunes Meet with Ryan And Wray

JAN. 3-4, 2018: Trump’s Attorney Seeks To Block Publication  Of Fire and Fury

JAN. 4, 2018: The Daily Beast: DOJ Looking At Clinton Private E-Mail Server, Again

JAN. 4, 2018: GOP Lawmakers Call On Sessions To Resign

JAN. 4, 2018: Rebekah Mercer Distances Herself From Bannon

JAN. 4, 2018: Trump Tweets

JAN. 5, 2018: Grassley and Graham Ask DOJ To Investigate Steele

JAN. 5, 2018: Trump Tweets

JAN. 5, 2018: DOJ Reopens Clinton Foundation Investigation

JAN. 5, 2018: Brad Parscale Tweets

JAN. 5, 2018: Dowd Calls NYT Report Another “Nothing Burger”

JAN. 6, 2018: Trump Tweets

JAN. 6, 2018: WSJ: Feds Investigating Kushner Cos.

JAN. 7, 2018: Bannon Apologizes To Don Jr.

Many thanks to readers who made the Trump-Russia Timeline on BillMoyers.com the site’s #1 most popular post in 2017. It’s reassuring to know that so many people still care about facts. Without an informed electorate, democracy cannot survive.

Next week’s update will include the Bannon-Trump falling out and the breaking news about Trump’s previously unreported efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation.

The theme for this week’s Trump-Russia Timeline update comes from Trump himself:

“I Hire Only The Best People”

One of Trump’s best people — George Papadopoulos — has achieved an important new prominence in the scandal. Previously, The New York Times had reported that Papadopoulos helped Trump draft his first major foreign policy address. Here are the newest bombshells about Papadopoulos from the Times.

1) The April 27, 2016 speech was Trump’s “signal” to Russia.

2) In May, Papadopoulos boasted about Russia’s “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

3) In July, after the release of Clinton’s emails, Australian officials “passed the information about Mr. Papadopoulos to their American counterparts,” alerting the US that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information from a Russian source.

The Larger Context

Now follow these 15 steps to the finish line:

#1: In March 2016, Papadopoulos is 28 years old and has no foreign policy experience. Nevertheless, he lands a spot on Trump’s national security team and learns that Trump wants improved relations with Russia. A week later, he’s having conversations with a Russian intermediary. Ten days after that, he meets with a Russian who says she’s Putin’s niece.

#2: At a meeting with Trump and the national security team on March 31, 2016, Papadopoulos tells the group about his Russian contacts and says that he can arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin or their representatives. Reportedly, Trump hears him out, telling the team that he “doesn’t want to go to war over Ukraine.”

#3: Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who chaired the meeting, later testifies that he knew of no contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia. The Trump campaign’s lies about “no contacts with Russia” become pervasive.

#4: In April, Papadopoulos’ contact says the Russians had obtained “dirt” on Clinton, specifically thousands of emails that could help Trump win the election.

#5: Meanwhile, Papadopoulos helps Trump draft his first major foreign policy address — the “signal” that he’d get tougher with NATO allies while seeking “an easing of tensions, and improved relations with Russia.” Attending a VIP reception before that April 27 speech are Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

#6: In May, while drinking at a London bar with an Australian diplomat, Papadopoulos spills the beans on Russia’s “dirt.”

#7: During the summer, Papadopoulos hears from Sergei Millian, founder of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. Millian has boasted about his importance in bringing wealthy Russians into a Trump real estate project in Florida and about his efforts to develop business opportunities for Trump in Russia. Continuing into the fall, Millian and Papadopoulos exchange messages and meet in Manhattan. Some of their email communications go to Jared Kushner — who later fails to produce those messages in response to a Senate Judiciary Committee request.

#8: In early June 2016, Donald Trump Jr. embraces the prospect of a meeting with Russians who promise “dirt” on Hillary Clinton from the Russian government. “I love it,” he declares in an email.

#9: At about the same time, Jared Kushner assumes control of Trump’s digital campaign and retains Cambridge Analytica, whose CEO contacts WikiLeaks about sharing Clinton-related emails. Later in June, the Kremlin-linked online persona Guccifer 2.0 releases the first batch of hacked DNC documents. At the end of July, WikiLeaks disseminates 20,000 hacked documents.

#10: After the WikiLeaks release of Clinton’s emails, Australia’s ambassador to the US directs Papadopoulos’ May revelation to the FBI. (So much for the GOP red-herring talking point about the origins of the FBI investigation. It wasn’t the infamous Steele dossier after all; it was intelligence from Australia and other concerned US allies.)

#11: At the Republican convention in July, Trump campaign aides defeat a platform plank that would have toughened the US position supporting rebel forces in Ukraine.

#12: After Trump wins the election, Papadopoulos exchanges messages with Millian, who says he knows a billionaire interested in developing a Trump Tower in Moscow: “I know the president will distance himself from business, but his children might be interested,” Millian reportedly writes.

#13: According to a whistleblower, on Inauguration Day, national security adviser Mike Flynn promises that Trump will “rip up” US sanctions on Russia. During his first week as president, Trump turns to the task of doing exactly that.

#14: Meanwhile, at a Manhattan hotel in late January 2017, pro-Putin lawmaker Andrii Artemenko and Trump’s longtime business associate Felix Sater give Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen a proposed plan for Ukraine that would eliminate US sanctions. Cohen is tasked with delivering the plan to Flynn.

#15: On Feb. 14, Flynn — another of Trump’s “best people” — resigns. Since then, he has pled guilty to lying about his Russian contacts and has become a cooperating witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Reportedly, Trump’s lawyers are preparing to attack Flynn’s credibility, as they already have Papadopoulos’. That’s a standard defense tactic, but when the defendant himself is a notorious serial liar, it becomes a suicide mission.

Here’s the list of this week’s new entries in the Timeline:

• June 15, 2013: The Agalarovs — and Ike Kaveladze — Meet With Trump in Las Vegas [revision of previous entry]
• Nov. 8-10, 2013: The Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow [revision of previous entry]
• April 27, 2016: Trump Delivers First Major Foreign Policy Speech [revision of previous entry]
• Mid-May 2016: Papadopoulos Tells Australian Diplomat That Russians Have “Dirt” On Hillary Clinton
• Summer 2016: Millian Contacts Papadopoulos
• November-December 2016: Millian Business Proposal to Papadopoulos
• Early December 2016: Russians Arrest Cybersecurity Expert[revision of previous entry]
• Jan. 20, 2017: Millian Attends VIP Events At Inaugural
• Dec. 26, 2017: Flynn’s Brother Asks Trump to Pardon Mike Flynn
• Dec. 27, 2017: Trump Lawyers Plan To Attack Flynn’s Credibility
• Dec. 27, 2017: Mueller Reportedly Focusing On Trump Campaign Data Operation
• Dec. 28, 2017: Another Trump Interview with The New York Times
• Dec. 31, 2017: Nunes Readies For Fight Against Mueller
• Jan. 2, 2017: Trump Tweets

Enjoy the holiday season!

Meanwhile, the Trump-Russia scandal marches onward.

The theme of this week’s Trump-Russia Timeline Update: Obstruction of justice is a team sport.

The Republican party has become the Trump Team, and it is working diligently to save him.

Ever since special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment in May, the White House has paid lip-service to cooperation while systematically undermining his investigation. At first, GOP members of Congress embraced Mueller. The decorated Vietnam War veteran and former US attorney received unanimous consent from the Senate to serve as President George W. Bush’s FBI director. President Obama then reappointed Mueller — with the Senate’s unanimous consent — to extend his 10-year term.

Mueller’s fellow Republicans hailed him as above reproach, fair-minded, and possessing unquestionable integrity. They declared that Mueller’s conclusions about the Trump-Russia issue would satisfy skeptics on both sides of the political aisle.

Mueller is still who he was. But now that he is generating results — including two quick guilty pleas from cooperating witnesses and an indictment of Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort (and deputy Rick Gates) — congressional Republicans have reversed course. No longer seeking the truth, they are soldiers in Trump’s war to impede the investigation that imperils the Trump presidency.

Last week, congressional Republicans pursued a flanking maneuver — an attack from the rear aimed at discrediting witnesses whose testimony bolsters Mueller’s obstruction of justice case — while Trump launched a frontal assault.

The Trump Team’s Targets

In June 2017, Vox reported that shortly after Trump had asked then-FBI Director James Comey to “let Flynn go” at a time when Flynn was under FBI investigation, Comey recounted those conversations to three FBI senior leaders:

Deputy Director Andrew McCabe

Chief of Staff Jim Rybicki, and

General Counsel James Baker.

That meant Comey had at least three formidable corroborating witnesses to supplement his contemporaneous memoranda about Trump’s efforts to obstruct justice. The evidence provided a powerful rebuttal to Trump’s accusation that Comey had committed perjury in testifying before Congress on June 8. Trump was the liar.

Take a look at what happened to those three wise FBI-men during the week before Christmas.

The Complicit GOP

— Dec. 18: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) reiterates his call that FBI Director Christopher Wray should remove McCabe.

— On Dec. 19: According to CNN, McCabe tells the House Intelligence Committee that Comey had, indeed, informed him of his conversations with Trump.

— Also on Dec. 19: The GOP chairmen of the House Committees on the Judiciary (Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)) and Oversight and Government Reform (Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC)) request that Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein produce McCabe, Chief of Staff Jim Rybicki, and FBI counsel Lisa Page for interviews. The topics of interest include “among other things,” the FBI’s handling of its investigation into Secretary Hillary Clinton.

— Dec. 20: Politico reports that, for weeks, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) (a former Trump transition team member) has been leading a secret effort to “build a case that senior leaders of the Justice Department and the FBI improperly — and perhaps criminally — mishandled the contents” of the Steele dossier, which describes alleged ties between Trump and Russia.

— Dec. 22: Politico publishes a story based on “GOP sources” that, during the weeks before the election, FBI General Counsel James Baker had communicated with David Corn of Mother Jones. On Oct. 31, 2016, Corn first reported on what would become known as the Steele dossier. Corn denies that Baker was a source for his story.

— Two hours later, former FBI Director Comey reacts to the hit job on Baker:

The Trump Team’s MVP

Obstruction of justice may be a team effort, but a star player can have an impact. Trump is distinguishing himself by compounding his efforts to obstruct justice with what sure looks like witness tampering — another federal offense.

On Dec. 23, he tweeted:

As CBS reported that McCabe, 49, was now expected to retire from the FBI by March, Trump remained relentless:

Then he turned to another of Comey’s corroborating witnesses:  And he continued his McCabe rant on Christmas Eve:

This Is Not A Drill

On Dec. 26, Trump joined the GOP’s broader offensive directed at the entire FBI:

In Trump’s FBI, personal loyalty to Trump has become a litmus test surpassing loyalty to the country’s fundamental principles. That is dangerous terrain.

Intimidating witnesses, destroying their reputations, and attacking the world’s leading law enforcement agency comprise only one battle in the ongoing war against special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Make no mistake: the forces attacking democracy and the rule of law are formidable, and they are playing for keeps. The historical precedents are alarming, and the final outcome for America remains uncertain.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) described the recent assault on special counsel Robert Mueller as “reckless, inappropriate,” and “extremely worrying.”

“Beyond being irresponsible,” Warner continued, “the seemingly coordinated nature of these claims should alarm us all. Particularly since, in recent days, these baseless accusations have been repeated by several members of the House of Representatives.”

The following day, Warner said that based on what he has seen and heard behind closed doors, the Russia investigation is “the most important thing I will ever work on.”

Running a fool’s errand, GOP members of Congress are aiding and abetting Trump’s destruction of the Republican brand. Hopefully, Trump’s reverse-King Midas touch will catch up with all of them. That’s what happens when you play for keeps and lose. Just ask Mike Flynn.

Happy New Year!

Here is list of this week’s Timeline updates:

Late July or Early August 2016: FBI Warns Trump About Russian Election Interference

JAN. 26, 2017: DOJ Says Flynn Lied; McGahn Informs Trump (revision of earlier entry)

JUNE 7, 2017: Vox: Comey Has Corroborating Witnesses

JUNE 8, 2017: Comey Testifies Before Senate Intelligence Committee (revision of earlier entry)

MID-NOVEMBER 2017: Prosecutors Seeks Documents On Deutsche Bank-Kushner Cos. Loan

DEC. 12, 2017: Trump Wins PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year”

DEC. 18, 2017: Trump’s National Security Speech Glides Past Russia

DEC. 19, 2017: McCabe Corroborates Comey; GOP Responds

DEC. 20, 2017: Warner Issues Warning To Trump

DEC. 20, 2017: Politico: Nunes Leading Effort To Discredit FBI and DOJ

DEC. 20, 2017: Congressman Talks To White House About Mueller Investigation

DEC. 20, 2017: FBI General Counsel Baker Reassigned

DEC. 21, 2017: Sessions Orders DOJ To Look Again At Uranium One Deal

DEC. 21, 2017: Sarah Sanders Hopes Mueller’s “Hoax” Investigation Wraps Up Soon

DEC. 22, 2017: Politico Publishes Dubious Story

DEC. 22, 2017: Comey Responds to Politico Story About Baker

DEC. 23, 2017: Trump Tweets

DEC. 23, 2017:McCabe To Retire

DEC. 24, 2017: Trump Tweets

DEC. 24, 2017: The Guardian: Mueller Seeking Info About Defunct Bank

DEC. 26, 2017: Trump Tweets

For context, see how they fit in the complete Trump-Russia Timeline..

After signing the new new tax bill and listening to his pandering cabinet, culminating in Pence’s benediction, Trump probably thought he was having a good day.

Not after he sees this:

Hold on to your Twitter!

The Alabama Senate race dominated the news. But important things were happening in the Trump-Russia story. For fun — and context — see how the newest entries fit into the overall saga.

Here’s a list of what we added with our Dec. 12 update:

• June 2005: Manafort Pitches Himself to Russian Oligarch
• Nov. 10, 2008: Trump Sues Deutsche Bank, But Bank Keeps Lending To Him Anyway
• June 9, 2016: Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer
• June 14, 2016: Goldstone Emails Emin Agalarov and Ike Kaveladz
• July 14, 2016: Trump Campaign Successfully Changes GOP Platform on Ukraine
• Nov. 5, 2016: Russian Social Media Exec Offers to Promote Trump
• Dec. 12, 2016: Former Trump Campaign Surrogate Discusses Sanctions With Russian Businessmen
• On or around Jan. 11, 2017: DeVos’ Brother Meets With Putin Associate
• Jan. 20, 2017: Flynn Says Trump Will ‘Rip Up’ Russian Sanctions
• Jan 26, 2017: DOJ Says Flynn Lied; McGahn Informs Trump
• February 2017: FBI Warns Hope Hicks About Russians
• April 9, 2017: McFarland Is Asked To Resign
• Sometime after May 31, 2017: Nunes and White House Contact Erik Prince
• July 8, 2017: Don Jr.’s June 9 Meeting Becomes Public
• Oct. 5, 2017: Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty
• Dec. 4, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Dec. 4, 2017: Trump’s Lawyer Says A President Cannot Be Guilty Of Obstruction Of Justice
• Dec. 4, 2017: Mueller Withdraws Support For Manafort’s Bail Agreement
• Dec. 5, 2017: Mueller Has Subpoenaed Deutsche Bank
• Dec. 7-8, 2017: Mueller Meets With Hope Hicks

It was Flynn’s week, but we haven’t heard the last of him.

A personal prediction as to those higher in the food chain: Flynn has put Jared Kushner. Mike Pence, and Donald Trump (father and son) on the hot seat.

• May 19-22, 2016: Trump, Don Jr. and Torshin at the NRA [revision of previous entry]
• July 15, 2016: Flynn Denounces Turkey’s Erdoğan
• Nov. 12, 2016: Russian Claims Conspiracy Helped Trump Win
• Nov. 25, 2016: Trump Names McFarland Deputy National Security Adviser
• Dec. 22, 2016: Flynn Communicates With Kislyak About UN Resolution
• Dec. 28-29, 2016: Flynn Discusses New Sanctions With Kislyak
• Dec. 31, 2016:
  Flynn Relays Kislyak Talks To Trump Team
• Early January 2017: Flynn Promotes Nuclear Power Plant Program for Mideast
• Feb. 15, 2017: Trump Says Flynn Has Been Treated Unfairly
• April 9, 2017: McFarland Asked To Resign
• Aug. 7, 2017: Trump Asks GOP Senators To End Trump-Russia Investigation [revision of previous entry]
• Aug. 9, 2017: Trump Blasts McConnell Over Russia Investigation [revision of previous entry]
• Sometime in November 2017: Mueller Quizzes Kushner About Flynn
• Nov. 25, 2017: Woolsey With Trump At Mar-A-Lago With Trump
• Nov. 26, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Nov. 27, 2017: Flynn’s Lawyer Meets With Mueller
• Nov. 28, 2017: House Democrats Want Barrack To Appear
• Nov. 28, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Nov. 29, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Dec. 1, 2017: Flynn Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements [revision of previous entry]
• Dec. 1, 2017: James Comey Tweets
• Dec. 2, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Dec. 3, 2017: Trump Tweets

If you think Mike Flynn has problems, they’re nothing compared to those even higher on the Trump food chain — Pence, Kushner, and Trump himself. Newly posted at Billmoyers.com

Michael Flynn, former national security advisor to President Donald Trump, leaves following his plea hearing at the Prettyman Federal Courthouse, December 1, 2017, in Washington, DC. Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged Flynn with one count of making a false statement to the FBI. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Trump-Russia investigation has reached a historic and defining moment. Former national security advisor Michael Flynn was an early and enthusiastic Trump supporter who remained a constant presence in Trump’s inner circle from the summer of 2015 to his resignation on Feb. 13, 2017.

Flynn also generated controversy and, based on previously published reports, faced potential legal exposure far beyond the crime of making false statements, to which he has now pled guilty. Almost certainly, that means he has cut a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller. In return for admitting that he made false statements to the FBI about his discussions with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and avoiding potential liability for other criminal wrongdoing, Flynn will likely provide evidence that incriminates others in Trump’s orbit. Who are the targets? The list is long, but top candidates include Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump.

For Trump’s presidency, it’s possible that the Russia story may have moved from what Winston Churchill called “the end of the beginning” to the beginning of the end.

Click here to review the new Flynn Timeline.

During a relatively quiet Thanksgiving week, Trump’s former national security adviser Mike Flynn accounts for some interesting new entries on the Trump-Russia Timeline.

Here’s a list of what we added with our Nov. 27 update:

• July 1987: Trump’s Early Interest in Soviet Union Real Estate [revision of previous entry]
• Late 2004 through 2015: Manafort Travels to Moscow [revision of previous entry]
• February 2014 through October 2015: Yanukovych Falls; Manafort Continues Trips to Kiev
• Nov. 19, 2015: Rohrabacher: “Forget Putin…”
• August 2016: Flynn’s Consulting Firm Lobbies for Turkish Interests [revision of previous entry]
• Sept. 20, 2016: Flynn Meets With Rohrabacher
• Nov. 8, 2016: Flynn Publishes Op-Ed on Turkey
• Nov. 19, 2017: Mueller Seeks Justice Dept. Documents
• Nov. 21, 2017: WSJ: Mueller Investigating Kushner’s Foreign Contacts
• Nov. 22, 2017: Trump Walks Away From SoHo
• Nov. 23, 2017: Trump Won’t Pay Flynn’s or Manafort’s Legal Fees
• Nov. 23, 2017: Flynn Lawyers No Longer Sharing Information With Trump Lawyers

Two links for your consideration:

— Bill Moyers and I discussed connecting some of the Trump-Russia dots here: “The Trump-Russia Story Is Coming Together. Here’s How to Make Sense Of It”

— Ian Masters interviewed me on his radio program here: “A Timeline and Roadmap of the Mueller Investigation”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another week; another Putin insider gets added to the list of known Russians in the Trump campaign’s orbit.
This time, it’s a Russian banker.
But there’s more…

The latest updates to our Trump-Russia Timeline:

• Nov. 16, 2013: Trump Announces Plans for Moscow Skyscraper
• Nov. 16, 2013: Russian Bank Announces $2.4 Billion Construction Loan for New Agalarov Development
• March 20, 2014: US Imposes Sanctions Against Russia Over Ukraine
• July 11, 2015: Russian Asks About Sanctions At Trump Rally
• May 19-22, 2016: Trump, Don Jr. and Torshin at the NRA
• Aug. 25, 2016: Clovis Becomes Trump Campaign National Co-Chair
• Sept. 20, 2016: WikiLeaks Tweets Anti-Trump Group’s Password
• June 2017: Akhmetshin and Kaveladze Meet in Moscow
• July 12, 2017: Emin Agalarov Tries to Recant Previously Published Interview in Forbes
• Mid-October 2017: Mueller Subpoenas Russia-Related Documents From Trump Campaign
• Nov. 14, 2017: Sessions Says That He Has Not Lied About Trump Campaign Contacts With Russia [Revision of previous entry]
• Nov. 16, 2017: Senate Judiciary Committee Complains About Kushner’s Incomplete Document Production
• Nov. 17, 2017: Trump Reportedly Now Paying Own Legal Bills

Jeff Sessions may be a slow-talker, but his latest congressional testimony shows he can turn on a dime:

From: “I didn’t remember” Papadopoulos’ Russia proposal at a meeting with Trump’s foreign policy team that Sessions chaired on March 31, 2016…

To: “I pushed back hard against it” after others recalled the plan.

Hmmmm…

And Mike Pence returns to the Timeline, explaining that when he laughed off the pre-election suggestion that the Trump campaign was in contact with WikiLeaks, he didn’t know what he was talking about.

It seems that every time someone asked any member of the Trump team about campaign contacts with Russia, the response was the same: lie and say that no such contacts occurred.

One-by-one, they’ve been caught with their “memories down.” According to The Washington Post, the claim of “zero” contacts was wrong. The correct number — so far — is 31, including 19 meetings — and counting.

We update our Trump-Russia Timeline regularly. More are coming this week.

Here’s a list of what we added with our Nov. 16 update:

• June 30, 2016: Page and Papadopoulos Attend Group Dinner With Sessions
• Sept. 8, 2016: Sessions Meets Russian Ambassador in His Senate Office
• Nov. 13, 2017: Pence Says He Didn’t Know About Don Jr./WikiLeaks Emails
• Nov. 14, 2017: Sessions Says That He Has Not Lied About Trump Campaign Contacts With Russia

If you’ve been wondering why this week’s Trump-Russia Timeline update has taken longer than usual, here’s why:

Here’s a list of what we added with our Nov. 15 update:

• July 1987: Trump’s Early Interest in Soviet Union Real Estate [revision of previous entry]
• 1996: Trump Talks About ‘Trump Tower Moscow’
• 2007: Manafort Works for Pro-Putin Ukrainian Politician [revision of previous entry]
• Nov. 8-10, 2013: The Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow [revision of previous entry]
• Nov. 12, 2013: Trump Boasts About Relationship With Russian Oligarchs
• Between June 2015 and August 2017: 150 Million Americans Exposed to Russian-Government Linked Troll Farm [revision of previous entry]
• June 2015: Russian Twitter Accounts Back Trump
• Late January 2016: Carter Page Becomes Trump Campaign Unofficial Volunteer
• March 21, 2016: Trump Identifies Page and Papadopoulos as Foreign Policy Advisers [revision of previous entry]
• March 24, 2016: Mifsud Introduces Papadopoulos to ‘Female Russian National’ [revision of previous entry]
• March 24, 2016: Papadopoulos Suggests Russia Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• Early April 2016: Papadopoulos Continues Efforts to Arrange Trump-Russia Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• April 10, 2016: Papadopoulos’ Email Exchange with Polonskaya [revision of previous entry]
• April 25, 2016: Papadopoulos Informs Stephen Miller About Russia Contacts [revision of previous entry]
• April 27, 2016: Trump Delivers First Major Foreign Policy Speech [revision of previous entry]
• April 27, 2016: Papadopoulos Continues Reporting to Trump Campaign [revision of previous entry]
• April 27, 2016: Sessions, Kushner and Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel [revision of previous entry]
• Mid-May: Bannon Introduces Trump Campaign to Cambridge Analytica
• May 16, 2016: Page Suggests Trump Visit To Russia
• May 26, 2016: Page Emails About Upcoming Moscow Trip
• June 2016: Kushner Takes Control of Trump Digital Effort and Hires Cambridge Analytica [revision of previous entry]
• Early June 2016: Cambridge Analytica Offers Help to WikiLeaks [revision of previous entry]
• June 9, 2016: Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer [revision of previous entry]
• Late June 2016: Page and Papadopoulos Attend Group Dinner With Sessions
• July 7-8, 2016: Page Emails Trump Team About Moscow Trip
• July 14, 2016: Trump Campaign Successfully Changes GOP Platform on Ukraine [revision of previous entry]
• July 18, 2016: Sessions Speaks Privately With Kislyak [revision of previous entry]
• During the July 2016 Republican Convention: Page Meets With Kislyak [revision of previous entry]
• Aug. 13, 2016: Hacker’s Website and Twitter Suspended [revision of previous entry]
• Aug. 14, 2016: Manafort Denies Receiving Improper Payments From Ukraine [revision of previous entry]
• Late August 2016: Page Meets Hungarian Ambassador in Budapest
• Around Sept. 13, 2016: Papadopoulos Meets British Officials in London
• Sept. 20, 2016: Flynn Meets With Rohrabacher
• Sept. 20-21, 2016: WikiLeaks Contacts Don Jr.
• Sept. 30, 2016: Papadopoulos Gives Interview on Trump Policy [revision of previous entry]
• Oct. 2, 2016: Stone Appears to Predict More Damaging WikiLeaks [revision of previous entry]
• Oct. 3, 2016: WikiLeaks Writes Again to Don Jr.
• Oct. 10, 2016: Trump: ‘I love WikiLeaks’
• Oct. 12, 2016: WikiLeaks Contacts Don Jr. Again
• Oct. 14, 2016: Pence On Coordination With Wikileaks
• Oct. 21, 2016: WikiLeaks Contacts Don Jr. Again
• Nov. 6, 2016: Papadopoulos on Panel Discussing Trump
• Nov. 8, 2016: Papadopoulos Says He’s Still A Trump Adviser
• Nov. 8, 2016: Sater Reportedly Attends Trump VIP Election Celebration
• Nov. 8, 2016: WikiLeaks Suggests Trump Strategy If He Loses Election
• Nov. 10, 2016: Russian Official Admits Trump Campaign Had Contact With Kremlin Intermediaries [revision of previous entry]
• Early December 2016: Papadopoulos Discusses Trump Administration in Greece [revision of previous entry]
• Dec. 8, 2016: Page Visits With Influential Russians in Moscow [revision of previous entry]
• Dec. 9, 2016: Manafort Says He’s ‘Aware of What’s Going On’ in Transition [revision of previous entry]
• Mid-December 2016: Flynn Reportedly Discusses Kidnapping Turkish Cleric
• Dec. 16, 2016: WikiLeaks Sends Don Jr. Advice About Assange
• Jan. 6, 2017: Comey Meets Trump for the First Time [revision of previous entry]
• Mid-January 2017: Page Communicates With Bannon and Jones Day Law Firm
• Jan. 18, 2017: Turkish Foreign Minister, Nunes, and Flynn at Breakfast Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• Jan. 18, 2017: Kushner’s Numerous Omissions on Security Clearance Application
• Jan. 20-22, 2017: Papadopoulos Meets with Greek and Israeli Leaders
• Jan. 27, 2017: Trump to Comey: ‘I Need Loyalty’
• Feb. 19, 2017: Lewandowski Denies Campaign Contacts With Russia [revision of previous entry]
• March 4, 2017: Lewandowski: ‘I Never Met Carter Page’
• March 27, 2017: New York Times Reports Undisclosed Meeting Between Kushner and Russian Banker [revision of previous entry]
• May 6-7, 2017: Trump Decides to Fire FBI Director Comey [revision of previous entry]
• May 26, 2017: Washington Post Reports on Kushner’s ‘Back-Channel’ Meeting With Kislyak [revision of previous entry]
• July 11, 2017: WikiLeaks Contacts Don Jr. About His Emails
• Sept. 19, 2017: Lewandowski: ‘Jail For Life’ Anyone Who Attempted to Influence Election Outcome
• Sept. 26, 2017: Mueller Begins Interviewing White House Staffers [revision of previous entry]
• Oct. 10, 2017: Page To Take the Fifth [revision of previous entry]
• During the week of Oct. 23, 2017: Clovis Testifies Before Grand Jury [revision of previous entry]
• Oct. 24, 2017: CIA Director Pompeo Reportedly Meets With DNC Hack-Conspiracy Theorist
• Nov. 1, 2017: Mifsud Gives an Interview
• Nov. 2, 2017: Papadopoulos’ Russian Intermediary Mifsud Disappears
• Nov. 2, 2017: Page Testifies Before House Intelligence Committee
• Nov. 4, 2017: NBC: Mueller Has Sufficient Evidence to Charge Flynn and His Son [revision of previous entry]
• Nov. 8, 2017: Lewandowski Changes His Tune On Carter Page; Equivocates on Papadopoulos
• Nov. 9, 2017: CNN: Mueller Has Interviewed Stephen Miller
• Nov. 10, 2017: Trump Says Putin Denied Election Meddling; Peskov Says The Subject Didn’t Come Up
• Nov. 11, 2017: Trump Tweets About Russia
• Nov. 11, 2017: Pompeo Bucks Trump; Backs US Intelligence Conclusions
• Nov. 13, 2017: The Atlantic Breaks the Don Jr./WikiLeaks Story

Papadopoulos-Page-Flynn…More puzzle pieces come together in this week’s updates to the Trump-Russia Timeline:

Here’s a list of what we added with our Nov. 6 update:

• Between June 2015 and August 2017: 150 Million Americans Exposed to Russian-Government Linked Troll Farm [revision of previous entry]
• March 4, 2016: Trump Narrows the Field
• March 24, 2016: Papadopoulos Suggests Russia Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• March 31, 2016: Trump Meets with Foreign Policy Advisers [revision of previous entry]
• Spring 2016: Papadopoulos Presents His Trump Credentials to Foreign Leaders
• Early April 2016: Papadopoulos Continues Efforts to Arrange Trump-Russia Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• May 4, 2016: Trump Stands Atop the Republican Field [revision of previous entry]
• June 7, 2016: Trump Promises to Reveal ‘Things That Have Taken Place With the Clintons’ [revision of previous entry]
• July 7, 2016: Page Says US Is to Blame for US-Russia Friction; Meets With Russians [revision of previous entry]
• July 20, 2016: Papadopoulos Talks About Trump’s Foreign Policy
• August 2016: Flynn’s Consulting Firm Begins Lobbying for Turkish Interests [revision of previous entry]
• Sept. 19, 2016: Flynn Discusses Kidnapping Muslim Cleric
• Sept. 30, 2016: Papadopoulos Interview on Trump Policy
• Early December 2016: Papadopoulos Dines With Greek Defense Minister
• Jan. 27, 2017: Papadopoulos Lies to the FBI [revision of previous entry]
• Oct. 10, 2017: Page To Take the Fifth [revision of previous entry]
• Oct. 25, 2017: WSJ Calls on Mueller to Resign
• Nov. 1, 2017: Clovis Withdraws
• Nov. 2, 2017: Robert Mercer Sells Stake in Breitbart
• Nov. 3, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Nov. 3, 2017: DOJ Considers Charging Russian Hackers
• Nov. 3, 2017: GOP Lawmakers Call for Mueller’s Recusal
• Nov. 4, 2017: NBC: Mueller Has Sufficient Evidence to Charge Flynn and His Son

Let’s just say it’s been a busy week for the Timeline.

Here’s a list of what we added with our Nov. 2 update:

• Between June 2015 and August 2017: 126 Million Americans Exposed to Russian-Government Linked Troll Farm
• March 6, 2016: Papadopoulos Becomes Trump Campaign Adviser [revision of previous entry]
• March 14, 2016: Mifsud Takes an Interest in Papadopoulos [revision of previous entry]
• March 21, 2016: Trump Identifies Page and Papadopoulos as Foreign Policy Advisers [revision of previous entry]
• March 24, 2016: Mifsud Introduces Papadopoulos to ‘Female Russian National’ [revision of previous entry]
• March 24, 2016: Papadopoulos Suggests Russia Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• Early April 2016: Papadopoulos Travels to Israel and Discuses Trump Russia Policy [revision of previous entry]
• April 10, 2016: Papadopoulos’ Email Exchange with ‘Female Russian National’ [revision of previous entry]
• April 18, 2016: Papadopoulos Connects Directly to Russia [revision of previous entry]
• April 22, 2016: Papadopoulos and Timofeev Continue Their Conversations [revision of previous entry]
• April 26, 2016: Papadopoulos Learns That Russians Have ‘Dirt’ on Hillary Clinton [revision of previous entry]
• April 30, 3016: Another Papadopoulos Email to Mifsud [revision of previous entry]
• May 4, 2016: Papadopoulos Email Exchanges With Timofeev [revision of previous entry]
• May 13, 2016: Mifsud Updates Papadopoulos [revision of previous entry]
• May 14, 2016: Papadopoulos Emails Lewandowski About Russia Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• June 1, 2016: Papadopoulos Pushes Russia Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• June 19, 2016: Papadopoulos’ Russia Push Continues [revision of previous entry]
• July 14, 2016: Papadopoulos Reportedly Says Trump Campaign Has Approved Russia Meeting
• Aug. 15, 2016: Trump Campaign Encourages ‘Off-The-Record’ Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• July 19, 2017: Trump Nominates Clovis to USDA’s Top Science Post
• Oct. 5, 2017: Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty [revision of previous entry]
• During the week of Oct. 23, 2017: Clovis Testifies Before Grand Jury
• Oct. 30, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Oct. 30, 2017: Trump’s Lawyer Minimizes Papadopoulos’ Role; Denies Collusion
• Oct. 30, 2017: Sarah Sanders Distances Campaign from Papadopoulos
• Oct. 31, 2017: Trump Tweets

With last week’s update, I said you’d learn more about Papadopoulos. I didn’t expect it so soon. Manafort and Gates are big news. Papadopoulos is far bigger.

Here’s a list of what we added to the Trump-Russia Timeline with our Oct. 30 update:

• 2006: Rick Gates Joins Manafort’s Firm
• Dec. 10, 2015: Flynn Receives Money From RT [revision of previous entry]
• March 6, 2016: Papadopoulos Becomes Trump Campaign Adviser
• March 14, 2016: ‘The Professor’ Takes an Interest in Papadopoulos
• March 24, 2016: ‘The Professor’ Introduces Papadopoulos to ‘Female Russian National’
• March 29, 2016: Trump Hires Manafort [revision of previous entry]
• March 31, 2016: Trump Meets with Foreign Policy Advisers [revision of previous entry]
• Early April 2016: Papadopoulos Continues Efforts to Arrange Trump-Russia Meeting
• April 10, 2016: Papadopoulos Email Exchange with ‘Female Russian National’
• April 18, 2016: Papadopoulos Connects to Russia
• April 22, 2016: Papadopoulos and ‘The Russian MFA Connection’
• April 25, 2016: Papadopoulos Keeps a Trump ‘Senior Policy Adviser’ Informed
• April 26, 2016: Papadopoulos Learns That Russians Have ‘Dirt’ on Hillary Clinton
• April 27, 2016: Papadopoulos Continues Reporting to Trump Campaign
• April 30, 3016: Another Papadopoulos Email to ‘The Professor’
• May 4, 2016: Papadopoulos Email to ‘The Russian MFA Connection’
• May 13, 2016: ‘The Professor’ Updates Papadopoulos
• May 14, 2016: Papadopoulos Emails ‘High-Ranking Campaign Official’ About Russia Meeting
• May 21, 2016: Papadopoulos Pushes Russia Meeting
• June 1, 2016: Papadopoulos Keep Pushing Russia Meeting
• June 2016: Cambridge Analytica Offers Help to WikiLeaks
• June 9, 2016: Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer [revision of previous entry]
• June 12, 2016: Assange Says He Has Clinton Emails
• June 19, 2016: Papadopoulos’ Russia Push Continues
• July 22, 2016: WikiLeaks Releases DNC Emails
• July 29, 2016: Cambridge Analytica Receives First Payment From Trump Campaign
• Early August 2016: Steele Gives the FBI Documents About Alleged Trump-Russia Connections [revision of previous entry]
• Aug. 15, 2016: Trump Campaign Encourages ‘Off-The-Record’ Meeting
• Aug. 17, 2016: Bannon and Conway To Run Trump Campaign
• Aug. 19, 2016: Manafort Resigns From Trump Campaign; Gates Remains [revision of previous entry]
• Aug. 26, 2016: Rebekah Mercer Wants Trump Campaign to Help WikiLeaks
• Sept. 1, 2016: Trump Pays Cambridge Analytica $5 million
• Jan. 20, 2017: Gates Remains in Trump Orbit
• Jan. 27, 2017: Papadopoulos Lies to the FBI
• Feb. 17, 2017: Papadopoulos Deactivates His Facebook Account
• Feb. 23, 2017: Papadopoulos Changes Cellphones
• July 27, 2017: Papadopoulos Arrested
• Oct. 5, 2017: Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty
• Oct. 20, 2017: Cohen Senate Appearance Postponed [revision of previous entry]
• Oct. 23, 2017: Mueller Investigating Podesta Group
• Oct. 24, 2017: Manafort Reportedly The Subject of Another Investigation
• Oct. 24, 2017: House Leaders Announce New Clinton Investigations
• Oct. 25, 2017: Trump Tweets About ‘Steele Dossier’
• Oct. 25, 2017: The Cambridge Analytica/WikiLeaks Story Breaks
• Oct. 27, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Oct. 27, 2017: Roger Stone Lashes Out
• Oct. 27, 2017: US Attorney Dana Boente Resigns
• Oct. 27, 2017: Trump Tweets About Russia Investigation Costs
• Oct. 29, 2017: Trump Tweets As Indictment Announcement Imminent
• Oct. 30, 2017: Paul Manafort and Rick Gates Surrender to Federal Authorities After the Grand Jury Indicts Them
• Oct. 30, 2017: Papadopoulos Guilty Plea Unsealed
• Oct. 30, 2017: Trump Tweets About Indictments

Pence and Papadopoulos pervade this week’s updates to the Trump-Russia Timeline at BillMoyers.com. Never heard of Papadopoulos? You will.

Who’s next?

And check out the new stand-alone Timeline for Paul Manafort.

Here’s a list of what we added with our Oct. 24 update:

Additions to our main Trump-Russia Timeline:

• March 21, 2016: Trump Identifies Page and Papadopoulos as Foreign Policy Advisers [revision of previous entry]
• March 24, 2016: Papadopoulos Suggests Russia Meeting [revision of previous entry]
• March 31, 2016: Trump Meets with Foreign Policy Advisers [revision of previous entry]
• April 27, 2016: Papadopoulos Pushes Trump-Putin Meeting
• May 4, 2016: Papadopoulos Pushes Russia Meeting
• Sometime in May: Papadopoulos Keeps Pushing Trump-Russia Meeting
• June 9, 2016: Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer [revision of previous entry]
• July 2, 2016: Trump Meets with Pence
• July 12, 2016: Trump Dines with Pence
• July 14, 2016: Trump Calls Christie About VP Spot
• Aug. 17, 2016: Trump Receives First National Security Briefing
• Sept. 25, 2016: Page Writes to Comey
• Nov. 11, 2016: Pence Replaces Christie as Transition Team Chair [revision of previous entry]
• Nov. 18, 2016: Trump Names Flynn National Security Adviser
• Oct. 16, 2017: Trump Says He Doesn’t Plan to Fire Mueller
• Oct. 16, 2017: Mueller Team Interviews Spicer
• Oct. 17, 2017: Kushner Adds Noted Libel Lawyer to Legal Team
• Oct. 18, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Oct. 18, 2017: Sessions Refuses to Answer Questions About Trump Conversations
• Oct. 18, 2017: Fusion GPS Executives Assert Fifth Amendment
• Oct. 18, 2017: Senate Intelligence Committee Interviews Lewandowski
• Oct. 19, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Oct. 19, 2017: CIA Corrects Director Pompeo’s Misstatement
• Oct. 19, 2017: Trump Is Interviewing US Attorney Candidates for Manhattan
• Oct. 20, 2017: Cohen Senate Appearance Postponed
• Oct. 21, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Oct. 22, 2017: Magnitsky Act Moves to Canada
• Oct. 22, 2017: Sen. Lindsey Graham Doesn’t Understand Trump’s Russian ‘Blind Spot’

Additions to our timeline of the Comey firing:

• Oct. 16, 2017: Trump Says He Doesn’t Plan to Fire Mueller
• Oct. 16, 2017: Mueller Team Interviews Spicer
• Oct. 18, 2017: Trump Tweets
• Oct. 18, 2017: Sessions Refuses to Answer Questions About Trump Conversations
• Oct. 21, 2017: Trump Tweets

Additions to our Kushner Timeline:

• June 9, 2016: Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer [revision of previous entry]
• July 2, 2016: Trump Meets with Pence
• July 12, 2016: Trump Dines with Pence
• July 14, 2016: Trump Calls Christie About VP Spot
• Nov. 11, 2016: Pence Replaces Christie as Transition Team Chair [revision of previous entry]
• Nov. 18, 2016: Trump Names Flynn National Security Adviser
• Oct. 17, 2017: Kushner Adds Noted Libel Lawyer to Legal Team

Additions to our Pence Timeline:

• June 9, 2016: Don Jr., Manafort, Kushner Meet With Russian Lawyer [revision of previous entry]
• July 2, 2016: Trump Meets with Pence
• July 12, 2016: Trump Dines with Pence
• July 14, 2016: Trump Calls Christie About VP Spot
• Nov. 11, 2016: Pence Replaces Christie as Transition Team Chair [revision of previous entry]
• Nov. 18, 2016: Trump Names Flynn National Security Adviser

[This post first appeared on BillMoyers.com on Oct. 23, 2017]

On Oct. 4, 2017, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) said that all issues relating to the investigation into Russian interference with the election remain open. But with respect to the firing of FBI Director James Comey, the committee had gone as far as it could and was passing the baton: “Future questions surrounding Comey’s firing are better answered by the [special] counsel or by the Justice Department,” Burr said.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating whether Trump’s interactions with Comey amount to obstruction of justice. The charge can be leveled at anyone, including the president, who attempts to influence, obstruct or impede a federal investigation or a judicial process.

Most people assume that Comey’s firing is the linchpin of any obstruction of justice case against Donald Trump. And while it’s certainly important, it’s just one brick in a longer road. The BillMoyers.com Trump-Russia Timeline reveals that Trump’s Comey predicament is far worse than wherever the act of firing him takes Mueller. Long before he dismissed the FBI director — and for months thereafter — Trump took numerous actions that could now support an obstruction of justice charge. Consider:

• On Jan. 27, 2017 — a week after the inauguration — acting Attorney General Sally Yates spoke with White House counsel Don McGahn about national security adviser Michael Flynn. In December, Flynn had been in contact repeatedly with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. In public statements, Vice President Mike Pence and press secretary Sean Spicer had said that Flynn engaged in no discussions about Russian sanctions with Kislyak. But, Yates informed McGahn, that was not consistent with what US intelligence agencies knew to be true. Someone, presumably Flynn, was lying, and that made him potentially susceptible to blackmail by the Russians, who knew the truth about those conversations. On the same day that Yates spoke to McGahn, Trump invited FBI Director Comey to a private dinner at the White House. “I need loyalty,” Trump told him.

• Two weeks later, as advisers were leaving an Oval Office meeting, Trump asked Comey to remain. “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Trump told him on Feb. 14.

• During testimony before Congress on March 20, Comey acknowledged that the FBI was investigating Trump’s campaign connections to Russia. Afterward, Trump reportedly asked Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Director of National Security Mike Rogers to deny publicly “the existence of any evidence of coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.” Senior White House officials also reportedly “sounded out top intelligence officials about the possibility of intervening directly with Comey to encourage the FBI to drop its probe of Michael Flynn.”

• On March 30 and again on April 11, Trump asked Comey to “lift the cloud” of the Russia investigation.

• On April 25, Flynn reportedly received a message from Trump to “stay strong.”

• On May 2—the eve of FBI Director James Comey’s scheduled testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee—Trump supplemented his ongoing “Russia hoax” tweets with a more subtle form of obstruction—witness intimidation:

• After Comey’s Senate appearance, Trump fumed about his testimony. Over the weekend of May 6-7 at his Bedminster Golf Club, he and aide Stephen Miller drafted a four-page letter directed to Comey, outlining Trump’s reasons for firing him.

• On Monday, May 8, Sally Yates was preparing to testify about her January conversations with Don McGahn concerning Mike Flynn, and Trump unleashed another tweet smacking of witness intimidation:

• Later that morning, Trump read his draft Comey termination letter aloud to several advisers, including White House counsel Don McGahn and Vice President Mike Pence. Together with Kushner and then-chief of staff Reince Priebus, McGahn and Pence drafted talking points about Comey’s planned firing. Meanwhile, Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for a memo outlining their problems with Comey. They complied, and Trump cited their recommendations as his reason for firing the FBI director. On May 9, Trump fired Comey.

• Trump’s subordinates — including Pence, who went to Capitol Hill — then took to the airwaves and peddled the lie that Rosenstein had been the impetus for Comey’s termination.

• All of that went for naught on May 10, when Trump confessed, first on May 10 to Russians in the Oval Office and then, on May 11, to the world on NBC, that he made the decision to fire Comey because of “Russia.”

• The next day—as The New York Times reported on Trump’s Jan. 27 “loyalty dinner” with Comey—Trump again used Twitter to intimidate a key witness:

• Asked at a May 18 news conference whether he had ever asked Comey to close or back down on the investigation into Mike Flynn, Trump answered, “No. No. Next question.”

• On June 8, Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Trump had asked him about Russia repeatedly and that he perceived Trump’s expressed “hope” about “letting Flynn go” as an order. The next day, Trump called Comey a liar and accused him of leaking classified information.

• After the May 17 appointment of a special counsel to investigate Trump-Russia connections, Trump’s attacks on Robert Mueller were relentless, along with reports that Trump was considering firing him. In a July 19 interview with The New York Times, Trump referred to what he viewed as the appropriate limits to Mueller’s investigation. A week later, The Wall Street Journal asked him if Mueller’s job is safe. “No, we’re going to see,” Trump said.

• Meanwhile, on July 8, 2017, Trump was helping his son draft a misleading statement about a June 9, 2016 campaign meeting at Trump Tower between his top advisers and three Russians who had promised to bring “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. The cover-up of that cover-up—that is, obfuscating the extent of Trump’s role in drafting his son’s original statement—lasted less than a month.

Why has Trump tried to shut down the Russia investigation, lied about Comey’s firing, persisted in efforts to intimidate key witnesses, inserted himself into misleading statements about his campaign advisers’ meetings with Russians offering to help him win the election, and held the sword of Damocles over the special counsel investigating him? Behind any effort to obstruct justice is a fear of the truth.

In a thorough 108-page factual and legal analysis for the Brookings Institution, Barry H. Berke, Noah Bookbinder, and Norman Eisen outline in great detail the case against Trump. People lie for a reason, and Trump is no exception. What he feared—and apparently still fears—continues to seep out.

Trump’s erratic behavior has many questioning his mental fitness to remain in office. But throughout his life, Trump’s actions have always been rational in a key respect: Trump does what is best for Trump. If that means obstructing justice, so be it.