The story is far from over…

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

APR. 1, 2019: Trump Continues To Attack Democrats, Russia Investigation; Defends ‘No Collusion, No Obstruction Trump Campaign’ 

APR. 2, 2019: Trump’s Attacks Nadler, Schiff, Democrats

APR. 3, 2019: House Committee Votes to Subpoena Mueller Report

APR. 3-4, 2019: Mueller Investigators Unhappy With Barr’s Summary

APR. 4, 2019: Trump Attacks Democrats, New York Times, Schiff Over ‘Russian Collusion Hoax’

APR. 4, 2019: GOP Blocks Mueller Resolution Again

APR. 4, 2019: Nadler Requests DOJ Communications About Mueller Report

APR. 5-8, 2019: Trump Continues Attack on Democrats, Russia ‘Hoax’, ‘Fraudulent Russian Witch Hunt’, ‘Treasonous Acts’, ‘Mueller’s Team of 13 Trump Haters & Angry Democrats’, Nadler

[NOTE: On Apr. 3, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

Donald Trump got ahead of Attorney General William Barr’s skis.

Hours after Barr issued his four-page summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly 400-page report, Trump appeared before reporters, saying, “After a long look, after a long investigation, after so many people have been so badly hurt, after not looking at the other side — where a lot of bad things happened, a lot of horrible things happened for our country — it was just announced there was no collusion with Russia.” He declared the findings “a complete and total exoneration.”

In an accompanying tweet, he proclaimed:

Trump lied.

OBSTRUCTION

On the crime of obstructing justice, Barr had said exactly the opposite. Quoting a partial sentence from Mueller’s report, he wrote: “The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’”

Barr observed that Mueller’s report “sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction.” According to Barr, Mueller “ultimately determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment.” We don’t know why.

Rather than leave the determination to Congress, which alone has the power to decide whether the evidence warrants impeachment, Barr jumped into the breach: “Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”

Regardless of the basis for the Barr/Rosenstein conclusion, Mueller has already confirmed that the facts — omitted entirely from Barr’s summary — do not exonerate Trump.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE UNITED STATES

Overall, Barr lifted only 89 words from Mueller’s report — and not a single complete sentence. On potential conspiracy charges, Barr again quoted only a partial sentence: “As the report states: ‘[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.’”

Parse the words carefully. “Did not establish” — a phrase that Barr also used in assessing Trump’s obstruction of justice exposure — means only that Mueller found the evidence insufficient to prove “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” as required for a criminal conviction. But that’s not the standard of proof in an impeachment setting to determine fitness for office. Rather, each senator — sitting as judge and juror — decides as a matter of individual conscience whether the evidence is sufficient to remove the accused.

Turning to Russia’s “election interference activities,” Barr said that Mueller “determined that there were two main Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election,” namely, hacking the Democratic National Committee and using a Russian troll farm to sow voter discord. Barr said that Mueller did not find that anyone in the Trump campaign “conspired or knowingly coordinated” with Russia in either effort.

But those are only two small pieces of a larger Trump-Russia puzzle. And they don’t resolve a critical national security question: Is Trump compromised?

KOMPROMAT

Barr’s summary doesn’t discuss Mueller’s counterintelligence investigation, which is a separate inquiry from whether anyone committed crimes in connection with Russia’s election interference. Trump and his associates lied repeatedly about their dealings with Russia. We still do not know why, or how Trump’s secrets may have influenced his behavior as president.

In that respect, a key question remains open: What does Putin know about Trump that the American public doesn’t? The answer is the basis for what the Russians call “kompromat,” and the Trump-Russia Timeline provides some clues:

• Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump insisted that he had no dealings with Russia. After the election, we learned that Russian money had flowed into Trump projects for years, and that Trump’s negotiations over a proposed Trump Tower-Moscow continued until June 2016. Putin knew the truth all along. Americans didn’t.

• In the summer of 2016, the FBI warned the Trump and Clinton campaigns about likely infiltration efforts from foreign adversaries, including Russia, and urged the campaigns to report such attempts. Prior to the inauguration, Russian oligarchs, intermediaries, and other emissaries had more than 100 contacts with Trump associates. Trump consistently denied any such contacts and didn’t report any of them to the FBI. Again, Putin knew the truth.

• The Trump campaign knew that Putin wanted Trump to win the election. Even Barr acknowledged there were “…multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.” While pushing a softer stance toward Russia (e.g., publicly urging reduced sanctions, secretly weakening the GOP platformon Ukraine), Trump embraced Putin’s help: “Russia, if you’re listening…”

Barr’s summary doesn’t address any of these counterintelligence issues. The known, undisputed facts set forth in the Trump-Russia Timeline certainly don’t fit a narrative of innocence. Perhaps that’s why every poll taken since Barr’s Mar. 24 summary shows that only Trump’s base — around 30 percent of voters — believes that he has been cleared of wrongdoing.

The vast majority of Americans want Mueller’s report to become public. Barr has promised a redacted version; congressional Democrats insist on a complete one. The fate of Mueller’s separate counterintelligence findings that are not revealed in his report is less certain. But the public’s need to know may be more urgent.

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

DEC. 9, 2016: Graham Tells McCain To Deliver ‘Steele Dossier’ to FBI Director Comey (revision of previous entry)

MAR 24, 2019: Barr Issues Summary of Mueller Report (revision of previous entry)

MAR. 25, 2019: Kremlin Distorts Barr Report

MAR. 25, 2019: Trump Retweets Breitbart Call to Investigate Obama Administration

MAR. 25, 2019: McConnell Blocks Senate Resolution On Mueller Report

MAR. 26, 2019: Trump Attacks Media on Russia Investigation Coverage, Retweets Attacks on Mueller, FBI, DOJ, CIA

MAR. 27, 2019: Trump Continues to Blast Media After on Russia Coverage

MAR. 27, 2019: Trump Says He Won’t Rule Out Pardons; Says Schiff “Should Be Forced Out of Office”; Praises Nunes

MAR. 28, 2019: Trump Attack on Media Continues, Calls for Schiff’s Resignation

MAR. 28, 2019: House Republicans on Intelligence Committee Call on Schiff to Resign; Schiff Responds With Litany of Evidence Against Trump Campaign

MAR. 28, 2019: Paul Blocks Mueller Resolution

MAR. 29, 2019: Trump Tweets Video Clip of ‘Vindication Celebration’ Rally in Grand Rapids; Tweets About Democrats, Comey, NYTimes, and Washington Post

MAR. 29, 2019: Barr: Redacted Version of Mueller Report Available By Mid-April; Nadler: Apr. 2 Deadline For Unredacted Version ‘Still Stands’

MAR. 31, 2019: Trump Continues to Attack Russia Investigation, Schiff

[NOTE: On Mar. 27, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

As Trump tweets false claims of “EXONERATION,” the nation is entering the most dangerous phase of the Trump-Russia story. Beware of headlines and sound bites surrounding Attorney General William Barr’s summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. In the language of baseball, the Trump-Russia saga has just entered the middle innings.

Even before Mueller’s appointment, Trump tried to frustrate the investigation into his presidential campaign. As Attorney General William Barr describes the potential obstruction of justice charge against Trump, “The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’”

So the question remains: Why did Trump do it?

Facts Still Matter

The Trump-Russia Timeline first appeared three months before Trump fired James Comey, which is what led to Mueller’s appointment. From the outset, its purpose was to provide a vehicle for organizing and accessing undisputed facts, allowing citizens to pierce through the fog of Trump’s ongoing lies, diversions, distractions, and chaos.

Although Mueller has now come and gone, federal investigations that he referred to US attorneys across the country continue. In the coming weeks and months, trials, congressional investigations, and state inquiries will proceed as the story unfolds on core Trump-Russia topics that Barr’s summary doesn’t even mention. They include Trump Tower-Moscow negotiations with Russian bankers and developers during the campaign, the relationship between Russia’s assistance in Trump’s election and Putin’s search for relief from US sanctions, secret backchannels with Putin, and more.

The public’s understanding of the scandal is woefully incomplete. And make no mistake: Even Barr’s summary effort to exonerate Trump confirms that it’s a scandal of unprecedented scope.

“It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over”

Prominent former Trump confidants and campaign officials are now convicted felons. Trump’s defenders emphasize that many were prosecuted for lying to federal investigators, so their crimes have nothing to do with Trump. But what were they lying about? Trump-Russia contacts.

Trump loyalists also boast that many high-profile targets in Trump’s inner circle weren’t indicted — a remarkably shallow victory. But consider what the reaction would have been if all of Mueller’s federal charges against these 34 individuals and three companies had landed on the same day his report went to Attorney General William Barr:

• Trump’s former campaign chairman (Paul Manafort — convicted; sentenced to 7.5 years in prison)
• Trump’s deputy campaign chairman (Rick Gates — pled guilty; agreed to cooperate)
• Trump’s national security adviser (Mike Flynn — pled guilty; agreed to cooperate)
• Trump’s personal attorney (Michael Cohen — pled guilty; cooperating)
• Trump’s foreign policy adviser (George Papadopoulos — pled guilty)
• Trump’s long time friend and campaign surrogate (Roger Stone — trial pending)
• Dozens of Russian officials, citizens, and entities who helped Trump win the election by hacking into Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign emails, by using WikiLeaks to disseminate them, and by relying on fake social media accounts to divide Americans (trials pending).

Keep all of that in mind as Trump and his defenders spin the Trump-Russia story as a hoax or a witch hunt.

Avoiding Trump Fatigue

As Trump battles to save his presidency and, perhaps, his post-presidential freedom, the spin will become overwhelming. It will make the struggle to keep track of important Trump-Russia developments more difficult. No one knows where the trail of truth will lead, but with the 2020 election on the horizon, the burden now falls on every American to follow it to the end.

As Benjamin Franklin emerged from the Constitutional Convention of 1787, someone asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Now is the moment Franklin had in mind.

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

FEB. 19, 2019: Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Rosenstein’s Replacement (revision of previous entry)

JUL. 18, 2017: Mueller Gets Search Warrant On Cohen

MAR. 18, 2019: Trump Tweets Fox News Clips Attacking ‘Russia Hoax’ 

MAR. 20, 2019: White House Stonewalling House Oversight Committee

MAR. 20, 2019: Trump Attacks Comey, Clinton

MAR. 22, 2019: Mueller Submits Report to Bar

MAR 24, 2019: Barr Issues Summary of Mueller Report

MAY 24, 2019: Trump Claims ‘Total Exoneration’

[NOTE: On Mar. 20, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

Last week, the House unanimously passed a non-binding resolution calling for the public release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. When the measure reached the Senate floor, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blocked it — and thereby completed his curious journey from outspoken Trump critic to unabashed sycophant.

Not So Long Ago…

Back on MAY 3, 2016, Graham tweeted:

And after Trump won the election, Graham urged a thorough search for the truth about Russia’s role. Consider these entries from the Trump-Russia Timeline: 

JAN. 8, 2017: Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Graham says, “You asked me what should we do. We should get to bottom of all things Russia when it came to the 2016 — “

Chuck Todd: “Period.”

Graham: “— election. Period.”

Todd: “Wherever it leads.”

Graham: “Yeah, wherever it leads in whatever form.”

He adds, “Here’s what I think we should do as a nation. We should all, Republicans, Democrats, condemn Russia for what they did. To my Republican friends who are gleeful, you’re making a huge mistake.”

FEB. 8, 2017: Graham co-authors bipartisan legislation that would prevent Trump from lifting Russian sanctions unilaterally.

FEB. 15, 2017: Graham calls for a broader bipartisan probe if any “preliminary investigation” shows that Trump’s campaign communicated with Russians in the year leading up to the 2016 election: “If there’s contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence officials outside the norm, that’s not only big league bad, that’s a game changer.”

JULY 9, 2017: On NBC’s Meet the Press,Graham calls Trump’s recent meeting with Vladimir Putin “disastrous,” saying, “[W]hen it comes to Russia, he’s got a blind spot. And to forgive and forget when it comes to Putin regarding cyber-attacks is to empower Putin and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”

AUG. 3, 2017: Graham co-authors bipartisan legislation to protect Mueller.

OCT. 22, 2017: Graham reiterates that Trump has a puzzling “blind spot” on Russia.

But Something Happened…

Then Graham reverses course and embraces Trump’s Russia investigation strategy: divert, distract, and obfuscate.

DEC. 8, 2017: In a series of tweets, Graham calls for a new special counsel to investigate “Clinton email scandal, Uranium One, role of Fusion GPS, and FBI and DOJ bias during 2016 campaign. I will be challenging Rs and Ds on Senate Judiciary Committee to support a Special Counsel to investigate ALL THINGS 2016 — not just Trump and Russia.”

MAR. 15, 2018: Graham joins three other GOP senators in asking the Department of Justice to appoint a second special counsel to investigate the FBI’s use of the “Steele dossier” in obtaining a FISA warrant against Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

SEPT. 13, 2018: Graham says he will renew his call for a second special counsel to investigate allegations of anti-Trump bias at the Department of Justice and the FBI.

NOV. 18, 2018: On NBC’s Meet the Press, Graham says, “I am suggesting that the people in the Department of Justice and FBI, in the early stages of the Russia investigation, the dossier was used to get a FISA warrant that I think was very inappropriate. There seems to be some political bias about how the Clinton email investigation was handled. We need to get to the bottom of all that.”

DEC. 10, 2018: On Sean Hannity’s program, Graham says, “We should have had a special counsel appointed a long time ago to look at all things Clinton.”

MAR. 14, 2019:  Blocking Senate consideration of the resolution to make Mueller’s report public, Graham wants lawmakers to request that Attorney General William Barr appoint a second special counsel “to investigate Department of Justice misconduct” during federal investigations of Trump’s alleged Russia ties and Hillary Clinton’s emails.

And Now Trump Has Destroyed Graham

For the legal profession, Graham’s about-face is particularly distressing. He has a law degree (JD, Univ. of South Carolina, ’81). He understands the importance of the rule of law and the critical responsibility of every attorney to defend it. And he knows that when Trump undermines the rule of law, he threatens democracy itself.

If the Trump-Russia scandal produces a dark side counterpoint to Profiles in Courage, historians will write an interesting chapter on Lindsey Graham. When it comes to Trump-Russia, the obvious explanations for his stunning reversal — greed, ambition, and hypocrisy — just don’t seem sufficient.

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

DEC. 9, 2016: McCain Delivers ‘Steele Dossier’ to FBI Director Comey (revision of previous entry)

JAN. 8, 2017: Graham and McCain Call for Thorough Trump-Russia Investigation

FEB. 8, 2017: Senators Propose Bill Banning Trump From Lifting Russia Sanctions (date revision of previous entry)

FEB. 15, 2017: Graham: Any Contacts Between Russian Intelligence and Trump Campaign Is a ‘Game Changer’

JULY 9, 2017: Graham Says Trump Has a ‘Blind Spot’ on Russia

DEC. 8, 2017: Graham Calls For Broader Investigations of Clinton, DOJ, FBI During 2016 Campaign

MAR. 15, 2018: GOP Senators Request Second Special Counsel to Investigate FBI’s Use of ‘Steele Dossier

SEPT. 13, 2018: Graham Renews Call For Second Special Counsel

NOV. 18, 2018: Graham Claims DOJ/FBI Bias Against Trump

DEC. 10, 2018: Graham Says Second Special Counsel Should Have Been Appointed to Investigate ‘All Things Clinton’

MAR. 12 2019: Trump Tweets ‘Presidential Harassers’, ‘Witch Hunt’, ‘Witch Hunt Hoax’; Retweets Republicans’ Attacks on Simpson, Schiff, Cohen, Steeler Dossier

MAR. 12, 2019: Lisa Page Transcript Released

MAR. 13, 2019: Trump Attacks Lisa Page, FBI, Comey, NY Attorney General Letitia James

MAR. 13, 2019: DC Judge Brings Manafort’s Total Prison Term to 7.5 Years, Rejects ‘No Collusion’ Mantra; Manafort’s Lawyer Lies About Judge’s Remarks

MAR. 13, 2019: NY District Attorney Announces State Charges Against Manafort

MAR. 13, 2019: Flynn Cooperation Essentially Complete

MAR. 14, 2019: Trump Attacks House Democrats Investigating Him

MAR. 14, 2019: Graham Blocks Resolution on Mueller Report

MAR. 14, 2019: Stone Trial Date Set for Nov. 5

MAR. 15, 2019: Trump Attacks FBI, DOJ, Strzok, McCabe, Mueller’s Appointment

MAR. 15, 2019: Gates Sentencing Delayed

MAR. 15, 2019: Deripaska Sues Over US Sanctions

MAR. 16, 2019: Trump Tweets About Releasing Mueller Report, Fox News Clips Attacking FBI, Steele Dossier; Retweets Prior Attacks

MAR. 17, 2019: Trump Lies About ‘Steele Dossier’; Retweets Criticism of McCain, Article Attacking Mueller Prosecutor

[NOTE: On Mar. 12, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

Judge T.S. Ellis III thought he faced a dilemma. A jury in his Virginia courtroom had found Paul Manafort guilty on eight counts of bank and tax fraud; a single holdout prevented conviction on the remaining 10 counts. After his conviction, Manafort refused to accept responsibility and showed no remorse for his crimes. And the federal sentencing guidelines called for 19.5 to 24 years of incarceration.

The problem, according to Ellis, was that Manafort “has led an otherwise blameless life.” So he reduced Manafort’s sentence to 47 months — nine of which he has already served because Judge Amy Berman Jackson revoked his bail for witness tampering in the DC case pending against him.

Om March 13, Manafort faces Judge Jackson for sentencing. From the Trump-Russia Timeline, here are a few highlights of the confessed convict’s life that she sees:

APRIL 11, 2016: Manafort owes millions to Vladimir Putin’s ally, oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Manafort’s liaison to Deripaska is Russian-Ukrainian Konstantin Kilimnik who, according to the FBI, has ties to Russian intelligence. Referring to his new status at the top of the Trump campaign, Manafort sends Kilimnik a message: “How do we use to get whole?”

JULY 7, 2016: Through Kilimnik, Manafort offers private briefings on the US presidential campaign to Deripaska.

AUG. 2, 2016: Manafort meets with Kilimnik in Manhattan where they discuss a proposed Ukrainian “peace plan” that would lift US sanctions against Russia. Manafort also provides Kilimnik with private polling data relating to the US presidential campaign.

JUNE 15, 2018: Judge Jackson revokes Manafort’s bail after he engages in witness tampering.

SEPT. 14, 2018: Manafort pleads guilty to criminal conspiracy against the US and obstruction of justice, and he agrees to cooperate with prosecutors. Then he lies to them. Judge Jackson rules that Manafort’s false statements “center around the defendant’s relationship or communications… a topic at the undisputed core of the Office of Special Counsel’s investigation into… any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign.’”

As for Manafort’s life prior to the Trump campaign, The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer recites that Manafort:

— “Helped Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos bolster his image in Washington after he assassinated his primary political opponent.”

— “Worked to keep arms flowing to the Angolan generalissimo Jonas Savimbi, a monstrous leader bankrolled by the apartheid government in South Africa. While Manafort helped portray his client as an anti-communist ‘freedom fighter,’ Savimbi’s army planted millions of land mines in peasant fields, resulting in 15,000 amputees.”

— “Spent a decade as the chief political adviser to a clique of former gangsters in Ukraine… This was a group closely allied with the Kremlin, and Manafort masterminded its rise to power — thereby enabling Ukraine’s slide into Vladimir Putin’s orbit.”

— “Produced a public-relations campaign to convince Washington that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was acting within his democratic rights and duties when he imprisoned his most compelling rival for power.”

— “Stood mute as Yanukovych’s police killed 130 protesters in the Maidan [demonstrations in Kiev].”

A year after those killings, one of Manafort’s daughters sent a text message to her sister, saying that their father “had no moral or legal compass.”

“Don’t fool yourself,” Andrea wrote in March 2015. “That money we have is blood money. You know he has killed people in Ukraine? Knowingly. As a tactic to outrage the world and get focus on Ukraine. Remember when there were all those deaths taking place. A while back. About a year ago. Revolts and what not. Do you know whose strategy that was to cause that, to send those people out and get them slaughtered.”

As observer might reasonably ask what a blame-filled life looks like to Judge Ellis.

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

NOV. 22, 2017: Sessions Pursues House Members’ Request to Consider Second Special Counsel to Investigate Clinton

NOV. 30, 2017: Prince Testifies Before House Intelligence Committee; Later Statements Raise Questions About His Truthfulness (revision of previous entry)

MAR. 4, 2019: Stone Pressed on Potential Violation of Court’s Gag Order

MAR. 4, 2019: Nadler Issues Document Requests 

MAR. 4, 2019: Trump Attacks: Democrats, Nadler, Schiff, and Clinton, claiming ‘No Collusion’, ‘PRESIDENTIAL HARRASSMENT’, and McCarthyism

MAR. 5, 2019: Trump Attacks Nadler, Schiff, Clinton, ‘PRESIDENTIAL HARRASSMENT’

MAR. 5, 2019: Coordinated Resistance to Nadler’s Requests Begins

MAR. 5, 2019: Mueller Rebuts Manafort’s Sentencing Memo

MAR. 5, 2019:  Judge Blasts Stone

MAR. 6, 2019: Trump Tweets Attack Democratic Investigators

MAR. 6, 2019: US Treasury Extends Deadline for Sanctions Against Another Deripaska Company

MAR. 7, 2019: Trump Tweets: Denies Campaign Finance Violations, Attacks Cohen

MAR. 7, 2019: Manafort Sentenced in Virginia; Attorney Says ‘No Collusion With Any Government Official or Russia’

MAR. 8, 2019: Trump Tweets: ‘PRESIDENTIAL HARRASSMENT’, Manafort Judge Said ‘No Collusion’, Attacks Cohen; Retweets Supporter Attacking Clinton, ‘Russia colluision hoax’, Steele, Nadler, Cohen, Sessions, Ohr

MAR. 9, 2018: Trump Attacks Schiff; ‘Witch Hunt Continues’

MAR. 10, 2019: Trump Attacks Ohr, Steele, Simpson, Fusion, Schiff, Cohen, Clinton, Democrats, ‘Witch Hunt’ 

[NOTE: On Mar. 5, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

The Russians call it “kompromat” — “compromising information collected for use in blackmailing, discrediting, or manipulating someone, typically for political purposes.” In the Trump-Russia scandal, kompromat boils down to a question of Vladimir Putin’s leverage over Donald Trump:

What does Putin know about Trump that the American people don’t?

Eventually, the counterintelligence prong of Mueller’s investigation should answer that question, but a partial answer is already apparent. Regardless of whether criminal charges or articles of impeachment result, the national security implications are profound. Michael Cohen’s testimony last week is a reminder that, well into Trump’s presidency, Putin held at least two sources of kompromat.

Kompromat: Trump Tower-Moscow

Throughout the 2016 campaign and beyond, Trump claimed repeatedly that he had “nothing to do with Russia.” But according to Cohen, Trump knew that Trump Tower-Moscow discussions continued into June 2016. So did Putin. And for two years, Putin knew that Trump was lying to the American people about it. Here are a few highlights from the Timeline:

May 2017: Michael Cohen meets with Trump and Trump’s lawyer in the Oval Office to discuss Cohen’s upcoming congressional appearances, according to Cohen’s Feb. 27, 2019 testimony.

Aug. 28-30, 2017:The Washington Post breaks the story that Trump Tower-Moscow negotiations continued during the 2016 campaign. But someone feeds the Post false information that the discussions ended in January 2016. In false statements to congressional investigators and the public, Cohen says that negotiations ended in January — after he’d sent an email to Dmitry Peskov (Putin’s personal spokesperson) and never received a response. Peskov corroborates Cohen’s account.

Sept. 19, 2017: Cohen issues another false statement to Congress and the public, saying that the Trump Tower-Moscow negotiations ended in January 2016.

Oct. 25, 2017: Cohen repeats the Trump Tower-Moscow lie to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Nov. 29, 2018: Pleading guilty to previous false statements, Cohen admits that efforts to develop Trump Tower-Moscow continued into June 2016.

Because the American people didn’t know the truth, Putin had kompromat relating to Trump Tower-Moscow for the first two years of Trump’s presidency.

Kompromat: Russian Contacts and Election Assistance

Throughout the 2016 campaign and beyond, Trump denied that his campaign had any contacts with Russia and resisted suggestions that Putin wanted him to win. Again, Cohen’s recent testimony, together with a few highlights from the Timeline, reveals what Putin knew and the American people didn’t:

June 9, 2016: Three Russians (including at least one with Kremlin connections) meet secretly with Don Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort at Trump Tower. They’re together because Russia has promised “dirt” on Hillary Clinton and wants to use it as part of “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

June 14, 2016: The Washington Post breaks the story that Russian government hackers have stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee. US intelligence agencies later determine that Russian military intelligence feeds the material to WikiLeaks. 

July 18 or 19, 2016: Cohen is in Trump’s office when Roger Stone calls, according to Cohen’s Feb. 27, 2019 testimony. Over the speakerphone, Stone tells Trump that he just got off the phone with WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, who says that within a couple of days there will be “a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” Trump’s response: “Wouldn’t that be great.”

July 22, 2016: As the Democratic National Convention begins, WikiLeaks releases its first tranche of stolen DNC emails. According to Mueller’s later indictment of Roger Stone, someone on Trump’s team directs a “senior Trump campaign official” to contact Stone about additional WikiLeaks releases.

July 27, 2016: At a press conference, Trump seeks Putin’s assistance in procuring Clinton’s emails: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Later that day, Russian hackers make their first attempt to break into servers that Clinton’s personal office uses.

July 8, 2017: The New York Times breaks the story that on June 9, 2016, Trump’s most senior campaign advisers met “with a lawyer linked to Kremlin.”

For a year, the American people didn’t know the truth. That gave Putin kompromat on Trump relating to his campaign’s contacts with Russia and its knowledge that Putin wanted to help Trump win.

Does Putin possess other Trump secrets? We don’t know what we don’t know.

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

NOVEMBER 2015 – JUNE 2016: Cohen Keeps Trump Informed of Trump Tower-Moscow Developments; Sater and Cohen Consider a Free $50 Million Penthouse for Putin (revision of previous entry)

JULY 18 or 19, 2016: Stone Tells Trump About Upcoming Wikileaks Release

JAN. 20, 2017: Kilimnik Attends Inaugural

MAY 2017: Cohen Meets With Trump and Trump’s Lawyer to Discuss Cohen’s Upcoming Congressional Testimony

SEPT. 15, 2017: Kushner Security Clearance Revised to ‘Interim’

SEPT. 19, 2017: Michael Cohen Issues False Statement on Trump Tower-Moscow (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 20, 2017: Cohen Senate Appearance Postponed (this previous entry is has been deleted)

OCT. 24, 2017: Cohen Appears Before House Intelligence Committee

OCT. 25, 2017: Cohen Testifies Before Senate Intelligence Committee

FEB. 23, 2018: Kushner Security Clearance Downgraded

SHORTLY PRIOR TO MAY 23, 2018: Trump Orders Kelly to Grant Kushner’s Security Clearance

NOV. 6, 2018: Election Day: US Blocks Russian Troll Farm; Rohrabacher Loses; Democrats Win House; Republicans Keep Senate (revision of previous entry)

FEB. 25, 2019: Manafort’s Attorneys File Sentencing Memo in DC Case

FEB. 26, 2019: Court Affirms Mueller’s Authority

FEB. 26-27, 2019: Gaetz Threatens Cohen

FEB. 26-27, 2019: Cohen Links Trump and Stone to Wikileaks

FEB. 27-28, 2019: Trump Tweets: Cohen ‘Is Lying to Reduce His Prison Time’

MAR. 1, 2019: Trump Attacks Cohen, ‘Witch Hunt’

MAR. 1, 2019: Manafort Seeks Leniency in VA Case

MAR. 2, 2019: Trump Continues Attack on Cohen

MAR 3, 2019: Trump Attacks Cohen, ‘Presidential Harrassment’, ‘Witch Hunt’, Democrats’ ‘Abuse of Power’

[NOTE: On Feb 27, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are operating together in plain sight. Their actions raise questions at the heart of the Trump-Russia scandal: What is the source of Putin’s leverage over Trump? And what is Trump receiving — or hoping to receive — as a reward?

The answers could explain why a brief new entry in the Trump-Russia Timeline may turn out to be among its most momentous, historically. It illustrates the ongoing global repercussions of Putin’s successful bet on Trump. And it focuses on Ukraine.

Sanctions

US policy with respect to Ukraine was one reason that Russia supported Trump’s election. Obtaining relief from economic sanctions— including those imposed after Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 — has been among Putin’s highest priorities. Apart from their impact on Russia’s international standing and domestic economy, Putin has taken them personally because they affect his own wealth and that of his oligarchs. Shortly after announcing his candidacy, Trump offered— in plain sight — to lift them.

At a town hall session on July 7, 2015, an audience member made her way to a microphone and asked Trump about US-Russia relations. Trump said that if he became president, “I don’t think you’d need the sanctions.” The audience member was Maria Butina, who was later convicted of being a Russian agent seeking to influence senior Republican leaders via the NRA.

For Trump, removing Russian sanctions is still a work in progress. He has done what he can to resist and minimize the newer penalties imposed on Russia for interference in the 2016 presidential election. But he’s also helping Putin win more significant prizes: Ukraine itself and the destruction of the Western alliance.

Undoing “Geopolitical Catastrophe”

In 2005, Putin called the breakup of the Soviet Union (which had included Ukraine), the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20^thcentury. Now he’s trying to rebuild that empire. Trump has spent his first two years in office attacking the Western alliance that has been a bulwark against those Russian ambitions.

In January 2017, Trump blasted NATO as obsolete, saying, “We should trust Putin.” Heading into his first NATO summit in July 2018, Trump lashed out at Germany. Days later in Helsinki, he sided with Putin, who acknowledged in their joint press conference that he wanted Trump to win the 2016 election. In Ukraine, the world is seeing why.

Ukraine in Peril

As Trump weakened NATO, Putin became bolder. On Nov. 25, 2018, Russians again violated Ukraine’s sovereignty, this time by illegally blocking the Kerch Strait, the waterway between Russia and Crimea. Russians seized three Ukrainian vessels and detained 24 Ukrainian seamen. On Jan. 15, 2019, a Russian court ordered eight of those sailors to remain in custody until late April.

Meanwhile, beginning on Dec. 17, 2018, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, repeatedly pushed the unsubstantiated Kremlin line that Ukraine is planning acts of aggression. In response to that concocted threat, Putin has been moving ground forces and weaponry to Crimea. On Dec. 22, he added fighter jets to the mix. Also in the picture — literally, from satellite photos— are short-range nuclear-capable missiles within striking distance of war-torn eastern Ukraine.

And now add the latest Trump-Russia Timeline entry relating to Putin’s assault:

Feb. 21, 2019: “Russia Says It Won’t Let Ukraine Stage New Provocations.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his spokesperson say, again without evidence, that Ukraine is preparing another provocation in the Kerch Strait.

Russian rhetoric continues to look like a pretext for worse things to come. As Putin destabilizes the world order, Trump is helping him. The mortal peril facing Ukraine is becoming a vivid illustration of the consequences. And it’s all happening in plain sight.

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

EARLY DECEMBER 2016: Russians Arrest Intelligence Officers and Cybersecurity Experts for Treason (revision of previous entry)

FEB. 14, 2017: Trump Considers Public Explanations for Flynn Resignation, Tells Christie ‘Russia Thing Is All Over’

FEB. 14, 2017: Spicer Denies Any Contacts Between Trump Campaign and Russia, Makes Numerous Misstatements at Press Briefing; White House Does Not Correct Record (revision of previous entry)

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

SHORTLY AFTER MAY 11, 2017: McCabe Opens Counterintelligence Investigation Into Trump, Briefs Congressional Leaders

MAY 17, 2017: Former FBI Director Robert Mueller Named Special Counsel, Assumes Control of Counterintelligence Investigation into Trump

OVER THE JULY 4, 2017 WEEKEND: Trump Calls Lewandowski About Sessions

JUL. 9, 2017: Trump Tweets About Forming Cyber Unit With Russia, Then Walks It Back 

JULY 27, 2017: House Republicans: ‘Time to Go Play Offense’; Demand Second Special Counsel

AUG. 15, 2017: Russian Claims He Hacked DNC for Russian Intelligence Agency

REVISED: JUL. 16, 2018: In Helsinki, Putin Pushes Cooperation on Cybersecurity; Trump Sides with Putin (revision of previous entry)

REVISED: DEC. 12, 2018: Cohen Sentenced to Three Years in Prison (revision of previous entry)

LATE 2018: NYT: Trump Asks Whitaker to Have US Attorney in NY ‘Put in Charge of Cohen Case

FEB. 14, 2019: Senate Confirms Barr as AG

FEB. 18, 2019: Trump Quotes Supporter: ‘Illegal Coup on the President’; Tweets About Senate Intelligence Committee, Sessions, McCabe, Rosenstein, ‘Treason!’, ‘Leakin’ James Comey’ (revision of previous entry)

FEB. 18, 2019: Stone Posts Photo of Judge in Crosshairs

FEB. 19, 2019: Trump Tweets: ‘Witch Hunt’

FEB. 19, 2019: Judge Orders Stone to Explain His Instagram Post

FEB. 19, 2019: Trump Tweets About Andrew and Jill McCabe

FEB. 19, 2019: Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Rosenstein’s Replacement

FEB. 20, 2019: Trump Retweets and Quotes Supporters Attacking McCabe; Attacks NYT

FEB. 20, 2019: Cohen to Testify Publicly Before House

FEB. 21, 2019: Rosenstein: ‘My Time as a Law Enforcement Official is Coming to an End’

FEB. 21, 2019: Russian Foreign Ministry: ‘Russia Won’t Let Ukraine Stage New Provocations’

FEB. 21, 2019: Judge Imposes Broad Gag Order on Stone

FEB. 22, 2019: Trump Tweets Burr’s Earlier Statement, ‘Witch Hunt’; Retweets Supporter ‘Desperate Farce’

FEB. 22, 2019: NY Prosecutors Preparing State Charges Against Manafort

FEB. 22, 2019: Russian Prosecutors Seek 20-Year Sentences For Former Cybersecurity Officer and Private-Sector Expert Charged With Treason

FEB. 22, 2019: Mueller Memo in DC Case: Federal Guidelines Equal 17 to 22 Years in Prison for Manafort

FEB. 23, 2019: Trump Quotes Supporter: ‘No Evidence’ That Trump Has Done Anything Wrong; Retweets Another Supporter: ‘Lawsuit to Expose Coup Against Trump’

FEB. 24, 2019: Trump Tweets That Clinton and DNC Colluded With Russia; Attacks Lisa Page and Strzok

[NOTE: On Feb 21, 2019, my post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

Roger Stone’s attorneys put him on the witness today to explain his Feb. 18 Instagram photo of the presiding judge in his case. It included crosshairs near her head.

Marked as Exhibit 1 of the hearing, the accompanying text accused “Deep State hitman Robert Mueller” of using “legal trickery” to guarantee that his “upcoming show trial is before Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointed Judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges against Hillary Clinton and incarcerated Paul Manafort prior to his conviction for any crime.” But by the end of that day, the image was removed and, through his attorneys, Stone had filed an apology with the court:

“Please inform the Court that the photograph and comment today was improper and should not have been posted. I had no intention of disrespecting the Court and humbly apologize to the Court for the transgression.”

The following morning, Judge Jackson ordered today’s hearing at which Stone was required show cause why the court’s previous media contact order in the case and/or the conditions of release should not be modified or revoked.

Putting any criminal defendant on the witness stand is risky, in part because it waives the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. But with respect to the gag order, Stone’s signed apology (transmitted through his lawyers’ unusual “Notice of Apology”) probably waived that right anyway. Another risk is that, after taking the stand, the defendant might lie and create new, independent criminal exposure to perjury charges. In any event, Stone’s Instagram post had placed him in danger of pre-trial incarceration, leaving him and his attorneys few options.

So after swearing to tell the truth, Stone reiterated his apology, using phrases that included: “I am kicking myself over my own stupidity… I offer no excuse for it… This is just a stupid lapse in judgment…[I]t was an egregious mistake.” Stone claimed that he was under stress and having trouble putting food on his table and paying his rent.

In response to the judge’s questions, Stone admitted that he posted the offending image. But he said that he has five or six volunteers, and couldn’t say who chose it, who sent him the image, or whether it was sent via text or email. In response to questions about his social media operation, Stone suggested that someone else may have used his phone to find the photo: “I do not exclusively use my own phone, that’s what I’m saying.” Stone also named four of his volunteers, saying that he couldn’t recall the names of all volunteers working for him a few days ago.

An attorney in special counsel Robert Mueller’s office asked, “You can’t remember the people who worked for you four days ago?”

Stone responded,  “No.”

Judge Jackson observed that Stone has insisted that his name be in the media every day since his arrest. Even after apologizing, he continued talking every single day. She asked Stone’s attorney, “Why won’t this happen in the future?”

“Sometimes a person learns a lesson, especially when a person is unrestrained in his speaking,” the lawyer answered. “It’s indefensible.”

“I agree with you there,” the judge said.

The government’s attorney argued for a stricter gag order, saying that Stone’s testimony was not credible. “That he committed a lapse in judgment is belied by the fact that even after he realized the post was a mistake, he continued to make statements to the media that amplified that message.”

After a recess, the judge returned with her ruling. She said that Stone has decided to pursue a strategy of attacking others. The Instagram post had a “more sinister message” from Stone, who “fully understands the power of words and symbols.”

“Thank you,” the judge said, “but the apology rings quite hollow.” Finding his testimony not credible (“couldn’t keep his story straight on the stand”) and that his release under the current media contact order would pose a risk to the public, she ruled, “No, Mr. Stone, I’m not giving you another chance.”

The court could have concluded that Stone’s incitement to violence aimed at a federal judge was at least as dangerous to the judicial system as the witness tampering that caused her to jail Paul Manafort pending trial. In that respect, Judge Amy Jackson Berman gave Stone a break. She ordered that Roger Stone can no longer speak publicly about the case or any participants in it.

But the judge warned that next time would be worse:

“Today I gave you a second chance. This is not baseball, you don’t get a third chance.”

[NOTE: On Feb 19, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

On Sept. 14, 2018, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, pled guilty to conspiracy and witness tampering. In exchange for a reduced prison sentence on those charges, as well as on tax and bank fraud convictions in a separate case, he agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. He promised to tell the truth.

Then he lied. As a result, last week Judge Amy Berman Jackson voided Manafort’s plea agreement. Federal guidelines call for a 19- to 24-year prison term. Unless Trump pardons him, Manafort — who turns 70 on April Fools’ Day — will probably spend the rest of his life in prison.

Paul Manafort is the latest in the series of former Trump campaign advisers to incur criminal penalties for lying to federal investigators. The names change, but the subject of their lies remains the same: Trump’s connections to Russia. Using the name filter for the Trump-Russia Timeline reveals that, like Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen lied in an effort to hide information about three key Russia-related issues — and they suffered legal consequences for it.

#1: Lies About Russians Helping Trump Win the Election 

Papadopoulos. Throughout the campaign, George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, communicated with individuals claiming to have Russian connections. They told him that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton consisting of “thousands of emails” that would help Trump win. When the FBI quizzed Papadopoulos in January 2017 concerning those contacts, he lied about them. On Oct. 5, 2017, he pled guilty to making the false statements.

Manafort. During 2016, Paul Manafort shared 2016 presidential polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a liaison to Russian oligarch and Putin confidant Oleg Deripaska. Last week, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that Manafort’s “relationship or communications” with Kilimnik is “a topic at the undisputed core” of Mueller’s investigation, and that Manafort had lied about it.

#2: Lies About Trump Softening Sanctions Against Russia

Flynn. Trump’s national security adviser Mike Flynn had numerous contacts with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition. Flynn was seeking to soften Russia’s response to new sanctions that President Obama was imposing for Russia’s interference with the 2016 US presidential election. When the FBI later asked Flynn about those communications, he lied. On Dec. 1, 2017, he pled guilty to making the false statements.

Manafort. During his conversations with federal investigators, Manafort apparently also lied about his discussions with Konstantin Kilimnik concerning a Ukrainian “peace plan” — which has become a euphemism for efforts aimed at lifting US sanctions against Russia.

#3: Lies About Trump Tower-Moscow

Cohen. Through at least June 2016, Michael Cohen and Felix Sater communicated about Sater’s efforts to involve senior Russian government officials and bankers in developing Trump Tower-Moscow. Cohen himself contacted Vladimir Putin’s personal press spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, and briefed Trump Organization family members about the project. Cohen and Sater even discussed plans for a possible Trump trip to Moscow. When congressional investigators later asked Cohen to describe the status of the project during the campaign, he lied about it. On Nov. 29, 2018, Cohen pled guilty to making the false statements.

People lie for different reasons. But when so many people lie to federal investigators about the same thing, they open a window into the truth.

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

OCT. 7, 2016: Burr Joins Trump Campaign

MAY 26, 2018: Manafort Authorizes Representative to Speak with Trump Administration Official on His Behalf [previous entry deleted)

NOV. 26, 2018: Mueller Says Manafort Lied After Plea Agreement; Shared 2016 Campaign Polling Data With Kilimnik (revision of previous entry)

JAN. 24, 2019: Trump Tweets About Cohen, Clinton; Senate Subpoenas Cohen (revision of previous entry)

FEB. 12, 2019: Burr and Warner Disagree on Senate Investigation

FEB. 13, 2019: Trump Tweets About Burr’s Comment: ‘NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION’ 

FEB. 13, 2019: Judge Finds Manafort Intentionally Lied To Feds After Signing Plea Agreement

FEB. 13, 2019: Nadler Invites Whitaker to ‘Clarify’ Testimony

FEB. 13, 2019: The Daily Beast: Election Security Task Forces Downsized; DHS Says Election Preparations Underway

FEB. 14-15, 2019: McCabe Launches Book Tour; Rosenstein Responds; Trump Attacks

FEB. 15, 2019: Judge Enters Limited Gag Order in Stone Case

FEB. 15, 2019: Mueller Files Manafort Sentencing Memo in Virginia Case

FEB. 16, 2019: Trump Retweets About Strzok, Page, Mueller

FEB. 17, 2019: Trump Quotes Limbuagh: ‘Mueller is a Cover-up’; Tweets ‘Witch Hunt’; Retweets Attacks on McCabe 

FEB. 18, 2019: Trump Tweets About Senate Intelligence Committee, Sessions, McCabe, Rosenstein; Quotes Supporter: ‘Illegal Coup on the President’

The Trump era presents attorneys with opportunities for great distinction — and great shame. My article, “All the President’s Lawyers,” appears in the current issue of the ABA’s Litigation Journal. Here’s the link: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/publications/litigation_journal/2018-19/fall/all-presidents-lawyers/

[NOTE: On Feb 13, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

When the president dangles a pardon under the nose of a cooperating witness in a federal probe, incentives change: Lying yields potential rewards rather than draconian penalties. Truth becomes elusive. Justice is obstructed and the rule of law loses.

That principle could have framed last week’s lead Trump-Russia story. Instead, another Trump era made-for-TV spectacle flooded the airwaves. But buried in acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s contentious hearing before the House Judiciary Committee was an item about pardons. A related development in the case against Paul Manafort illustrates the problem.

The Whitaker Nugget

During Whitaker’s four hours of actual questioning, he avoided substantive answers on most topics. His demeanor became the story. But at the two-hour and forty-eight-minute mark, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) asked him about discussions of pardons for Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen. Whitaker responded broadly:

“Congressman, as I have been acting attorney general, I have not been involved in any discussions of any pardons even and including the ones you’re discussing.”

Ninety minutes later, the day’s final questioner, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) asked:

Q: Did you ever create, direct the creation, see, or become aware of the existence of any documents relating to pardons of any individual?

Whitaker paused before answering: “I’m aware of documents relating to pardoning of individuals, yes.”

An inadvertent cliffhanger that few in the media noticed: Whitaker said he’d had no discussions with anyone about pardons, but he’s aware of documents relating to them. Alas, time expired. No follow-up questions. Hearing over.

The Manafort Connection

As the Whitaker show played out, another pardon story emerged in the case against Paul Manafort, who stands accused of lying to special counsel Robert Mueller after signing his plea agreement. On Aug. 22, 2018, Trump told a Fox News reporter that he would consider pardoning Manafort. As recently as Nov. 28, he said that a pardon for Manafort was not “off the table.”

During a Feb. 4 hearing, Andrew Weissmann, an attorney on Mueller’s team, outlined Manafort’s two motives for lying. The transcript redacts the first one entirely. As for the second, Weissmann said that Manafort could have been trying “to at least augment his chances for a pardon.”

One of Manafort’s alleged lies relates to his Aug. 2, 2016 meeting with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian dual citizen whom the FBI assesses as having ties to Russian intelligence. Kilimnik was Manafort’s liaison to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a Putin confidant. (On Jan. 16, 2019, Senate Republicans failed to stop Trump from lifting sanctions on Deripaska’s companies.)

Weismann emphasized that the Aug. 2 meeting “goes very much to the heart of what the Special Counsel’s office is investigating.” The Trump-Russia Timeline offers hints as to why. Here’s a sample of relevant entries:

July 11, 2015: A month after Trump announces his candidacy, he appears at a Las Vegas town hall and answers question from the audience. Russian national Maria Butina gets to a microphone and asks about his policy toward Russia.

“I don’t think you’d need the sanctions,” Trump answers, referring to crippling economic sanctions that the US, the European Union, and a host of other countries and international organizations imposed against Russia after its 2014 intervention in Ukraine.

It turns out that Butina is a Russian agent.  In 2018, she pleads guilty to conspiring with a Russian government official to establish “unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over US politics… for the benefit of the Russian Federation.” Among other vehicles, she uses the NRA to reach Republican Party leaders.

Mar. 29, 2016: Although Manafort is broke and deeply in debt, he goes to work on the Trump campaign for no pay. 

Apr. 11, 2016: Manafort asks Kilimnik how they can use Manafort’s new position on the campaign “to get whole.” During his tenure, Manafort discusses with Kilimnik a “peace plan” for Ukraine, and he transfers US polling data to Kilimnik.

June 9, 2016: Manafort attends the Trump Tower meeting with Russians connected to Putin’s government. They claim to have “dirt” on Clinton.

July 7, 2016:In an email to Kilimnik, Manafort offers to give Deripaska “private briefings” on the Trump campaign.

July 14, 2016: The Trump campaign successfully resists a proposed GOP platform plank that would strengthen US support of Ukraine against Russia.

July 22, 2016: On the eve of the Democratic convention, WikiLeaks releases nearly 20,000 emails that the Russians had stolen from the Democratic National Committee months earlier.

July 24, 2016: On national television, Manafort denies any link between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Which takes us to Aug. 2, 2016:Manafort meets with Kilimnik at the Grand Havana Club in Manhattan. What happened there? According to Mueller, Manafort is lying about it, perhaps to augment his chances for a pardon. That’s not how America’s justice system is supposed to work.

UPDATE: Feb. 13, 2019: The judge agreed with Mueller: Manafort “intentionally made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC, and the grand jury concerning matters that were materials to the investigation: his interactions and communications with [Konstantin] Kilimnik.”

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

1995: Trump in Moscow Seeking Development Opportunities

FEBRUARY 2006: Trump’s Children Visit Moscow; Discuss Possible Trump Tower Deal (revision of previous entry)

SEPT. 25, 2015: Cohen Sends Trump Tower-Moscow Drawings to Sater

SEPT. 29, 2015: Trump Tower-Moscow Talks Proceed

OCT. 5, 2015: Cohen Sends Draft Letter of Intent Re: Trump Tower-Moscow

OCT. 9, 2015: Sater Sends Cohen Potential Trump Tower-Moscow Site Info

NOV. 3, 2015: Sater and Cohen Pursue Trump Tower-Moscow and Getting Trump Elected President (revision of previous entry)

DEC. 1, 2015: Sater Asks Cohen for Copy of Passport for Russian Visa

DEC. 17, 2015: Putin Praises Trump; Cohen to Sater: ‘Now is the Time’

DEC. 19, 2015: Sater and Cohen Discuss Trip to Russia for Trump Tower-Moscow Financing Discussion

DEC. 21, 2015: Cohen Wants Copy of Trump Passport

DEC. 29-31, 2015: Cohen and Sater Argue Over Delay in Solidifying Trump Tower-Moscow Deal

JAN. 25, 2016: Russian Bank Invites Cohen to Moscow

JUNE 13, 2016: Sater Sends Cohen Visa Application to Attend Russian Economic Forum

JAN. 28, 2019: Cohen to Testify Privately Before House (revision of previous entry)

FEB. 4, 2019: Manafort’s Alleged Lies Go ‘To The Heart’ of Mueller’s Investigation; Judge Postpones Sentencing Date

FEB. 4, 2019: Prosecutors Subpoena Trump Inauguration Committee

FEB. 5, 2019: DHS and DOJ: Foreign Governments and Agents Had ‘No Material Impact’ on Midterm Election

FEB. 5, 2019: Erickson Indicted for Fraud

FEB. 6, 2019: House Releases Witness Transcripts to DOJ, Including Mueller

FEB. 7, 2019: Trump Tweets About Schiff, ‘Witch Hunt’, ‘PRESIDENTIAL HARRASSMENT’ 

FEB. 7, 2019: Corsi Sues Stone for Defamation

FEB. 8, 2019: Trump Tweets ‘No Collusion’, Attacks Schiff, ‘GIANT AND ILLEGAL HOAX’ 

FEB. 8, 2019: Whitaker Testifies Before Congress

FEB. 9, 2019: Trump Tweets About House Judiciary Committee; Retweets Hannity and Others on Schiff, Simpson, Senate Investigation, Clinton, Russia Investigation 

FEB. 10, 2019: Trump Tweets That Burr Concluded ‘NO COLLUSION BETWEEN TRUMP AND RUSSIA

[NOTE: On Feb 5,, 2019, this post appeared at Dan Rather’s News & Guts.]

Walk into a room full of people and turn off the lights. It will get their attention. If hackers shut off electricity to parts of the United States, perhaps the personal impact of Russia’s threat to the nation’s security will become apparent. Maybe it will also generate a closer look at Donald Trump’s responses to that threat. According to the US intelligence community’s annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment,” we’re approaching that moment.

Last week, America’s intelligence leaders informed Congress that Russia “is now staging cyber attack assets to allow it to disrupt or damage US civilian and military infrastructure during a crisis….” Russia has the ability to disrupt an American electrical distribution network “for at least a few hours” and is “mapping our critical infrastructure with the long-term goal of being able to cause substantial damage.”

Restoring a power grid is challenging. When the lights go out on democracy, restoring power to the people is a more daunting task. Here’s the report’s opening line about Russia:

“We assess that Russia poses a cyber espionage, influence, and attack threat to the United States and our allies.” (Emphasis in original)

Testifying before Congress, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned:  “[T]he Kremlin is stepping up its campaign to divide Western political and security institutions and undermine the post-WWII international order. We expect Russia will continue to wage its information war against democracies and to use social media to attempt to divide our societies.”

The next day, Trump moved the spotlight away from the report’s discussion of Russia by contradicting his intelligence leaders on Iran and North Korea — and chiding them in a tweet: “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school.”

It’s a familiar pattern, as the Trump-Russia Timeline reveals:

#1: AUG. 17, 2016

Trump receives his first national security briefing from senior FBI officials who warn that foreign adversaries, including Russia, will probably try to spy on and infiltrate his campaign.

Trump’s response: At the “Commander-in-Chief” forum on NBC, he praises Putin. (SEPT. 7)As the Trump campaign racks up more than 80 contacts with Russia before the election, Trump and his advisers deny repeatedly that there are any.

#2: OCT. 7, 2016

The intelligence community publishes its statement that Russia is interfering with the election.

Trump’s response: At the third presidential debate, he says, “[Hillary Clinton] has no idea whether it is Russia, China, or anybody else… Our country has no idea.” (OCT. 19)

#3: DEC. 9, 2016

The Washington Post reports the CIA’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the election to help Trump win.

Trump’s response: “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” (DEC. 9) “They have no idea if it’s Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed someplace. I mean, they have no idea.” (DEC. 11)

#4: JAN. 6, 2017

The US intelligence community issues the public version of its report that Putin ordered the influence campaign promoting Trump’s candidacy.

Trump’s response: “As far as hacking, I think it was Russia. But I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people.” (JAN. 11) Days after the inauguration, the Trump administration considers an executive order unilaterally lifting Russian sanctions.

#5: JAN. 10, 2018

A Senate report details Putin’s ongoing worldwide attacks on democracy and emphasizes the need to counter Russia’s threat.

Trump’s response: He tells The Wall Street Journal that the Russia investigation is a hoax. (JAN. 11)

#6: MAR. 15, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security issues an alert: Russia has hacked into US utilities’ control rooms.

Trump’s response: He congratulates Vladimir Putin on winning re-election, ignoring the “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” warning from his national security advisers. (MAR. 20)

#7: JUL. 13, 2018

DNI Coats says Russian cyberattack warning lights are “blinking red.”

Trump’s response: When asked if Russia is still targeting the US, he says, “No.” (JULY 18)

#7: AUG. 2, 2018

At the White House daily press conference, DNI Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray warn about ongoing Russian election interference in the midterms.

Trump’s response: At a rally that evening, he decries the “Russian hoax.” For the rest of the year and into 2019, the Trump administration drags its feet on implementing new sanctions against Russia.

#8: DEC. 17, 2018

A report for the Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that Russia is still using social media to help Trump by targeting special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Trump’s response:Tweets about the “Russian Witch Hunt” and “Hoax.” (DEC. 18)

Last week, Mueller said that non-public government discovery produced in the case against a Russian troll farm and 13 Russian nationals reappeared in a social media disinformation campaign against his investigation. As Putin’s global attacks continue, waiting for the lights to go out is an increasingly perilous path.

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

EARLY 2016–MARCH 2016: Trump Seeks Loan From Deutsch Bank; Bank Refuses

JUNE 6-7, 2016: Don Jr.’s Phone Calls With Emin Agalarov (revision of previous entry)

SEPT. 5, 2018: Twitter Removes 3,483 Russian Troll Accounts

OCT. 30, 2018: Stolen Documents Used to Attack Mueller’s Case Against IRA and Prigozhin

PRIOR TO NOV. 6, 2018: Twitter Removes More Russian Troll Accounts

NOV. 29-30, 2018: Trump Cancels G-20 Meeting with Putin; Kremlin Pushes Back; Trump Meets with Putin After All (revision of previous entry)

JAN. 28, 2019: Sens. Blumenthal and Grassley Introduce Bill Requiring Public Report From Mueller

JAN. 28, 2019: Cohen To Testify Privately Before House

JAN. 28, 2019: Sanders Refuses to Rule Out Pardon For Stone

JAN. 29-30, 2019: US Intelligence Community Heads Warn: Russian Efforts Include Cyber Attacks, Crippling Infrastructure, Dividing Americans, and Interfering With US Elections; Trump Changes Subject

JAN. 30, 2019: Mueller: Disinformation Campaign Targeted Russia Investigation; Additional Uncharged Individuals Engaging in Unlawful Activities

JAN. 31, 2019: Trump Tweets About Ohr, ‘Witch Hunt’

JAN. 31, 2019: Trump to NYT: ‘I Like Roger’ Who Has Been Treated ‘Very Badly’; ‘We’ll Do Something on it at the Right Time’; Says He Had No Conversations With Stone About WikiLeaks 

JAN. 31, 2019: Trump to NYT: Business in Russia During Campaign

JAN. 31, 2019: Trump to NYT: Rosenstein Says He’s Not a Mueller Target, Doesn’t Know About SDNY’s Case Against Cohen, Denies Witness Tampering

FEB. 1, 2019: Belarusan Model Says She Gave 2016 Election Material to Deripaska

[IMPORTANT NOTE: The Trump-Russia Timeline now appears at Dan Rather’s News & Guts and at Just Security.]

Last week, the most successful special counsel in history added two more notches to his holster. But Robert Mueller is letting others wear it. For him, a good result in the defense of American democracy matters; who gets credit for it does not. He is a living lesson in leadership by example.

The Americans (on Television) Comes to Life

On Dec. 13, Maria Butina appeared in court to present the guilty plea agreement that she had signed a few days earlier. Butina admitted that during the 2016 campaign, she conspired against the United States to promote Russian influence over the Republican Party via the NRA. She also agreed to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, including Mueller. Her story isn’t over.

The Butina investigation was well within the special counsel’s investigative mandate, but he farmed it out to Trump’s chosen US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jesse Liu. On the official Justice Department scorecard, she gets the win.

Cohen: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

At least nominally, the other big federal prosecutorial victory last week isn’t a Mueller case, either. The special counsel had referred the investigation of Michael Cohen to the US attorney for the Southern District of New York. As with Liu, Trump interviewed Geoffrey Berman personally before appointing him to that position.

To his credit, Berman recused himself from the Cohen investigation and deputy US attorney Robert Khuzami for the Southern District has ben running the show. Like Butina, Cohen continues to meet with Mueller, so the ripples from that case aren’t over, either.

Shortly after a federal judge sentenced Cohen to three years in prison, the US attorney’s office in New York announced a non-prosecution agreement with the National Enquirer‘s parent company. Coupled with Cohen’s testimony, the company’s related “Statement of Admitted Facts” put Trump squarely in the crosshairs of a felony for conspiring to violate campaign finance laws. But Khuzami is holding the weapon, not Mueller.

Why Does Mueller Do It?

Although Robert Mueller has not been speaking to the press, he hasn’t been living under a rock. From the early days of his appointment as special counsel, he has known that Trump and his minions systematically sought to undermine Mueller’s personal credibility, the Trump-Russia investigation, and the rule of law.

Next week’s update will include the independent reports to the Senate Intelligence Committee. They confirm that Russia’s massive social media influence campaign continued long past the election. Having put Trump in the White House, Putin has been trying to protect him by joining his attacks on Mueller.

Mueller’s Response: Speed and Strategy

With something akin to the sword of Damocles hanging overhead and arrows coming from all sides, Mueller has moved swiftly. Even without the threats to his investigation, perhaps he would have moved at the same pace. But the special counsel investigations in Iran-Contra and Watergate continued for more than four years. Already, Mueller has far more indictments, convictions, and plea agreements to show for his 18-month effort than either of those probes.

Mueller has also moved strategically. Some elements of his approach reveal themselves in the sequence of his indictments, criminal complaints, and plea agreements. But another example is his referral of some investigations to other US attorneys.

Mueller could have retained the Butina, Cohen, and other cases that he has referred to other US attorney offices. But the referrals assure that, at least in some form, the Trump-Russia investigation will survive, even if Trump and his minions limit, terminate, or mute Mueller’s efforts.

Other US attorneys may get credit for successful past and future prosecutions relating to various tentacles of the Trump-Russia octopus. Observers paying close attention know the truth: Before all of the investigations are over, Mueller is gonna need a bigger holster — even if he allows others to wear it occasionally.

Here are the latest updates to the Trump-Russia Timeline now at Dan Rather’s News & Guts and at Just Security:

MAR. 24, 2015: Butina and Erickson Draft ‘Diplomacy’ Project; Russia Approves (revision of previous entry)

AUGUST 2015: Trump-Pecker-Cohen Deal to Silence Women (revision of previous entry)

DEC. 11, 2015: NRA Leaders Meet with Wife of Butina’s Financial Backer (revision of previous entry)

MAR. 10-11, 2016: Butina Works With Erickson; Thanks O’Neill for Helping US-Russia Relations (revision of previous entry)

APR. 23-28, 2016: Torshin Gives Butina Another Task (revision of previous entry)

JUN. 22, 2016: Erickson Suggests Language for Butina’s Report to Torshin (revision of previous entry)

JUL. 25, 2016: Stone Tells Corsi to Get WikiLeaks’ Hacked Emails (revision of previous entry)

JULY 31, 2016: Stone to Corsi: ‘Malloch Should See Assange’

AUG. 5, 2016: Pecker Buys Rights to Karen McDougal’s Story; Trump Directs Cohen to Violate Campaign Finance Laws (revision of previous entry)

AUGUST 2016: Butina Enters US on Student Visa (revision of previous entry)

SEPT. 16, 2016 Butina Tries to Schedule ‘Friendship and Dialogue’ Dinner (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 4, 2016: Erickson Writes About Private Line of Communication with Kremlin (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 5, 2016: Butina and Torshin Exchange Messages: ‘We Made Our Bet’ (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 6-7, 2016: Intelligence Community Publishes Statement on Russian Interference; Stone to Corsi: ‘Tell Assange to Start Dumping’; Access Hollywood Tapes Released (revision of previous entry)

NOV. 8-9, 2016: Butina: ‘I Am Ready For Further Orders’ (revision of previous entry)

NOV. 11, 2016: Butina Asks for Russian Reaction to Trump’s Possible Secretary of State Nominee (revision of previous entry)

NOV. 30, 2016: Butina Writes About Establishing US-Russia ‘Back Channel’ (revision of previous entry)

JUL. 18, 2018: Butina Held Without Bail Pending Trial (revision of previous entry)

DEC. 7, 2018: Whitaker Meets with Kushner

DEC. 8, 2018: Butina Pleads Guilty; Erickson Note Revealed

DEC. 10, 2018: Trump Tweets: ‘NO COLLUSION’, ‘WITCH HUNT’, ‘No SMOCKING GUN’; ‘Cohen Just Trying To Get His Sentence Reduced’; Blasts Comey (revision of previous entry)

DEC. 11, 2018: Trump Attacks Comey; Claims Bias in FBI

DEC. 11, 2018: Trump on Dismisses Impeachment Concerns: ‘People Would Revolt’

DEC. 12, 2018: Cohen Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

DEC. 12, 2018: SDNY Announces Non-Prosecution Deal with AMI

DEC. 13, 2018: Trump Tweets Attack Cohen, Criticize Flynn’s ‘Great Deal’, ‘Witch Hunt!’

DEC. 13, 2018: DOJ Inspector General Issues Report on Missing Strzok/Page Text Messages

DEC. 15, 2018: Trump Tweets: Press Should Cover ‘REAL story on Russia, Clinton & the DNC’, Attacks Strzok and Lisa Page, Again 

DEC. 16, 2018: Trump Tweets About SNL: ‘A REAL Scandal Is The One-Sided Coverage’; Attacks Strzok and Lisa Page, Again; Calls Cohen a ‘Rat’; Quotes Starr on ‘Collusion’; Tweets About Corsi, Flynn; ‘Witch Hunt’

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that December 7 was a “date which will live in infamy.” Seventy-seven years later, it became infamous again. But the Pearl Harbor Day bombs of 2018 overshadowed an important new twist in the larger Trump-Russia conspiracy against the United States. It involves what became a favorite Trump campaign lie about Hillary Clinton.

And Russia helped Trump promote it.

The latest revelations about the Trump-Russia conspiracy to create and disseminate a false narrative around Hillary Clinton’s health became lost in last week’s sensational court filings relating to Mike Flynn, Michael Cohen, and Paul Manafort. So let’s start this week’s post by shining a spotlight on the “Hillary’s Health” smoking gun. Then we’ll get to Mueller’s Pearl Harbor Day 2018 and Trump’s newest problems arising from the separate federal prosecution of Cohen in Manhattan.

The Hillary Clinton Health Conspiracy

How did lies about Hillary Clinton’s health become a central feature of Trump’s campaign?

Here are the links in the chain behind that falsehood, which hit the stage in early August 2016:

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange (custodian of emails that Russian Intelligence hacked) and RT (Russia’s state-owned television propaganda network) –> Jerome Corsi (Roger Stone’s associate) –> Roger Stone (Trump confidant) –> Trump (GOP presidential nominee) –> RT (media amplifier) –> Russian Intelligence (social media amplifier)

Go to the Trump-Russia Timeline, click on Julian Assange and Roger Stone, and pay particular attention to events beginning in June 2016. Many of them became public only last week:

JUNE 4, 8, 10, 17, 23, 2016: Representatives of Russia’s state-owned television propaganda network, RT, visit Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he is living in exile.

JULY 25: Roger Stone tells Jerome Corsi to get from WikiLeaks the emails that the Russians had hacked.

AUG. 2: Assange tells RT that WikiLeaks will release Clinton Foundation emails soon.

AUG. 2: Corsi informs Stone that WikiLeaks plans to release the hacked emails. Corsi also suggests that the Trump campaign should attack Clinton’s health.

AUG. 3: Stone speaks with Trump.

AUG. 4: Stone says that he “dined with Assange last night” and “devastating” WikiLeaks documents aimed at Clinton are coming soon.

AUG. 5: Stone tweets that Assange is a hero.

AUG. 8: Stone boasts that he has communicated with Assange.

AUG. 8: RT publishes a false story about Clinton’s health. The same day, Russian Intelligence operatives post the first of almost 500 tweets or retweets featuring the hashtag #HillarysHealth.

AUG. 8-11: Sean Hannity devotes an entire week to the bogus issue of Clinton’s health.

AUG. 15: Trump attacks Clinton’s health.

AUG. 30: RT itself begins using the hashtag #HillarysHealth in tweets to promote its articles on Clinton’s condition.

And so on and so on and so on…

When multiple pieces of evidence point in the same direction to yet another dimension of the Trump-Russia conspiracy to elect a US president, Trump’s defenders dismiss them as coincidences. But without any evidence at all, those same defenders claim that Trump — the clear beneficiary of Russia’s assistance — is the victim of a conspiracy against him, led by….Trump’s Justice Department, career federal servants, and lifelong Republicans, including Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein.

Here’s an idea: Let’s agree on a definition of conspiracy. Then let’s apply that definition in an even-handed way to the evidence in the Trump-Russia scandal. The only prerequisite to playing is a willingness to consider facts and put America ahead of political preferences.

That’s what Robert Mueller is doing. And he is discovering that the Trump-Russia octopus has many tentacles. That’s why Jerome Corsi and Roger Stone expect to be indicted. It’s also why — based on the Timeline, together with evidence that Mueller has and the public doesn’t — those expectations are reasonable.

Mueller’s Pearl Harbor Day 2018

Understandably, the media gave far more attention to the memoranda that Mueller filed in the cases involving Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, and Mike Flynn. Those filings include hints of much more Trump-Russia scandal to come:

— During the campaign, Trump and Cohen discussed ongoing prospective business deals with Russia that would bring “hundreds of millions of dollars” to the Trump Organization.

— During the campaign, intermediaries offered “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level” from Russia to help Trump win the election.

—  Flynn is assisting Mueller’s “investigation concerning any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald J. Trump”;

— Well into 2018, Manafort’s representatives were in contact with representatives of the Trump administration. The lawyers among them who believe that attorney-client privilege and joint defense agreements will save them should take another look at the crime-fraud exception. At best, all of those individuals are now witnesses in Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation. Some could be subjects; some may be even targets. Stick with Trump long enough and that’s your fate.

A Separate Front: Campaign Finance Law Violations

Finally, a Dec. 7 filing in the Southern District of New York puts Trump in a new world of hurt that even firing Robert Mueller can’t stop. Prosecutors in the New York office of the acting US attorney — which is headed by Trump’s personal selection to replace Preet Bharara — accused Trump of directing Michael Cohen to violate federal campaign finance laws. Twice.

Together with David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, Trump and Cohen devised a scheme to buy the silence of women claiming to be Trump’s former mistresses. The goal was to shut them up and thereby preserve Trump’s presidential prospects. At Trump’s direction, six-figure payments went to a former Playboy model and an adult-film actress.

Whether Trump can escape criminal prosecution while in office has been the subject of debate. But with respect to the SDNY case, Prof. Laurence Tribe argues persuasively that the Constitution mandates prosecution of a president who breaks the law to win the office. In any event, the SDNY filing renders three things beyond question:

First, even if Prof. Tribe’s analysis is wrong, Trump must win a second term to eliminate his criminal exposure. The moment he leaves office, the law can land on him like a ton of bricks — just as it would any other citizen. If convicted of the felonies in which he is now implicated, he’ll go to jail, unless he gets a pardon from his Oval Office successor.

Second, even assuming that Trump personally cannot be prosecuted while in office, other co-conspirators can. Future defendants could include the Trump Organization, senior executives, the Trump Foundation, and Trump family members Ivanka, Don Jr., and Eric. In fact, the key allegation against Trump refers to “one or more members of the campaign,” suggesting to Prof. Ryan Goodman and Andy Wright at JustSecurity.org that “more indictments for the hush money scheme may still be in the offing.” (Their analysis of the last week’s court filings is worth a careful read.)

And third, special counsel Robert Mueller isn’t prosecuting the campaign finance law conspiracy charges in Manhattan; the New York office of Trump’s Justice Department is. Even getting rid of Mueller won’t make that front in Trump’s war against the rule of law go away.

All around Trump, the walls are collapsing. Like a cornered, rabid animal, he becomes more dangerous every day.

And where is the complicit GOP in Congress? The silence is deafening.

Here are the latest updates to the Trump-Russia Timeline:

SEPT. 16, 2015: Trump Says He’d Get Along With Putin

SEPT. 17, 2015: Cohen Says Trump and Putin Might Meet Later This Month

OCT. 28, 2015: Trump Signs Letter of Intent for Trump Tower in Moscow (revision of previous entry)

NOVEMBER 2015: Cohen Speaks with ‘Trusted Person’ in Russia Offering ‘Political Synergy’ and ‘Synergy on a Government Level’ to Trump Campaign

JUNE 4, 2016: RT Visits Assange

JUNE 8, 2016: RT Visits Assange

JUNE 10, 2016: RT Visits Assange

JUNE 17, 2016: RT Visits Assange

JUNE 23, 2016: RT Visits Assange

AUG. 2, 2016: Assange Tells RT That WikiLeaks Will Release Clinton Foundation Emails

AUG. 5, 2016: Pecker Buys Rights to Karen McDougal’s Story; Trump Directs Cohen to Violate Campaign Finance Laws

AUG. 8-30, 2016: RT and Russian Intelligence Follow Corsi’s Predicted Strategy On Clinton’s Health, Clinton Foundation Through Media and Social Media

AUG. 8, 2016: Pecker’s National Enquirer Attacks Clinton’s Health

AUG. 15, 2018: Trump Attacks Clinton’s Health

OCT. 25-26, 2016: Giuliani Discusses Coming ‘Surprise’; Comey Orders Internal Investigation of FBI NY Office (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 26-27, 2016: Trump Again Directs Cohen to Violate Campaign Finance Laws; Cohen Signs Non-Disclosure Agreement with Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) (revision of previous entry)

AROUND MAY 15, 2017: Manafort Tries to Broker Assange Deal

AUG. 28-30, 2017: Story Breaks on Trump Tower-Moscow; Cohen Lies to Congress; Russia Participates in Trump/Cohen Cover-Up (revision of previous entry)

MAY 26, 2018: Manafort Authorizes Representative to Speak with Trump Administration Official On His Behalf

AUG. 7, 2018: At Cohen’s Request, He Meets with Mueller, Provides False Answers Regarding Trump Tower-Moscow

NOV. 26, 2018: Mueller Says Manafort Lied After Plea Agreement (revision of previous entry)

DEC. 3, 2018: Trump Tweets; Cohen Should Get ‘Full and Complete Sentence’; Praises Stone’s ‘Guts’; Attacks Mueller

DEC. 3, 2018: Stone Invokes Fifth Amendment

DEC. 4, 2018: Mueller’s Sentencing Memo Urges Leniency for Flynn

DEC. 5, 2018: Erickson Has Received ‘Target’ Letter

DEC. 6, 2018: Trump Tweets ‘Witch Hunt’, ‘Presidential Harassment’; Quotes Corsi: ‘This Is Not Justice’; Attacks FBI

DEC. 7, 2018: Trump Tweets Attack ‘Mueller Conflicts’, ‘Lyin’ James Comey’, Mueller’s Team Members, ’17 Angry Democrats’, ‘Crooked Hillary’, Clinton Foundation, Rosenstein ‘Conflicted’, Bruce Ohr, John Brennan, James Clapper, ‘Final Witch Hunt Report’

DEC. 7, 2018: Trump to Nominate Barr as AG

DEC. 7, 2018: Comey Testifies; Trump Tweets

DEC. 7, 2018: Mueller Aims at Manafort

DEC. 7, 2018: Mueller and SDNY File Briefs on Cohen; SDNY Implicates Trump

DEC. 7, 2018: Trump Tweets Another Lie: ‘Totally Clears the President’

DEC. 7, 2018: Treasury Dept. Delays Sanctions Against Rusal

DEC. 8, 2018: Trump Tweets: ‘NO COLLUSION!’, ‘Time for the Witch Hunt To END’

DEC. 9, 2018: Trump Tweets About Comey’s Dec. 7 Testimony

DEC. 10, 2018: Trump Tweets: ‘NO COLLUSION’, ‘WITCH HUNT’, ‘Cohen Just Trying To Get His Sentence Reduced’

Michael Cohen‘s surprise guilty plea on Nov. 29 and his sentencing memorandum the next day suggest that special counsel Robert Mueller is hard at work with a long way to go. For months, the media have reported the wishful thinking of Trump’s lawyers pushing the narrative that Mueller is “almost done” or “wrapping things up.”

None of that is coming from Mueller’s team. So when you hear or read that the “concluding phase” of the special counsel’s work is underway, consider the source. The media reporting those stories aren’t. Such predictions are not news. They are Trump-based propaganda.

Cohen Confirms Putin’s Leverage Over Trump

Mueller speaks exclusively through his court filings. And on Nov. 29, he did it through Michael Cohen’s plea. Trump’s trusted personal attorney for a dozen years has now told federal courts that he lied to Congress about what was happening during the 2016 presidential campaign. Specifically,

— Cohen followed Trump’s instructions and violated campaign finance laws by buying the silence of Trump’s former mistresses.

— Cohen pursued the Trump Tower-Moscow project as late as June 2016 and, along the way, kept Trump and the Trump family informed personally of its status and progress.

— Cohen and Trump discussed possible trips to Russia for meetings with top government officials about approvals and financing for Trump Tower-Moscow.

— All of Trump’s contrary statements that he never had anything to do with Russia were lies.

The last item is especially important.

For more than three years, Putin has known more about Trump’s dealings with Russia than the American people have. That information gap has been a source of Putin’s leverage over Trump and highlights the fundamental question driving Mueller’s counterintelligence investigation:

What else does Putin know about Trump that the American public does not, and when did he learn it?

More is coming. Cohen is cooperating with Mueller, the New York Attorney General, and the New York State Department of Tax and Finance in connection with ongoing investigations into Trump, the Trump Organization, and the Trump Foundation.

Less Obvious Danger to Trump Loyalists and Lawyers

Here’s an under-reported nugget in the Cohen sentencing memo that should have Trump’s lawyers especially concerned: As Cohen was crafting lies that he told Congress, he kept Trump’s legal team informed. He wanted to make sure that he was following Trump’s desired Trump-Russia messaging. That could be a problem for Trump’s lawyers.

I’ve read all of the publicly released transcripts of witnesses who testified before the farcical House investigation into Trump-Russia. Some witnesses treated the proceedings cavalierly. They probably thought that blowing off the Trump Party-controlled Congress posed had no downside risk.

Donald Trump Jr. and Erik Prince, for example, knew that their allies in the Trump Party (formerly the GOP) would never authorize contempt proceedings and thereby force full and complete answers to proper questions that Democrats in Congress had posed to them. Absurd invocations of “executive privilege” and evasive non-answers went unchallenged. Trump and his loyalists emerged unscathed.

Or so they and Trump thought.

Case Studies for Future Law Students

On Nov. 6, Trump, Don Jr., and Prince probably started sweating when Democrats won control of the House. Suddenly, the prospect of new subpoenas and contempt proceedings loomed large.

But Cohen’s surprise plea must have sent them reeling as much as it sent Trump tweeting. That’s because Mueller prosecuted Cohen — and obtained a guilty plea — for his false statements to Congress, not to Mueller or his team. In the long run, the Trump Party in the House had afforded them no protection at all.

Mueller has some of those congressional transcripts, including Don Jr.’s and Prince’s. Soon he’ll have the rest. That means more indictments are coming. It also means predicting that Mueller will wrap up his work by the end of the year is, well, wandering out on a fragile limb.

For a summary of the many Trump minions who have lied to federal authorities (including Congress) about Trump-Russia, look at Ryan Goodman’s thorough and meticulously sourced “Perjury Chart” at JustSecurity.org.

History Lesson Not Learned

Which takes us to the problem for Trump’s lawyers. They have crafted more than 30 “joint defense agreements” with various witnesses and subjects in Mueller’s investigation. In doing so, the Trump legal team may have outsmarted itself.

Based on Cohen’s plea, it sure looks like some of Trump’s attorneys were aware that Cohen was going to appear before Congress and spout Trump’s false messaging — i.e., lie. Who else besides Cohen went through such a coordination exercise? Mueller knows and soon the public will, too.

At best, those attorneys are now witnesses to potential obstruction of justice. At worst, they are targets of such an inquiry.

Watch This Space

More than 20 Watergate attorneys were involved in wronging. Some lost their licenses; some landed in prison; some suffered both fates. It’s time to start a tally of imprisoned and/or disbarred Trump-Russia players with law degrees.

In the weeks and months ahead, this list will grow:

Paul Manafort (JD, Georgetown, ’74)

Michael Cohen (JD, Cooley, ’91)

Alex van der Zwaan (LLB, King’s College, ’06)

Here are the latest updates to the Trump-Russia Timeline:

OCT. 28, 2015: Trump Signs Letter of Intent for Trump Tower in Moscow (revision of previous entry)

NOVEMBER 3, 2015: Sater and Cohen Pursue Trump Tower-Moscow

REVISED: NOVEMBER 2015-JUNE 2016: Cohen Keeps Trump Informed of Trump Tower-Moscow Developments; Sater and Cohen Consider a Free $50 Million Penthouse for Putin (revision of previous entry)

JAN. 14, 2016: Cohen Seeks Kremlin’s Help in Trump Tower Deal (revision of previous entry)

JAN. 16-21, 2016: Cohen Sends Another Message to Moscow; Kremlin Responds

MAY 4, 2016: Cohen and Sater Discuss Trump Trip to Russia

MAY 5, 2016: Sater Invites Cohen to St. Petersburg, Russia for Potential Putin/Medvedev Meeting

JUNE 2016: Cohen Discusses Status of Moscow Project with Trump

JUNE 14, 2016: Cohen Ditches Plan to Visit Russia

JULY 25, 2016: Stone Tells Corsi to Get WikiLeaks’ Hacked Emails

JULY 26, 2016: Trump: ‘I Have Nothing to Do With Russia’

AUG. 2-11, 2016: Corsi Informs Stone of WikiLeaks’ Plans, Suggests Attacking Clinton’s Health; Stone Talks to Trump; Hannity Helps

OCT. 9, 2016: Trump on Russia: ‘I Don’t Deal There’

OCT. 24, 2016: Trump: ‘I Have Nothing to Do With Russia’

OCT. 26, 2016: Trump: ‘I Have Nothing to Do With Russia’

JAN. 11, 2017: Trump: ‘We’ve Stayed Away’ From Deals in Russia

FEB. 7, 2017: Trump Tweets: ‘I Don’t Know Putin; Have No Deals in Russia’

AUG. 28-30, 2017: Story Breaks on Trump Tower-Moscow; Russia Participates in Trump/Cohen Cover-Up

SEPT. 1, 2017: Trump’s Lawyers Ask Rosenstein to Investigate Comey

SPRING 2018: Trump Tells McGahn to Investigate Clinton and Comey

REVISED: SEPT. 14, 2018: Manafort Pleads Guilty, Agrees to Cooperate with Mueller But Continues Feeding Info to Trump (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 22, 2018: Giuliani Admits Manafort Is Feeding Mueller Info To Trump Lawyers; Trump Has 32 Joint Defense Agreements with Mueller Witnesses or Subjects

NOV. 9, 2018: Court Wants Briefs on Impact of Whitaker Replacing Sessions (revision of previous entry)

WEEK OF NOV. 12, 2018: Trump Gets Draft of Corsi Plea Deal

NOV. 16, 2018: Papadopoulos Seeks Postponement (revision of previous entry)

NOV. 16-29, 2018: Comey Responds to GOP Congressional Demands With Desire to Appear Publicly; Cuts Deal (revision of previous entry)

NOV. 19, 2018: Senate Democrats File Suit to Remove Whitaker

NOV. 20, 2018: Trump Has Provided Written Answers to Mueller; Topics Include WikiLeaks, Trump Tower Meeting, and GOP Platform Change

NOV. 23, 2018: Corsi Says He’s in Plea Talks With Mueller

NOV. 25, 2018: Russia Captures Ukrainian Naval Vessels in Black Sea; EU Issues Immediate Condemnation; Trump Equivocates

NOV. 26, 2018: Trump Tweets About Anticipated Mueller Report, ‘Hundreds of People’ Who Had No Campaign Contact with Russians

NOV. 26, 2018: Mueller Says Manafort Lied After Plea Agreement

NOV. 27, 2018: Trump Tweets About ‘Conflicted’ Mueller, ‘Phony Witch Hunt’, ‘Gang of Angry Democrats’, Clinton E-mail Server

NOV. 27, 2018: Trump Retweets Image of Critics, Mueller, and Rosenstein: ‘When Do Trials For Treason Begin?’

NOV. 28, 2018: Trump Tweets About ‘Gang of Angry Dems’,  ‘Witch Hunt’, ‘Hoax’

NOV. 28, 2018: Trump Says Manafort Pardon ‘on the Table’, Rips Mueller

NOV. 29, 2018: Trump Tweets About ‘Mueller and the Angry Democrats’, ‘Crooked Hillary’

NOV. 29, 2018: Cohen Pleads Guilty in Mueller Probe; Coordinated False Congressional Statements with Trump Legal Team

NOV. 29, 2018: Kremlin Reverses Earlier Cover-Up Statement About Cohen Emails

NOV. 29-30, 2018: Trump Cancels G-20 Meeting with Putin; Kremlin Pushes Back; Trump Says He Might Meet with Putin After All

NOV. 29, 2018: Trump Blasts Cohen

NOV. 29, 2018: German Authorities Raid Deutsche Bank

NOV. 29, 2018: Trump Tweets: ‘Witch Hunt’, ‘Hoax,’ Cites Dershowitz

NOV. 30, 2018: Trump Tweets: ‘Lightly Looked at Doing a Building Somewhere in Russia’ While Running for President

After pushing Attorney General Jeff Sessions out of office, Trump bypassed a plethora of qualified potential replacements. Without question, they would have been constitutionally eligible for the job of acting attorney general. They would have no disabling conflicts of interest relating to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. They would not have brought with them a history of conspiracy theories, nonsensical legal views, and untoward business ventures.

Instead, Trump chose Matthew Whitaker, who comes with all of that baggage and more. To Trump, he’s a “three-fer”: political hack, vocal critic of Mueller’s probe, and unapologetic Trump loyalist.

Why Whitaker?

In March 2017, Trump was increasingly frustrated with his unsuccessful efforts to stop the Trump-Russia probe. Referring to Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s (R-WI) notorious 1950s attorney and hatchet-man, he asked:

“Where’s my Roy Cohn?”

Now Trump has provided the answer: Matthew Whitaker.

The federal courts will resolve the serious legal questions surrounding Whitaker’s legitimacy as acting attorney general. But that may be the least of his problems — which are now the country’s problems — revolving around a single question: Why did Trump send Attorney General Jeff Sessions packing and appoint Whitaker in his place?

Don’t ask Trump. He’ll lie. Even when the truth is obvious, he lies.

Whitaker Got the Job for a Reason

Go to the Trump-Russia Timeline and click on Jeff Sessions’ and Matthew Whitaker’s names. Combining the entries for the two men reveals how Whitaker auditioned for and won a leading role in Trump’s ongoing attack on the rule of law.

On March 3, 2017 — the day after Sessions’ recused himself from the Russia probe — Trump began his relentless barrage against the attorney general. After Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel on May 17, Trump turned up the heat.

Enter Matthew Whitaker, who followed the advice of his fellow failed Iowa politician, Sam Clovis — a grand jury witness in Mueller’s investigation. Clovis had told Whitaker that if he wanted Trump’s favorable attention, Whitaker should get a gig as a cable news commentator and use that forum to blast the Mueller probe.

Roll the Tape

— June 21: Whitaker appears on a right-wing talk radio show and declares: “The truth is there was no collusion with the Russians and the Trump campaign.”

— July 10: Whitaker defends Don Jr.’s decision to meet with Russians at Trump Tower.

— July 19: Using the vehicle of a New York Times interview, Trump continues attacking Sessions.

— July 22-26: Trump bombards Sessions with Twitter-fits and tells The Wall Street Journal that he’s “very disappointed” in Sessions.

— July 26: As a CNN pundit, Whitaker outlines a strategy for killing the Mueller probe: fire Sessions; install a Trump lackey as an acting attorney general; let the lackey starve the Mueller probe of funds; Trump-Russia investigation dies.

— July 2017, White House counsel Don McGahn interviews Whitaker about becoming a Trump “legal attack dog” against Mueller. Reportedly, Whitaker didn’t get the job, but you wouldn’t know it from his subsequent behavior:

— August 6: Whitaker criticizes Mueller as “going to far” if he crosses the red line of looking into Trump or Trump family finances.

— August 7: Whitaker says he fears Mueller will engage in a “fishing expedition.”

— August: McGahn pressures Sessions to hire Whitaker as Sessions’ chief of staff.

— Sept. 22: Sessions hires Whitaker as his chief of staff.

— Nov. 7: Trump fires Sessions and appoints Whitaker as acting AG.

Trump Lies About Whitaker for a Reason

In a Nov. 16 interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, Trump said with a straight face that he had no idea Whitaker held views that were hostile to the Mueller investigation. He claimed not to know that Whitaker-as-CNN pundit had outlined the very strategy that Trump has now employed: fire Sessions and appoint a loyalist lackey who is hostile to the Mueller probe.

But during an interview with the Daily Caller only two days earlier, a reporter’s question about the new acting attorney general caused Trump to make the immediate and obvious connection between Whitaker’s appointment and the Russia probe. Trump said:

“I knew him only as he pertained, you know, as he was with Jeff Sessions. And, you know, look, as far as I’m concerned this is an investigation that should have never been brought. It should have never been had. It’s something that should have never been brought. It’s an illegal investigation.”

It was another “Lester Holt moment.” Just as Trump had admitted on national television that he fired James Comey because Comey was allowing “the Russia thing” to proceed, so, too, Trump acknowledged to the Daily Caller his true motive for firing Sessions and appointing Whitaker: the Russia investigation.

Whitaker Can’t Win This One

Blinded by ambition and personal loyalty to Trump, Whitaker won Sessions’ job. Assuming the federal courts don’t boot him first, he’s still destined for an ignominious end. After completIng Trump’s assigned mission, he’ll go the way of all Trump lackeys who outlive their usefulness. Like them, he will have planted himself firmly on the wrong side of history; his reputation will lie in tatters; his legacy will be another page in the dark chapter of American history known as the Trump era.

It’s the Trumpian way. Call it the reverse-King Midas touch. There’s no honor in becoming Trump’s Roy Cohn.

Here are the latest updates to the Trump-Russia Timeline:

AUG. 27-28, 2016: Smith Meets with Hackers in DC

AUGUST 2017: McGahn Pressures Sessions to Hire Whitaker

SEPT. 22, 2017: Sessions Yields to White House Pressure; Whitaker Becomes Sessions’ Chief of Staff, West Wing’s ‘Eyes and Ears’ at DOJ (revision of previous entry)

AUG. 13, 2018: Another Judge Rejects Challenges to Mueller’s Authority (revision of previous entry)

AUG. 22, 2018: Court Filing Refers Mysteriously to Assange

NOV. 12, 2018: Corsi Says He Expects to Be Indicted; Doesn’t Recall Meeting Assange

NOV. 12, 2018: Trump Refuses to Sign Int’l Cyberattack Attack Accord

NOV. 13, 2018: State of Maryland Challenges Whitaker Appointment

NOV. 14, 2018: McConnell Blocks Bill to Protect Mueller

NOV. 14, 2018: Gates Still Cooperating: Sentencing Process Delayed

NOV. 14, 2018: Trump Pleased with Whitaker

NOV. 15, 2018: Trump Tweets about ‘Inner Workings’ of Mueller Probe; Lies About Mueller; Decries ‘Witch Hunt’; Slams Others

NOV. 15, 2018: Graham: Whitaker Sees No Reason to Fire Mueller

NOV. 16, 2018: Papadopoulos Seeks Postponement

NOV. 16, 2018: Trump Comments on Mueller ‘Hoax’ and Answers to Written Questions

NOV. 16, 2018: Comey Responds to GOP Congressional Demands

NOV. 16, 2018: Trump Trusts Whitaker to Do ‘What’s Right’, Claims Ignorance of Whitaker’s Views about Mueller Probe

NOV. 18. 2018: Trump Attacks Schiff, Mueller

The Trump-Russia Timeline is particularly useful this week. It helps seemingly unrelated pieces of the puzzle come together. The emerging picture is frightening.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions “resigned” — at Trump’s request. The more appropriate employment law concept for his departure is “constructive discharge” — that’s when a hostile work environment drives an employee from a job. Whatever the reason, the implications for the country are profound: Trump has begun his final assault on special counsel Robert Mueller and the rule of law. American democracy’s alarm bells are blaring.

This is not a drill.

Mueller Protector Gone

When Sessions recused himself from the Mueller probe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein assumed supervisory responsibility for the investigation. The results through Nov. 13, 2018: criminal charges against 32 individuals and 3 entities; guilty pleas from several prominent Trump advisers, including former national security adviser Mike Flynn, George Papadopoulos, and deputy campaign Rick Gates; jury verdicts against campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Mueller isn’t done. Absent interference, more indictments and a final report are coming. But compared to all previous special counsels, he has already achieved stunning results in record time. For example, the Iran-Contra and Whitewater investigations and related proceedings each continued for more than four years and yielded far less.

Matthew Whitaker’s Mission

This week, Matthew Whitaker became Trump’s latest assault weapon. For that, Whitaker earns his own pop-up bubble and name filter on the Trump-Russia Timeline. He could be on his way to earning an orange jumpsuit, too.

Trump chose Whitaker to complete a mission: end the federal investigations that threaten Trump’s presidency, his wealth, and even his personal freedom. Any doubters need look no farther than Whitaker’s record before Sept. 22, 2017, when he became Sessions’ chief of staff at the Justice Department.

Whitaker Has A Mueller Problem

Sam Clovis was national co-chairman of the Trump campaign. In 2014, he had run unsuccessfully for the Iowa Republican nomination to the US Senate. So did Matthew Whitaker. They became such good friends that Whitaker ran Clovis’ next campaign — for Iowa state treasurer, also in 2014. Clovis lost that one, too, but the two men remained friends.

Here’s the thing: Clovis has appeared before Mueller’s grand jury. To see why, go to the Trump-Russia Timeline and click on his name. Clovis intersects with several important Trump-Russia players: including George Papadopoulos and Carter Page. Click on all three names and look at the resulting entries to get a small sample the breadth and depth of Clovis’s Trump-Russia problems.

Here’s the punchline: Shortly after Clovis’ grand jury appearance and Papadopoulos’ guilty plea identifying Clovis as the recipient of emails relating to Trump campaign contacts with Russia, Clovis withdrew his nomination to become Trump’s top scientist for the US Department of Agriculture — a position he was never qualified to hold.

Whitaker Has A Bias Problem

From October 2014 to September 2017, Whitaker was executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT). The organization publicizes what it describes as ethical lapses by prominent Democrats and asks government agencies and law enforcement to investigate them. In other words, Whitaker was a GOP attack dog.

Immediately before Whitaker joined Trump’s Justice Department, he was a paid legal commentator for CNN — a gig that Clovis recommended he pursue. Among Whitaker’s stated opinions:

— Hillary Clinton should have been indicted (he wrote that in a July 2016 op-ed complaining about Comey’s explanation for not recommending prosecution);

— There was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign;

— Donald Trump Jr. did nothing wrong in meeting with Russians at Trump Tower in June 2016;

— Mueller would exceed his mandate if he ventured into the financial affairs of Trump or his family;

— One way to kill the Mueller probe would be for Trump to fire Sessions, name an acting AG who could then cut Mueller’s budget and starve the investigation to death.

And so on, and so on, and so on….

Whitaker has other baggage. Beginning in October 2014, he was an advisory board member for a scam company that the federal government shut down in May 2017. The FBI still has an active criminal investigation on the company. If Whitaker keeps his job as head of the Justice Department, he’ll be in ultimate charge of all DOJ agencies, including the FBI.

And for the lawyers in the audience, Whitaker thinks Marbury v. Madison — the seminal case establishing the federal courts’ power to review the constitutionality of legislation — is a “bad ruling.” He also said “good judges” follow the New Testament.

As for whether he’ll remain in the position that he nominally holds, a bipartisan group of lawyers and legal scholars — including Kellyanne Conway‘s husband — insists that his appointment is unconstitutional.

America Has a Whitaker Problem

Reportedly, Whitaker has already told aides that, even though the DOJ’s ethics experts should review Whitaker’s conflicts of interest and admitted biases, he will not recuse himself from the Mueller’s probe.

Why?

Here’s what CNN reported last week:

“‘He’s political to his core,’ a friend said of Whitaker.

“Several GOP officials in Iowa who have known Whitaker for a long time say they were surprised by his shift in the Trump era. He was a George W. Bush loyalist — named a former US attorney in Iowa under Bush — but like many others, he has become a big admirer of Trump along the way.

“‘He worships him,’ a longtime friend said of Whitaker and Trump.”

American democracy’s alarm bells are blaring. This is not a drill.

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

OCTOBER 2014: Whitaker Participates in GOP Assault on Democrats; Involved in Scam Company

NOV. 4, 2014: Clovis Loses Bid to Become Iowa State Treasurer

AUGUST 2015: Trump-Pecker Deal To Silence Women

JULY 5, 2016: Whitaker Says He Would Have Indicted Clinton

AUG. 4, 2016: Stone Talks About WikiLeaks’ Impending Releases

OCT. 3-4, 2016: Stone and Bannon Discuss WikiLeaks and Raising ‘$$$’

OCT. 26, 2016: Cohen Signs Non-Disclosure Agreement With Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) (revision of previous entry)

MARCH 3, 2017: Whitaker Says Trump-Russia Conspiracy ‘Crazy’

JUNE 21, 2017: Whitaker Says ‘No Collusion’

JULY 10, 2017: Whitaker Defends Don Jr.’s Trump Tower Meeting; Gets Trump’s Attention

JULY 26, 2017: Whitaker Outlines Strategy For Killing Mueller Probe

AUG. 6, 2017: Whitaker: Mueller Investigation ‘Going Too Far’; Tweet ‘To Trump Lawyers’

AUG. 7, 2017: Whitaker Fears Mueller ‘Fishing Expedition’

SEPT. 22, 2017: Whitaker Becomes Sessions’ Chief of Staff, West Wing’s ‘Eyes and Ears’ at DOJ

SEPT. 7, 2018: Credico Appears Before Mueller’s Grand Jury; Corsi Initially Bows Out, But Appears Two Weeks Later (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 11, 2018: Trump: ‘Matt Whitaker’s a Great Guy… I Know Him”

DURING THE WEEK OF OCT. 22, 2018: Mueller Reports Pay-Off Scheme to FBI

OCT. 23, 2018: Trump: I ‘Probably Will‘ Meet With Putin in Paris on November 10-11 (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 26, 2018: Mueller Questions Bannon About Stone

NOV 2, 2018: Kremlin: Putin and Trump to Meet at G-20 in Buenos Aires

NOV. 5-11, 2018: Trump Says He Won’t Meet With Putin In Paris; Kremlin Disagrees; They Meet

NOV. 6, 2018: Election Day: Rohrabacher Loses; Democrats Win House; Republicans Keep Senate

NOV. 7, 2018: Trump Tweets About Mueller ‘Witch Hunt’

NOV. 7, 2018: Trump Fires Sessions; Whitaker Becomes Acting AG

NOV. 9, 2018: Trump: ‘I Don’t Know Matt Whitaker’; Didn’t Discuss Mueller Probe With Him, Russia ‘Hoax’

NOV. 9, 2018: Court Wants Briefs on Impact of Whitaker Replacing Sessions

NOV. 9, 2018: Trump Defends Whitaker

Three domestic white supremacist terror attacks on America in three days. Future historians may view these events as early shots in the nation’s Second Civil War. If so, Trump is supplying the ammunition.

Future historians may also ask why Trump would do that.

Here’s a lead for them to pursue: Trump’s scorched-democracy strategy may be his only path to surviving the Trump-Russia probe. Trump’s biographers — especially those who have gotten to know him and his techniques best, including Tim O’Brien and David Cay Johnston — have warned that Trump will do anything to survive.

Anything.

That is exactly what we are seeing in real time.

Lost in the Shuffle

On Thursday, Oct. 25, a white supremacist attacked in Louisville, Kentucky. Gregory Bush, an armed, 51-year-old white man, tried to enter a black church. Locked doors stopped him. His consolation prize became two innocent black senior citizens at the nearby Kroger supermarket.

Trump’s response: silence.

Then two more prominent attacks swamped the episode.

“On Both Sides…”

On Friday, Oct. 26, federal authorities arrested the suspected MAGAbomber. Another middle-aged white male, Cesar Sayoc, was accused of sending pipe bombs to Trump’s most prominent rhetorical targets, including Hillary Clinton and CNN.

When the bombs began arriving two days earlier, Trump responded initially by echoing the “false flag” hypothesis that his most ardent supporters were pushing: This was an attempt by Democrats to rob him of media coverage going into the midterms. Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Lou Dobbs, Geraldo Rivera. Donald Trump Jr., and others suggested variously that: 1) liberals and/or Democratic operatives were behind the plot; 2) the bombs were “fake” (they weren’t according to FBI Director Christoper Wray); and/or 3) the whole thing was an elaborate hoax.

Then came the truth: Sayoc is a fanatical Trump supporter. At a Trump rally last year, he held up a “CNN sucks” sign. When asked about the accused attacker, Trump said: “I heard he was a person who prefers me over others, but I did not see that.”

Trump refused to answer a reporter’s follow-up question: Does he disavow Sayoc’s support? But the answer came less than two days later when Trump led rally crowds cheering “CNN sucks” and “Lock her up.”

“If There Was An Armed Guard…”

On Saturday, Oct. 27, another domestic terrorist killed eleven worshippers at Pittsburgh’s oldest synagogue. Shortly before he attacked, 46-year-old Robert Bowers railed against the “migrant caravan” — a favorite Trump midterm campaign theme — and the role of Jews who were bringing in immigrants determined to destroy America.

“If there was an armed guard inside the temple, they would have been able to stop him,” Trump told reporters as he boarded a flight to rallies in Indiana and Illinois. Most telling of all: Trump didn’t cancel his campaign rallies.

Method, Not Madness

Trump understands the impact of his words, especially on his most ardent and psychologically fragile followers. Those words are no longer dog whistles; they’re bullhorns summoning the lesser angels of human nature. When Trump boasts that he’s a “nationalist” and talks about good people “on both sides” of hate crimes — drawing a false moral equivalence between the perpetrators and their victims — he knows exactly what he’s saying and to whom he is saying it. He uses words as bullets, and he knows when he’s pulling the trigger.

Remember when Trump said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”

Well, right now, he has aimed the gun at the heart of American democracy.

Now What?

Trump the predator has made what was once the Republican party his host species. As a result, for the past two years he has functioned without any legislative check on his power.

On November 6, that must change. Vote for a Democrat. Any Democrat. A single Democratically-controlled house of Congress won’t solve the nation’s Trump problem. That will take generations. But it’s a start. And if we don’t start somewhere, well…

Vote. On November 6, just vote.

Here are the latest additions to the Trump-Russia Timeline:

JAN. 6, 2018: Stone Says He’s Urging Pardon for Assange

OCT. 22, 2018: Bolton Says Russian Election Interference Had No Impact

OCT. 23, 2018: Trump Blasts Cohen Over Tapes

OCT. 23, 2018: Trump: I ‘Probably Will‘ Meet With Putin in November

OCT. 25-26, 2018: House Republicans Interview Papadopoulos; Papadopoulos Has Second Thoughts About Plea Deal, Seeks Immunity from Senate

OCT. 26, 2018: White House Formally Invites Putin to Washington

Vile intent + Trump’s incompetent government + Fox News = unspeakable tragedy.

That’s the equation for the latest developments in the family separation saga and Trump’s related immigration demagoguery.

More Kidnapped Kids? Now?

In an Oct. 25 court filing, the Department of Health and Human Services admitted that it has “found” another 14 kids who should be recategorized as “possible children” separated from their parents at the border. According to Trump’s government, the total number has now risen from 2,654 to 2,668.

If Democrats gain control of just a single house of Congress, a real investigation will reveal the truth. When that happens, expect that number to go up.

Reunification Is No Panacea

Of course, reunification after weeks or months of separation doesn’t undo the damage. For example, after a three-month separation from her parents, a two-year-old girl from Honduras appeared in a federal immigration court where an attorney on her behalf requested voluntary return to her home country.

Two weeks later, she and seven other separated children arrived at San Pedro Sula airport. She greeted her mother with a blank stare. No smile of recognition. Nothing.

There Is No Bottom, But There Is Violence

Meanwhile, Trump politicizes the immigration issue, calling the upcoming election the “caravan-Kavanaugh” midterms. He’s sending thousands of US troops to the southern border to deal with what he describes as an “invasion” by refugees. To do what, exactly? The answer: Serve as props in Trump’s latest publicity stunt.

Under the Posse Comitatus Act, it’s unlawful to deploy the US military for domestic law enforcement purposes. (As for Trump’s assertion that he’ll issue an executive order declaring that children of illegal immigrants born in the US are not citizens, ignore him. The US Constitution’s 14th Amendment stands in his way.)

Trump supporters at Fox & Friends have followed his lead, describing the threat as migrants who may be carrying “diseases.” “They will infect Americans,” Fox’s guests proclaim, rattling off an absurd list: leprosy (almost zero cases in the migrants’ South American countries of origin), smallpox (no evidence of that anywhere in the world), and tuberculosis (the US already has cases of those).

When Fake News Is Really Fake — and Deadly

In the deranged mind of the Pittsburgh synagogue killer, Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric intersected with his immigration policy to produce tragic consequences. On social media, Robert Bowers had railed against the “migrant caravan” and the role of Jews in bringing immigrants to America. And then he gunned down 11 unarmed Jews during a worship service.

Where would Bowers get such a nonsensical idea? Try Fox News. For weeks, the “Jews funding migrant caravan” theme has been a network staple. In particular, Fox has joined Alex Jones’ Infowars and other far-right voices linking George Soros, a prominent Jew, to the caravan.

Only two days before the synagogue attack, Fox News’ Lou Hobbs interviewed Chris Farrell, Judicial Watch’s director of investigations and research. Farrell talked about the migrant caravan, saying, “A lot of these folks have affiliates that are getting money from the Soros-occupied State Department.”

Hours after the shooting, Fox rebroadcast the interview.

In a tweet, Dobbs — who attacks Soros regularly — had also ridiculed news coverage of pipe bombs sent to 14 prominent Trump critics: “Fake news – Fake bombs. Who could possibly benefit by so much fakery?” When a fanatical Trump supporter became the prime suspect in that attack, Dobbs deleted the tweet.

Where else might Bowers have heard the lies that motivated him? Try congressional Republicans. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) questioned whether Soros was funding the caravan; Fox News dutifully reported it.

And last week, George Soros was one of the pipe-bomber’s intended victims.

Vote. On November 6, just vote.

Trump refuses to believe that they were ever here. The truth is that they never left.

In the 2016 election, Russia attacked the core of American democracy: voting. To this day, Trump has refused to criticize, much less condemn, Vladimir Putin for the attack. And to this day, the attack continues. That’s why this week’s most important new entry in the Trump-Russia Timeline is this:

“OCT. 19, 2018: Russian Charged With 2018 Election Interference”

The defendant in the case, Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova of St. Petersburg, Russia, handles the finances of Russia’s “information warfare” operation against the United States. Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin — a close Putin ally known as “Putin’s chef” — and two companies he controls have funded the attacks.

The latest criminal charges are a sequel to special counsel Robert Mueller’s February 2018 indictment of Prigozhin, his companies, the Internet Research Agency, and 12 other Russian nationals for conspiracy against the US by interfering with the 2016 election.

But Mueller didn’t bring the latest case. The US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia did. Why? One reason could be that Mueller is assuming that his days as special counsel are tied to Jeff Sessions’ tenuous fate. In other words, they’re numbered. When Sessions leaves, Trump will appoint a lackey who will gut Mueller’s investigation or fire the special counsel altogether.

Senate Republicans who once defended Sessions, saying that firing him is a “red line” that Trump dare not cross, now admit that they are resigned to Sessions’ departure after the midterms. The dangerous normalization of Trump’s dangerously abnormal, anti-democratic behavior will continue for as long as the Trump Party controls Congress.

But even after Mueller’s probe disappears, the latest federal case in Virginia — like those brought against Michael Cohen in New York and Maria Butina in Washington DC (and wherever Sam Patten’s guilty plea in a yet another DC case leads federal investigators) — will continue. While Trump plays checkers, Mueller is playing three-dimensional chess. Meanwhile, the Russians are playing with American democracy.

Here’s a complete list of this week’s updates to the Trump-Russia Timeline:

EARLY MAY 2016: Agalarov Forms New US Shell Company

JUNE 20, 2016: Agalarov Wires Almost $20 Million to US Account

SEPT. 14, 2018: Manafort Pleads Guilty, Agrees to Cooperate with Mueller (revision of previous entry)

SEPT. 28, 2018: Russian Charged With 2018 Election Interference

OCT. 16, 2018: Trump Tweets About Sessions, Ohr, Steele, ‘Witch Hunt’

OCT. 16, 2018: Trump’s AP Interview Blasts ‘Witch Hunt’, Cohen, Sessions; Excuses Don Jr.’s Trump Tower Meeting

OCT. 16, 2018: Rohrabacher Trusts Assange; Says Russia Didn’t Hack DNC

OCT. 17, 2018: Rosenstein Defends Mueller Probe

OCT. 17, 2018: McGahn No Longer White House Counsel

OCT. 19, 2018: Manafort Sentencing Date Set For Feb. 8

OCT. 19, 2018: US Government Warns: Foreign Interference in 2018 Midterm Elections

After six months, how many kids are still in federal custody because Trump’s government deported their parents?

Answer: 50

Meanwhile, in an emergency motion last week, the ACLU said that the government is dragging its feet on a proposed settlement that would allow separated families to pursue their international human rights to seek asylum: “Over 40 detained families decided to accept removal — instead of receive due process — because they simply could not wait in detention any longer.”

No Defense? Try Distraction, Lies, and Offense

Lacking any coherent response to this ongoing crisis that Trump created, he is deploying three characteristically Trump strategies: distraction, lies, and “offense is the best defense.” As a 7,000-person caravan makes its way north from Central America. Trump is using a barrage of lies to demonize them and blame Democrats:

Trump has even made the absurd claims that Democrats had somehow organized the caravan and were banking on its arrival before Election Day so participants could vote for Democrats. Of course, no such asylum-seekers could vote because they would not be US citizens. But it’s a safe bet that some of his fans now believe Trump’s big lies. They also believe his unsupported assertion that the caravan includes terrorists from the Middle East.

The Height of Cynicism

It’s worse than politics, as The Hill reports; “Republicans have found themselves playing defense on immigration since June following the outcry over Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border.

“GOP strategists, citing internal polls, were concerned the family separations would harm Republican candidates, particularly among female voters. Many now see the caravan issue as a midterm blessing, one that could shift the debate away from a humanitarian focus and back to questions of national security and US sovereignty.”

Kids Held Hostage Day 169.

On Nov. 6, vote to make it stop. Otherwise it won’t.

The whole world is watching. If the American people get this one wrong, the immediate impact will be profound and the judgment of history will be harsh.

It should be.

No one can accuse the Trump administration of learning from its mistakes. On Oct. 12, 2018, The Washington Post reported that Trump was considering another family separation policy. When reporter Phil Rucker asked him about it, Trump said that he thinks the initial family separation policy deterred illegal border crossings, so Trump is “looking at everything.”

Everything, that is, except the facts surrounding human tragedies that his policies have already produced.

How Bad Can This Situation Get?

Pretty bad. For example:

— Trump’s government asked a five-year-old child to sign away her rights to a bond hearing that would have reviewed her custody situation.

— Trump’s government is sending children back to their home countries without alerting family members that they’re on the way. A four-year-old was left at a reunification center in Guatemala with no one to pick her up.

— Trump’s government is expanding detention camps for undocumented and unaccompanied migrant teenagers:

“The tent city that the federal government operates at the Tornillo border station about 35 miles southeast of El Paso on the Mexico border was built in June as a temporary home for a few hundred migrant children. Four months later, it has rapidly expanded and has nearly quadrupled in size,” according to The New York Times.

Because the shelter is on federal property, it is not licensed by Texas child welfare officials and does not have to adhere to the same regulations that other traditional migrant youth shelters must follow to maintain their state licensing.

Ripple Effects of a Vile Policy

“Most of the children at Tornillo are waiting for the results of FBI checks on their potential sponsors,” the Times reports “The children cannot be released to the sponsors until fingerprinting and criminal background checks are completed.”

“Indeed, such newly introduced requirements, like the need for sponsors to provide their fingerprints and those of other adults in their households, have delayed even the clearest sponsorship applications, like those brought by parents. Immigration enforcement authorities have also begun using the fingerprints to arrest applicants — most of whom are undocumented immigrants themselves — which has kept some potential sponsors from coming forward.”

Tax Dollars At Work

The Times continues, “Housing children in Tornillo costs about three times as much as placement in a traditional shelter, according to government figures. Mr. [Mark A.] Weber, [a spokesman for] Health and Human Services, could not provide a figure of the total cost to establish and run the tent city. But he said that standard shelter beds cost $250 per day, and temporary emergency shelter beds cost $775 a day.”

The Trump Party on Congress — formerly known as the GOP — remains complicit in what history will mark as one of the great tragedies in modern history. On November 6, the process of redeeming America’s soul must begin.

Shortly after Rick Gates‘ plea agreement in February 2018, I appeared on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” to discuss its implications. I suggested that Gates could be a far bigger problem for Trump than Paul Manafort (assuming Manafort eventually flipped, too). The reason: After Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign in August 2016, Gates remained — all the way through the transition. Gates could provide continuity in telling the Trump-Russia story that Manafort could not. And Trump does not want that story told.

An earlier post highlighted some of the entries that emerge when applying the Rick Gates name filter to the Trump-Russia Timeline. He intersects with several key players in the story: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) (“Putin’s Favorite Congresman”), Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., George Papadopoulos, Brad Parscale (Trump’s 2016 campaign digital director, now manager of Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign), Oleg Deripaska (Russian oligarch), and the NRA, to name a few.

Last week, another piece of the Gates-related narrative emerged. Within days of joining the Trump campaign in March 2016, Gates solicited proposals from Psy-Group (an Israeli company) to create fake online identities, use social media manipulation, and gather intelligence that would help defeat Trump’s Republican primary opponents and Hillary Clinton. In August 2016, Psy-Group’s owner, who had previously worked with Oleg Deripaska and Dmitry Rybolovlev (another Russian oligarch who had bought Trump’s Florida mansion for more than twice what Trump had paid for it three years earlier; check out the Deripaska and Rybolovlev name filter entries on the Timeline), met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower.

Curiouser and curiouser.

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

MARCH 30-31, 2016: Gates Seeks Proposals For Social Medial Manipulation Campaign

AUG. 3, 2016: Don Jr. Meets With Emissary From Saudi Arabia and UAE (revision of previous entry)

FEB. 20, 2017: Russian Ambassador to UN Dies Suddenly

FEB. 16, 2018: Grand Jury Indicts Internet Research Agency and Russian Nationals; Pinedo Plea Agreement Released (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 8, 2018: Hicks Joins Fox

OCT. 8, 2018: Rosenstein Gets Reprieve

OCT. 11, 2018: Simpson Reaffirms Refusal to Testify

OCT. 14, 2018: Trump on 60 Minutes: Blasts Sessions; Denies Collusion; Equivocates on Whether He’ll Shut Down Mueller

On March 30, 2017, Clint Watts, a former FBI special agent with expertise in Russian influence operations, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that following the money behind disinformation websites aimed at undermining American democracy was important. But, he continued, the committee should also “follow the trail of dead Russians.”

Last week, another body got added to the pile. Here’s the pertinent new entry on the Trump-Russia Timeline:

OCT. 3, 2018: Kremlin Lawyer Dies in Helicopter Crash

Russian deputy attorney general Saak Albertovich Karapetyan dies when his helicopter crashes in a forest during an unauthorized evening flight that began in adverse conditions. Karapetyan, 58, had been intimately familiar with some of the most notorious operations carried out under Vladimir Putin’s orders, according to The Daily Beast. He had worked closely with Natalia Veselnitskaya and was involved in running some of Moscow’s most high-profile efforts to thwart international investigations into Russia’s alleged crimes. For example, Karapetyan had signed a letter from the Russian government refusing to help the US in a civil case linked to the death of Sergei Magnitsky. Leaked emails have since shown that Veselnitskaya had helped draft the document sent with that letter.

Several more Timeline entries fit Watts’ frightening theme:

NOV. 8, 2016: Russian Consulate Official Declared Dead

Russian-born Sergei Krivov, 63, is duty commander involved with security affairs at the Russian consulate in New York City when he dies mysteriously. At first, Russian officials say Krivov fell from the roof of the consulate building. Then they say he died of a heart attack. The initial police report filed on the day of the incident says Krivov had “an unknown trauma to the head.”

EARLY DECEMBER 2016: Russians Arrest Cybersecurity Expert

The arrests, according to reports by the Russian newspaper Kommersant and Novaya Gazeta, among others, are made in early December and amount to a purge of the cyberwing of the FSB, the main Russian intelligence and security agency.

DEC. 26, 2016: Russian Intelligence Officer Found Dead

Oleg Erovinkin, 61, is found dead in his car. He had been a general in the KGB and its successor spy organization, the FSB, before Putin appointed him chief of staff to Igor Sechin, president of Russia’s state-controlled oil giant Rosneft.

FEB. 20, 2017: Russian Ambassador to UN Dies Suddenly (this entry will be added in next week’s Timeline update)

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, 64, dies while at work in his New York office. The cause of death is not disclosed. In 1987, Churkin had helped to arrange Trump’s first visit to Moscow.

MARCH 2, 2017: Russian Behind Ukraine Meeting Dies

Alex Oronov, 69, a Ukrainian émigré businessman in New York, dies. “The cause of his death remains unknown,” USA Today reports in May. He reportedly had organized the January 2017 meeting among Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, Felix Sater, and Ukrainian parliament member Andrey Artemenko at the Manhattan Loews Regency Hotel about a peace plan for Ukraine.

MARCH 21, 2017: Magnitsky’s Lawyer Suffers Severe Injuries

Nikolai Gorokhov, 53, is near death with severe head injuries and remains in a hospital’s intensive care unit. Reportedly, he fell from the fourth floor of his Moscow apartment. Gorokhov is a private Russian lawyer who represents the family of Sergey Magnitsky and has continued work to uncover the tax fraud first identified by Magnitsky. After regaining consciousness, Gorokhov can’t recall what happened to cause his injuries, but he thinks he may have been targeted.

MAY 14, 2017: Peter Smith Found Dead

Ten days after telling The Wall Street Journal about his efforts to obtain Hillary Clinton’s stolen emails during the 2016 election campaign, longtime GOP operative Peter Smith, 81, is found dead in a Rochester, MN hotel room. Around his head is plastic bag attached tightly with black rubber bands. In a note recovered at the scene, Smith apologizes to authorities and states: “NO FOUL PLAY WHATSOEVER”; “RECENT BAD TURN IN HEALTH SINCE JANUARY, 2017”; “LIFE INSURANCE OF $5 MILLION EXPIRING.”

In his September 2016 descriptive material seeking to recruit a team to help obtain Clinton’s emails, Smith had invoked the names of Mike Flynn, Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon, and Sam Clovis.

NOV. 1-2, 2017: Mifsud Gives an Interview; Disappears

Joseph Mifsud was George Papadopoulos‘ intermediary to the Kremlin. Mifsud disappears the day after an Italian newspaper publishes his Oct. 31, 2017 interview in which he confirms that he is the unnamed person identified in Papadopoulos’ Oct. 30 guilty plea.

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

Hours after granting interviews to Western journalists, a self-confessed “troll” who formerly worked at Russia’s Internet Research Agency — which special counsel Mueller had indicted two days earlier for 2016 election interference — is arrested in St. Petersburg for allegedly making a false phone call about a bomb planted in a nearby village.

APR. 11, 2018: Trump Architect Drops Out of Sight

In an attempt to follow up on an Apr. 6, 2018 article by McClatchy highlighting special counsel Mueller’s interest in Trump Organization business deals in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Georgia, a CNBC reporter reaches out to John Fotiadis, an architect involved in some of Trump’s major foreign projects in that region. Eight hours later, Fotiadis announces on Twitter that he is closing his firm; a few days after that, he closes his Twitter account; by the end of the week, all of the content from his website, including his portfolio, has been removed.

JUL. 11, 2018: Misfud is Still Missing

Joseph Misfud is scheduled to appear in a Salerno, Italy court, but he doesn’t show up. As of October 2018, he has yet to resurface.

Others have suggested that this list of suspicious deaths and disappearances relating to Trump, Putin, and the 2016 election may not be exhaustive. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but still….

Here’s a complete list of this week’s update to the Trump-Russia Timeline (including a new name filter and pop-up bubble for Peter Smith):

LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2016: Peter Smith Builds Team to Find Clinton Emails (revision of previous entry)

OCT. 11, 2016: GOP Operative Solicits Donors to Fund Acquisition of Clinton Emails

MAY 14, 2017: Peter Smith Found Dead (revision of previous entry)

SEPT. 26, 2018: Trump Blames China for Election Interference

OCT. 1, 2018: Comey Rejects Senate Judiciary Committee Request to Testify Privately, Offers to Testify Publicly

OCT. 1, 2018: Manafort Meeting with Mueller

OCT. 1, 2018: Credico Will Invoke 5^thAmendment

OCT. 3, 2018: Kremlin Lawyer Dies in Helicopter Crash

OCT. 4, 2018: Pence Echoes Trump in Blaming China for Election Interference; Democrats Want Proof