Timeline of the Political Persecution of Michael Flynn (VANITY)

The political persecution of Lt. General Michael Flynn is one of the most shameful political assassinations this country has ever seen. It is seen by some as a sideshow to the efforts by the Left to bring down President Donald Trump, but I have come to believe the events surrounding Flynn are central to the overall abuse of power and betrayal of the trust of the American public by the Obama Administration.

I view the lawlessness and bitter vindictiveness of the Obama Administration and its allies in the media who have played a major role in this scandal as the most corrosive and destructive actions I have ever seen by elected and appointed officials, and I feel that they threaten the very core of this country. There must be punishment for these crimes, or we will see even more brazen lawbreaking by the Left.

The events that led up to President Trump firing General Flynn are complex, and I believe that the evidence of malfeasance by the Left and the Media is more difficult to discern when it is viewed piecemeal, but when it is viewed in the context of a comprehensive timeline, the intentions of the perpetrators become far more evident.

To that end, I have created a table that is in chronological order and has key events that when viewed, in the order of action, make far clearer the poisonous and seditious (if not treasonous) intentions of those who wish to both bring down President Trump and preserve the legacy of Barack Obama.

One of the biggest hurdles many reasonable people have is that they have a difficult time comprehending why the Obama Administration would target a man like Lt. General Michael Flynn, someone who should have been a source of pride for this country with his sharp intelligence skills and faithful service to our country, but instead had his reputation destroyed, was driven out of respectable society, was marginalized, and financially ruined in a filthy, evil, concerted, orchestrated campaign of hard knuckle politics by the Left and their allies in the Media to exact a toll on a duly elected President by destroying a man who should be lionized for his efforts to revamp the military and civilian intelligence instruments. Most normal people are baffled, and cannot easily fathom this campaign by people who wish to keep alive the lie of the Obama Administration as somehow being the most transparent and scandal free in modern American history.

It makes no sense. But author Lee Smith has written a brilliant article that illustrates clearly and cogently WHY the Obama Administration made a special target out of a man like Michael Flynn and answers nearly ALL those questions.

NOTE: I ask for your forbearance in both the content of the table and the format. HTML is not my forte, and I struggled a bit with the table. The table may be too large, the text to small, or any other number of issues. And the content is not perfect. I have taken it from multiple sources (some friendly, some hostile to conservatives) and it was challenging to find documentation or a link to the source of what I have heard and read these last several years. I apologize, I did my best to bring them all together, and I presume we can correct it as we go along. It is my hope that this can be somewhat of a one stop source to assist in giving a wider range of people a better grasp on the criminal and anti-American activities they have been engaging in.

TIMELINE OF THE SETUP AND POLITICAL ASSASSINATION OF LT. GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN

Date	Person(s)	Event	Notes	Link
	Overview	Introduction and background: How Russiagate Began With Obama’s Iran Deal Domestic Spying Campaign (Tablet article published by Lee Smith on 5/20/2020	Much of what is described in this table below is easier to understand if it is understood why General Michael Flynn was targeted for persecution with political, legal, and personal dismemberment.   This article from Lee Smith explains in detail why General Flynn, a standout in military intelligence innovations and experience as a DNI under the Obama Administration, had to be discredited and removed.  Before perusing this table, I highly suggest reading the Lee Smith article to give perspective to the animus that the Obama Administration and the Intelligence community had towards General Michael Flynn, and why they took the actions they did to destroy him.   This table largely only goes up to the day General Flynn was fired, but there are key revelations after that date that I have included which bear directly on the process to frame General Flynn. I have not included any of the governmental or judicial processes taken against General Flynn.   In light of what is displayed in this table, the actions taken by the court and DOJ team against him are illuminated in the proper light.	How Russiagate Began With Obama’s Iran Deal Domestic Spying Campaign by Lee Smith
7/12/2012	Flynn	Obama appoints Lt. General Michael Flynn as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
2/28/2014	Flynn, Lokhova,Halper	Flynn attends dinner at Cambridge Intelligence Seminar and is seated next to Svetlana Lokhova, and is accused of having an affair with her.	Note that Halper was source of the later claim that Flynn was having an affair with Svetlana Lokhova who attended the dinner and sat next to him. The New York Times reported on 5/18/2018 (paywall) that “Stefan Halper, who worked for three Republican presidents and was a longtime informant for the American intelligence community, had a February 2014 encounter with Flynn at a London intelligence conference. Halper became so alarmed by Flynn's close association with a Russian woman that a Halper associate expressed concerns to American authorities that Flynn may have been compromised by Russian intelligence.”	Lawsuit by Lokhova against Halper
8/7/2014	Flynn, Obama	Flynn’s position as the Director of the DIA is not renewed when his retirement from the US Army became effective on 8/7/2014
6/10/2015	Flynn	Flynn criticizes Obama Administration in testimony Joint Foreign Affairs and HASC Subcommittees Testimony on Iran, and appears on Fox News for an interview.	General Flynn’s testimony in front of the House Armed Services Committee on this day set off a period of media scrutiny of his negative views of the Obama Administration foreign policy in general, and the Iran deal (which would be signed in a month and put into motion) in particular.  Business Insider characterized the Fox News interview with Chris Wallace: General Flynn said President Barack Obama's Middle East policy is one of "willful ignorance," a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency said during a TV interview Sunday.	Testimony in front of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) 6/10/2015
12/10/2015	Flynn, Putin	Flynn attended a dinner in Moscow to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Russian television network RT. Flynn, who was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the culminating dinner, was also interviewed on national security matters by an RT correspondent. Flynn’s speaker’s bureau, Leading Authorities Inc., was paid $45,000 for the event and Flynn received $33,000 of the total amount.	Excerpt from the Steele Dossier pages 15-16: ”Kremlin engaging with several high profile US players, including STEIN, PAGE and (former DIA Director Michael Flynn) and funding their recent visits to Moscow.   Speaking separately, also in early August 2016, a Kremlin official involved in US relations commented on aspects of the Russian operation to date … This had involved the Kremlin supporting various US political figures, including funding indirectly their recent visits to Moscow. S/he named a delegation from Lyndon LAROUCHE; presidential candidate JILL STEIN of the Green Party; TRUMP foreign policy advisor Carter PAGE; and former DIA Director Michael Flynn.”
5/10/2016	Papadopoulos, Downer	Meeting in London where Downer initially says Papdopoulos talked about someone having “damaging information” on Clinton.	White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Twitter account: Over several interviews, we've learned information suggesting the FBI secretly transcribed, and even taped, George Papadopoulos in 2016.	Twitter feed
5/11/2016	Strzok, Page	Text from Strzok to Page likely regarding Papadopoulos meeting with Downer	Text from Strzok talking about meeting with McCabe: STRZOK: “Yeah…Deputy Director calling State now…oooh…wanna hear about it? PAGE: You already talked to REDACTED? Crap, I’ve gotta go in 30 or so…cancel to sit in on this…”     Important: This is why the FBI has to say they didn’t hear from the State Department about the meeting until July 2016. If they acknowledge they heard about it in May the obvious question is why they didn’t do anything about it. So this buttresses the assumption that they started Crossfire Hurricane based on the Steele Dossier, NOT the Papadopoulos-Downer meeting in May.  Indicative of systemic lying and deception. Scheming.
7/5/2016	Steele, Gaeta, Nuland, Kramer	Steele met in Rome with his former FBI handler (on the FIFA case) Michael Gaeta, and Steele let Gaeta read the first memo of the the report (first three pages) one that had Trump with Russian prostitutes peeing on a bed supposedly slept in by Obama.	Gaeta said (under oath) that he let his superiors know about it. Christopher Steele provides FBI agent Mike Gaeta at the offices of Orbis in London. A report captioned "Company Intelligence Report 2016/080-U.S. Presidential Election: Republican Candidate Donald Trump's Activities in Russia and Compromising Relationship with the Kremlin," and is dated June 20, 2016 (Report 80). It contains numerous allegations about Trump, including that: (1) the "Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting, and assisting [Trump] for at least 5 years;" (2) "[Trump] and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals;" (3) Trump's activities in Moscow, including "perverted sexual acts," make him vulnerable to blackmail; (4) Russian Intelligence Services have collected "compromising material" on Hillary Clinton; and (5) the Kremlin has been "feeding" information to Trump's campaign for an extended period of time. The Schiff memo denies these facts. Steele's contemporaneous notes reflect that Steele told Gaeta that "Democratic Party associates" were paying for Fusion GPS's research, the "ultimate client" was the leadership of the Clinton presidential campaign, and "the candidate," Hillary Clinton. was aware of Steele's reporting. Permission was given by Victoria Nuland to meet with Steele. Nuland receives a copy by mid July and passes it to FBI Note this excerpt from the Transcript of the David Kramer (Aide to John McCain) interview in front of the House Intelligence committee on 12/19/2017 referencing this handing of the Steele Dossier to the FBI: MR. SCHIFF: Now, he informed you I think that he had a relationship with the FBI or had been in contact with the FBl, a relationship that ended in September-October? MR. KRAMER: Yes, I think - I believe the September-October is -- I think probably closer to October, but that he had contacted the person he knew who was stationed for the FBI I believe I in the summer of 2016, was in touch I believe two or three times with that person, and then the contact dried up. MR. SCHIFF: And do you know did he tell you how much of the information that would become the dossier he had provided to the FBI? MR. KRAMER: I don't know. I don't. I don't know. MR. SCHIFF: Did he explain to you why if he was in contact with the FBI he was worried that the FBI - or let me phrase it a different way. Did he communicate that he was concerned that the FBI hadn't taken the work seriously enough, or what made him think that, notwithstanding the relationship he had with the FBl, it needed to be brought to the level of the attention of the director or a higher level? MR. KRAMER: My impression is that he got initial interest in response from the FBl when he first presented this. They seemed interested in his pursuing it and continuing to pursue it, and then the communication rather abruptly ended. So he was worried that for whatever reason, he didn’t know the reason, that they were no longer taking it seriously. MR. SCHIFF: Now, you had suggested I think to Senator McCain that he give it to the head of the CIA and the FBl. MR. KRAMER: Yes.	Entire Steele Dossier. (page 1-3)
7/31/2016	Comey, McCabe	Crossfire Hurricane opened	The Crossfire Hurricane investigation is opened without having any specific subjects or targets for the investigation, supposedly based on the information from Alexander Downer about the infamous "meeting on May 10, 2016 with George Papadopoulos in London. Remember, THIS is officially the FBI's supposedly whole rationale for beginning the "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation.  McCabe in Congressional Hearings states (after being questioned by Trey Gowdy) they they did not rely on the Steele Report for the FISA investigations. He said it was the info from the State Department with dates and names redacted. He is basically saying it was the Alexander Downer meeting.
8/10/2016	FBI	FBI opens counterintelligence cases on Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, and Manafort
8/10/2016	Steele	Memo sent to FBI (part of the “Steele Dossier”, page 15 on the link dated 8/10/2016, the date it was delivered)	Bongino hypothesizes (and I think it fits) that someone at the White House gets wind that same day (August 10th) that General Flynn was not in the group of men having counterintelligence cases opened on them (Papadopoulos, Manafort, and Page) and calls up their source (not sure if it is indeed Steele or Halper, or if they contact Steele and HE contacts Halper). They probably said "We need something specifically about Flynn so we can get him into this investigation...what do you have on him?"  See Strzok text from 10/13/2020 where he references this “receipt” of the Steele Dossier.	Entire Steele Dossier (page 15)
8/11/2016	Halper, FBI	Halper meets with FBI. (SOURCE 2 IN IG REPORT) and states he knew Manafort AND General Flynn.	FBI meets with Stefan Halper. Halper agrees to work with the Crossfire Hurricane team by reach out to George Papadopoulos allowing the Crossfire Hurricane team to collect assessment information on Papadopoulos and conduct an operation. Halper informs FBI of his July contact with Carter Page and previous contact with Flynn related to the Lokhova incident.	Analysis of official records of this meetings discussion
8/15/2016	Strzok, Page, McCabe	Text message describing the “insurance policy” from a meeting with the three in Andy McCabe’s office on the 7th Floor at the FBI. From the IG report: Crossfire Hurricane Team talked about FISA warrant process to spy on the Trump team.	"I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy [McCabe]'s office that there's no way he gets elected -- but I'm afraid we can't take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40.   Dan Bongino feels the “insurance policy” may simply have been to go to the FISA court to spy on Trump.
8/16/2016		Decision to open CROSSFIRE RAZOR counterintelligence case on General Flynn	Bongino on the reasons they have on the Electronic Communication (EC) for opening a case targeting General Flynn.  They don’t cite the Steele Report   They don’t cite SOURCE #2 (Halper)  Reasons: Flynn is advising President Trump; due to “open sources” (Google) he has contacts in Russia, and he traveled to Russia in December 2015 as reported by “open sources” (Google)
8/17/2016	Pientka	Agent Pientka is tasked by FBI to attend the PDB that day in order to gather information on President Trump and to observe Flynn to evaluate him for “tells” in the event he is called to testify in the future.	From the Epoch Times: On page xviii of the inspector general report, it was disclosed that Pientka was running the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign as its supervisor. Pientka was also the agent who provided defensive briefings to the Trump and Clinton campaigns in August 2016: “We learned during the course of our review that in August 2016, the supervisor of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, SSA 1 [Pientka], participated on behalf of the FBI in a strategic intelligence briefing given by Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to candidate Trump and his national security advisors, including Michael Flynn, and in a separate strategic intelligence briefing given to candidate Clinton and her national security advisors,” the report states. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), during congressional testimony given by Inspector General Horowitz, noted that the FBI used this meeting as an opportunity to effectively spy on the Trump campaign and gather further information—a characterization that Horowitz agreed with. Horowitz also said in his testimony he was concerned about this practice: Graham: “So when we get defensively briefed tomorrow, would it be okay for FBI agents to open up 302s on what we said?” Horowitz: “We have very significant concerns about that.” Horowitz noted in his report that Pientka was specifically selected to “provide the FBI briefings, in part, because Flynn, who was a subject in the ongoing Crossfire Hurricane investigation, would be attending the Trump campaign briefing.” Just prior to this defensive briefing, on Aug. 1, 2016, Strzok and Pientka “traveled to the European city to interview the FFG [Friendly Foreign Government] officials who met with Papadopoulos in May 2016.” The IG report noted that “during the interview they learned that Papadopoulos did not say that he had direct contact with the Russians.” It also appears that Pientka was in charge of selecting the Confidential Human Sources that were used against George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn: “In determining how to use CHSs in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, SSA 1 and the case agents told the OIG that they focused their CHS operations on the predicating information and the four named subjects,” the inspector general report states.	Epoch Times article detailing the role of Agent Pientka
9/19/2016	Comey, McCabe	FBI maintains this is the first time they had access to the “Steele Dossier”
10/13/2016	Strzok, Page	Strzok messages Page that someone at the FBI had the Steele Dossier in early August	Agent Gaeta testified under oath that he brought the memo to the attention of the FBI in July, and Strzok wrote in a text on 10/13/2016 regarding the Steele Dossier: "...to check email. We got the reporting on Sept. 19. Looks like REDACTED got it in early August…”. (likely August 10, 2016)
11/1/2016	New York Times	New York Times publishes article: “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia” by Eric Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers	Carter Page FISA opened 10 days earlier, nothing revealed, Bongino suggests this article meant to take heat off Page and incite him to begin talking to Russians.   This tactic was repeated the day before the FBI Flynn interview at the White House	Title: Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia
11/10/2016	Obama, Trump	Obama warns Trump about General Flynn	Flynn was appointed head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 2012 but was fired two years later, reportedly over dissatisfaction over his management style and temperament. Reports on Monday attributed to Obama officials differed on whether the concerns voiced by Obama were linked to his DIA performance or because of his Russia links. Flynn had received income from RT in 2015, a state-run television channel formerly known as Russia Today, which he did not initially declare.
11/18/2016	Flynn	Gen. Flynn named by President Elect Trump as National Security Advisor	After the news breaks, a text is sent by McCabe to Page saying that Clapper told Strzok that he is meeting Brennan for dinner. Bongino postulates “What do you think they were going to discuss at dinner?”
11/30/2016	Powers	UN Ambassador Samantha Powers requests unmask of Flynn	Obama Administration claims communication being requested for unmasking was “incidentally” captured by the intelligence community.	Flynn timeline
12/6/2016	Unknown	Two unmasking requests made by “Unknown” Obama Administration	Who are these people? Why are they listed as unknown? How can that happen?
12/7/2016	Powers	UN Ambassador Samantha Powers requests unmask of Flynn	Second request in a week. Why?
12/12/2016	Flynn, Rice, Steele	Memo from UK disavowing credibility of Christopher Steele as a source delivered to incoming DNI Michael Flynn and outgoing DNI Susan Rice	IMPORTANT: Date delivered is unknown, but widely thought to be early to mid December at latest. Revealed in Brady Request to court on 9/11/2017.  Rice knew Steele was unreliable. Flynn knew that Steele was unreliable. And Rice knew that Flynn knew.  Bongino thinks this may have had something to do with flurry of unmasking requests on Michael Flynn in mid-December.
12/14/2016	Powers, Brennan, Treasury Department	There are 10 more requests to unmask Flynn's name in intelligence, including two by Power, CIA Director Brennan, and six officials from the Treasury Dept.	Why six officials from the Treasury Department?
12/15/2016	Rice	Susan Rice secretly unmasks names from Trump Tower meeting with UAE Prince*	Former national security adviser Susan Rice privately told House investigators that she unmasked the identities of senior Trump officials to understand why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York late last year, multiple sources told CNN.	CNN explains secret unmasking
12/15/2016	Administration Officials	Obama intel officials "incidentally" spy on Trump officials meeting with the United Arab Emirates crown prince in Trump Tower.
12/15/2016	Rice, Clapper, Administration	Director of National Intelligence Clapper expands rules to allow the National Security Agency (NSA) to widely disseminate classified surveillance material within the government. The same day, 17 Obama officials request the unmasking of Lt. Gen. Flynn in intelligence.	Why would Clapper make this change to “expand the rules” from an outgoing administration?  Is this related to the HUGE surge in unmasking requests (17) on THE SAME DAY?
12/15/2016	Administration	Five more Obama officials request unmasking of intelligence materials regarding Lt. Gen. Flynn.
12/20/2016	Flynn, Kislyak	Flynn calls Kislyak to express condolences on the assassination of Andrei Karlov, Russian Ambassador to Turkey	Flynn states call to Kislyak was gesture to reinforce common relationship in fighting terror	Redacted FBI 302 from 1/24/2017 Interview
12/23/2016	Powers	UN Ambassador Samantha Powers requests additional unmask of Flynn	38 unmasking requests in 24 days from State, CIA, Treasury, Administration. Why this unprecedented surge of requests?
12/25/2016	Flynn, Kislyak	Flynn texts Kislyak to wish him a Merry Christmas and says he looks forward to working with him in the new year, and Kislyak responds “You as well”		Redacted FBI 302 from 1/24/2017 Interview
12/27/2016	Flynn	Flynn leaves for vacation in the Dominican Republic	This is an estimate, as he may have left the day before. Flynn was still in USA on Christmas.
12/28/2016	Flynn, Kislyak	Kislyak texts Flynn in Dominican Republic asking Flynn to call him.	Kislyak Text: “Can you kindly call me back at your convenience?”  Flynn stated to FBI interviewers Strzok and Pientka on 1/24/2017 that his government issued Blackberry was not working in the Dominican Republic, and his cell phone connection was intermittent. He was not checking his phone regularly because of that, and as a result, Flynn did not see the message from Kislyak until the following day, 12/29/2016.
12/28/2016	Clapper, Bass	Clapper and Ambassador to Turkey request unmask of Flynn	Why did the Ambassador to Turkey and Clapper request this? Related to FARA setup?
12/29/2016	Obama	President Obama signs an Executive Order Executive Order 13694 against Russia for its alleged election interference which ejects Russian personnel from US Territory as Persona Non Grata.	This is an Executive Order. It discusses the ejection of Russian entities taking part in cybercrime. It does NOT mention “sanctions” even once.  Why the timing on this? Many Americans wondered at the time why this took place during the Holiday season leading into a long New Years weekend.	Executive Order 13694
12/29/2016	Flynn, Kislyak	Flynn sees delayed message from the day before and calls Kislyak.	There were five phone conversations that took place between Flynn and Kislyak, all occurring in a short amount of time. (One explanation for this activity is that Flynn stated that his Government issued Blackberry was not getting a connection, indicating that connectivity was an issue.)   CRITICAL POINT ON UNMASKING REQUESTS: Between the time of the phone call, with Kislyak on December 29,2016 and the White House Meeting on January 5,2017, there were NO unmasking requests.  So how did the Obama Administration know the name of Flynn in the surveilled phone conversation WITHOUT AN UNMASKING? It is widely thought to be a foreign intelligence entity that delivered it to the Obama Administration. Here is an indication from McCabe during a Dec. 19, 2017, interview with then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.  CONGRESSIONAL STAFFER: (quoting to McCabe from the prior Comey testimony) “We did not disseminate this take in any finished intelligence” and added that Comey “was referring to those specific tech cuts.”  CONGRESSIONAL STAFFER: “So no transcript or summary of conversations with Kislyak that were ever masked, and therefore, there were no unmasking requests that could have been made for these nonexistent reports“   MCCABE: “I think your description is accurate, they came up—we found them through an effort—without getting into too long of an explanation—in an effort to respond to a tasking from [redacted] and so the results of what we found were communicated to the Agency, who I think had the pen on that response.”	FBI edited 302 of Flynn Interview
1/3/2017	Lynch	Loretta Lynch signs rules expanded by Clapper to allow wider dissemination of surveillance information in government.
1/4/2017	FBI	DC Field Office of the FBI begins process to close the Flynn investigation	FBI field office stated it will close the Flynn case on January 4, 2017, after finding that Flynn had “no contact” with a Russian individual whose name is redacted from the release, and that “CROSSFIRE RAZOR was no longer a viable candidate as part of the larger CROSSFIRE HURRICANE umbrella case.”
1/4/2017	Strozk, REDACTED (Flynn’s case agent)	Strzok texts to keep investigation open	Message stream (To case agent) STRZOK: “If you haven’t closed RAZOR, don’t do so yet. Pls keep it open for now” (To Page) STRZOK: Razor still open. :@ but seredipitiously good, I guess. You want those chips and oreos? PAGE: Phew STRZOK: But yeah, that’s amazing that he is still open. Good, I guess. PAGE: Yeah, our utter incompetence actually helps us. 20% of the time, I’m guessing :) STRZOK: 7th floor involved	Description of effort to keep CROSSFIRE RAZOR open
1/5/2017	Obama, Yates, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Rice, other members of the National Security Council (Ciaramella?)	White House Meeting where discussion of General Flynn takes place, Sally Yates and Jim Comey asked to stay behind after meeting	THIS IS IMPORTANT. THIS MEANS THAT OBAMA IS AWARE OF THIS SETUP. THIS IS THE START OF THE LOGAN ACT VIOLATION OR PERJURY TRAP SCHEME.   Obama asked Yates and Comey to “stay behind” following the meeting, saying he had “learned information about Flynn” and his discussion with Kislyak.  “[Obama] specified that he did not have any additional information on the matter, but was seeking information on whether the White House should be treating Flynn any differently, given the information,” the documents show.  Yates, meanwhile, “had no idea” what Obama was referring to, but figured it out “based on the conversation,” according to the documents. “Yates recalled Comey mentioning the Logan Act, but can’t recall if he specified there was an ‘investigation,’” the document continues. “Comey did not talk about prosecution in the meeting.” Yates, who was later fired by the Trump administration, wasn’t sure where Obama got his information, the documents show.  “Yates did not recall Comey’s response to the President’s question about how to treat Flynn,” the account continued. “She was so surprised by the information she was hearing that she was having a hard time processing it and listening to the conversation at the same time.
1/5/2017	Steele;Kramer	Steele states that all emails and documents relating to his primary source were wiped clean on his Fusion GPS account on this day.	Bongino looks at the testimony of David Kramer (McCain associate) on December 19, 2017: MR. SCHIFF: Were there -- aside from those two issues, were there other areas of the dossier that he put a particular emphasis on in saying that he had very high confidence that something was true? MR. KRAMER: He did believe that there was a video. He was interested in trying to obtain it. He didn't quite know how to go about doing that. But he did believe that such a video does exist. MR. SCHIFF: And did he tell you why that he was as confident in that KRAMER: Based on what he was hearing from his sources. MR. SCHIFF: ln the - MR. KRAMER: Sorry. Without knowing whether such a video referenced here exists, production of videos by the Russians in compromising situations is par for the course. I mean, that's what they do. MR. SCHIFF: Did Mr. Steele tell you about anything he did not include in the dossier or in the reports, because he didn't feel it rose to the level of confidence that he would have needed to include it? MR, KRAMER: There was one thing he (Steele) mentioned to me that is not included here, and that is he believed that Mr. Flynn had an extramarital affair with a Russian woman in the U.K. Michael Flynn, that is. Who is Sir Andrew Wood, who approached Kramer and sent him to the November 28, 2016 conference in London to meet with Steele (at the personal direction of McCain who was at the confrence)? Andrew Wood described himself as an “informal advisor” to Steele. Kramer only met Steele in person that one time in London on November 28, 2016. IMPORTANT: How would Kramer know that in November 2016? (The accusation of an Extramarital affair). This information did not come out until much later. CHRISTOPHER STEELE WAS NOT AT THE 2014 DINNER. Steele had nothing to do with it. But who was the FBI source reporting on that dinner? Stefan Halper. Did Halper write parts of that Dossier? The FBI was saying that the Dossier information came from Steele, a noted Russian specialist, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was coming from Halper? Why would that be bad? Because the FBI had sworn under oath in the FISA applications that the information came from a reliable source and was a British Intelligence Agent, but it was really coming from Halper? Is that why Steele’s files and emails were scrubbed? And if the information WAS coming from Halper-was it being paid for with taxpayer dollars through the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment?	David Kramer Testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee
1/6/2017	US Intelligence Community	Intelligence Community Assessment Released: Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections	In summary: We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.	2017 Intelligence Community Assessment
1/6/2017	Trump, Pence, Priebus, Flynn, McFarland, Pompeo, CIA Briefer (undisclosed) Comey, Clapper, Brennan, Rogers	Meeting with President Elect Trump to discuss Dossier	Main briefing takes place, and when that is done, everyone leaves except Trump and Comey who then discuss the “salacious” content of the dossier.  The next day after the meeting, Comey emails Brennan stating that “some intelligence guy” (referring to General Flynn) on President Elect Trump’s Intelligence team “was asking pointed questions about the Steele’s sources” from the Steele Dossier.
1/7/2017	Clapper, Administration	Clapper and two other Obama administration officials request Flynn unmasking.
1/10/2017	Clapper, Ignatius	Clapper tells David Ignatius of The Washington Post to “take the kill shot on Flynn.”	According to Flynn’s lawyer Sidney Powell, Clapper told Ignatius to “take the kill shot on Flynn.” Ignatius published the leak in his Jan. 12 column, describing Flynn’s Dec. 29 conversation with Kislyak. From the Ignatius Article: According to a senior U.S. government official,” wrote Ignatius, “Flynn phoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak several times on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration announced the expulsion of 35 Russian officials ... What did Flynn say, and did it undercut the U.S. sanctions?”	How Russiagate Began With Obama’s Iran Deal Domestic Spying Campaign by Lee Smith
1/10/2017	Media	All 35 pages of the leaked Steele Dossier published.	BuzzFeed published a 35-page draft dossier that it said was the basis for the briefing, including unverified claims that Russian operatives had collected "embarrassing material" involving Trump which could be used to blackmail him.	Steele Dossier
1/11/2017	McCain, Graham, Cardin	Countering Russian Hostilities Act of 2017 introduced in Congress.	Republicans John McCain and Lindsay Graham and Democrat Ben Cardin, unveiled the “Countering Russian Hostilities Act of 2017.” It would codify in law the Obama administration sanctions as well as apply new sanctions, including in response to Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential election.   IMPORTANT: This bill was never passed.  It was introduced 13 days after the Flynn-Kislyak call in which Flynn was accused of discussing sanctions. Compare this text to the text of Executive Order 13694 which discusses the actions taken against Russian nationals on US territory accused of cybercrimes. This bill outlined below had not even been thought of or introduced on 12/29/2016, and even if it had, Flynn would not have been privy to the construction or discussion of it.  (a)Short title This Act may be cited as the “Counteracting Russian Hostilities Act of 2017”. (b)Table of contents The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. TITLE I—Countering Russian cyber intrusions Sec. 101. Short title. Sec. 102. Findings. Sec. 103. Imposition of sanctions with respect to persons engaging in significant activities undermining cybersecurity and democratic institutions. Sec. 104. Codification of Executive Order 13694. Sec. 105. Imposition of sanctions with respect to persons engaging in transactions with the intelligence or defense sectors of the Government of the Russian Federation. Sec. 106. Exemptions, waivers, and rulemaking. Sec. 107. Public service campaign relating to cybersecurity and combating disinformation. Sec. 108. Termination. Sec. 109. Rule of construction. TITLE II—Countering Russian aggression Sec. 201. Short title. Sec. 202. Findings. Sec. 203. Sense of Congress. Sec. 204. Prohibitions against United States recognition of the Russian Federation’s annexation of Crimea and occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Sec. 205. Statements of policy with respect to Ukraine. Sec. 206. Codification of Executive orders imposing sanctions in relation to the situation in Ukraine. Sec. 207. Sanctions with respect to the development and production of petroleum and natural gas resources in the Russian Federation. Sec. 208. Sanctions with respect to the development of pipelines in the Russian Federation. Sec. 209. Sanctions with respect to the development of civil nuclear projects by the Russian Federation. Sec. 210. Sanctions with respect to purchase, subscription to, or facilitation of the issuance of sovereign debt of the Russian Federation. Sec. 211. Sanctions with respect to investment in or facilitation of privatization of state-owned assets by the Russian Federation. Sec. 212. Prohibiting certain transactions in areas controlled by the Russian Federation. Sec. 213. Sanctions described. Sec. 214. Exemptions, waivers, and rulemaking. Sec. 215. Inclusion of all funds in records of certain transactions. Sec. 216. Termination. Sec. 217. Rule of construction. TITLE III—Europe and Eurasia democracy and anti-corruption initiative Sec. 301. Short title. Sec. 302. Findings. Sec. 303. Sense of Congress. Sec. 304. Report on advertising on media outlets controlled and funded by the Government of the Russian Federation. Sec. 305. Europe and Eurasia Democracy and Anti-Corruption Fund. Sec. 306. Establishment of a Russia unit in the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Sec. 307. Termination.	Countering Russian Hostilities Act of 2017
1/12/2017	Ignatius, Baker	Washington Post prints David Ignatiius article using leaked data about Flynn phone calls	Excerpt from the Washington Post Article:  Question 3: What discussions has the Trump team had with Russian officials about future relations? Trump said Wednesday that his relationship with President Vladimir Putin is “an asset, not a liability.” Fair enough, but until he’s president, Trump needs to let Obama manage U.S.-Russia policy. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Trump’s choice for national security adviser, cultivates close Russian contacts. He has appeared on Russia Today and received a speaking fee from the cable network, which was described in last week’s unclassified intelligence briefing on Russian hacking as “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.” According to a senior U.S. government official, Flynn phoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak several times on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration announced the expulsion of 35 Russian officials as well as other measures in retaliation for the hacking. What did Flynn say, and did it undercut the U.S. sanctions? The Logan Act (though never enforced) bars U.S. citizens from correspondence intending to influence a foreign government about “disputes” with the United States. Was its spirit violated? The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.    From the Sidney Powell interview “ONA Director Baker regular lunched with Washington Post Reporter David Ignatius,” Ms. Powell writes. “Baker is believed to be the person who illegally leaked the transcript of Mr. Flynn’s calls to Ignatius.”	Discussion includes reference to Washington Post article behind paywall, and commentary by Sidney Powell
1/12/2017	Lovinger, Baker	Whistleblower at the Pentagon Office of Net Assessment (ONA) has four charges filed against him by his boss Col. James Baker.	NCIS report on Lovinger’s conduct finds no reason for Whistleblower to be fired, but the word “not” is excluded in the documentation.   Adam Lovinger is pointing out that large sums of money are being spent on suspicious things (Halper). According to Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell in an interview by Dan Bongino aired on 5/22/2020, she noted that Flynn and Baker were very close, and met behind closed doors on a regular basis.   Lovinger's Security privileges were stripped from him on 5/1/2017 requiring him to leave the NSC and go back to the Pentagon doing a lower level job. Baker then reclassified the job Lovinger was then working at to have requirements that Lovinger did not meet.	Lovinger prosecution by James Baker
1/15/2017	Flynn, Pence	Pence states on “Face The Nation” that Flynn told him he did not discuss sanctions with Kislyak	Pence: I can confirm, having spoken to him about it,”, said Pence, referring to Flynn, “those conversations that happened to occur around that time that the United States took action to expel diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions.”   IMPORTANT POINT: There were two separate issues in question: the expulsion of Russian diplomats as Persona Non Grata (PNG) which was announced by the Obama Administration on the same day as the Flynn-Kislyak phone call on 12/29/2016, and the sanctions, which were not even brought to the floor in the house until 1/11/2017.
1/23/2017	Washington Post	Washington Post publishes article: “FBI reviewed Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador but found nothing illicit” by Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller	This is thought by Dan Bongino to be a pattern of direct media collusion to put the candidate at ease for the interview the next day.
1/24/2017	Flynn, Strzok, Pietka	Flynn is interviewed at the White House by Strzok and Pientka
1/26/2017	Yates, McGahn	Sally Yates tells White House Counsel McGahn that Flynn may have lied to Pence	From Lee Smith’s “The Plot Against The President”: On January 26, acting Attorney General Sally Yates went to the White House to warn lawyer Donald McGahn the Flynn might have misled the vice president. She said that since the Russians knew that there were discrepancies between what Flynn had said to Kislyak and what he had apparently told Pence of their conversation, the national security advisor might be vulnerable to blackmail.
2/1/2017	Cummings, Chaffetz	Democrats initiate investigation for the December 10, 2015 RT dinner where Flynn sat next to Putin and received $33,000 for a speech he gave.	On February 1, 2017, the ranking Democratic members on six House committees sent a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis, requesting a Department of Defense investigation into Flynn's connection to RT. The legislators expressed concern that Flynn had violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution by accepting money from RT.   This is included as an example of how once the Democrats took back the House, they began a full pressure campaign to bring down the Trump campaign.	Reuters discusses probe into Flynn for violations of the Emoluments Clause
2/9/2017	Washington Post	Washington Post prints leaked parts of the Flynn-Kislyak call that appeared to contradict Flynn’s conversation with Pence	Washington Post article by Greg Miller, Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima. Again, this is a timed leak to the Washington Post, the publication of which appears to be done directly in advance of the meeting scheduled for the next day between Pence and McCabe.   The very first paragraph in the article states unequivocally:  “National security adviser Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States during the month before President Trump took office, contrary to public assertions by Trump officials, current and former U.S. officials said.”  In no uncertain terms, they state that Flynn lied.	Washington Post article describing contradictions between Flynn-Pence and Flynn-Kislyak conversations.
2/10/2017	McCabe, Pence, McGahn, Priebus	McCabe shows portions of Flynn-Kislyak conversation at scheduled White House briefing with VP Pence	From Lee Smith’s “The Plot Against The President”: When McCabe appeared at the White House the next day, he was called into Pence’s office. Priebus and McGahn were there, watching news coverage of the leaked intercept. They were upset. They asked to see the information McCabe had on Flynn. “This is totally opposite,” said Pence. “It’s not what he said to me.”   To all intents and purposes, the loyal Obama officials in the FBI, DOJ, and compliant media set a trap, baited it perfectly, pitched the public framing of the issue in the media, drumming up that Flynn was a liar, untrustworthy, vulnerable to blackmail, backed up with fake information in the trap, and sprung the trap on VP Pence publicly.   All coordinated precisely to bring the public and unknowing dupes in the administration into full throated calls to fire Flynn for lying.
2/13/2017	Trump, Flynn	Trump fires General Flynn
5/7/2020		Transcripts from House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation Released	Note the slanted language. Not one of the people interviewed under oath had any evidence of collusion by the Trump campaign.  Not Clapper. Not McCabe. Not Rice. Not even Farkas, who had to admit under oath she intentionally lied about it on television (not under oath)  Press Releases After Being Delayed by White House for Almost a Year, Transcripts from House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation Released Transcripts Reaffirm Mueller’s Findings That Russia Interfered to Hurt Clinton and Help Trump, the Campaign Invited and Made Full Use of Illicit Russian Help, and Trump Lied to Cover It Up White House Would Not Allow Release of All Transcripts for More Than a Year By Holding Up Declassification Process Until this Week Washington, May 7, 2020 Washington, DC – Today, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is making available to the public 57 transcripts, as well as additional material, from the Committee’s investigation in 2017 and 2018 into Russia’s interference campaign targeting the 2016 U.S. election. Accompanying today’s release, the Committee has sent a letter informing Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell that the Committee is releasing the transcripts with the redactions applied by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), now that the White House has abandoned its improper effort to interfere politically in the classification review. In the interest of transparency, the Committee is also making public correspondence between the Committee and the White House and ODNI related to the White House’s effort to intercede in the classification review.  After releasing the transcripts, Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) stated: “From 2017 to 2018, the House Intelligence Committee conducted an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Despite the many barriers put in our way by the then-Republican Majority, and attempts by some key witnesses to lie to us and obstruct our investigation, the transcripts that we are releasing today show precisely what Special Counsel Robert Mueller also revealed: That the Trump campaign, and Donald Trump himself, invited illicit Russian help, made full use of that help, and then lied and obstructed the investigations in order to cover up this misconduct. “Unfortunately, the President’s misconduct did not end with his election in 2016 or his attempts to cover up that effort. Rather, in the course of his presidency, he continued to seek illicit foreign help in his campaign by coercing another nation, Ukraine, to smear his opponent. After making use of Russia’s help with his first presidential campaign, President Trump pressed the Ukrainian president to help him in 2020 by withholding critical military aid to that country and a coveted head of state meeting. “These acts ultimately led to the President’s impeachment in the House of Representatives and the first bipartisan vote in the Senate in our history in support of a conviction of a President of the United States. The President’s efforts to make use of the help of a foreign power to win an election, and then to extort yet another foreign power to try to win again, represent a grave threat to the health of our democracy now and in the future. “The transcripts released today richly detail evidence of the Trump campaign’s efforts to invite, make use of, and cover up Russia’s help in the 2016 presidential election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller identified in his report similar, and even more extensive, evidence of improper links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government. A bipartisan Senate investigation also found that Russia sought to help the candidacy of Donald Trump in 2016. “While Special Counsel Mueller found insufficient evidence to prove the crime of criminal conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt, he refused to draw any conclusion on the issue of collusion — contrary to false representations made by Attorney General Bill Barr and others. There is ample evidence of the corrupt interactions between the Trump campaign and Russia, both direct and circumstantial, in the record: In June of 2016, a Russian delegation offered dirt on Donald Trump’s rival—presidential candidate Hillary Clinton—to the highest levels of the Trump campaign, and did so in writing. Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., accepted that offer, and then set up a secret meeting between the Russian delegation, himself, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to discuss that illicit help. When news of the meeting was about to break, Trump and his son drafted a false statement for the press together in order to cover up the true purpose of the meeting. This written offer of illegal help by the Russians and its acceptance by the President’s campaign, and the secret meeting that followed, provide some of the most damning and direct evidence of the President’s to make use of Russia’s assistance in the election. Throughout the summer of 2016, the Trump campaign and candidate Trump himself repeatedly sought damaging information on Clinton from Russia. In July of 2016, Trump publicly called on Russia to hack Clinton’s emails, and – as the Special Counsel found – that night, Russian military intelligence officers did precisely that. Our transcripts show that numerous individuals affiliated with or working for the Trump campaign were in communication with individuals offering help to set up private backchannels with the Russian government. Multiple witnesses sought to hide and cover up illicit activity related to Russia during the presidential campaign. One-time campaign advisor and close confidant to Trump, Roger Stone, has been sentenced to prison for lying to the Committee about his advanced knowledge of impending WikiLeaks releases of Clinton campaign information. Former personal attorney to Trump, Michael Cohen, was imprisoned in part on charges that he lied to the Committee about Trump’s role in arranging a lucrative business deal in Russia during the course of his campaign and early presidency. The President’s pursuit of Trump Tower Moscow — potentially the most lucrative deal of his life — while lying to the American people about his business interests in Russia, provided the most serious counterintelligence risk to the United States. Another associate of Trump, Erik Prince, misled our Committee about his efforts to take part in a secret backchannel with a senior Russian government official while he was unofficially supporting the Trump campaign. And the transcripts also show that during the transition period in late 2016, the incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn undertook efforts to undermine U.S. sanctions on Russia imposed by the previous administration over Russia’s interference in the election on Trump’s behalf. Flynn would later lie to the FBI about these efforts, and the President would try to pressure then-FBI Director Comey to shut down any investigation into Flynn. It would take the firing of then Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the later appointment of an unscrupulous Attorney General, Bill Barr, for the President to achieve his aim of seeking dismissal of the case against Flynn, and only after Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI. “Despite taking part in this investigation and hearing these facts first-hand, the transcripts reveal how House Republicans used witness interviews not to gain the facts, but to press President Trump’s false narrative of ‘no collusion, no obstruction.’ It would be a pattern they would follow throughout the Russia investigation and into the President’s subsequent Ukraine misconduct. To that end, House Republicans sought to use the Committee’s Russia investigation to undermine the Intelligence Community’s assessment that Russia sought to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. That assessment has been affirmed by this Committee’s Democrats, the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, and Special Counsel Mueller. “These transcripts should have been released long before now, but the White House held up their release to the public by refusing to allow the Intelligence Community to make redactions on the basis of classified information, rather than White House political interests. Only now, and during a deadly pandemic, has the President released his hold on this damning information and evidence. “Like the Ukraine investigation that would follow it, the investigation into the Trump campaign’s effort to seek and utilize Russian help in 2016 and to obstruct justice, reveal a President who believes that he is above the law. But we are a country where the truth still matters and where right still matters. Our investigation into the Trump campaign, and the evidence we uncovered despite formidable obstruction, affirms that.”	Statement on release of documents

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