This is a timeline of major events in the second half of 2017 related to the investigations into links between Trump associates and Russian officials relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8, the post-election transition, and the first half of 2017. The investigations continued in the first and second halves of 2018, the first and second halves of 2019, 2020, and 2021.
January–June 2017
July–December 2017 July July: Nunes staffers Kash Patel and Doug Presly travel to London and try to contact Steele without informing the U.S. Embassy or the British government of their trip. They find Steele at his lawyer's office, but the lawyer refuses to let them meet with Steele.Multiple sources:
On CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, Whitaker, whom Trump will appoint acting AG in November 2018, says, "So I could see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced with a recess appointment, and that attorney general doesn't fire Bob Mueller, but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt." Early July: In response to queries from Politico about assertions made by Peter W. Smith in November 2016, WikiLeaks denies it has been in possession of Clinton's deleted 30,000 emails since February 2016. WikiLeaks also declines to say whether Smith was in contact with the group. Trump asks White House staff secretary Rob Porter to find out whether Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand would be interested in taking over responsibility for the Mueller investigation and eventually replacing Sessions as Attorney General. Porter ignores Trump's request because he is concerned about the implications of being involved in ending the investigation or firing Mueller. July 7: During a two-hour meeting with Trump at the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit, Putin denies interfering in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump conducts a second meeting with Putin some hours later, with no U.S. aides. The second meeting is undisclosed by the White House until July 18, following news reports.Multiple sources:
Trump takes his translator's notes and orders the translator not to discuss the meeting with other administration officials. Concerns about violations of the Presidential Records Act are later raised. Hicks and White House communications advisor Josh Raffel learn that The New York Times is working on a story about the Trump Tower meeting. July 8: Returning from Germany aboard Air Force One, Trump preemptively dictates a misleading statement on behalf of Trump Jr., claiming that the Veselnitskaya meeting on June 9, 2016 concerned child adoption. Without permission from Trump, Trump's legal team spokesman Mark Corallo works with Circa News to publish a story about the Trump Tower meeting that casts it as possibly being part of "a broader election opposition effort to smear [Trump] by creating the impression he and his family had extensive ties to Russia as the Kremlin was interfering in the 2016 election." July 9: The New York Times first reports that Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort met Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016. In response to the report, Goldstone sends Emin Agalarov a text message stating that he kept Emin's father out of the story, and warns that it could blow up. The Circa News story is published an hour later. Trump and Hicks chastise Corallo for his participation in the Circa News story. President Trump says he and Putin "discussed forming an impenetrable cyber security unit so that election hacking, and many other negative things, will be guarded and safe." Trump later says he does not think this will happen. July 10 Trump, Hicks, and Corallo have a conference call to discuss the handling of the Veselnitskaya meeting revelations. Corallo says the statement drafted on Air Force One will backfire because the original emails will eventually come out. Hicks responds the emails "will never get out." Corallo resigns shortly thereafter, reportedly due to concerns over possible obstruction of justice. Trump Organization lawyers email Rob Goldstone and two others a prepared statement drafted in Goldstone's name to use as a response to inquires about the Trump Tower meeting. The statement supports Trump Jr.'s account of the meeting. Goldstone responds with his own version of the statement that says he was acting on behalf of Emin Agalarov and that the meeting was about DNC funding from Russia, but never uses either statement. Of the Trump Tower meeting, Whitaker says, "But if you have somebody that you trust that is saying you need to meet with this individual because they have information about your opponent, you would take that meeting. There is no suggestion that at the time Donald Trump Jr. knew..." The Senate Intelligence Committee interviews Steele associate and attorney Jonathan Winer for the first time. July 10–18: Further details about the Veselnitskaya meeting emerge in the press.Multiple sources:
Sekulow repeatedly denies that Trump was involved in drafting Trump Jr's statement. July 11: Trump Jr. tweets his emails about the Trump Tower meeting before The New York Times publishes them minutes later. The Senate Intelligence Committee interviews Jonathan Finer. July 12: Former DNC staffer Scott Comer and Democratic Party donors Roy Cockrum and Eric Schoenberg file an invasion of privacy lawsuit against the Trump campaign and Stone for conspiring with WikiLeaks to release stolen Democratic emails and files. Articles of Impeachment against President Trump are formally filed in the House of Representatives. Speaking on Fox News, Pence's spokesman Marc Lotter repeatedly refuses to clarify whether or not Pence met with Russian representatives. Rohrabacher removes a photo of himself and Nigel Farage from Facebook after a journalist posts it on Twitter. CNN reports that multiple DNC officials and former Clinton campaign officials deny working with Ukraine to find dirt on Trump and his associates. DNC research director Lauren Dillon says, "I've been director of research at the DNC for four years and had zero contact with foreign governments." The denials are in response to claims by White House officials that Alexandra Chalupa worked with the Ukrainian embassy to smear Manafort. Mueller's team interviews translator Anatoli Samochornov for the first of two times. Mueller's team interviews security expert Eric York for the first of three times. Mueller's team interviews Rogers. Mueller's team interviews Pompeo. July 13: Mueller's team interviews Samochornov for the second of two times. Mueller's team interviews security expert Eric York for the second of three times. July 14: Brad Parscale, the digital media director of Trump's campaign, issues a statement stating "I am unaware of any Russian involvement in the digital and data operation of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign" after accepting an invitation to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. The Senate Intelligence Committee interviews Gordon. July 17: Mueller's team interviews former Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord. The Senate Intelligence Committee interviews Clapper.
July 18: Mueller obtains a search warrant for Michael Cohen's Gmail account. The Senate Intelligence Committee interviews former White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. The Senate Intelligence Committee interviews a panel of intelligence analysts. July 19: The New York Times reports on offshore transactions and shell companies linked to Manafort's work in Ukraine and investments with a Russian oligarch. The New York Times reports on sources claiming that Deutsche Bank is cooperating with federal investigators about Trump accounts. Trump follows up with Lewandowski about the June 19 public statement he dictated for Sessions to read. Trump tells Lewandowski to inform Sessions that he will be fired if he doesn't meet with Lewandowski. After the meeting, Lewandowski passes the statement to Dearborn and asks him to deliver it to Sessions. Feeling uncomfortable about being the messenger, Dearborn ignores the request and does not deliver the message. Trump, in an unscheduled interview with The New York Times, blasts Sessions for recusing himself without telling Trump in advance of his nomination to be Attorney General. Trump then threatens Mueller's job if the investigation expands to his personal finances. He tells the Times that he "didn't know about the [Trump Tower] meeting" at the time and adds, "As I've said—most other people, you know, when they call up and say, 'By the way, we have information on your opponent,' I think most politicians—I was just with a lot of people, they said, ... 'Who wouldn't have taken a meeting like that?'" Hicks repeatedly tries to stop the interview to no avail. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says it has never certified Kaspersky Lab's security software, an admission that comes just a week after the Trump administration booted the firm from two of its approved suppliers lists.
July 20: Bloomberg News reports that Mueller is investigating Trump's business transactions. The Washington Post reports Trump is asking his attorneys about his ability to pardon himself and other key aides and family members. Paul Behrends is removed from his position as staff director for a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee chaired by Rohrabacher. The move comes after news reports about Behrends's and Rohrbacher's trip to Moscow in April 2016. Senator Chuck Grassley sends the Justice Department a letter calling for an investigation into alleged coordination between Chalupa and the Ukrainian government to interfere in the 2016 election. He cites the January 11 Politico report on alleged Ukrainian interference as evidence. Mueller's team interviews Yates's top deputy Matthew S. Axelrod. July 21: The Washington Post reports Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Kislyak. The Senate Judiciary Committee requests all communications between Trump Jr. and a group of people, including Jill Stein. She publicly describes the notion that she communicated with Trump Jr. as "an obvious smear designed to generate a fake news feeding frenzy". John M. Dowd replaces Marc Kasowitz at the head of Trump's legal team, following personal threats made by Kasowitz. Legal spokesman Mark Corallo resigns. Michael Wolff later reports that Corallo had been instructed not to speak to the press or to answer his telephone, and that he privately stated his belief that the Air Force One meeting on July 8, 2017, represented likely obstruction of justice. A complaint is filed against Representative Dana Rohrabacher with the Office of Foreign Assets Control alleging violations of Magnitsky Act sanctions. In April 2016, Rohrabacher received a document directly from Russian Deputy Prosecutor Viktor Grin, an individual under sanctions, and used it in attempts to weaken the Magnitsky Act. The allegation is that the work Rohrabacher performed was a "service" provided to Grin in violation of the sanctions against Grin. Priebus calls Hunt in the evening to discuss whether Sessions will be fired or resign in the wake of The Washington Post article. Hunt tells him that Sessions has no intentions of resigning. She points out that Trump will still be under investigation without Sessions. The Senate Intelligence Committee interviews Susan Rice. July 22: Trump asserts "complete power" to pardon anyone in relation to the Russia investigation.