Key events
2006: Paul Manafort and Rick Gates begin work as consultants for the Party of Regions, a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine led by Victor Yanukovych, the country’s former prime minister. February 2010: Yanukovych is elected president of Ukraine. February 2014: Yanukovych flees Ukraine and enters exile in Russia. The US government later opens investigation into Manafort’s foreign lobbying and political work. September 2015: The FBI contacts the Democratic National Committee’s IT help desk, cautioning that at least one of its computers has been compromised by Russian hackers. March 2016: Manafort joins Trump campaign as a volunteer consultant. George Papadopoulos is named one of five foreign policy advisers to the Trump campaign.
April 2016: Papadopoulos meets with Russian national who he says offered “dirt” on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, including thousands of emails. Democratic National Committee becomes aware of the scope of the months-long intrusion into its email systems by hackers US intelligence agencies later linked to the Russian government.
May 2016: Manafort promoted to campaign chairman and chief strategist, taking command of the Trump campaign.
June 2016: Manafort attends meeting at Trump Tower in New York with Russian lawyer named Natalia Veselnitskaya, who promised to provide the Trump campaign damaging information about Clinton.
July 2016: Trump becomes the Republican nominee for president at the party’s convention in Cleveland, Ohio. In speech the following week, Trump encourages Russians to release hacked Clinton emails. FBI opens investigation into Russian government’s attempt to influence the election, including whether members of Trump’s campaign are involved.
August 2016: Manafort resigns from Trump campaign the day after The Associated Press reports he failed to register as a foreign agent after arranging a covert lobbying campaign in the United States on behalf of the Ukrainian Party of Regions.
November 2016: Trump wins presidential election.
January 2017: FBI Director James Comey briefs Trump on contents of unverified dossier that contains salacious allegations about him and his campaign. Trump inaugurated as 45th President of the United States. Papadopoulos interviewed by the FBI about his contacts with Russians.
May 2017: Trump fires Comey. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is appointed as special counsel to take over the probe.
July 2017: FBI agents conducted a raid at Manafort’s home. Papadopoulos arrested by FBI.
August 2017: Mueller impanels criminal grand jury in Washington, D.C.
October 2017: Papadopoulos pleads guilty to making false statements to the FBI, as part of apparent agreement to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. Mueller files 12 count criminal indictments against Manafort and Gates.