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A Paul Manafort Timeline

Joe

Member
1. This is crazy. There's still a lot of unknowns left but there are dots that seem to be slowly connecting.
2. This only features events that are in any way related to Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, or Paul Manafort's methods.
3. I apologize for making another Trump thread. Trust me, I get it.
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Late 2004
Ukrainian politician, Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian loyalist of the "Party of Regions" political party, wins the Ukrainian presidential election. However, after serious concerns of fraud and public outcry, another vote is held and Yanukovych, and the Party of Regions loses.

June 2005
Paul Manafort pitches himself to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire and close Vladimir Putin confidante, with a plan to influence the politics, business dealings, and news coverage inside the USA, Europe, and former Soviet republics that will "greatly benefit" President Putin's government.

Late 2005
Paul Manafort begins executing his plan for Oleg Deripaska and begins receiving $10 million dollars annually from Deripaska.

Early 2006
The Party of Regions hire Paul Manafort.

August 2006
With Paul Manafort's help, Party of Regions wins a number of parliament seats and Viktor Yanukovych becomes Prime Minister.

2007
Party of Regions begins sending under-the-table payments to Paul Manafort.

December 19, 2007
In a court deposition, Donald Trump states ”Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment." "We will be in Moscow at some point."

February 2010
With Paul Manafort as a political adviser, Viktor Yanukovych is elected president of Ukraine. Manafort expresses concerns of voter fraud against his client before the election.

2012
Party of Regions under-the-table payments to Paul Manafort end. Nearly $13 million dollars in payments were made.

2012
Paul Manafort and an associate (who would also go on to work for the Trump campaign) help the Party of Regions secretly route over $2 million dollars into a non-profit organization. The money was used to hire Washington lobbyists that would influence US policy. They did not register as foreign agents.

2012
Dana Rohrabacher, known as "Putin's favorite congressman", has a private meeting with Russian intelligence officials in Moscow. The FBI warns Rohrabacher that Russia may be trying to recruit him as an ”agent of influence".

March 2013
Dana Rohrabacher, Republican Representative and House Foreign Affairs Committee member, receives a $2,500 from Paul Manafort and Mercury LLC, a lobbying firm acting in Ukraine's interests. Manafort and Mercury LLC were not registered as foreign agents at the time.

2013
Paul Manafort is millions of dollars in debt to Pro-Russian officials.

February 22, 2014
After nearly 4 months of extreme civil unrest and protests, Viktor Yanukovych, with the help of Vladimir Putin, flees to Russia (where he still lives in exile).

February 26, 2014
Russian forces begin annexation of Crimea, an area that is a Party of Regions stronghold.

March 25, 2014
Dana Rohrabacher, during a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on Ukraine support, defends Russia.

September 2014
Paul Manafort is hired by remnants of the Party of Regions to transform the party. Manafort renames the party "Opposition Bloc" with the intent "to gather the largest number of people opposed to the current government, you needed to avoid anything concrete, and just become a symbol of being opposed."

September 2015
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's lawyer, begins negotiations with foreign investors and Felix Sater, the Russian-born and mafia-linked long-time business partner and adviser to Donald Trump, to build a tower in Moscow, Russia.

October 28, 2015
Donald Trump signs a letter of intent to partner with Russia development company 'I.C. Expert Investment' to build the "largest tower in Russia".

November 3, 2015
Felix Sater says to Michael Cohen in an email ”Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this, I will manage this process."

December 4, 2015
Donald Trump claims to not remember Felix Sater, "Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it, I'm not that familiar with him."

February 29, 2016
Paul Manafort pitches himself to Donald Trump for a position in his campaign.

March 19, 2016
Russian hackers obtain access to John Podesta and DNC email accounts.

March 28, 2016
Donald Trump hires Paul Manafort.

April 2016
Trump campaign contacts with Russian officials begin.

April 2016
Russian intellectual property agency grants the Trump Organization 10-year trademark extensions in Russia.

April 27, 2016
Jared Kushner Meets Russian Ambassador Kislyak at the Mayflower Hotel. Kushner does not reveal this meeting until July 2017.

May 9, 2016
Paul Manafort becomes unofficial/co-chairman of Donald Trump's campaign.

June 9, 2016
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump Jr, and Jared Kushner meet officials linked to Russian government, after being promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton, to discuss The Magnitsky Act.

June 9, 2016
Paul Manafort's notes from the meeting with Russian government-linked officials reveal "RNC" and "donations" in close proximity to each other.

June 14, 2016
Dana Rohrabacher, now chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, schedules a congressional hearing that would include a mock trial against anti-Putin activist Bill Browder and a presentation of a feature-length pro-Russia propaganda film. Senior Republicans step-in to cancel the hearing.

June 15, 2016
In a private Capitol Hill GOP meeting, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says he believes that Vladimir Putin is paying Donald Trump and California GOP Representative Dana Rohrabacher. Republican Paul Ryan, House Speaker, interjects to tell his colleagues not to leak that statement.

June 17, 2016
Donald Trump declares that there is an impending release of information that will negatively affect Hillary Clinton.

June 20, 2016
Paul Manafort officially becomes Donald Trump's campaign manager.

July 2016
Felix Sater visits Trump Tower in Manhattan and the purpose of his visit was "confidential".

July 2016
US intelligence agencies intercept communications of Russian operatives discussing their efforts and conversations with Paul Manafort who was encouraging help from the Russians.

July 2016
The FBI opens an investigation into Trump campaign-Russia connections.

July 2016
Felix Sater, a Russian businessman with deep ties to Donald Trump, as well as the Russian mafia, and Russian officials, visits Trump Tower for "confidential" reasons.

July 18, 2016
Donald Trump campaign officials intervene at the Republican National Convention to remove arming the Ukrainian army in Crimea to fight Russian forces from the GOP platform.

July 22, 2016
DNC emails from Russia hack are released on WikiLeaks

July 27, 2016
Donald Trump says that Russia "probably has" Hillary Clinton's missing emails and also "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing."

July 31, 2016
Donald Trump says as President, he would consider recognizing Crimea as Russia territory.

August 14, 2016
Party of Regions secret ledger is discovered and secret payments to Paul Manafort are revealed.

August 19, 2016
Paul Manafort resigns as Donald Trump's campaign manager.

October 2016
Jared Kushner receives a $285 million dollar loan from Deutsche Bank, who at the time was under investigation for a Russian-money laundering scheme, as a refinancing deal on Manhattan property he purchased in 2015 from close Putin confidante Lev Leviev.

November 8 2016
Election day. Russian intellectual property agency grants the Trump Organization four additional 10-year trademark extensions in Russia.

November 10, 2016
Two days after the US Presidential Election, Russia's top diplomats confirm that they had maintained contacts within Trump's "immediate entourage" during the campaign.

November 25, 2016
Dana Rohrabacher declares he is being considered for Secretary of State by Donald Trump (the job goes to another friend of Russia, Rex Tillerson, two weeks later).

December 2016
Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn meet with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak to discuss establishing a secret line of communication, possibly at the Russian embassy.

December 2016
Jared Kushner has secret meeting with former spy Sergey Gorkov, now head of Russia's largest bank and Putin 'crony'.

January 10, 2017
The Steele Dossier declares a "well-developed conspiracy" between Russia and the Trump campaign managed by Paul Manafort who was using Carter Page and others as intermediaries.

January 11, 2017
Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin have a secret meeting in to establish a back-channel communication between Russia and Donald Trump.

May 9, 2017
Donald Trump fires FBI Director James Comey.

July 8, 2017
Trump Campaign and Russian officials meeting from June 2016 becomes public.

July 25, 2017
Paul Manafort meets with the Senate Intelligence Committee to answer questions and hand over his notes from the June 2016 meeting.

July 26, 2017
The FBI raids Paul Manafort's home.
 
I just got around to going through all of this and yeah, just laying it all out there really illuminates things. It really is crazy.
 

hobozero

Member
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Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Late 2004
Ukrainian politician, Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian loyalist of the "Party of Regions" political party, wins the Ukrainian presidential election. However, after serious concerns of fraud and public outcry, another vote is held and Yanukovych, and the Party of Regions loses.

Actual story:
Late 2004
Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian loyalist of the "Party of Regions" political party, is part of a Kremlin-backed campaign to assassinate his opponent, Viktor Yuschenko. Yuschenko is severely disfigured as a result of a poisoning attempt. The presidential election is held, and widespread Kremlin-backed vote fraud leads to Yanukovych being declared the winner. After sustained protest bordering on revolution, the Supreme Court overturned the election results and the subsequent fair election resulted in a victory by Yuschenko.
 

Oriel

Member
Actual story:
Late 2004
Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian loyalist of the "Party of Regions" political party, is part of a Kremlin-backed campaign to assassinate his opponent, Viktor Yuschenko. Yuschenko is severely disfigured as a result of a poisoning attempt. The presidential election is held, and widespread Kremlin-backed vote fraud leads to Yanukovych being declared the winner. After sustained protest bordering on revolution, the Supreme Court overturned the election results and the subsequent fair election resulted in a victory by Yuschenko.

An outcome Manafort and other Kremlin agents/useful idiots relentlessly characterises as a "CIA backed coup" in the Western media.
 

Joe

Member
Updated to add some Dana Rohrabacher and Jared Kushner details.

I thought I could get away with just a Paul Manafort timeline but it's impossible. The web is so, so much bigger than just one person. There is no singular path here, nearly everyone and everything is connected somehow.

I didn't even get into Roger Stone, Wikileaks, Guccifer 2.0, or Kazakh oligarchs, and I barely touched on Felix Sater.
 
June 15, 2016

In a private Capitol Hill GOP meeting, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says he believes that Vladimir Putin is paying Donald Trump and California GOP Representative Dana Rohrabacher. Republican Paul Ryan, House Speaker, interjects to tell his colleagues not to leak that statement.

And this is why you can't trust anyone in the GoP.
 
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