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Mueller reportedly interviewed the author of the Trump-Russia dossier — here's what it alleges, and how it aligned with reality

A timeline of events that unfolded during the election appears to support the FBI's investigation into Trump-Russia collusion

  • Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team interviewed the veteran British spy who compiled the explosive Trump-Russia dossier over the summer.
  • The timeline of major, game-changing events that unfolded in the final months of the election coincided with several of the dossier's allegations of conspiracy and misconduct between several Trump associates and Russia.
  • Questions remain about whether the events — such as a change in an amendemment to the GOP platform on Ukraine and the release of hacked DNC emails — were coordinated with the Russians to maximize the damaging effects on Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has interviewed the veteran British spy who wrote a cexplosive memos alleging ties between

Comparing events that unfolded during the campaign with the dossier's allegations yields some striking coincidences.

The document includes allegations of a quid-pro-quo in which Russia agreed to leak the hacked Democratic National Committee emails to WikiLeaks in exchange for the Trump campaign sidelining Russian aggression in Ukraine as a campaign issue. It also alleges that Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, managed the communication between Russia and the campaign.

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offered to give "private briefings" about the Trump campaign to a Russian oligarch and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin

At least five other Trump associatesmet with Russia's ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, in the latter half of 2016. The FBI reportedly obtained a FISA warrant to monitor Page's communications after he returned from a trip to Moscow last July. He and Flynn are named in the dossier as being complicit in the alleged collusion.

Carter Page, an early foreign policy adviser to Trump, visits Moscow, the GOP platform is changed, top Trump surrogate then-Sen. Jeff Sessions meets Russia's US ambassador Sergey Kislyak, WikiLeaks publishes hacked DNC emails, and the FBI opens its investigation into Russia's interference.

Dossier allegations

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June 20, 2016: The dossier alleges that Trump had been cultivated by Russian officials "for at least five years," that the Kremlin had compromising material related to "sexually perverted acts" Trump performed at a Moscow Ritz Carlton, and that Trump's inner circle was accepting a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin on Hillary Clinton.

The flow of intelligence is being facilitated by

Actual events

June 9, 2016: Donald Trump Jr. hosts Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin at Trump Tower after being promised compromising information about Hillary Clinton. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort attend the meeting. Manafort takes notes that reportedly reference donations and the Republican National Committee.

July 7, 2016: Page, who s" target="_blank"on key transactions"travels to Moscow to speak at the New Economic School. There, he gives a speech that is heavily critical of US foreign policy. He stays in Russia for approximately three days.

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Dossier allegations

July 19, 2016: A Russian source close to Igor Sechin, the president of Russia's state-owned oil company Rosneft, "confided the details of a recent secret meeting" between Sechin and Trump campaign adviser Carter Page while Page was in Moscow in early July.

Sechin "raised with Page the issues of future bilateral energy cooperation and prospects for an associated move to lift Ukraine-related western sanctions against Russia."

Actual events

July 7, 2016: Manafort writes his longtime employee, Russian-Ukrainian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, asking him to offer "private briefings" about the campaign to a Russian oligarch and Putin ally.

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July 11, 2016: GOP platform week kicks off, one week before the start of the Republican National Convention. An amendment to the Republican Party's draft policy on Ukraine proposing that the GOP commit to sending "lethal weapons" to the Ukrainian army to fend off Russian aggression is softened to "provide appropriate assistance."

Dossier allegations

The Trump campaign "agreed to sideline Russian intervention in Ukraine as a campaign issue" in return for

Actual events

July 27, 2016: Trump holds a press conference in which he asks Russian hackers to "find the 30,000 [Hillary Clinton] emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” His campaign later said he was joking.

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July 31, 2016: Sessions, who said in 2015 that the west has to "unify against Russia," goes on CNN and characterizes US relationship with Russia as a "cycle of hostility" that needs to be resolved.

Paul Manafort resigns amid negative press about his work in Ukraine, and Roger Stone — a top Trump confidant and early campaign adviser — that Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, will "soon" be targeted.

Dossier allegations

July 31, 2016: Steele writes that the Kremlin has more intelligence on Clinton and her campaign but doesn't know when it will be released.

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August 5, 2016: The

Actual events

August 5, 2016: Roger Stone writes in Breitbart that "a hacker who goes by the name of Guccifer 2.0," and not the Russians, hacked into the DNC and fed the documents to WikiLeaks.

August 12, 2016: "Guccifer 2.0" releases files purportedly stolen in a cyberattack on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Guccifer 2.0's Twitter account is briefly suspended. When it is reinstated, Roger Stone begins a private Twitter conversation with the alleged hacker. the product of a Russian disinformation campaign

August 15, 2016: Sergei Ivanov, tis unexpectedly fired by Putin.

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Dossier allegations

August 10, 2016: Steele writes that a "Kremlin official involved in US relations" commented in early August that the Kremlin had been trying to build sympathy for Russia in the US by funding several political figures' trips to Moscow, including Michael Flynn and Carter Page. The trips were "successful in terms of perceived outcomes," the official said.

August 15, 2016: Ousted Ukrainian president Viktor

Actual events

August 19, 2016: Manafort resigns as Trump's campaign manager after denying that he ever collected any payments that had been earmarked for him in Ukraine.

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August 21, 2016: Roger Stone tweets a prediction about Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. “Trust me, it will soon the [sic] Podesta's time in the barrel. #CrookedHillary”

Trump says he'll "take" Putin's "compliments," Sessions meets privately with Kislyak, and Carter Page takes a "leave of absence."

Dossier allegations

September 14, 2016: A Kremlin official "confirms from direct knowledge" that Russia's US ambassador Sergey Kislyak had been aware of the Kremlin's interference in the US election, and had "urged caution and the potential negative impact on Russia from the operation/s."

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The official says the Kremlin has further kompromat on Clinton that it plans to release via "plausibly deniable" channels — aka WikiLeaks — after Russia's mid-September legislative elections. But a growing train of thought inside the Kremlin is that Russia could still make Clinton look "weak" and "stupid" without needing to release more of her emails. It's decided that Putin himself will have final say over whether further Clinton kompromat is disseminated.

Steele writes another dispatch dated September 14, 2016, detailing the relationship between Putin and Russian oligarchs who control Russia's Alfa Bank.

Actual events

September 7, 2016: NBC's Matt Lauer confronts Trump about his praise of Putin. Trump replies, "

September 8, 2016: Sessions and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak meet privately in Sessions' office. An administration official tells NBC in early March — when news of the meeting breaks — that "election-related news" was likely discussed.

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September 26, 2016: Page takes a "leave of absence" from the Trump campaign after a Yahoo News report alleges that Igor Sechin offered him the brokerage of a 19% stake in Rosneft.

Roger Stone's tweets foreshadow WikiLeaks' release of John Podesta emails, Obama publicly accuses Russia of hacking Democrats, and the FBI examines computer server activity between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank.

Dossier allegations

October 12, 2016:

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"buyer's remorse set in" as Podesta's emails proved less damaging to the Clinton campaign than Russia had expected. Russians injected further anti-Clinton material into WikiLeaks pipeline "which will continue to surface, but best material already in the public domain."

Actual events

October 1, 2016: Roger Stone tweets that

@wikileaks and my hero Julian Assange will educate the American people soon #LockHerUp."

October 5, 2016: Stone tweets

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A Russian oligarch while Trump is there campaigning, Trump wins the election, Rosneft signs a massive deal, travels to Moscow again, Obama issues new sanctions over Russian hacking, and Trump's lawyer for Ukraine.

Actual events

November 3, 2016: R

November 8, 2016: Donald Trump wins a dramatic and unexpected victory in the presidential election.

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Early December, 2016:

December 7, 2016: Rosneft s

December 29, 2016: Obama i

December 30, 2016: Putin announces, unexpectedly and out of character, that Russia will not retaliate against the US for the new sanctions. Says he will

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