[Note: This summary is very out of date; the timeline, however, is updated regularly]

There are currently four active investigations into Russia’s interference into the 2016 and the Trump campaign’s potential involvement: FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the House Intelligence Committee. There are three main components to Trump/Russia: Russia's use of social media, the hacking of the DNC and John Podesta's emails, and the Trump campaign’s potential collusion with Russia.

Executive Summary:

Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about conversations with the Russian ambassador last December during the presidential transition, bringing the special counsel’s investigation into the president’s inner circle. Former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his deputy have been charged with a 12 count indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller, which includes money laundering and conspiracy against the US. Both pled not guilty and are currently under house arrest. A former foreign policy advisor to Trump was arrested in July for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign. He has pled guilty, confirming his contacts with Russia in doing so, and has been “proactively cooperating” with the special counsel investigations. This hits closest to the heart of the collusion component. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation has gone its partisan ways and will be pursued separately by Republicans and Democrats on the committee. The committee’s focus has been obstruction of justice in relation to possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia, as it has oversight of the FBI. 126 million. This is the latest estimate of how many users were potentially reached by Russia’s disinformation and social media war. Facebook, Twitter, and Google have been cooperating with Congress and the special counsel, as well as working to implement safeguards for 2018 and beyond.

Robert Mueller submitted his full report on Trump and Russia to the attorney general. The Justice Department notified Congress that it had received Mueller's report, but did not describe its contents. William Barr is expected to summarize the findings for lawmakers in the coming days, deciding how much of the report to share with Congress. White House lawyers are prepared to argue some material is protected by executive privilege, especially if the report discusses whether Trump's interactions with his aides or legal advisers are evidence of obstruction of justice. Mueller's work has led to criminal charges against 34 people, including six former Trump associates and advisers. Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, and George Papadopoulos all pleaded guilty. Roger Stone was indicted in January and accused of lying to Congress, but has pleaded not guilty. More than 24 people charged by Mueller are Russians. No Americans charged by Mueller have been accused of conspiring with Russia to interfere in the election. No further indictments are expected. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / USA Today / CNBC)

📌 Day 798: The Trump administration ignored the House Judiciary request for documents. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler had set a Monday deadline asking for documents related the firing of James Comey, internal discussions about the decision of Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia probe, details about any talks to dismiss, as well as records about payments Trump made as part of a hush-money scheme to keep his alleged extramarital affairs from going public. (CNN / Politico)

poll/ 62% of Americans have confidence in the fairness of Mueller's investigation – with 33% very confident. 37%, however, are not very or not at all confident in a fair investigation. 63% are concerned about the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia. (Associated Press)

poll/ 48% of Americans approve of Mueller's handling of the investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election in 2016, while 37% disapprove. 56% say they consider Russia's efforts to influence the election a serious matter that should be fully investigated, while 38% consider an effort to discredit Trump's presidency. (CNN)

The prosecutor who handled Michael Flynn's guilty plea has left the special counsel's office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zainab Ahmad is the third senior member of Mueller's team confirmed to leave the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts but hasn’t yet been sentenced. (Politico)

The Trump administration, however, ignored the House Judiciary request for documents. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler had set a Monday deadline asking for documents related the firing of James Comey, internal discussions about the decision of Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia probe, details about any talks to dismiss, as well as records about payments Trump made as part of a hush-money scheme to keep his alleged extramarital affairs from going public. (CNN / Politico)

Trump attacked the late John McCain on Twitter for his involvement in sharing the dossier allegedly linking Trump to the Russian government. After the 2016 election, McCain turned the Steele dossier over to the FBI, which Trump called "unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain." Trump incorrectly claimed that McCain had "sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election." He continued to complain about that longtime Republican lawmaker, who died last year, "had far worse 'stains'" than the dossier, "including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace!" Trump's statements about McCain were actually quotes from Ken Starr, who recently appeared on Fox News. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)

poll/ 52% of Americans have little or no trust in Trump's denials that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. 28%, meanwhile, say they have a lot of trust in Robert Mueller's investigation to be fair and accurate. 50% agree that Trump is the victim of a "witch hunt" while 47% disagree. (USA Today)

Trump pulled Rudy Giuliani from doing TV interviews after the lawyer claimed the Trump Tower Moscow talks may have lasted up until November 2016. The Sunday, January 20th appearance was Giuliani's last – other than a March 8 comment, where he said Paul Manafort's short jail sentence was fair. (Axios)

The House voted 420-0 for the public release of Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired then-director of the FBI James Comey. While the resolution is non-binding and the House cannot force the Justice Department to take an action, the move is an attempt to "send a clear signal both to the American people and the Department of Justice" that lawmakers expect to see the full account of Mueller's work. The resolution will also put pressure on Attorney General William Barr, who did not commit to making Mueller's findings public during his Senate confirmation hearings. The Senate, however, is unlikely to take up a similar measure. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News)

Adam Schiff suggested that Russians may have laundered money through the Trump Organization. While House Intelligence Committee is investigating the matter, Schiff said the committee is primarily concerned with whether or not Trump is "compromised by a foreign power." (Newsweek)

Michael Flynn has completed his cooperation agreement with the special counsel's Russia investigation, according to Robert Mueller. Flynn's lawyers, however, asked for a 90-day delay in sentencing because "there may be additional cooperation" with another federal probe: his former business partner's upcoming trial in Alexandria, Va. Flynn is expected to testify in the mid-July trial against Bijan Rafiekian, who faces charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign government agent for Turkey. (Politico / Associated Press / Reuters / CNN)

Mike Pompeo accused Cuba and Russia of propping up Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro. Pompeo's statements came after the Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on a Russia-based bank that it accused of helping Maduro's government circumvent earlier American financial penalties. (New York Times)

Trump twisted Judge T. S. Ellis's remarks made while sentencing Manafort to falsely claim "there was no collusion with Russia." Judge Ellis said that Manafort was "not before this court for anything having to do with collusion with the Russian government to influence this election," because Manafort was not charged with or convicted of any crimes of collusion. Trump said that he was "very honored" by Judge Ellis's statement and that he feels "very badly" for Manafort after receiving his lenient sentence. (New York Times / Daily Beast)

Michael Cohen provided documents to the House Intelligence Committee showing edits to the 2017 false written statement he delivered to Congress about the Trump Organization's continued pursuit of the Trump Tower Moscow project during the 2016 campaign. It was Cohen's fourth appearance before Congress since last week. (CNN / ABC News / Washington Post)

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff hired a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York to lead the committee's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. Daniel Goldman has experience fighting Russian organized crime, and has served as the district's deputy chief of the organized crime unit and oversaw prosecutions into traditional organized crime, international organized crime and white collar crime. (Axios / New Yorker)

Robert Mueller notified a federal judge about Roger Stone's Instagram post that could be a violation of the judge's gag order. Mueller did not take a position on the post when notifying Judge Amy Berman of Stone's social media post suggesting that he'd been "framed" by the special counsel and ahead of the re-release of a book he co-wrote that explores the "myth of Russian collusion." If Jackson finds that Stone violated his gag order, she could have him jailed without bail pending his trial on charges of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing justice. (CNBC / Politico)

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff says there is "direct evidence" of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Schiff said the evidence can be found "in the emails from the Russians through their intermediary offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of what is described in writing as the Russian government effort to help elect Donald Trump." Schiff says the Russians offered dirt on Clinton and that "[t]here is an acceptance of that offer in writing from the president’s son, Don Jr., and there is overt acts and furtherance of that." (Fox News / CBS News)

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said lawmakers found "enormous amounts of evidence" that Trump colluded with the Russians during the 2016 campaign. Sen. Mark Warner said there is "no one that could factually say there's not plenty of evidence of collaboration or communications between Trump Organization and Russians." (Politico / Fox News)

poll/ 41% of voters say they would vote to re-elect Trump in 2020 while 48% say they would probably vote for the Democratic candidate. 58% don't think Trump's been honest and truthful regarding the Russia probe, and 60% disapprove of his recent national emergency declaration to build a border wall. (NBC News)

Roger Stone suggested he has been "framed" by Robert Mueller in an Instagram post, possibly violating the gag order barring him from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him. Stone published the post less than 48 hours after Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered his lawyers to explain why they didn't tell her about the planned publication of a book by Stone that could violate her gag order on him. On Feb. 15, Stone said on Instagram that his book, "The Myth of Russian Collusion: The Inside Story of How Trump Really Won," would be published March 1. Digital versions of the book have been on sale since Feb. 19, however. (CNBC / Washington Post)

Michael Cohen and Felix Sater will both testify before the House Intelligence Committee on March 14 to testify about Trump's effort to build a skyscraper in Russia. Cohen interviewed with the House Intelligence Committee for more than seven hours yesterday. Sater is a Russian-born Trump Organization executive who worked on the Trump Tower Moscow project with Cohen. (CNN / Associated Press)

The House Oversight Committee will seek to interview Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Weisselberg. Michael Cohen indicated to Congress that all three were involved in hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, and that Trump Jr. and Weisselberg signed one of the $35,000 checks reimbursing him for the payment. Cohen also said that he briefed Trump Jr. and Ivanka about Trump Tower Moscow approximately 10 times, though Trump Jr. testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2017 that he was only "peripherally aware" of the project. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Axios)

Robert Mueller corrected part of a previous allegation that Paul Manafort lied about his contacts with his Russian business associate, Konstantin Kilimnik. Mueller cited new evidence obtained less than two weeks ago from Trump's former deputy campaign manager, Rick Gates, which appears to suggest that Mueller made a mistake with one of his accusations against Manafort. Mueller's recently revised court filing says the revision should not change the ruling by Judge Amy Berman Jackson that Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik because they have presented enough additional evidence to support the underlying allegation. (New York Times)

📌 Day 678: Trump told Robert Mueller that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks and that he was not told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., campaign officials, and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Trump added a caveat that his responses were to the best of his recollection. For comparison, Trump also does not “remember much” from the meeting with George Papadopoulos, where Papadopoulos offered to arrange a meeting with Putin. Trump, however, has previously claimed to have “one of the great memories of all time,” using it as justification for not using notes during his meeting with Kim Jong Un, and blaming Sgt. La David Johnson’s widow when he stumbled over the solider’s name during a condolence call. (CNN)

Cohen said he doesn't "know of direct evidence" that "Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia" during the 2016 election, "but I have my suspicions." Cohen said that he was in the room with Trump, "probably in early June 2016," when Trump Jr. "came into the room and walked behind his father's desk," leaned over "to his father and speaking in a low voice, which I could clearly hear, and saying: 'The meeting is all set.' I remember Mr. Trump saying, 'Ok good…let me know.'" Cohen added that "Trump had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world." (Daily Beast)

📌 Day 172: Donald Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer to acquire damaging information about Hillary Clinton in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City. On Saturday, Trump Jr. said the meeting was about the issue of US adoptions of Russian children and not the campaign. However, in March, Trump Jr. said he never met with any Russians while working in a campaign capacity. The meeting – attended by Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner – was disclosed when Kushner filed a revised form in order to obtain a security clearance. Manafort also recently disclosed the meeting, and Trump Jr.’s role in organizing it, to congressional investigators looking into his foreign contacts. (New York Times / Washington Post)

📌 Day 544: Michael Cohen says Trump knew in advance about Trump Jr.'s meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Cohen doesn't have evidence to back up his claim, but he is reportedly willing to make the assertion as part of his testimony to Robert Mueller. Cohen claims that he, along with several others, were in the room when Trump Jr. told Trump about the Russian's offer. According to Cohen, Trump approved the meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Cohen's claim contradicts Trump, Trump Jr., their lawyers, and administration officials who have repeatedly said Trump didn't know about the meeting until he was asked about it in July 2017. Trump's response at the time was: "No. That I didn't know. Until a couple of days ago, when I heard about this. No I didn't know about that." A few days later, Trump was again asked whether he knew about the meeting. His response: "No, I didn't know anything about the meeting…. must have been a very unimportant meeting, because I never even heard about it … nobody told me."(CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)

📌 Day 554: Trump tweeted that he "did NOT know" in advance about Trump Jr.'s Trump Tower meeting , disputing Michael Cohen's assertion that he did and accusing him of "trying to make up stories." Cohen said he's willing to testify that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the 2016 meeting in Trump Tower. In July 2017, it was reported that Trump personally dictated Trump Jr.'s statement about the latter's meeting with the Russian lawyer, claiming they had "primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children." (Washington Post / CNN)

📌 Day 707: Michael Cohen's cell phone was briefly activated near Prague around time of the Russia meeting described in the Steele dossier, which purports that Cohen and one or more Kremlin officials met in or around the Czech capital to plot ways to limit discovery of the close "liaison" between the Trump campaign and Russia. Additionally, around the same period of late August or early September 2016, electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up Russians remarking that Cohen was in Prague. The cell phone and eavesdropping evidence was shared with Robert Mueller. (McClatchy DC)

📌Day 450: Robert Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen made a secret trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, entering through Germany in "August or early September." Confirmation of the trip corroborates part of the Christopher Steele dossier that Cohen met with an ally of Putin. Cohen has denied that he has ever been in Prague and that he colluded with Russia during the campaign. (McClatchy DC)

Cohen is expected to publicly accuse and present documents that implicate Trump of "criminal conduct" while in office during public testimony before the House Oversight Committee tomorrow. Cohen will reportedly provide lawmakers with information about Trump's financial statements, including documentation of his reimbursement for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Cohen plans to share who signed the $35,000 monthly checks he received as reimbursement for his hush-money payments to Daniels. Cohen is also expected to detail how long Trump remained involved in discussions regarding a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, as well as to detail his "behind-the-scenes" experience of working for Trump for over a decade. Cohen testified behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, where he apologized for the lies he told during his 2017 testimony. (CNN / Axios / Daily Beast / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Reuters)

U.S. Cyber Command "basically took the IRA offline" during the 2018 midterms. The Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll factory in St. Petersburg and underwritten by an oligarch close to Putin, was part of the cyber campaign to "influence" the 2016 election and undermine faith in U.S. democracy. (Washington Post)

House Democrats are planning to investigate Trump's personal finances to discover why Deutsche Bank was willing to lend to the Trump Organization when other banks wouldn't, and whether Russia was involved. (Politico)

Michael Cohen will be questioned by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Cohen will not be questioned about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election or about possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, but he is expected to be questioned about Trump's "debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election" and his "compliance with campaign finance laws." (Washington Post / NBC News)

Russian state television aired a list of U.S. military facilities that Moscow would target in the event of a nuclear war and noted that Russia is developing hypersonic missiles that would be able to hit those targets in less than five minutes. The targets include the Pentagon and the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. The unusually aggressive broadcast comes just days after Putin said Russia was ready for a "Cuban Missile"-style standoff with the United States if Washington deploys intermediate-range nuclear missiles in western Europe. (Reuters)

Robert Mueller's sentencing memorandum is due to today before midnight in the prosecution of Paul Manafort. In filings like these, prosecutors typically outline all of the defendant's crimes, convictions, and their cooperation, which could also shed more light on how Manafort fits into Mueller's larger Russian investigation. [Editor's note: I've basically been waiting all day for this to drop. I'll update the blog when this is filed to reflect the latest.] (CNN / Associated Press)

Mueller is not expected deliver a final report to the attorney general next week after all. It was previously reported that William Barr was preparing to announce the completion of the investigation into any links between Trump and Russia as soon as next week. Separately, the chairs of six House committees wrote Barr a letter suggesting that withholding evidence uncovered by Mueller could be the means for a "cover-up." 34 individuals and three companies so far have pleaded guilty, been indicted or been swept up in the inquiry. (CNBC / CNN / Reuters)

Sarah Sanders is confident that Mueller's report will not show collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, claiming that Trump had no reason to collude because he was an "infinitely better" candidate. (Washington Post)

Senate investigators want to question a Moscow-based American businessman with deep ties to Trump after witnesses told lawmakers that the man could provide information about Trump's commercial and personal activities in Russia dating all the way back to the 1990s. The Senate Intelligence Committee has been interested in speaking with David Geovanis for several months. Geovanis helped organize a 1996 trip to Moscow for Trump while he was in the early stages of pursuing what would become his long-held goal of building a Trump Tower in Russia's capital city. Years later, Geovanis worked for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. (CNN)

The Justice Department will potentially announce the completion of Robert Mueller's Russia investigation as early as next week. When that happens, Attorney General Bill Barr will likely submit a summary of Mueller's confidential report to Congress. Mueller is required to submit a "confidential" report to the attorney general, which is not required to be shared with Congress or the public. Barr suggested during his confirmation hearing last month that the report might not become public, and has made clear that the Justice Department generally guards against publicizing "derogatory" information about uncharged individuals. Trump, meanwhile, will travel overseas next week for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Justice officials don't want to interfere with the White House's diplomatic efforts. Trump said "totally up to Bill Barr" as to whether Mueller's report comes out while he is overseas. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)

The FBI developed a backup plan to protect evidence in its Russia investigation after James Comey was fired in the event that other senior officials were also dismissed. (Associated Press)

Putin said he would respond to any deployment of new intermediate-range missiles placed in Europe by targeting the U.S. with Russia's own new field weapons that could reach U.S. decision-making centers. During his annual address to parliament, Putin said the U.S. has the right to think they can place missiles anywhere they want, "but can they count?" he asked. "I'm sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing." Putin added that Russia is not looking for confrontation and would not take the first steps toward deploying missiles in the wake of Trump's decision to pull out of a landmark Cold War-era arms treaty. (CNBC / NBC News / Daily Beast)

Trump has publicly criticized the Russia investigation nearly 1,200 times. (New York Times)

Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe briefed congressional leaders in 2017 about the counterintelligence investigation he opened into Trump and that "no one objected," including Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. McCabe ordered the obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May of 2017, which made McCabe acting director of the bureau at the time. The FBI wanted to know whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests. "The purpose of the briefing was to let our congressional leadership know exactly what we'd been doing," McCabe said, and that nobody raised concerns, "not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds, and not based on the facts." Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also attended the meeting, which is when the appointment of a special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation was first announced. Eight days after Comey was fired, Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller. (NBC News / CNBC / Politico / Daily Beast / The Atlantic / CBS News)

McCabe: Trump is unwilling to accept intelligence on North Korea given to him by U.S. officials, telling them, "I don't care, I believe Putin." Trump said he didn't believe that North Korea has missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland because Putin told him the missiles didn't exist. (The Hill / 60 Minutes)

House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff said there is "evidence in plain sight" of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. Schiff rejected the conclusions of Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Burr, who said no such evidence exists. "You can see evidence in plain sight on the issue of collusion, pretty compelling evidence," Schiff said. "There is a difference between seeing evidence of collusion and being able to prove a criminal conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt." (Politico)

Maria Butina, a self-confessed Russian agent, "manipulated" a Russian spy agency when arranging the NRA's trip to Moscow, according to her boyfriend, Paul Erickson. In a Nov. 25, 2015, email sent to then-incoming NRA President Pete Brownell, Erickson wrote that "most of the FSB agents 'assigned' to her want to marry her," which is how she arranged a tour of a Russian arms factory for the NRA delegation. (Daily Beast)

A federal judge ruled that Paul Manafort violated the terms of his cooperation deal by repeatedly lying to Robert Mueller and a grand jury about "his interactions and communications with [Konstantin] Kilimnik," a longtime aide who the FBI assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence. Judge Amy Berman Jackson found that Manafort also intentionally lied about $125,000 he received for legal bills and about another unnamed Justice Department criminal investigation. Manafort will not be able to retract his guilty plea, but he will still be required to hold up his end of the plea deal. The ruling does free Mueller's office from having to comply with the obligations in Manafort's cooperation agreement, notably offering Manafort a reduced sentence for his cooperation. The breach of the cooperation deal after his guilty plea could add years to Manafort's prison sentence, having been convicted last year of eight felonies, including tax and bank fraud. Manafort later pleaded guilty to two additional conspiracy counts. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Vox / Wall Street Journal)

The Senate confirmed William Barr as attorney general, putting him in command of the Justice Department and its ongoing investigation into links between Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign. Last year, Barr sent a 19-page, unsolicited memo to the Justice Department and Trump's lawyers, arguing that Trump has the power to "start or stop a law enforcement proceeding," and therefore he could prevent Mueller from investigating whether Trump committed obstruction of justice when he pressured James Comey to drop an investigation into Michael Flynn. Barr previously served as George H.W. Bush's attorney general in the 1990s. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)

The former deputy F.B.I. director said Justice Department officials discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office after Trump fired Comey – his former boss – in May 2017. Andrew McCabe ordered the team investigating Russia's election interference to look into whether Trump had obstructed justice by firing Comey, and examine whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests. McCabe's order came two days after Comey was fired in order "to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion" so the investigation "could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace". McCabe was fired last March and stripped of his pension days before his planned retirement, because he "lacked candor." (CBS News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)

📌 Day 110: Trump fired James Comey on the recommendation of Jeff Sessions. In a letter dated Tuesday to Comey, Trump concurred "with the judgment of the Department of Justice that [Comey is not] able to effectively lead the bureau." Earlier, the FBI notified Congress that Comey misstated key findings involving the Clinton email investigation during testimony, saying that only a "small number" of emails had been forwarded to disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner, not the "hundreds and thousands" he’d claimed in his testimony. The move sweeps away the man who is responsible for the investigation into whether members of Trump's campaign team colluded with Russia in its interference in last year's election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein laid out the reasons for Comey's firing, arguing that the handling of his investigation into Clinton's private server, his decision not to recommend charges be filed, and the news conference he held to explain his reasoning were the cause of his dismissal. Democrats reacted with shock and alarm, accusing Trump of ousting the FBI director to escape scrutiny over his campaign’s Russia ties. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged deputy Rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor for the federal probe into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russian officials — warning that failing to do so will lead the public to “rightly suspect” that Comey’s surprise firing “was part of a cover-up.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico)

📌 Day 725: The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia after he fired Comey in May 2017. Law enforcement officials became concerned that if Trump had fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation, his behavior would have constituted a threat to national security. Counterintelligence agents were also investigating why Trump was acting in ways that seemed to benefit Russia. No evidence has publicly emerged – yet – that Trump was secretly taking direction from Russian government officials. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the report "absurd" and claimed that, compared to Obama, "Trump has actually been tough on Russia." (New York Times / CNN)

Trump is dramatically downsizing two teams of federal officials tasked with fighting election interference by foreign countries. The task forces are part of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency and were assembled in response to Russian interference in the 2016 election. One of the task forces is half the size it was a few months ago, and there are no indications that senior political leadership plans to rebuild it. The other task force was reduced significantly after the 2018 midterms, before its staff could produce a full assessment of what happened during the election. DHS sources say "2020 is going to be the perfect storm." (Daily Beast)

Paul Manafort and Rick Gates met with a Russian political operative in August 2016. Prosecutors believe that Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik may have exchanged key information relevant to Russia and Trump's presidential bid, including a proposed resolution to the conflict over Ukraine and Manafort sharing internal polling data from Trump's presidential campaign to the Russian associate. (Washington Post)

📌 Day 753: Robert Mueller's lead prosecutors disclosed that the special counsel is continuing to pursue collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia based on the conversations between Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, who allegedly is linked to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors have been focused on discussions the two had about a "peace plan" to end the conflict following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014. The two repeatedly communicated about the plan for Ukraine starting in early August 2016, while Manafort was still running Trump's campaign, and continuing into 2018 – months after Manafort had been charged by Mueller's office related to his work in the country. (New York Times)

📌 Day 750: Mueller's team accused Paul Manafort of lying to them about "an extremely sensitive issue" in hopes of increasing "his chances for a pardon." Prosecutors allege that Manafort worked on Ukrainian political matters from August 2016 to December 2018 – after his first indictment by the special counsel in 2017 – and that he tried to avoid providing information that could be damaging to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort business partner in Ukraine. Prosecutors believe Kilimnik is connected with Russian intelligence. Kilimnik also attended Trump's inauguration. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)

📌 Day 727: Konstantin Kilimnik "appears to be at the heart of pieces of Mueller's investigation" into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Kilimnik is a Russian tied to Moscow's intelligence services and is connected to Manafort. Prosecutors filed a 31-page affidavit from an FBI agent, and another 406 blacked-out exhibits, after a federal judge ordered them to lay out the "factual and evidentiary basis" for their claims that Manafort repeatedly lied after his plea deal and as a result had breached his cooperation agreement. (CNN / Washington Post)

📌 Day 719: Paul Manafort gave 2016 polling data to a former employee with ties to Russian intelligence services. The exchange was inadvertently revealed when Manafort's lawyers failed to fully redact Manafort's interview with Robert Mueller in a court filing. Manafort's attorneys meant for Mueller's line of questioning to remain private, but the text in question was easily readable when opened with a word processor. (Washington Post / CNBC / Daily Beast)

House Democrats plan to launch their own probe into Trump's connections to Russia. Using their new subpoena power, Democrats plan to focus on potential money laundering by using the multiple committees they control to host hearings and public sessions that could stretch into 2020. Democratic members of Congress plan to interview new witnesses and go back to previous witnesses, who they believe "stonewalled" committees under the Republican majority. The House Intelligence Committee will lead the effort, with the House Financial Services Committee focusing on money laundering, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee looking into possible Russian connections. (Axios)

The Senate Intelligence Committee found "no direct evidence" of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. "We were never going to find a contract signed in blood saying, 'Hey Vlad, we're going to collude,'" one Democratic aide said. Democratic Senate investigators said that the more than 100 contacts between Trump's associates and various Russians show that the campaign was willing to accept help from a foreign adversary. Senate investigators also said they have uncovered facts yet to be made public. (NBC News)

Robert Mueller's lead prosecutors disclosed that the special counsel is continuing to pursue collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia based on the conversations between Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, who allegedly is linked to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors have been focused on discussions the two had about a "peace plan" to end the conflict following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014. The two repeatedly communicated about the plan for Ukraine starting in early August 2016, while Manafort was still running Trump's campaign, and continuing into 2018 – months after Manafort had been charged by Mueller's office related to his work in the country. (New York Times)

Mueller's team accused Paul Manafort of lying to them about "an extremely sensitive issue" in hopes of increasing "his chances for a pardon." Prosecutors allege that Manafort worked on Ukrainian political matters from August 2016 to December 2018 – after his first indictment by the special counsel in 2017 – and that he tried to avoid providing information that could be damaging to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort business partner in Ukraine. Prosecutors believe Kilimnik is connected with Russian intelligence. Kilimnik also attended Trump's inauguration. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)

Ivanka Trump has "zero concerns" about any of her "loved ones" being caught up in Mueller's Russia investigation. She also insisted that the Trump Tower project in Russia – pursued during the 2016 campaign – is overblown and "there's nothing there." (Politico / Washington Post)

The Republican Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that "based on the evidence to date" the committee could not definitively say there was collusion between Trump and the Russians. Burr was Trump's national security adviser during the campaign. (CBS News / Politico)

📌Day 748: The House Intelligence Committee voted to send more than 50 witness interview transcripts from its Russia investigation to Robert Mueller, who could use them to then prosecute potential perjury or obstruction of justice by Trump associates. Among the transcripts are testimonies by Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. Mueller has already prosecuted Michael Flynn for lying to both the House and Senate intelligence panels about the failed Trump Tower Moscow project. Mueller has also charged Roger Stone with lying to the House Intelligence Committee. (Politico / ABC News)

📌 Day 748: The House Intelligence Committee will also "investigate any credible allegation" into whether Trump's financial interests are driving his decision-making process. Chairman Adam Schiff announced that the committee would look "beyond Russia" and will examine "whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates." (CNN)

poll/ 87% of Americans say Robert Mueller's investigators should produce a full, public report on their findings. 48% believe that Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government to help get him elected. (CNN)

The boyfriend of Russian spy Maria Butina was indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud and money laundering. Paul Erickson was arrested and pled "not guilty" to charges that allege he used a chain of assisted living homes, called Compass Care, to run a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018. He also allegedly defrauded his investors using a company called Investing with Dignity and claiming to be "in the business of developing a wheelchair that allowed people to go to the bathroom without being lifted out of the wheelchair." The indictment also alleges that Erickson fraudulently claimed to be building homes in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota. His case is separate from the case against Butina in Washington, D.C. (Daily Beast)

The House Intelligence Committee voted to send more than 50 witness interview transcripts from its Russia investigation to Robert Mueller, who could use them to then prosecute potential perjury or obstruction of justice by Trump associates. Among the transcripts are testimonies by Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. Mueller has already prosecuted Michael Flynn for lying to both the House and Senate intelligence panels about the failed Trump Tower Moscow project. Mueller has also charged Roger Stone with lying to the House Intelligence Committee. (Politico / ABC News)

The House Intelligence Committee will also "investigate any credible allegation" into whether Trump's financial interests are driving his decision-making process. Chairman Adam Schiff announced that the committee would look "beyond Russia" and will examine "whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates." (CNN)

Trump has attended 17 intelligence briefings over the last 85 days and does not regularly read the Presidential Daily Brief prepared for him. From Nov. 7, 2018 to Feb. 1, 2019, Trump announced his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria and quit a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. (NBC News)

Russia is developing new hypersonic missiles that travel at more than five times the speed of sound and will be "invincible" in response to Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear arms treaty. The new hypersonic missile is expected to be ready by 2021. (New York Times / NPR)

Archival footage shows Trump meeting with officials in Russia in the 1990s to discuss a potential building project in Russia. The video was allegedly aired by Russian state TV in 1995, and shows Trump meeting with members of the former mayor of Moscow's administration. "He had contacts," former mayor Yury Luzhkov said, "on matters related to the construction of the Okhotny Ryad underground mall on Manezh Square." The video was apparently discovered by someone who had been "going through the Russian TV archives." Trump has said on multiple occasions that "I have nothing to do with Russia. I don't have any jobs in Russia. I'm all over the world but we're not involved in Russia." (The Independent)

Trump wanted $20 million up front for the right to use the Trump name on a Moscow development in 2006. Trump was willing to accept a $4 million upfront branding fee and a cut of profits in his 2015 and 2016 efforts to build a Moscow tower. (Bloomberg)

SDNY prosecutors have been interviewing witnesses about foreign money flowing to three lobbying firms recruited by Paul Manafort to improve the image of the Russia-aligned president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, seven years ago. Mercury Public Affairs, the Podesta Group and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom are being scrutinized for representing foreign governments without registering as foreign agents. The case was originally referred by Mueller's investigation. (New York Times)

Trump won't commit to making Robert Mueller's final report public, and that he doesn't know if he wants the report made public at all, saying "it depends" on "what it's going to say." Trump did say that while he believes it's time to "get rid of the Russia witch hunt," he would leave the decision "totally up to the attorney general." William Barr, Trump's nominee for attorney general, said during his confirmation hearing that the public might see a summary report from the attorney general on Mueller's conclusions and not the full special counsel's report. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News)

In late 2016, Deutsche Bank tried to shed a $600 million loan to VTB Group, a large Russian state-owned bank. The bank sold $300 million of the loan to another Russian financial institution, Alfa Bank, in December 2016. (Wall Street Journal)

A Russian-born lobbyist at the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 received half a million dollars in payments before and after the meeting. The large cash deposits to Rinat Akhmetshin were deemed suspicious transactions by bank investigators. (BuzzFeed News)

Putin ordered Russia's military to develop new medium-range missiles in response to the U.S. leaving a key Cold War nuclear arms treaty. (ABC News)

In a wide-ranging interview in the Oval Office, Trump called negotiating with Congress over his border wall "a waste of time" (again), brushed off the Russia investigation and claimed that Rod Rosenstein told him he was not a target in the probe, dismissed the importance of the proposed Trump Tower his team was trying to build in Moscow during the 2016 campaign, denied he ever spoke with Roger Stone about WikiLeaks and the stolen Democratic emails, and insisted that he played no role in Jared Kushner receiving a security clearance despite concerns by both the FBI and CIA. The interview was arranged after Trump reached out to A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, inviting him for an off-the-record dinner. Sulzberger initially declined, saying he would prefer an on-the-record interview that included two of his reporters. Trump agreed. During the interview, Trump told the Times "I love this job," but also complained that he's "lost massive amounts of money" since becoming president. He called the job of being president "one of the great losers of all time. You know, fortunately, I don't need money. This is one of the great losers of all time." [Editor's note: Just read the interview. Podcast and excerpt links below.] (New York Times)

🎧 LISTEN: Trump spoke with the New York Times about the Russia investigation, the government shutdown, and his plans for border security. Trump also spoke about the role of a free press. (New York Times)

Trump claimed that the Trump Tower Moscow development was "not important" and he was "not even sure they had a site." Hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans, however, show that the Trump Organization proposed building the skyscraper on an industrial complex near the Moscow River. Earlier this month, Rudy Giuliani also claimed that "No plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file." (BuzzFeed News)

Trump Jr.'s mysterious phone calls ahead of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not with his father, according to new evidence obtained by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The same day Trump Jr. spoke on the phone with Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, whose father set up the June 2016 meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower, he also talked to two business associates who used blocked numbers – Brian France, the chief executive of Nascar, and the investor Howard Lorber, who has made significant investments in Russia. Lorber also traveled to Moscow in 1996 with Trump as they considered building a Trump Tower there. A spokesman for Lorber said the real estate developer "does not recall conversations with Donald Trump Jr. in the summer of 2016," and that Lorber never discussed "any Russian matters" with Trump Jr. (CNN / ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post)

The U.S. will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Russia has been violating the 1987 arms control treaty for more than five years, and the U.S. gave Russia 60 days to return to compliance in December. The treaty prohibits the U.S. and Russia from possessing any land-based cruise missiles with a range of 310 to 3,410 miles. (NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)

Trump pinky-promised that he won't intervene with the Justice Department's decision-making process about whether to release Robert Mueller's report on possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. "They'll have to make their decision within the Justice Department," Trump said, insisting that he hasn't spoken with acting AG Matthew Whitaker about the inquiry. Trump cautioned, however, that he "could've gotten involved in this. I could've terminated everything. I could've ended everything." (New York Times / Politico)

poll/ 62% of Americans believe that Trump knew that people like Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort or others tried to conceal information from federal investigators. 50% believe that Trump personally asked people around him to provide misleading information about his businesses or Russian interference. (Monmouth University)

The Treasury Department pushed back against claims that Steve Mnuchin had a conflict of interest when he decided to lift sanctions against a Russian oligarch's businesses. The letter claimed that Mnuchin didn't sell his stake in RPDE (RatPac-Dune Entertainment) to Len Blavatnik, a Ukrainian-born oligarch, and that there was "no business conversations whatsoever" between Mnuchin and Blavatnik related to the Treasury Department's decision to lift the sanctions. (ABC News)

Trump attacked the U.S. intelligence community, claiming they're being "extremely passive and naive" and suggesting his intel chiefs need to "go back to school" because "they are wrong!" The outburst comes a day after senior American intelligence officials briefed Congress on their 2019 worldwide threat assessment, directly contradicted Trump on several of his foreign policy priorities, including Iran, North Korea, Syria, and ISIS. Trump, however, made no mention of Russia, which Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said was likely to target the 2020 elections. (Politico / New York Times / Reuters / CNN)

Trump met Putin at the G20 summit in November without a U.S. translator, notetaker, or staff member present. Melania Trump, however, was there, as well as Putin's own translator. The White House had previously said meeting was one of several "informal" talks, but didn't disclose that Trump did not have any official members of his team present. The Russian government said Trump and Putin spoke for roughly 15 minutes about various foreign policy issues, including an incident in the Azov Sea and the war in Syria. (Financial Times / Vox)

Trump Jr. met with a firm that gamed out how a foreign government could meddle in the U.S. political process. After Trump became the Republican nominee, Trump Jr. met with Wikistrat founder Joel Zamel to discuss simulations the firm conducted in 2015 about how illicit efforts could shape American politics. In April 2016, Rick Gates reviewed a plan by a company called Psy Group, which Zamel reportedly owns. The plan echoed both the real election interference by Russia as well as the scenario Wikistrat had gamed out. It's unclear if the Psy Group plans ever went forward, with some former employees saying Gates never pursued the campaign, while others said part of the plan was carried out. Wikistrat has been questioned by Robert Mueller's team. (Daily Beast)

Russians leaked more than 1,000 files Robert Mueller's office shared confidentially with indicted Russian hackers in an attempt to discredit the investigation into interference in the 2016 election. According to Mueller's court filing, the names and structure of folders containing the leaked files matched those used by the special counsel's office when it shared the data with Concord Management. The files appeared to have been uploaded to a filesharing site, which confirmed to the FBI that the account was registered in Russia. A pro-Russian Twitter account used the information as part of a disinformation campaign. (The Guardian / NBC News / CNN)

The NRA claimed "they played no official role" in a December 2015 trip to Moscow to meet with Russian nationals despite internal NRA emails and photos showing that the organization was significantly involved in the planning. Emails show that alleged Russian agent Maria Butina helped make travel arrangements for the NRA delegation, as well as organizing the meetings with senior Kremlin officials. One email suggested that the NRA would pay for travel expenses and provide "gifts" to their Russian hosts. In another, Butina told the delegation she'd meet them at the airport with "a big red sign saying Welcome NRA." The NRA met with Butina and her Russian handler, Alexander Torshin, who was Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank at the time and later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, Dmitry Rogozin, then-Russian Deputy Prime Minister who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2014, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a member of Putin's inner circle. (ABC News)

Democrats in Congress raised ethical concerns that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin decision to lift sanctions on a Russian oligarch was a conflict of interest. The Treasury Department repeatedly postponed implementing sanctions against Oleg Deripaska's companies, and later lifted them entirely after striking a deal to restructure the companies. Len Blavatnik is a major investor in Deripaska's aluminum company, Rusal, as well as a major Republican National Committee donor, where Mnuchin served as finance chairman for Trump's 2016 campaign. (New York Times)

U.S. intelligence chiefs contradicted Trump's claims about North Korea, Iran, and ISIS. Trump previously claimed that "We have won against ISIS" as justification for withdrawing 2,000 troops from Syria, he pledged that North Korea is on the path to fully denuclearize, and withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, claiming the country posed a nuclear threat. The Worldwide Threat Assessment, released by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, however, outlines that North Korea is "unlikely to give up" its nuclear stockpiles because Kim Jong-un sees them as "critical to regime survival," and that Iran is not "currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activity" needed to make a bomb. Coats also said that ISIS "very likely will continue to pursue external attacks from Iraq and Syria against regional and Western adversaries, including the United States." The report also concluded that China is positioned to conduct cyberattacks against American infrastructure and that "Moscow is now staging cyberattack assets to allow it to disrupt or damage U.S. civilian and military infrastructure during a crisis." (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / The Guardian)

Russia, China, and Iran are "probably already are looking to the 2020 U.S. elections as an opportunity to advance their interests," according the Worldwide Threat Assessment report. Dan Coats warned that these countries "will use online influence operations to try to weaken democratic institutions, undermine U.S. alliances and partnerships and shape policy outcomes in the United States and elsewhere." (Politico)

Russia offered North Korea a nuclear power plant after negotiations with the Trump administration to denuclearize stalled. The plan called for Moscow to operate the plant and transfer all waste back to Russia, reducing the risk that North Korea could use the power plant to build nuclear weapons. (Washington Post)

Roger Stone pleaded not guilty to witness tampering, obstruction of justice and lying to Congress. Stone's indictment alleges that he was the conduit between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which published Democratic National Committee emails in the summer of 2016, and that "a senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton campaign." Robert Mueller has previously accused 12 Russian intelligence officers of hacking those emails, and the U.S. intelligence community consensus is that those Russians "relayed material it acquired from the DNC and senior Democratic officials to WikiLeaks." (NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / ABC News / New York Times / Reuters)

The Trump administration has started making a new, low-yield nuclear weapon that the Department of Energy claims is designed to counter Russia. The W76-2 is believed to be about half as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The report claims that smaller nuclear warheads will help balance the threat from Russian forces. (NPR)

poll/ 57% of Americans support congressional Democrats investigating whether or not Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, 61% support investigating financial ties between Trump and foreign governments, and 59% support investigating Trump's relationship and communications with Putin. (Washington Post)

The Trump administration lifted sanctions against three companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The Treasury Department originally sanctioned Deripaska, six other oligarchs, and their companies in April in response to Russia's "malign activity" around the world. The sanctions against Deripaska himself will remain in effect, but his companies launched a lobbying campaign to argue that the sanctions against aluminum giant Rusal would disrupt the aluminum market and damage U.S. companies. (Reuters / New York Times / Fox News / Bloomberg)

Trump and Jared Kushner thought firing Michael Flynn would end the "Russia thing," according to Chris Christie's forthcoming book, "Let Me Finish." Christie recalled that Trump told him "this Russia thing is all over now, because I fired Flynn." Trump went on to explain that "Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It's over." Kushner added: "That's right, firing Flynn ends the whole Russia thing." (New York Times)

Roger Stone was arrested on seven counts of obstruction, lying to Congress and witness tampering as part of Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the election. Between June and July of 2016, Stone told a "senior Trump Campaign official" that he had information that WikiLeaks would release documents that would hurt the Clinton campaign. On July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks released its first batch of Democratic emails. After that the "senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information" that WikiLeaks had about the Clinton campaign. Then, in October of 2016, a "high-ranking Trump Campaign official" asked Stone about "future releases by" WikiLeaks. Stone replied that WikiLeaks would release "a load every week going forward." In total, Stone interacted with at least four people close to the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks. The indictment also accused Stone of attempting to intimidate Randy Credico, who was in contact with Julian Assange in 2016. Separately, FBI agents were seen carrying hard drives and other evidence from Stone's apartment in New York City. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / The Guardian / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Department of Justice)

Stone was released on $250,000 bond, denied working with Russia, and declared he would not "bear false witness" by testifying against Trump. (CBS News)

The Trump administration hasn't imposed required sanctions on Moscow nearly three months after determining that Russia had violated the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act in connection with the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. (NBC News)

Russia warned the U.S. against launching a military intervention in Venezuela after Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in a coup d'etat and Trump threatened to use the "full weight" of U.S. economic and diplomatic power to stabilize the country. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela "would be a catastrophic scenario that would shake the foundations of the development model which we see in Latin America." (NBC News)

Rudy Giuliani claimed that "no plans were ever made" for Trump Tower Moscow, despite hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans proving otherwise. For instance, by September 2015, an architect had completed plans for a 100 story high tower, and when Trump signed a finalized letter of intent on Oct. 28 2015, the tower would have "approximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums" and "approximately 15 floors" and contain "not fewer than 150 hotel rooms." The Trump team also considered an option to open "The Spa By Ivanka Trump," as well as giving a "$50 million penthouse to Putin." Trump's lawyer characterized this by saying "the proposal was in the earliest stage" and later adding "There were no drafts. Nothing in the file." (BuzzFeed News)

Trump was reportedly "apoplectic" and "furious" with Giuliani after his lawyer claimed that he had been involved in discussions to build a Trump Tower in Moscow through the end of the 2016 campaign. Giuliani's statement contradicted Trump's own public statements about the project. Trump has been "screaming" and is "so mad at Rudy," because he felt that Giuliani had "changed the headlines" for the worse and had obscured what he believed was a public relations victory when Robert Mueller's office disputed portions of a report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress. Trump is also being encouraged by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner – among others – to fire Giuliani before it's too late. Giuliani blamed journalists for his gaffs, saying they've taken his hypothetical arguments literally, adding that Trump is "not pissed. He just wants it clarified." Giuliani also admitted this week that he is worried that his legacy would be that "he lied for Trump" and has told people privately that he "hates the job." (Politico / Vanity Fair / Associated Press)

Robert Mueller's team is interested in the Trump campaign's relationship with the NRA during the 2016 campaign. Mueller wants to know more about how and when Trump and his campaign first established a relationship with the NRA, and how Trump ended up as a speaker at the organization's annual meeting in 2015. The NRA is under scrutiny from lawmakers for its spending in support of Trump in 2016 and its ties to Russian nationals. (CNN)

Rudy Giuliani walked back his comments about Trump's involvement in the Trump Tower Moscow project, calling the statements "hypothetical" and "not based on conversations" he had with Trump. Giuliani originally said that negotiations over the project continued up until the day Trump won, and that Trump remembered having "fleeting conversations" about the deal after the Trump Organization signed a letter of intent. At question is whether or not Trump was engaged in ongoing negotiations with an American adversary while seeking the presidency and advocating that Obama lift sanctions against Russia. (New York Times / ABC News)

Giuliani also claimed that it didn't matter if Trump engaged in conversations with Russia about the Moscow deal, because it's not a crime. He went on to say that "there are no tapes, there are no texts, there is no corroboration," because he's personally "been through all the tapes, I have been through all the texts, I have been through all the e-mails, and I knew none existed." A few moments later, Giuliani tried to clarify: "I shouldn't have said tapes." Moments after that, Giuliani added: "Well, I have listened to tapes." Giuliani also tried to revise his previous statement that Trump told him the Trump Tower Moscow "discussions were going on from the day I announced to the day I won," saying simply: "He didn't have the conversations." [Editor's note: This is a wild interview. Worth the read.] (New Yorker)

Trump Jr. blamed Michael Cohen for the Trump Tower Moscow project, claiming the family "[doesn't] know anything about it." Trump Jr. also claimed that there was never a deal, contradicting the fact that Trump signed a letter of intent in October 2015 and the team of developers were revealed in 2017. (Axios)

A U.S. banker with ties to the Kremlin tried to schedule a meeting with Trump nine days after he won the presidency in the hopes of securing a role in the Trump administration. A producer from "The Apprentice" contacted one of Trump's closest advisers to set up a meeting with Robert Foresman, who is now chairman of the Swiss bank UBS's investment arm. Foresman lived in Moscow for years and led a $3 billion Russian investment firm and was touted as someone with connections to Putin's inner circle. Foresman did not end up getting a seat in Trump's administration, but did secure a sit-down meeting with Tom Barrack, then-chair of Trump's $100 million inaugural fund. (ABC News)

A Russian singer linked to the Trump Tower meeting canceled an upcoming tour of North America over concerns about Mueller's Russia probe. Emin Agalarov is said to have helped to arrange the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during the campaign. Agalarov's attorney confirmed that the cancellation is "most definitely" linked to Mueller's probe, saying "we don't want him to be subpoenaed or held under a material witness warrant or anything else." (NBC News)

The special counsel's office issued a rare statement disputing aspects of the BuzzFeed report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump's involvement in a real-estate deal with Russia during the 2016 campaign. A statement from Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, called the report's "description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office" and the "characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office" as it related to Cohen's Congressional testimony "not accurate." In response, BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith tweeted: "We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he's disputing." BuzzFeed's story cited two anonymous law-enforcement sources. According to different anonymous people who claim to be familiar with the matter, "Mueller's denial […] aims to make clear that none of those statement in the story are accurate." And, another anonymous person claiming to be familiar with Cohen's testimony to Mueller's prosecutors said: "Cohen did not state that the president had pressured him to lie to Congress." The statement from the special counsel's office came nearly a day after the story was published. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Politico / CNN / Vox)

Trump was involved in negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow throughout the entire 2016 presidential campaign – several months longer than any administration official or Trump associate has previously admitted. Rudy Giuliani said conversations between Trump and Michael Cohen about building a Trump Tower in Moscow "went on throughout 2016 […] probably up to, could be up to as far as October, November." Giuliani later clarified, quoting Trump that the discussions were "going on from the day I announced to the day I won." The new timetable means that Trump, who repeatedly claimed during the campaign that he had "no business" in Russia, was in fact seeking a deal in Russia when he said in July 2016 that he had "nothing to do with Russia." The timeline also conflicts with Cohen's 2017 testimony that the Moscow project ended in January 2016 – before the Republican primaries began. Cohen later pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the deal, saying efforts continued through June 2016 before it fell apart – a month after Trump had secured the Republican Party's presidential nomination. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg)

The Trump administration's deal to lift sanctions against a Russian oligarch contains provisions that will allow Oleg Deripaska to wipe out of hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his company. (New York Times)

Trump personally directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow in order to obscure his involvement in the deal. Cohen and Trump had at least 10 face-to-face meetings about the deal during the campaign. Cohen acknowledged to Robert Mueller's team that he had given false testimony to the Senate and House intelligence committees that the Moscow tower negotiations ended in January 2016 were an attempt to "minimize links between the Moscow Project" and Trump "in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations." Trump also approved a plan by Cohen to visit Russia during the presidential campaign and meet with Putin in order to kick off the negotiations for the Moscow project. "Make it happen," Trump told Cohen. Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. both regularly received "very detailed updates" about the project from Cohen. The revelation marks the first time Trump is known to have directly – and explicitly – ordered one of his subordinates to lie about his dealings with Russia. (BuzzFeed News)

Democrats in Congress vowed to investigate the report that Trump personally directed Cohen to lie to Congress, which could leave the president open to accusations of suborning perjury and obstruction of justice. House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff said "we will do what's necessary to find out if it's true" and that allegations that Trump "may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date." Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted that the panel's "job is to get to the bottom of it, and we will do that work," adding: "We know that the President has engaged in a long pattern of obstruction." (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Guardian / NBC News)

[Opinion] This may be the smoking gun in the Russia investigation. Why, if there was nothing worrisome or untoward about Trump's dealings with Russia, would he instruct Cohen to lie to about the depth and breadth of the conversations between the Trumps and the Russians regarding a potential construction project in Moscow? (CNN)

Rudy Giuliani claimed that "I never said there was no collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russia. In a remarkable interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on Wednesday night, Giuliani argued that he had only ever said Trump himself had not colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, leaving open the possibility that campaign aides could have colluded. "There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspired with the Russians to hack the DNC." Trump has tweeted at least 13 times directly saying there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. (CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post)

More than 130 Republicans joined House Democrats in opposing a Treasury Department plan to lift sanctions against companies controlled by a Putin ally. Senate Republicans narrowly blocked a similar measure yesterday. Oleg Deripaska is a Russian oligarch with ties to Paul Manafort. (Washington Post)

A Belarusian woman who claimed to have 16 hours of audio recordings linking Russia to Trump's election will be deported after spending nearly a year behind bars in Thailand. Anastasia Vashukevich pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation and conspiracy in the Pattaya Provincial Court. Vashukevich requested asylum in the U.S. in exchange for her recordings, which she claimed contained evidence that could help shed light on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The audio evidence that Vashukevich claimed to have has never materialized. (New York Times)

Trump called a New York Times reporter and defended Russia against claims of election interference the day after he met privately with Putin in July 2017. Trump insisted that the call remain off the record while arguing that the Russians had been falsely accused of interfering in the 2016 election. Trump and Putin have met five times in private and the U.S. has no records or notes from any of their conversations. (New York Times)

Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to enforce sanctions against Russian companies controlled by a Putin ally, despite a group of 11 GOP senators joining Democrats in the vote. The vote fell three votes shy of the 60-vote threshold, ensuring that the sanctions on the companies tied to Oleg Deripaska, including the world's second-largest aluminum company, Rusal, will be lifted as part of a deal negotiated by the Treasury Department. (New York Times / CNN / The Hill)

Konstantin Kilimnik "appears to be at the heart of pieces of Mueller's investigation" into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Kilimnik is a Russian tied to Moscow's intelligence services and is connected to Manafort. Prosecutors filed a 31-page affidavit from an FBI agent, and another 406 blacked-out exhibits, after a federal judge ordered them to lay out the "factual and evidentiary basis" for their claims that Manafort repeatedly lied after his plea deal and as a result had breached his cooperation agreement. (CNN / Washington Post)

The U.S. rejected a Russian offer to save the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, saying "we see no indication that Russia would choose compliance." The U.S. and its NATO allies want Russia to destroy its 9M729 nuclear-capable cruise missile system. Without a deal, a U.S. withdrawal over six months will start from Feb. 2. (Reuters)

Trump discussed withdrawing the U.S. from NATO with senior administration officials several times in 2018, saying he didn't see the point of the military alliance, which has been in place since 1949. National security officials believe that Russia is focused on undermining the alliance so Putin could have the freedom to behave as he wishes. (New York Times)

Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight Committee next month is expected to be heavily restricted to avoid interfering with Mueller's Russia investigation. Cohen is scheduled to speak in a public hearing on Feb. 7 and won't be able to talk about topics that he has discussed with Mueller and may also be limited in what he can say about the on-going Manhattan U.S. attorney's office investigation. A person close to Cohen said "he's going to tell the story of what it's like to work for a madman, and why he did it for so long," adding that Cohen is "going to say things that will give you chills." (Wall Street Journal)

The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia after he fired Comey in May 2017. Law enforcement officials became concerned that if Trump had fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation, his behavior would have constituted a threat to national security. Counterintelligence agents were also investigating why Trump was acting in ways that seemed to benefit Russia. No evidence has publicly emerged – yet – that Trump was secretly taking direction from Russian government officials. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the report "absurd" and claimed that, compared to Obama, "Trump has actually been tough on Russia." (New York Times / CNN)

Trump concealed details about his conversations with Putin from administration officials. On at least one occasion in 2017, Trump confiscated the notes from his interpreter and told the interpreter not to discuss the details of his Putin conversation with other administration officials. As a result, there is no record of Trump's face-to-face interactions with Putin at five locations from the past two years. U.S. officials only learned about Trump's actions when a White House adviser and a senior State Department official requested additional information about the meeting beyond what Rex Tillerson had provided. (Washington Post)

Fox News asked Trump if he is a Russian agent – he refused to directly answer. Instead, he called the question from Jeanine Pirro "the most insulting thing I've ever been asked." When asked about concealing the details of his private meetings with Putin, Trump replied: "We had a great conversation." Later, Trump said he "never worked for Russia" and called the report that the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation "a whole big fat hoax" while labeling the FBI officials "known scoundrels" and "dirty cops." (New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)

Trump's nominee for attorney general said that "it is vitally important" that Robert Mueller be allowed to complete his Russia investigation. "On my watch, Bob will be allowed to complete his work," William Barr will tell senators at his confirmation hearing, and that Congress and the public should "be informed of the results of the special counsel's work." Barr added that his "goal will be to provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law." (Associated Press / CNN / New York Times / The Guardian)

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed off on a plan by Alexander Torshin and Maria Butina to infiltrate the NRA and the American conservative movement. A U.S. intelligence report says Torshin, a Russian central bank official, courted NRA leaders for years and briefed the Kremlin on his efforts, recommending that they participate in the project. The report notes that the Kremlin was fine with Torshin and Butina's courtship of the NRA because those relationships would be valuable if a Republican was elected president in 2016. (Daily Beast)

Michael Cohen agreed to publicly testify in front of the House Oversight Committee before he goes to prison next month. Trump's former personal attorney said he appreciates the opportunity "to give a full and credible account" of the time he worked for Trump. Cohen will also answer questions from lawmakers about the Russia investigation during a closed-door session. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / The Hill)

Robert Mueller requested information last year from a Trump campaign pollster and colleague of Paul Manafort. Tony Fabrizio was interviewed by Mueller's team in February 2018; the meeting went unreported until now. The interview is significant in light of recent revelations that Mueller has been investigating Manafort's sharing of polling data with an associate tied to Russian intelligence. (CNN)

Steven Mnuchin delivered a classified briefing to Congress on his decision to lift sanctions on companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The briefing came after the chairs of seven House committees sent a letter to the Treasury Secretary and former Trump campaign finance chair demanding to know more about the decision. (NBC News)

A law firm that has represented both Russian interests and the Republican National Committee is involved in the subpoena case presumed to be between Mueller and "Company A." Alston & Bird previous represented Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, as well as the RNC in its efforts to obtain some of Hillary Clinton's emails. It is unclear whether the firm is currently representing "Company A," the country that owns "Company A," or the regulators of that country. (CNBC / CNN)

Paul Manafort gave 2016 polling data to a former employee with ties to Russian intelligence services. The exchange was inadvertently revealed when Manafort's lawyers failed to fully redact Manafort's interview with Robert Mueller in a court filing. Manafort's attorneys meant for Mueller's line of questioning to remain private, but the text in question was easily readable when opened with a word processor. (Washington Post / CNBC / Daily Beast)

Natalia Veselnitskaya worked secretly with the Russia prosecutor general to draft the Russian response to a U.S. money-laundering case. Veselnitskaya is the Russian lawyer who met with top Trump campaign officials at Trump Tower in 2016. The case in question isn't directly related to the Trump Tower meeting and instead involves a scheme to launder dirty money through New York real-estate purchases. The indictment says Veselnitskaya covertly drafted an "intentionally misleading" response, which constitutes obstruction of justice. (New York Times)

Shortly after being sworn in, freshman Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib told supporters: "We're gonna go in there and we're going to impeach the motherfucker." House Democratic leaders immediately tried to quell the impeachment talk, saying they should wait for Robert Mueller to file a report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. Republicans, meanwhile, seized on the comments, saying it's proof that Democrats are playing politics rather than pursuing oversight. Trump responded to Tlaib's call for impeachment, saying: "You can't impeach somebody who's doing a great job." (Politico / The Guardian / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

The American man held on espionage charges in Moscow also has British, Canadian and Irish citizenship. Russia arrested Paul Whelan on Dec. 28th, and charged him with espionage. [Editor's note: Not in itself very newsworthy, but I wanted to pin this in the event Whelan turns out to be a player.] (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

Russia charged an American with espionage. Paul Whelan faces 20 years in Russia if convicted. Russia's Interfax news agency said Whelan was arrested on Dec. 28 "while on a spy mission." Another Russian news outlet, Rosbalt, claimed that Whelan, a former U.S. marine now detained in Moscow by Russia's Federal Security Service, was arrested minutes after receiving a USB drive that contained the names of people employed at a top secret state organization. Whelan's arrest comes weeks after Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent for the Kremlin from 2015 until her arrest in July. She agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. (The Guardian / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today / NPR / CNN)

A former Russian intelligence officer pressured Paul Manafort to pay back around $19 million he owed a Russian oligarch while he was running Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Victor Boyarkin said Manafort "owed us a lot of money. And he was offering ways to pay it back." Less than two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination, Manafort tried to offer "private briefings" about the presidential race to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska to "get whole." Manafort sent the messages through his former business associate Konstantin Kilimnik. Both Boyarkin and Deripaska have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. Boyarkin also said he was approached by Robert Mueller's office, which is investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, but he allegedly told investigators "to go dig a ditch." (Time / CNN)

An indicted Russian organization in a court filing referred to a "nude selfie" obtained by Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller has collected nearly four million pages of material from the email and social media accounts in the case against the Internet Research Agency, an alleged Russian state-controlled troll farm. The IRA's lawyer, Eric Dubelier, questioned how there could be any national security concerns related to a nude selfie. Dubelier also represents Concord Management and Consulting LLC, which prosecutors alleged is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to Putin with key ties to Russia's military and political establishment. Prigozhin is also known as "Putin's Chef." Dubelier did not provide information about who is depicted in the photo, but asked the court to lift a protective order that bans him from sending the millions of pages of pre-trial discovery to Russia. (Daily Beast / CNN / HuffPost / Law & Crime)

Michael Cohen's cell phone was briefly activated near Prague around time of the Russia meeting described in the Steele dossier, which purports that Cohen and one or more Kremlin officials met in or around the Czech capital to plot ways to limit discovery of the close "liaison" between the Trump campaign and Russia. Additionally, around the same period of late August or early September 2016, electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up Russians remarking that Cohen was in Prague. The cell phone and eavesdropping evidence was shared with Robert Mueller. (McClatchy DC)

📌Day 224: Trump's lawyer "vehemently" denied working with Russia to disrupt the election. Michael Cohen gave Congress a point-by-point rebuttal of the 35-page dossier compiled by retired British spy Christopher Steele, which alleges he has deep ties to Russian officials. Cohen denied the dossier's claims, including that he had secret meetings in Prague with a Russian official last summer. (New York Times)

📌Day 450: Robert Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen made a secret trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, entering through Germany in "August or early September." Confirmation of the trip corroborates part of the Christopher Steele dossier that Cohen met with an ally of Putin. Cohen has denied that he has ever been in Prague and that he colluded with Russia during the campaign. (McClatchy DC)

poll/ 58% of Americans believe Trump tried to obstruct the investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia. 38% believe Trump did something illegal, 34% believe he did something unethical, but not illegal, and 25% Americans believe Trump did nothing wrong. (Associated Press)

A U.S. intelligence report concludes that Russia, China, and Iran "conducted influence activities and messaging campaigns" targeting the midterm elections. Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, said they did not compromise the voting systems, however. (New York Times)

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker declined to recuse himself from the Russia investigation despite a Justice Department ethics official advising him to step aside out of an "abundance of caution." The ethics official said that while a recusal was "a close call," there was no actual legal conflict of interest that would require Whitaker to recuse himself. Members of Congress are concerned about Whitaker's previous criticism of Robert Mueller's investigation. (CNN / ABC News / Politico)

The House Intelligence Committee voted to send the transcript of its 2017 interview with Roger Stone to Mueller, suggesting that the special counsel is close to charging Stone with a crime. It's the first time Mueller has formally asked the committee to hand over material gathered related to the Russia investigation. Stone's relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whether he played a role in the release of stolen DNC emails has been a focus of the special counsel's investigation for months. (Washington Post / CNN / Politico)

Treasury Department officials exchanged messages using unsecured Gmail accounts set up by their Russian counterparts during the 2016 election. [Editor's note: I don't even know where to begin with summarizing this, but it's important. You should read it and send me a three to four sentence summary to update this entry with.] (BuzzFeed News)

Putin praised Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, calling it "correct." Trump, meanwhile, defended his surprise decision, despite mounting criticism from lawmakers in both parties, saying the U.S. doesn't "want to be the Policeman of the Middle East." (ABC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)

Newly obtained document show Trump signed a letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, contradicting Rudy Giuliani's claim that the document was never signed. The signed letter is dated Oct. 28, 2015. Trump Jr. testified on Sept. 7, 2017 that his father had signed a letter of intent for the Moscow project, which Michael Cohen worked on, but he knew "very little" about it. Cohen also told congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election that Trump had signed the letter. On Sunday, Giuliani claimed: "It was a real estate project. There was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it." During the 2016 campaign, Trump did not disclose that the Trump Organization explored the business deal with Russia. Instead, he repeatedly claimed he had "nothing to do with Russia." Read the signed letter of intent. (CNN)

Giuliani conceded that "of course" Trump signed the "bullshit" letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. "I don't think I said nobody signed it," Giuliani claimed, despite telling CNN on Sunday that "no one signed" the letter. The deal would have given Trump's company $4 million upfront, plus a percentage on all sales, as well as marketing and design oversight. The hotel would have also named the spa after Ivanka Trump. (New York Daily News)

The Trump administration will lift sanctions on three Russian corporations controlled in part by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire who once loaned Paul Manafort $10 million. Deripaska agreed to cut his ownership stake in each company below 50%. In April, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Deripaska, Rusal, En+ Group Plc, and JSC EuroSibEnergo, citing "malign activities" by Russia. (Bloomberg / Reuters)

The Justice Department ordered an unnamed foreign company to comply with Robert Mueller's grand jury subpoena to turn over information about its commercial activities as part of a secret court case. Very little is known about the details of the case, but the company fighting the subpoena has been identified as a foreign government-owned company tied to Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Court officials have taken drastic steps to ensure the identity of the company remains unknown. The case, referred to in public dockets as 18-3071 with the title Sealed v Sealed, began in August. (CNN / Politico / The Guardian / Vox)

Michael Cohen dropped a pair of libel suits against BuzzFeed and Fusion GPS over the publication of the Steele dossier, which detailed alleged ties between Trump and Russia. (Politico)

Michael Flynn agreed to delay his sentencing after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told Trump's former national security adviser "you sold your country out," and because of that, "I cannot assure you, if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration." Robert Mueller recommended that Flynn serve no jail time for his crimes because of the "substantial help" he provided to the special counsel and other investigations. Flynn was supposed to be sentenced today for lying to the FBI and acting as an unregistered agent for Turkey. The judge also asked the special counsel's office whether Flynn could be charged with "treason" after he acted as "an unregistered agent of a foreign country, while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States." Flynn's sentencing has been delayed until March 13th and will allow him to continue cooperating with the Russia investigation. Sullivan's last words to the court were: "Happy holidays." (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / BuzzFeed News)

Mueller released a memo from 2017 that summarizes Michael Flynn's contemporaneous interview with the FBI. The interview was the catalyst that led to the high-profile case against Trump's former national security adviser and felon. According to the memo, Flynn lied during the interview about his contact with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 presidential transition period. The memo includes clear examples of Flynn lying and claiming that he never made any policy requests of Russia as FBI agents prod him to provide fuller descriptions of his calls. (CNN)

Hours earlier, Trump wished Flynn – a confessed felon – "good luck" ahead of his sentencing hearing. "Will be interesting to see what he has to say," Trump tweeted, "despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign." Flynn will be the highest-ranking Trump administration aide to be sentenced as part of Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (New York Times / CNBC)

Giuliani: Trump discussed a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow with Michael Cohen later than previously known. Trump previously claimed that discussions about the project ended in January 2016, but Giuliani indicated that the conversations could have been in June or July of 2016. (CNN)

The Russian disinformation campaign also targeted Mueller by falsely claiming that he was corrupt and that Russian interference in the 2016 election was just conspiracy theories. Russian operatives went after Mueller and his team via fake social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. They also claimed that Mueller had a history of working with "radical Islamic groups." (Washington Post)

The Russian disinformation and influence campaign during the 2016 presidential election was more far-reaching than originally understood, according to the findings of two independent groups of researchers tasked by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee. The report found that "active and ongoing interference operations remain on several platforms," including one campaign to support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and influence opinions on the Syrian Civil War. The Internet Research Agency created social media accounts under fake names and spread its messages across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and Google+, and other platforms. As attention was focused on Facebook and Twitter in 2017, the Russians shifted much of their activity to Instagram. The Internet Research Agency is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Putin's. Prigozhin and a dozen Internet Research Agency employees were indicted last February as part of Robert Mueller's investigation. In particular, the campaigns urged the African-American community "to boycott the election and focus on other issues instead," while messaging to conservative and right-wing voters "patriotic and anti-immigrant slogans" designed to "elicit outrage […] about liberal appeasement of 'others' at the expense of U.S. citizens, and [to] encourage them to vote for Trump." The report concludes: "What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party — and specifically Donald Trump." (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Bloomberg)

poll/ 62% of Americans say Trump isn't telling the truth about the Russia investigation. 43% approve of the job Trump is doing as president compared with 54% who disapprove. (NBC News)

Mueller rejected Michael Flynn's suggestion that he was tricked into lying to FBI agents about his communications with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. "The interview was voluntary, and lacked any indicia of coercion," Mueller's team wrote in new court documents, referring to the Jan. 24, 2017 interview at the White House four days after Trump's inauguration. Neither Flynn nor his lawyers have explained why he lied. (New York Times / USA Today / NBC News / Washington Post)

George Papadopoulos is considering a run for Congress. The former Trump campaign foreign policy aide just spent 12 days in prison after pleading guilty to making false statements to the FBI about contacts with a professor, Joseph Mifsud, who claimed to know that Russia had thousands of emails connected to Hillary Clinton. (Politico)

Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a foreign agent of the Kremlin and influence U.S. politics from 2015 until her arrest in July. Butina tried to establish "unofficial lines of communication" with influential Americans in the NRA and in the Republican Party "under direction of" a former Russian senator and deputy governor of Russia's central bank, who matches the description of sanctioned Russian central banker Alexander Torshin. Butina is also expected to provide evidence against Paul Erickson, who helped her with what she called her "Diplomacy Project." Butina faces up to five years in prison but is expected to only serve six months based on "the sentencing guidelines cited as part of the plea agreement." (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico) / NBC News)

Two Michael Flynn associates said he discussed a deal with Sergey Kislyak during the campaign about how Trump and Russia could work together if Trump won. According to Flynn's associates, the bargain he discussed with Russia's then-ambassador to the U.S. was that Moscow would cooperate with the Trump administration to resolve the Syrian conflict and in exchange the U.S. would end or ease sanctions imposed on Russia for its annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine. In mid-August 2016, Trump and Flynn received a briefing that noted the intelligence community had reached the preliminary conclusion that Moscow was behind the hacks of Democratic targets and the public disclosure of the stolen material. Flynn's "series of contacts" with Kislyak continued despite knowing Moscow was behind the efforts to subvert the U.S. election. (Mother Jones)

Trump claimed that Robert Mueller's prosecutors gave Michael Flynn "a great deal because they were embarrassed by the way he was treated." Mueller recommended Flynn serve no jail time due to his "substantial assistance" in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election after the former national security adviser pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. last December. (The Hill)

📌 The Re-Up: Day 25: Michael Flynn resigned as National Security Adviser after it was revealed that he had misled Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn served in the job for less than a month. (New York Times)

📌 Day 26: Trump knew Flynn misled officials on Russia calls for "weeks," the White House says. The comment contrasts the impression Trump gave aboard Air Force One that he was not familiar with a report that revealed Flynn had not told the truth about the calls. White House counsel Don McGahn told Trump in a January briefing that Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions with Russia. (Washington Post)

📌 Day 22: Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials. Flynn's communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were interpreted by some senior U.S. officials as an inappropriate and potentially illegal signal to the Kremlin that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions that were being imposed by the Obama administration in late December to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 election. (Washington Post)

Michael Flynn asked to be spared jail time because of his "extensive cooperation" with Mueller. Flynn pleaded guilty last December to lying to the FBI during its counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. He blamed the FBI agents for tricking him into lying by not warning him "that it was a crime to lie during an FBI interview." Flynn asked to receive a year o