On 05/17/2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as Special Council. Mueller was to investigate any possible collusion between the Trump presidential campaign or other Americans and the Russian government regarding the 2016 elections. The investigation was not limited to that issue and any crimes discovered while investigating were also subject to prosecution and/or being turned over to the Justice Department or state prosecutors.
A partial list of first quarter 2018 news about the investigation.
01/16/2018 - Steve Bannon is subpoenaed by Mueller to testify before the grand jury. He later agrees to a more informal interview by the investigators in lieu of the grand jury.
01/23/2018 Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned by the Mueller team for several hours the week before.
James Comey, former FBI Director, was interviewed by special counsel investigators in 2017.
02/16/2018 - The Justice Departments indicts 13 Russians and three Russian organizations for interfering with US elections and other crimes.
02/16/2018 - In a court filing in the Paul Manafort case, Mueller's team indicates that there could be additional charges including fraud and money laundering.
02/20/2018 - Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who worked with Manafort and Gates, has been charged with making false statements.
02/22/208 - Mueller files additional charges against Manafort and Gates in a 22 count indictment. New charges include income tax fraud.
02/23/2018 - Rick Gates pleads guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI.
Former Trump aide, Sam Nunberg, subpoenaed by Mueller to appear before grand jury. Nunberg says he won’t comply. Well OK, the tough guy did comply. Good choice.
More Russian links are disclosed by Mueller's team. Paul Manafort and Rick gates have links to Konstantin Kilimnik, a suspected former Russian intelligence officer.
Stay tuned.
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- Trump thinks a trade war is a good thing and is easy to win. He announces import tariffs on steel and aluminum. Says no countries will be exempt. Stock market drops. They are opposed by most.
- GOP Speaker of the House Paul Ryan breaks with Trump on tariffs.
- 3/8 - Trump signs tariff order that exempts Canada and Mexico. Leaves door open to exempt more countries.
- Trump name and management removed from Panama hotel. The third building since Trump's inauguration to remove the name.
- Trump imposes $60 billion in tariffs against China. They respond by increasing tariffs on US goods.
- Gary Cohn, Trump's Chief Economic Advisor, resigns. Trump appoints Larry Kudlow, a cable news pundit, to replace him.
- Stormy Daniels sues Trump over the nondisclosure agreement. That's the nondisclosure of the non-affair for which your lawyer made a non-payment.
- In an interview on 60 Minutes, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos shows how unqualified and unprepared she is for that post.
- John McEntee, who has served as Mr. Trump’s personal assistant since he won the presidency, was forced out of his position and escorted from the White House on 3/12 after his security clearance was revoked.
- Trump fires Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, names current CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, as the new head of State.
- 3/19 - The Supreme Court refuses to block new Pennsylvania congressional district maps.
- Conor Lamb, a Democrat, wins Pennsylvania special election for the US House, Trump won the district in 2016 by 20 points. Trump also campaigned in person against Lamb.
- Karen McDougal, a former Playmate, sues The National Enquirer to get out of nondisclosure agreement about Trump affair.
- A New York judge allows Summer Zervos's, a former Apprentice contestant, defamation suit against Trump to proceed, potentially opening him to discovery. Another sexual harassment victim.
- John Dowd resigns as Trump's lead attorney for the Mueller investigation.
Fox News talking head and conspiracy theorist Joe diGenova is added to the legal team. Oops, no diGenova after all. A conflict of interest issue.
- National Security Adviser, General H.R. McMaster is relieved of command by Trump. Fox News pundit and war hawk John Bolton assumes the position. Another cable TV cabinet appointment.
- New spending bill allocates little money for and imposes restrictions on The Wall.
- Trump now wants the military to fund The Wall. No word whether he means the US military or the Mexican military.
- Trump reverses full ban on transgenders in the military. Another flip-flop.
- A federal judge has ruled that the D.C. and Maryland attorneys general have legal standing to sue President Trump for allegedly violating the Constitution’s ban on receiving “emoluments” from foreign governments and U.S. states.
- More Russian links disclosed by Mueller's team. Paul Manafort and Rick Gates links with Konstantin Kilimnik, a suspected former Russian intelligence officer.
- President Trump fires his Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin. Another member of the administration gone.
- The administration expels 60 Russian diplomats and closes the Seattle consulate. Russia responds by expelling 60 of our diplomats and closing our St. Petersburg consulate.
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