Apartment Owners Using An Algorithm To Illegally Fix Prices

The following post is part of an article in The New York Times by Binyamin Applebaum:

Illegal price fixing used to require a lot of work. . . .

Now there’s an app for things like that.

The Justice Department alleged in a civil antitrust lawsuit filed Aug. 23 that a Texas company called RealPage is orchestrating what amounts to a nationwide apartment cartel by persuading major landlords to use its software to set prices for millions of apartments across the country. RealPage markets its software by boasting that it increases rents by 3 percent to 7 percent.

The case is important because it highlights the growing use of algorithms to set prices — and the potential for companies that are supposed to be competing to instead coordinate at the expense of their customers by using the same price-setting formulas. The suit is part of a broader effort by the nation’s antitrust enforcers to catch up with the methods that modern corporations are using to squeeze their customers — in this case, by increasing the price of housing, the most expensive part of American life.

“We are seeing these kinds of technologies emerge throughout our economy,” Jonathan Kanter, the assistant attorney general for antitrust, said in an interview. Technology, he said, “took something that may have been inherently difficult to do, in terms of putting a cartel together, and actually is making it much easier and more effective.”. . .

What the team found, the government says, is that RealPage calculates target prices for individual apartments by using proprietary data from its clients and then urges clients to use those prices by arguing that if everyone cooperates, everyone wins.

The complaint quotes a RealPage executive explaining, “There is greater good in everybody succeeding versus essentially trying to compete against one another in a way that actually keeps the entire industry down.” This may be true, insofar as one is interested in the greater good of landlords. Society as a whole, however, benefits more when companies are forced to participate in vigorous competition. Their pain is our gain. In the apartment business, that means rents would rise more slowly — or even go down. . . .

RealPage can orchestrate pricing because the ownership of large apartment buildings in major markets is increasingly dominated by the same handful of big national landlords. . . .

RealPage’s success, built on the market dominance of the biggest landlords, should be regarded as evidence that they have accumulated too much power. Ending algorithmic price fixing is a necessary first step to check that power. 

The Public Is Not Buying Trump's Claim Of Exoneration

These charts show the results of the new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between July 27th and 30th of a national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,101 registered voters). The margin of error for adults is 2.6 points, and for registered voters is 3.1 points.

In an effort to stymie impeachment and keep his base behind him, Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller Report completely exonerated him of both obstruction of justice and collusion with Russia. Of course, his claims are outrageous lies.

Fortunately, the American public knows this. By a 32 point margin (37 points among registered voters), they say the Mueller Report did NOT exonerate Trump of obstruction of justice. And by a 20 point margin (23 points among registered voters), they say the Mueller Report did NOT exonerate Trump of colluding with Russia to affect the 2016 election.

What If The "Foreign Help" Shoe Was On The Other Foot?

A few days ago, Donald Trump admitted in an interview on ABC that he would accept help from a foreign power that had information about his 2020 opponent. He said he would want to see the information, and he would not report the contact to the FBI.

It doesn't seem to bother him that accepting help from a foreign power is against the law. He got away with it once, and figures he could do it against. The fact that it's against the law means nothing to him.

That shouldn't surprise anyone, because Trump has demonstrated throughout his life that he is corrupt -- and will do anything (legal or not) that he believes can benefit him.

The sad part is that the Republican Party, once the loyal opposition, now supports Trump even when he breaks the law. Collusion with a foreign power or obstruction of justice is fine with them as long as it's Trump doing it. But what if the shoe had been on the other foot? How would they have acted if it had been a Democrat colluding with a foreign power?

In an excellent op-ed at the Daily Beast, Rick Wilson asks and answers that question. Here is just part of what he wrote:

I have to beg my Republican friends to imagine—just for a moment—what you’d be doing if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama said they would accept the help of a foreign power in a campaign and not report it to the FBI.  

I’ll tell you what you’d do: You’d lose your fucking shit.  

You’d spurt blood from your goddamn eyes.

You’d corner the market on guillotine, tumbrel, and pitchfork stocks. A gibbet would appear in Lafayette Park.

Fox News producers and on-air talent would grind out weeks of videos until they collapsed, as sick and exhausted as they keep saying Trump’s opponents must be. They’d work like galley slaves, a nearly naked Lou Dobbs beating a massive kettle drum to keep them producing screeching agitporn.

Entire forests would be leveled and pulped to write the condemnatory articles and books. The lights would dim on the Eastern Seaboard, and nuclear power plants would be brought online to support the massive surge of electricity needed to power a hundred thousand new servers hosting the hundred million articles and videos you’d make condemning this outrageous act.

You’d demand not only impeachment, but also drawing, quartering, and the wholesale razing of the villages of everyone involved. You’d call anyone else doing this a traitor, a villain, and the worst person ever to hold the office of president.

But we all know what’s going to happen to Trump, don’t we? It’s already happening:

Not a goddamned thing.

A few Republicans in the Senate will—ever so briefly—furrow their brows. Some will issue anodyne comments that if you squint and look really closely could be vaguely suggestive of something in the general vicinity of an elliptical criticism of Trump’s invitation to foreign governments to fuck us.

In the House, the Clown Caucus will run around with their dicks out, as per normal, and bleat about Jim Comey or Chris Steele or Bruce Ohr or Peter Strzok or whatever imaginary Deep State conspiracy they’re trying to froth into existence today. They’ll race to Fox shows like Bonfire of the Hannity to bellow about witch hunts and reap millions from the boob donors on their email lists: Help me fight the Deep State and protect President Trump from Soros-Clinton-Hussein Obama Witch Hunt Sharia Lesbianism.

Bill Barr’s Trump Family Legal Defense and Obstruction Center will do exactly fuck-all. Nothing, exactly nothing will be said or done about this outrage. A realattorney general would demand a private meeting in the Oval Office and would give President Fuckwit both barrels. A real attorney general would nut-punch a president who so obviously invites foreign intelligence services to compromise the so-called leader of the free world. Bill Barr is not a real attorney general. He is a family retainer for Trump Inc., a small man in a big job without the moral compass or legal sensibility God gave the common rat. . . .

Trump’s ichor, his slimy amorality, his reek of greed and treason is an insult to the work, legacy, and memory of the men of both political parties who put America before their own egos, their own political fortunes. The sense of anger, outrage, and disgust on the part of Americans with the slightest sense of conscience is palpable and justified. That is directed not only at Trump but all those who serve and enable him, and dare call that public service.

Trump Says He's Been Exonerated - The Public Disagrees

Robert Mueller has submitted the report of what he found in investigating Trump's collusion with Russia in the 2016 campaign. No one outside of executives in the Justice Department knows what is in that report. All we have been given is a four page summary of the report by Attorney General Barr (of a report that we know now is at least 300 pages long).

It's highly unlikely that Barr's short summary is really indicative of what is contained in the Mueller Report. But Donald Trump doesn't care (just like he has never cared about facts on any issue). He's already bragging loudly that the Mueller Report completely and fully exonerated him of any collusion with Russia.

Fortunately, most Americans are not stupid enough to believe that without seeing proof. It turns out that 56% of adults (and 55% of registered voters) say they don't believe the Mueller Report has exonerated Trump of collusion -- and the same is true of majorities of men, women, those under age 45, those over age 45, whites, nonwhites, Democrats, and Independents.

The only group thinking Trump was exonerated are Republicans -- big surprise.

The chart reflects the results of a new CNN / SSRS Poll -- done on March 25th and 26th of a national sample of 701 adults, with a margin of error of 5.4 points.

Evidence Says Trump Campaign DID Conspire With Russia

 

The names in the column to the left are the members of Donald Trump's family and campaign staff that met with Russians  during the presidential campaign and/or the transition after Trump was elected. Those 16 people had at least 101 meetings with Russian operatives.

(For a complete list of the 101 meetings with Russian operatives, you can go to The Moscow Project.)

In addition to the 16 people who met with Russian operatives, there were another 12 people in the Trump campaign who knew about at least some of those meetings. That makes 28 people who either met with Russian operatives or knew about those meetings.

It is no longer reasonable to believe that the Trump campaign did not collude (conspire) with Russia to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. If it was only one or two people that had met once or twice with Russians, the argument could be made that these were lone agents and the campaign did not know what they were doing (or approve of it). But now that the number is 28, that is no longer a believable argument.

I'm sure that some of Trump's base will still try to claim that Trump did not know or approve of these meetings. That is also beyond belief.

Donald Trump is a micro-manager. He micro-managed his businesses, and he did the same with his presidential campaign. No one can logically conclude that Trump was clueless to 101 meetings with Russians by 16 members of his campaign team -- and that the 12 people who knew did not tell Trump.

Nothing happened in the Trump campaign that was not know by Trump himself, and which he did not approve. Trump has repeatedly denied that he colluded with Russia to affect the 2016 campaign. He is lying. He did collude (conspire) with Russia -- and he needs to be impeached and indicted for that.                                                                    

Plurality Now Believes Trump Guilty Of Collusion/Obstruction

Donald Trump has raged for months against the Mueller investigation (which is investigating him for collusion, obstruction, and other possible crimes). He has called it a witch hunt and a fake investigation motivated by politics. But his denials seem to be falling on deaf ears.

Even before Mueller submits the results of his investigation, a significant plurality of American voters believe Trump is probably guilty. By a 9 point margin (45% to 36%), they believe the Trump campaign did collude with Russia to affect the outcome of the 2016 election. And by an even bigger 15 point margin (48% to 33%), they believe Trump did act to obstruct the investigation.

The charts above use information in a recent Politico / Morning Consult Poll -- done between December 14th and 16th of a national sample of 1,994 registered voters, with a 2 point margin of error.

At Least 14 Trump Associates Met With The Russians

We now know that at least 14 Trump associates met with Russians during the 2016 campaign -- three family members, two business associates, and nine members of the Trump campaign. That's a lot, and it makes it more likely that collusion with the Russians to affect the 2016 election outcome did happen -- and it probably was at the direction of "Individual-1" (Donald Trump).

Is it really believable anymore that Trump had no knowledge of any of these 14 associates meeting with Russians? Of course not! We know that Trump is a micro-manager. Nothing happened in his businesses without his knowledge and direction, and he undoubtably carried that same micro-managing over to his campaign. This would be especially true of family members (Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump), his campaign manager, (Paul Manafort) and his personal attorney (Michael Cohen).

Trump is still claiming there was no collusion, and that collusion was not a crime. The first is obviously false, and the second is merely a word game. Collusion is not a legal term. It's called conspiracy in the law, and it certainly is against the law.

It looks like "Individual-1" is in a lot of trouble!

The chart above is from The Washington Post.

It's Not Christmas Yet, But Donald Trump's Goose Is Cooked

(The caricature of a worried Trump is by DonkeyHotey.)

Donald Trump has spent months saying there was no collusion (conspiracy with Russia to affect the 2016 election). We now know that is just not true -- especially after seeing the sentencing recommendations for Trump associates revealed in the last few days.

The truth is there was collusion. Donald Trump is in a lot of trouble.

Here is part of the assessment by Max Bergmann and Sam Berger in The Daily Beast:

A flurry of recent activity this past week all points in the same direction: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will likely implicate the president, his campaign, and his close associates in aiding and abetting a Russian conspiracy against the United States to undermine the 2016 election.

First, Mueller has clearly identified collusion in the efforts of Trump aides and associates to contact WikiLeaks. In a draft plea agreement provided to conservative operative Jerome Corsi, Mueller details how Roger Stone, who the special counsel notes was in frequent contact with Donald Trump and senior campaign officials, directed Corsi to connect with WikiLeaks about the trove of stolen materials it received from Russia. Corsi subsequently communicated WikiLeaks’ release plan back to Stone, and the Trump campaign built its final message around the email release. That is collusion.

Second, we now know that Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn have provided evidence to Mueller related to collusion. In Cohen’s sentencing memo, Mueller said that Cohen provided his office with “useful information” on “Russia-related matters core to its investigation.” One of those central elements, according to the Justice Department: “any links and/or coordination” between the Kremlin and Trump campaign figures. Collusion, in other words.

In Flynn’s sentencing memo Mueller said that Flynn’s false statements to the FBI about his calls with the Russian ambassador during the transition were “material” to the investigation into “links or coordination between Russia and individuals associated with the Trump campaign.”

Third, Mueller has found evidence that Trump was compromised by a hostile foreign power during the election. In his plea deal, Cohen revealed that Trump had repeatedly lied to voters about the then-candidate’s financial ties Russia. While Trump claimed during the campaign to have no business dealings with Russia, he was negotiating a wildly lucrative business deal not simply with Russian businessmen, but also involving with the Kremlin itself. Trump’s team even reportedly tried to bribe Russian President Vladimir Putin by offering him a $50 million penthouse.

Worse, Russia not only knew that Trump was lying, but when investigators first started looking into this deal, the Kremlin helped Trump cover up what really happened. That made Trump doubly compromised: first, because he was eager to get the financial payout and second because Russia had evidence he was lying to the American people—evidence they could have held over Trump by threatening to reveal at any time. . . .

Fourth, we know that Trump has engaged in an increasingly brazen attempt to cover up his actions: installing a political crony to head the Department of Justice by potentially illegal means in an effort to shut down the investigation; using his former campaign chairman and convicted criminal Paul Manafort to find out information about Mueller’s investigation; and even appearing to offer Manafort a pardon if he helps him obstruct the Russia probe. These may be components of an obstruction of justice case, but they also provide strongly circumstantial data points as to how serious Trump himself views the allegations of collusion being levelled against him.

Lastly, federal prosecutors have told us Trump broke the law to influence the 2016 election by hiding evidence of his affairs. Trump clearly had no qualms about breaking the law to win an election. . . .

Mueller is coming. And he is clearly coming for Trump. Not simply for obstructing justice but for conspiring with a hostile foreign power to win an election. This is a scandal unlike any America has ever seen.

Brennan Says Trump Did "Collude" With Russia

On Wednesday, Donald Trump took the security clearance away from ex-CIA director John Brennan (pictured). Trump was angry because Brennan was not afraid to tell the truth to the American people, and he hoped that his action would deter Brennan (and others) from continuing to tell that truth.

It was a stupid political act, and doomed to failure. Brennan has stood up to Americans enemies for decades without flinching, and this pathetic move by Trump (who's leading a failed administration) is not going to affect him.

Here is just a part of Brennan's response in the New York Times:

The already challenging work of the American intelligence and law enforcement communities was made more difficult in late July 2016, however, when Mr. Trump, then a presidential candidate, publicly called upon Russia to find the missing emails of Mrs. Clinton. By issuing such a statement, Mr. Trump was not only encouraging a foreign nation to collect intelligence against a United States citizen, but also openly authorizing his followers to work with our primary global adversary against his political opponent.

Such a public clarion call certainly makes one wonder what Mr. Trump privately encouraged his advisers to do — and what they actually did — to win the election. While I had deep insight into Russian activities during the 2016 election, I now am aware — thanks to the reporting of an open and free press — of many more of the highly suspicious dalliances of some American citizens with people affiliated with the Russian intelligence services.

Mr. Trump’s claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash.

The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of “Trump Incorporated” attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets. A jury is about to deliberate bank and tax fraud charges against one of those people, Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman. And the campaign’s former deputy chairman, Rick Gates, has pleaded guilty to financial fraud and lying to investigators.

Mr. Trump clearly has become more desperate to protect himself and those close to him, which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance in an attempt to scare into silence others who might dare to challenge him. Now more than ever, it is critically important that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his team of investigators be allowed to complete their work without interference — from Mr. Trump or anyone else — so that all Americans can get the answers they so rightly deserve. 

A Timeline Of The Trump/Russia Collusion Investigation

(cartoon image is by Monte Wolverton at cagle.com.)

The folks at PolitiFact have provided a timeline of Trump's collusion with Russia and the investigation into that:

This timeline documents everything we know thus far about the investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. The sources are either verified events, court filings, public statements, or on-the-record media reports.

Spring 2014: A Kremlin-linked company that engages in influence operations, known as the Internet Research Agency, devised a strategy to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Its goal was to spread distrust toward candidates and the American political system.

June 16, 2015: Donald Trump announces candidacy for president.

July 2015: Hackers supported by the Russian government penetrate the Democratic National Committee’s network, stealing large volumes of data and maintaining access for about a year.

Mid 2015: Thousands of Kremlin-backed social media accounts begin to spread propaganda and disinformation, establishing a clear preference for Trump.

January 2016: Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer, emails Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

March 19, 2016: The chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, John Podesta, falls victim to an email phishing scam. It is believed this is how a group of Russian hackers gained access to his email account.

Early March 2016: George Papadopoulos joins the Trump campaign as an adviser. While traveling in Italy in mid March, Papadopoulos meets a London-based professor whom Papadopoulos understood to have "substantial connections to Russian government officials."

March 21, 2016: Trump identifies Papadopoulos and Carter Page as members of his foreign policy team, in an interview with the Washington Post.

March 24, 2016: Papadopoulos meets in London with the professor who introduces him to a female Russian national who Papadopoulos believes to be a relative of Putin with links to other senior Russian officials.

March 29, 2016: Trump taps Paul Manafort to manage the Republican National Convention.

March 31, 2016: Papadopoulos tells Trump, Jeff Sessions and other campaign members that he can use his Russian connections to arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin.   

April 2016: Papadopoulos’ professor source tells the Trump adviser about a meeting with high-ranking Russian government officials in Moscow who have "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of "thousands of emails."

April 2016: Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak attends Trump’s foreign policy speech in Washington, where he meets Trump’s son-in-law and campaign adviser Jared Kushner.

May 2016: Donald Trump, Jr. meets with Alexander Torshin at National Rifle Association convention in Louisville. Torshin is a former senator and deputy head of Russia's central bank.

Mid 2016: The Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency established a strategy of supporting Donald Trump’s candidacy and disparaging Hillary Clinton.

June 3, 2016: Trump, Jr. receives an email from Rob Goldstone, a business associate. Goldstone tells the younger Trump that Moscow supports his father’s candidacy, and says he has a connection to a Russian government official with incriminating evidence against Hillary Clinton.

Goldstone tells Trump Jr.: "This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump."

The younger Trump replied that same day: "If it’s what you say I love it."

June 7, 2016: Trump announced he would soon make a "major speech" on Clinton.

June 8, 2016: Russian intelligence officers launch DC Leaks, a website used to release stolen emails.

June 9, 2016: Trump, Jr., Manafort and Kushner meet with a Russian national and several others at Trump Tower, based on Goldstone’s promise to Trump Jr. that a "Russian government attorney" would deliver damaging information about Clinton. Several shifting accounts of the meeting were later offered.

June-July 2016: WikiLeaks and DCLeaks release thousands of documents about Clinton and internal DNC deliberations.

Early July 2016: Trump campaign adviser Carter Page travels to Moscow, where he meets with Russia’s deputy prime minister and a high-ranking Russian oil official. Page emails campaign staffers that the deputy prime minister had "expressed strong support for Mr. Trump," and that he had gleaned "incredible insights and outreach" in Russia.

Mid July 2016: Trump campaign associate J.D. Gordon successfully lobbies for the GOP platform to be changed to benefit Russia. Language is inserted vowing not to provide lethal aid to Ukrainians in their fight against Russian-backed separatists.

July 18, 2016: Sessions talks with Kislyak after Sessions’ speech at the Republican National Convention.

July 20, 2016: Sessions talks with Kislyak after a speech. Separately, Trump campaign associates Page and Gordon meet with Kislyak.

July 22, 2016: WikiLeaks begins releasing DNC emails ahead of the Democratic National Convention. The first tranche — nearly 20,000 emails — reveals an embarrassing glimpse at internal DNC deliberations.

July 25, 2016: The FBI publicly confirms its investigation into the DNC hack.  

July 2016: The FBI opens a counterintelligence investigation into links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee later confirmed that information from Papadopoulos triggered the investigation.

July 27, 2016: During a press conference, Trump says of Clinton’s emails: "Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you can find the 33,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."

July 27, 2016: Russians for the first time begin to target Clinton’s emails.

August 27, 2016: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sent a letter to FBI Director James Comey asking the bureau to investigate alleged Russian interference in the election. Reid also raised concerns about contacts Trump campaign members reportedly made with WikiLeaks and Russian nationals under U.S. sanction.

September 2016: Kushner receives an email concerning WikiLeaks, which he then forwarded to another campaign official, according to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Read Kushner’s lawyer’s response.)

September 2016: Sessions meets with Kislyak in his Senate office.

Oct. 7, 2016: The U.S. intelligence community releases a statement saying the release of emails on DC Leaks and WikiLeaks "are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts."

Oct. 7, 2016: An Access Hollywood tape is released in which Trump can be heard in a 2005 interview bragging about groping women.

Oct. 7, 2016: Less than an hour after the Access Hollywood surfaces, WikiLeaks publishes more than 2,000 emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Mid October 2016: Trump Jr. corresponds with WikiLeaks through Twitter’s private message service. WikiLeaks asks the younger Trump to direct his Twitter followers to its trove of documents. Fifteen minutes later, candidate Trump tweetsabout WikiLeaks. Two days later, Trump Jr. tweeted a link to WikiLeaks’ archive.

Oct. 21, 2016: The FBI and Justice Department obtain a warrant to monitor Page based on probable cause that Page is Russian agent. Page stepped down from the Trump campaign the previous month.

Nov. 8, 2016: Trump is elected president.

Dec. 1, 2016: Kushner and campaign adviser Michael Flynn meet with Kislyak at Trump Tower.

Dec. 13, 2016: Kushner meets with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, the CEO of a state-run Russian bank under U.S. sanction. Gorkov was described to Kushner as "someone with a direct line to the Russian president who could give insight into how Putin was viewing the new administration and best ways to work together."

Dec. 29, 2016: In the waning days of his presidency, Barack Obama responds to Russia’s interference in the election by expelling 35 Russian diplomats and issuing new sanctions.

Late December 2016: Following Obama’s move against Russia, Flynn asksKislyak to "refrain from escalating the situation." Kislyak later tells Flynn that Russia "had chosen to moderate its response to those sanctions as a result of his request."

Dec. 30, 2016: In a move that caught Kremlinologists by surprise, Putin declines to retaliate against the Obama administration’s sanctions.

Later that day, Trump praises Putin’s decision over Twitter:

Jan. 6, 2017: The U.S. intelligence community concluded with "high confidence" that Russia engaged in an influence campaign directed at the election.

Jan. 10, 2017: In his confirmation hearing to become Trump’s attorney general, Sessions says under oath that he did not have contact with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign. In a separate questionnaire submitted a week later, Sessions denied contacting any Russian officials regarding the 2016 election.

Jan. 10, 2017: A dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele goes public. Steele wrote the dossier on behalf of Fusion GPS, a research firm whose work had been funded in part by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The document suggests the Kremlin possesses compromising material against Trump and raises the possibility Trump is vulnerable to blackmail.

Jan. 20, 2017: Trump is inaugurated as president.

Late January 2017: Flynn, now Trump’s national security adviser, lies to the FBI, falsely claiming that he never discussed the Obama administration’s Russia sanctions with Kislyak.

Jan. 27, 2017: During a meeting with FBI Director James Comey, Trump said, "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty," according to sworn testimony Comey would later deliver to Congress. Trump has denied this.

Feb. 13, 2017: Flynn resigns after 24 days as national security adviser.

Feb. 14, 2017: Trump asks Comey to drop the investigation into Flynn, according to sworn testimony Comey would later deliver to Congress. Comey says Trump told him: "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go." Trump has denied this.

March 1, 2017: The Washington Post reports that Sessions met with Kislyak twice over the previous year, encounters that Sessions failed to disclose during his confirmation proceedings. Sessions later confirms these meetings.

March 2, 2017: Sessions recuses himself from any "existing or future investigations" related to the 2016 presidential election.

March 20, 2017: Comey publicly confirms the FBI’s counterintelligence probe includes "investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts."

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

May 11, 2017: Trump tells NBC "this Russia thing" factored into his decision to fire Comey.

May 17, 2017: The Justice Department appoints former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel. Mueller will lead the investigation into possible ties or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, as well as other matters that "may arise directly from the investigation."

July 8, 2017: The New York Times reports on the June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower where Trump, Jr., Manafort and Kushner met with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer. That story prompted Trump Jr. to issue the following statement to the media:

"It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared (Kushner) and Paul (Manafort) to stop by. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up.

"I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand."

July 9, 2017: The New York Times reports that Trump Jr. arranged the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting after being promised he would receive damaging information about Clinton. For the second consecutive day, Trump Jr. issues a statement to the media about the meeting. (Read a full account of the Trump team’s shifting explanations.)

Aug. 1, 2017: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked about a news report that the president had tried to change the narrative around Trump Jr.'s meeting with the Russian lawyer. Sanders says Trump "weighed in" on his son’s statement about the June 9 Trump Tower meeting. Sanders’ statement is inconsistent with previous explanations offered by Trump’s team.

Aug. 2, 2017: Trump signs a law imposing new Russia sanctions in response to Moscow’s interference with the election. Congress largely passed the bill — with veto-proof majorities — in response to Trump’s downplaying of the meddling question and his seeming interest in lifting sanctions against Russia, experts said.

Oct. 5, 2017: Papadopoulos pleads guilty to lying to the FBI about his efforts to put the Trump campaign in contact with Moscow. He enters a plea agreement with Mueller.

Oct. 30, 2017: Manafort and Trump campaign associate Rick Gates surrender to the FBI after being charged with a dozen felonies each, including failing to disclose lobbying activities on behalf of foreign entities, financial crimes and making false statements. They plead not guilty to all charges.

Nov. 2, 2017: Page tells the House Intelligence Committee he had notified Sessions about contacts he made with Kremlin officials during his July 2016 Russia. This contradicts Sessions’ previous denials.

Nov. 16, 2017: The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee send a letter to Kushner’s attorney saying Kushner failed to turn over several documents to the committee.

Nov. 30, 2017: Flynn pleads guilty to lying to the FBI about his discussions with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition, and enters a plea agreement with Mueller.

Feb. 16, 2018: The Special Counsel charges 13 Russians and three Russian entities with conspiring to defraud the United States and interfere with the 2016 presidential election.

The Russian government has denied involvement.

The Special Counsel also charged Richard Pinedo with identity fraud. He would later plead guilty.

Feb. 18, 2018: Dutch attorney Alex Van Der Zwaan is indicted for lying to the FBI about interactions with Rick Gates and another associate of Manafort. He would later plead guilty and serve a 30-day sentence before being deported to the Netherlands.

Feb. 22, 2018: A superseding indictment is filed against Manafort and Gates containing 32 charges, including tax and bank fraud.

Feb. 23, 2018: Gates pleads guilty and agrees to work with Mueller’s probe.

Feb. 24, 2018: A new superseding indictment is filed against Manafort alleging he "secretly retained a group of former senior European politicians to take positions favorable to Ukraine, including by lobbying in the United States."

April 9, 2018: The FBI raids the offices of Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. The case is referred to the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York.

April 19, 2018: Memos are released of former FBI Director James Comey, providing his contemporaneous written impressions of several one-on-one discussions with Trump.

April 27, 2018: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence found Russia conducted cyberattacks on U.S. political institutions during the 2016 campaign. The committee's Republican members found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

June 8, 2018: Mueller adds an obstruction charge against Manafort and indicts his business partner Konstantin Kilimnik.

July 3, 2018: A Senate panel that independently reviewed the intelligence community’s assessment backed up its findings, concluding that the agencies’ joint assessment was a "sound intelligence product."

July 13, 2018: The Special Counsel indicts 12 Russian intelligence officers for their role in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Clinton campaign, and leaking of emails and documents.

July 13, 2018: Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone acknowledged he is "probably" the unnamed U.S. person referenced in the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers. The indictment referred to an American who "was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump," and who communicated during the election with Guccifer 2.0, a front for Russian operatives.

July 16, 2018: In a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump appeared to accept Putin’s denial of Russian election interference. (The following day Trump claimed he misspoke.)

July 21, 2018: In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Justice Department releases a heavily-redacted version of the warrant application used to obtain a wiretap on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page starting in October 2016, a month after he parted ways with Trump’s team.

July 27, 2018: Trump denies a CNN report that he knew in advance about the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting. The report was based on unnamed sources who said former Trump attorney Michael Cohen is willing to confirm Trump's foreknowledge of the meeting to the special counsel. In repsonse, Trump tweeted, "I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?)," an apparent reference to Cohen's role managing taxi companies.

August 1, 2018: Trump calls on his attorney general to end the Mueller probe, tweeting: "This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further."

August 5, 2018: Trump tweeted about the June, 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower, saying it was "a meeting to get information on an opponent." This adds a new layer to the series of shifting explanations of the meeting arranged by Donald Trump Jr.