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

The FBI is now examining whether members of President Donald Trump's campaign team colluded with Russian officials to undermine Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.

Flynn, Page, and Kislyak were named in the dossier as being complicit in the alleged collusion. On Friday, Page, Paul Manafort, and Roger Stone volunteered to be interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee as part of its investigation into Russia's election-related meddling.

Comparing Steele's reports, which were written between June and December of last year, with events that unfolded just before and after the election reveals a series of coincidences that adds to questions surrounding Russia's interference in the election — and who knew about it.

June-July

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

Dossier allegations

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

The flow of intelligence is being facilitated by

Actual events

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

Dossier allegations

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

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

Actual events

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

Dossier allegations

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

Actual events

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

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

August

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

Dossier allegations

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

August 5, 2016: The

Actual events

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

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

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

Dossier allegations

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

August 15, 2016: Ousted Ukrainian president Viktor

Actual events

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

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

September

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

Dossier allegations

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

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

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

Actual events

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

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

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

October

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

Dossier allegations

October 12, 2016:

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

Actual events

October 1, 2016: Roger Stone tweets that

@LockHerUp."

October 5, 2016: Stone tweets

November-January

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

Actual events

November 3, 2016: R

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

December 29, 2016: Obama i

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

Michael Flynn resigns as national security adviser over his conversations with Kislyak, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuses himself from Russia-related investigations, and the FBI announces it's been investigating the Trump campaign's role in Russia's election interference.

Actual events

March 2, 2017: Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuses himself from the investigation into whether the Trump campaign communicated with Russia after The Washington Post reports that he spoke with Kislyak twice during the election. Sessions had said in his confirmation hearing that he did not have any contact with any Russian officials during the election.

March 4, 2017: Trump tweets, without presenting evidence, that

FBI Director James Comey says during a House Intelligence Committee hearing that he has "no evidence" to support Trump's wiretapping claim, and confirms that an investigation into Russia's election-related meddling includes an examination of contacts between Trump associates and Russia during the campaign.

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

June-July

August

September

October

November-January

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