July 31, 2016: FBI formally opens the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged Russia-Trump collusion.
Sept. 7, 2016: CIA sends FBI Director James Comey and others the same warning it gave Obama, namely that Clinton has approved a plan to tie Trump to Russia to distract from her email scandal.
Sept. 15, 2016: Another lawyer at Sussmann’s firm briefs the Clinton campaign on the Russia collusion research and efforts to plant a story in the media leaking some of the findings.
Sept. 19, 2016: Sussmann brings the Alpha Bank angle of Russia collusion to the FBI through Baker. The FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Team, on the same day, gets six of Steele’s memos from the dossier and asks for permission to seek a FISA warrant.
Sept. 21, 2016: FBI lawyers urged Crossfire Hurricane to refocus the FISA on Carter Page predominantly and not fellow Trump adviser George Papadopolous, according to the inspector general.
Sept. 23, 2016: First information leaked from Clinton campaign’s Russia research appears in Yahoo News, including information gleaned from Steele.
Oct. 13, 2016: Steele breaks FBI protocol and goes to the State Department, meeting with senior official Kathleen Kavalec, where the former MI6 agent working for the Clinton campaign briefs officials on his dossier and the Alpha Bank allegations and admits he’s also talking to major news media.
Oct. 21, 2016: FBI secures first FISA warrant targeting former Trump adviser Carter Page in Russia probe.
Oct. 31, 2016: The first news story leaks about the Alpha Bank allegations, and Hillary Clinton calls attention to it as well as putting out a statement by her adviser Jake Sullivan, now President Biden’s national security adviser. “Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank,” Clinton tweeted. Sullivan boasted the allegations in the article “could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow[,] that “[t]his secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump’s ties to Russia[,]” and that “[w]e can only assume that federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between Trump and Russia.”
Nov. 8, 2017: Donald Trump wins the election.
Feb 9, 2017: Sussmann takes Alfa Bank allegations and new information to the CIA, again denying he is acting on behalf of a client.