A Series of Disappearances: The Vanishing of America’s Intelligence Network
Final Appendix: Timeline of Key Events (2013–2025)
I. Pre-Presidency Indicators and Foreign Engagement (2013–2016)
November 9, 2013 — Donald Trump attends the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. He tweets: “Do you think Putin will be my new best friend?”
November 2015 — Felix Sater emails Michael Cohen about Trump Tower Moscow: “Our boy can become president… I will get all of Putin’s team to buy in.”
March 29, 2016 — Paul Manafort joins the Trump campaign as convention manager.
June 9, 2016 — Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort meet with Kremlin-connected Russians at Trump Tower offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
July 7, 2016 — Carter Page delivers a speech in Moscow while under FISA surveillance.
July 27, 2016 — Trump publicly urges Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails.
August 2, 2016 — Paul Manafort meets Konstantin Kilimnik and shares internal polling data.
August 19, 2016 — Paul Manafort resigns as Trump campaign chairman following revelations of foreign payments.
II. Presidency and Erosion of Norms (2017–2020)
January 20, 2017 — Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States.
January 24, 2017 — National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is interviewed by the FBI regarding his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn lies, denying that he discussed sanctions.
February 13, 2017 — Flynn resigns after just 24 days, following revelations that he misled Vice President Pence and the FBI about his communications with Kislyak.
March 1, 2017 — The Washington Post reveals that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with Kislyak twice during the 2016 campaign, contradicting sworn Senate testimony.
March 2, 2017 — Sessions recuses himself from the Russia investigation.
May 10, 2017 — Trump discloses Israeli-sourced classified intelligence to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak during an Oval Office meeting, alarming U.S. allies and intelligence officials.
July 7, 2017 — Trump holds a private, undocumented meeting with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit, attended only by a Russian translator.
July 16, 2018 — At the Helsinki Summit, Trump publicly sides with Putin over the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of Russian election interference.
August 3, 2019 — Trump requests a list of U.S. spies from intelligence officials, alarming national security professionals.
August 29, 2019 — Trump tweets a classified satellite image of an Iranian launch site.
September 2019 — The CIA exfiltrates a high-value Kremlin asset, fearing that Trump’s behavior may expose the asset’s identity.
July 25, 2019 — Trump holds a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, pressuring him to investigate Joe Biden—later described by Trump as a “perfect phone call.”
December 18, 2019 — Trump is impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, based on the Ukraine affair.
February 5, 2020 — The Senate acquits Trump in his first impeachment trial.
October 2020 — Trump declassifies Christopher Steele’s testimony to the Mueller investigation; Steele later testifies that two Russian sources subsequently disappeared.
2017–2020 — Trump’s businesses receive millions of dollars in payments from Chinese and Saudi-linked entities while he is in office.
November 3, 2020 — Trump loses the presidential election to Joe Biden.
November 7, 2020 — Major news networks declare Joe Biden the President-elect of the United States.
III. Crisis and Intelligence Breakdown (2021–2022)
January 6, 2021 — Supporters of Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block certification of the Electoral College results.
January 13, 2021 — Trump is impeached a second time for incitement of insurrection.
January 20, 2021 — Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States.
February 13, 2021 — Trump is acquitted in his second Senate impeachment trial.
October 5, 2021 — The CIA sends a cable to stations worldwide warning of an “unusually high number” of informant losses.
February 24, 2022 — Russia launches a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
August 8, 2022 — The FBI executes a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, recovering over 100 classified documents, including Top Secret/SCI material.
IV. Criminal Exposure and Pre-Election Collapse (2023–2024)
March 30, 2023 — Trump is indicted in New York on 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records.
June 8, 2023 — Trump is indicted under the Espionage Act for the willful retention of national defense documents (37 counts, later amended to 40).
August 1, 2023 — Trump is federally indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct official proceedings related to January 6 (4 counts).
August 14, 2023 — Trump is indicted in Georgia under a state RICO statute for election interference (13 counts).
May 30, 2024 — Trump is convicted on 34 felony counts in the New York hush money case.
October 2024 — Trump allies publicly call for dismantling the U.S. intelligence community.
November 5, 2024 — Donald Trump is re-elected President of the United States.
V. Constitutional Breakdown and Authoritarian Shift (2025)
February 6, 2025 — Judge Aileen Cannon dismisses the federal classified documents case.
February 14, 2025 — The Special Counsel drops remaining charges related to the Mar-a-Lago documents.
February 2025 — Vice President JD Vance criticizes NATO and European allies at the Munich Security Conference.
February 2025 — Trump announces the end of all U.S. support for Ukraine, effectively aligning the United States with Russian interests.
March 11–15, 2025 — Senior Trump administration officials use Signal to coordinate airstrikes in Yemen. A journalist is inadvertently added to the Signal group, exposing classified conversations (SignalGate).
March 15, 2025 — Black Saturday: The Trump administration ignores a federal court order halting deportation flights, setting a precedent for executive defiance of the judiciary.
March 24, 2025 — The Atlantic publishes a redacted transcript of SignalGate conversations, revealing grave national security breaches.
March 27, 2025 — Vladimir Putin declares that Greenland may fall under the U.S. “sphere of influence,” further inflaming geopolitical tensions.
Criminal Liability Summary
Total Charges: 91 felony counts across four criminal cases:
- 34 counts in New York related to falsifying business records
- 40 federal counts under the Espionage Act
- 4 federal charges related to January 6
- 13 Georgia state charges for election interference
Convictions:
- 34 felony convictions in New York (May 30, 2024)
Status:
- As of 2025, Trump is a legally convicted felon; federal charges in the documents case were dropped following Judge Cannon’s dismissal and the Special Counsel’s decision not to proceed.
