This is a timeline of major events in second half of 2019 related to the investigations into the myriad links between Trump associates and Russian officials that are suspected of being inappropriate, relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8, and the transition, the first and second halves of 2017, the first and second halves of 2018, and the first half of 2019, but precedes that of 2020 and 2021.
These events are related to, but distinct from, Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections.
January–June 2019
July–December 2019 July July 1: Judge Friedrich rules that the Mueller Report and government public statements about it violate a standing court rule against prejudicial public statements and could unfairly prejudice a jury in the Concord Management and Consulting case, but also says that time will cure the injury. He issues an order limiting further government public statements about the case. July 2: Kogan drops his March 15 defamation suit against Facebook in order to avoid the high costs of lengthy litigation. July 8: The White House blocks former chief of staff to ex-White House counsel McGahn Annie Donaldson, whose contemporaneous notes are cited 65 times in the Mueller report, from answering 212 questions about potential obstruction of justice by Trump. July 9: It is reported the DoJ is attempting to discourage Aaron Zebley and James L. Quarles, two of Robert Mueller's deputies, from testifying before Congress. July 11: The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on authorizing subpoenas for 12 of Robert Mueller's witnesses; including Kushner, Sessions, Rosenstein, Flynn, Kelly, Lewandowski, as well as Dylan Howard and David Pecker, two executives at American Media, Inc., and Keith Davidson, an attorney who previously represented Stormy Daniels. July 12: The FTC fines Facebook $5 billion for mishandling users' personal information, including missteps involving Cambridge Analytica. July 15: The trial of Bijan Kian, Flynn's business partner, begins in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Kian is accused of acting as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government while a member of the Trump transition team. The Senate Intelligence Committee interviews FBI special agent in charge at the Mueller investigation David Archey. July 16: Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa tells CNN that his government knew in 2016, that Assange was interfering in the U.S. election. The Ukrainian Sixth Administrative Court of Appeals overturns the December 12, 2018 ruling by the Kyiv Administrative District Court, that National Anti-Corruption Bureau director Artem Sytnyk and member of the Ukrainian Parliament Serhiy Leshchenko acted illegally when they revealed that Manafort's name and signature were in Yanukovych's "black ledger". July 18: ABC News reports that the Trump administration is again invoking executive privilege to block intelligence committees from seeing classified Mueller documents. July 21: On Fox News Sunday, Chairman Nadler says: "The [Mueller] report presents very substantial evidence that the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors ..." July 22: In a phone call, Giuliani and Volker pressure Ukrainian President Zalensky adviser Andriy Yermak to get Zelenskyy to announce investigations into claims that Ukraine interfered in the U.S. 2016 presidential election to hurt Trump, as well as corruption claims involving Joe Biden. July 23: Kian is found guilty of illegally lobbying for Turkey and conspiring with Flynn and Alptekin to cover up his activities. Federal Judge Anthony J. Trenga announces he will rule on September 5 whether he will throw out the convictions for lack of evidence. Sentencing is set for October 18. July 24: Mueller testifies before the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees. Mueller reiterated his concern over foreign interference in U.S. elections, which he considered a serious threat. Senate Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith blocks two election security bills and a cybersecurity measure. Mitch McConnell blocks the two election security measures.
July 25: House Oversight and Reform Committee votes to subpoena senior White House officials' communications via private email accounts and messaging applications. Senate Intelligence report on Russian interference in the 2016 election made public. The report found the Russian government directed extensive activity, beginning in at least 2014 and carrying into at least 2017, against U.S. election infrastructure at the state and local level. The report recommends additional funding through Congress for states to improve election security once the $380 million appropriated in 2018 is spent. Trump calls President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which later in September sparks the Trump–Ukraine scandal. Vice President Mike Pence's representative Keith Kellogg, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were on the call. Approximately 90 minutes after Trump's call, senior budget official Michael Duffey tells Pentagon officials that Trump is personally interested in the Ukraine aid and has ordered the hold himself. In the phone call, Trump asks Zelenskyy to investigate CrowdStrike, the company that investigated the 2016 DNC server break-in by the GRU, and makes reference to a server allegedly located in Ukraine. He tells Zelenskyy to contact Barr for more details. This is widely interpreted by the press as a reference to debunked conspiracy theories propagated by Russian media and Roger Stone, among others, that say the reason the DNC didn't give the server to the FBI for analysis is because it is located in Ukraine. The same conspiracy theories also claim the company is owned by a wealthy Ukrainian. July 26: Senate Intelligence Committee's new report on election interference concluded Russia probably targeted the election systems in all 50 states in the 2016 elections. House Judiciary Committee asks judge Beryl Howell to unseal Mueller's secret grand jury evidence. Trump calls Boris Johnson to congratulate him on becoming the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. On the call, he asks Johnson to help him discredit the Mueller investigation. July 30: U.S. District Judge John Koeltl dismisses the DNC's April 20, 2018, lawsuit accusing the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks of working with Russia to disseminate stolen DNC documents. Judge Koeltl said the dissemination was protected by the First Amendment because they were not involved in stealing the material. The DNC suit alleged that only Russia was involved in the theft.
August August 2: Giuliani meets with Zelenskyy aide Andrey Yermak in Madrid to discuss the investigations of Zlochevsky and of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election that Trump wants the Ukrainian government to pursue. August 6: Judge Jackson dismisses one of the charges against Gregory Craig. She writes that there is ambiguity over whether the FARA statute applies to a document Craig wrote in 2013 that contains materially false information. Strzok files suit against the FBI and the DOJ over his firing. His complaint asserts that he was denied due process under the 5th amendment because he wasn't given the opportunity to appeal his discharge, and that the release of his text messages violated the Privacy Act. The complaint argues that his firing was politically motivated because it ignored a recommendation from the Office of Professional Responsibility that he be demoted or suspended without pay for 60 days. August 7: House Judiciary Committee sues McGahn to testify before Congress, claiming he is the "most important witness, other than the president," regarding their investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Trump. McCabe files suit against the FBI and the Justice Department over his firing. His complaint asserts that he was illegally demoted and fired as part of a plan by Trump to remove people who are not loyal to him. August 8: Per the request for House Financial Services and the House Intelligence Committees; Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo turn over documents relating to Russians who may have had dealings with the Trump Organization, and/or Trump and his family. Some of the banks also turned over documents to New York state investigators. For the first time publicly, Nadler states the panel is conducting an impeachment inquiry into Trump. The FBI releases its 302 reports on interviews with Bruce Ohr. The interviews were conducted from November 21, 2016, through May 15, 2017.
August 12: A whistleblower in the U.S. intelligence community files a complaint alleging "the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election." August 13: Around this date, US ambassador to the European Union Gordon D. Sondland and U.S. State Department special envoy to Ukraine Kurt D. Volker work on drafting a statement for the Ukrainian president that commits Ukraine to investigating Hunter Biden and interference by Ukrainians in the 2016 U.S. election. Giuliani and a top aide to the Ukrainian president are aware of the statement. The Ukrainian government never releases the statement, and it is unclear whether they received it. August 15: The House Judiciary Committee issues subpoenas to Lewandowski and Rick Dearborn to testify before the committee on September 17. It is reported Trump is considering invoking executive privilege again, despite Lewandowski having never worked in the White House. Gregory B. Craig's trial begins in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He is accused of lying to federal investigators about the work Skadden performed for Manafort and Viktor Yanukovych. August 22: Giuliani confirms the State Department assisted his efforts in pressing the government of Ukraine to probe Democratic opponents of president Trump, regarding Manafort information release. August 26: The House Judiciary Committee subpoenas Rob Porter. August 27: Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson summarizes the whistleblower complaint to Paul B. Murphy, Wray's chief of staff at the FBI.
September September 4: Craig is acquitted on all counts. Atkins sends deputy assistant director of the FBI Stacey Moy a criminal referral alleging Trump committed crimes related to the July 25 Ukraine phone call. Nunes files a racketeering lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the Campaign for Accountability and Glen Simpson. The suit claims that they conspired to ruin his reputation by filing an ethics complaint against him in retaliation for his work on the House Intelligence Committee in which he impugned the integrity of Simpson's firm, Fusion GPS. September 9: The House Judiciary committee releases formal parameters of its impeachment investigation. It is reported the House Intelligence committee is accusing Flynn of failing to comply with its subpoena. It is reported the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees are investigating reported efforts by Trump and Giuliani "to pressure the government of Ukraine to assist" Trump's re-election campaign. It is reported a former senior Russian official, who was a top CIA asset, and was instrumental to the agency's conclusion that Putin orchestrated the interference in the 2016 presidential election, was extracted from inside Russia in 2017, due to concern over Trump's disclosures of classified information, possibly endangering the asset. September 11: The House Judiciary Committee approves a resolution defining the rules for its impeachment investigation into Trump. September 12: Judge Trenga considers ruling on Kian's convictions for lack of evidence.