Politics

Timeline: The who, what, where of the sprawling Mueller investigation

Key events from the report and court filings in chronological order

By Youjin Shin
Youjin Shin
Graphics reporter
, Chiqui Esteban
Chiqui Esteban
Graphics director
 and Dan Keating
Dan Keating
Reporter on data/graphics

This timeline lists highlights of the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III as revealed in indictments, guilty pleas and the redacted Mueller report.

The timeline divides the highlights into three categories: the question of obstruction of justice, Russian contacts with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and administration, and Russian interference in the election through an “active measures” social media campaign and hacking of Democratic Party computers. The timeline also includes landmark public events for context, such as the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations and the election.

The notes here are brief summaries of the official report and court filings, and only selected events are included. The original documents are linked so the timeline can lead you to the detailed records.

Select any of these storylines to show only the highlights under that topic.

Russian interference
How a Russian troll farm impersonated Americans to influence the presidential campaign and create confrontation among American voters.
Russian interference
How a Russian troll farm impersonated Americans to influence the presidential campaign and create confrontation among American voters.
Russian contacts
How different people in Donald Trump's orbit reached out to Russia and the chase of the hacked emails that could damage Hillary Clinton and how they tried to hide their contacts.
Russian contacts
How different people in Donald Trump's orbit reached out to Russia and the chase of the hacked emails that could damage Hillary Clinton and how they tried to hide their contacts.
Obstruction
How President Trump actions could have obstructed the investigation on Russian meddling efforts and possible links between Russia and people associated with his campaign.
Obstruction
How President Trump actions could have obstructed the investigation on Russian meddling efforts and possible links between Russia and people associated with his campaign.
Related stories
Who was charged in the Mueller probe and why What we have learned about Trumpworld outreach to Russia since the Mueller investigation began The many contradictions in Trump relationship with Russia Trump Jr.’s Russia meeting: what we know and when we learned it

Chiqui Esteban

Chiqui Esteban works as Graphics Director at The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, he worked as Deputy Director of Art, Graphics and Maps at National Geographic and Graphics Director at The Boston Globe.

Youjin Shin

Youjin Shin works as graphics reporter at The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, she worked as multimedia editor at the Wall Street Journal and a research fellow at the MIT SENSEable city lab.

Dan Keating

Dan Keating analyzes data for projects, stories, graphics and interactive online presentations.

About this story

The information included in the timelines comes from indictments and other court filings from the special counsel investigation of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, as well as other investigations of people in President Trump’s orbit. This timeline focuses on what law enforcement has made public about Trump’s campaign, his political transition and his first months in office. Details about the indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates related to their financial crimes involving the Ukrainian election or Michael Cohen’s tax evasion cases have been left out to keep the focus on the presidential election and the Trump administration. Photo illustrations using photos by Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock (Vladimir Putin), J. Scott Applewhite/AP (Michael Cohen), Noam Galai/Getty Images (George Papadopoulos), Jacquelyn Martin/AP (Roger Stone), Chris Kleponis/AFP/Getty Images (Michael Flynn), Oliver Contreras/Post (Donald Trump), Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images (Donald Trump Jr.), Andrew Harnik/AP (James Comey).

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