Trump. Cambridge Analytica. WikiLeaks. The connections, explained.
Washington (CNN)There is a web of connections between the Trump campaign, the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and the public disclosures it injected into the presidential campaign. Federal investigators are examining some of these relationships and whether any of them were part of an effort to coordinate with Russia's election-meddling campaign.
This week, a new thread emerged: Multiple sources confirmed to CNN that the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, contacted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in summer 2016 to ask for access to emails from Hillary Clinton's private server. Sources told CNN that he asked for the emails because he wanted to catalog them on a searchable database that would be made available to the Trump campaign or a pro-Trump PAC.
There is no evidence WikiLeaks ever hacked or possessed the emails sought by Nix. But the contact alone raises new questions about Cambridge Analytica's potential role in Russia's efforts to undermine Clinton's campaign.
It's a messy situation and, with so many unanswered questions, such as what Cambridge Analytica knew about Wikileaks' Russia connection when it sought Clinton's missing emails. Still, it's important to consider the broader context. The timeline below tracks how things unfolded, based on all we know.
March 10, 2015 -- Clinton acknowledges using private email server
Soon-to-be Democratic presidential candidate Clinton
publicly acknowledged for the first time that she used a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. She also said she deleted about 30,000 emails about personal matters unrelated to her work for the Obama administration. The deleted emails, which have never seen the light of day, later became a flashpoint of the campaign.
June 16, 2015 -- Trump launches presidential campaign
Trump
announced that he is running for president, ending months of rampant speculation. "I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again," he told a crowd at Trump Tower. When he declared his candidacy, Trump was in the middle of the GOP pack, trailing in polls to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio and others.
July 2015 -- Russian hackers breach DNC systems
Hackers working for Russian intelligence services "gained access to" the Democratic National Committee's computer networks as part of the Kremlin's campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential race, according to the
US intelligence community assessment that was published after the election.
March 2016 -- Another group of Russian hackers breach DNC systems
Another group of Russian hackers -- separate from the group that hacked the DNC in 2015 -- breached the DNC's computer systems, according to a
US intelligence reportpublished after the election. The US intelligence community says Russian intelligence related stolen materials from the DNC to WikiLeaks for public release.
CNN reported this year that Russia gave WikiLeaks the emails through an intermediary.
March 19, 2016 -- Russian hackers gain access to Podesta's emails
Russian hackers gained access to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's personal Gmail account by sending a phishing email. The
US intelligence community determined in early 2017 that Russian intelligence later gave WikiLeaks hacked emails from Democratic "political figures," an oblique reference to Podesta.
CNN reported this year that Russia gave WikiLeaks the emails through an intermediary.
May 3, 2016 -- Trump becomes presumptive Republican nominee
After
Trump's victory in the Indiana primary, his main remaining rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, suspended his campaign. By bowing out, Cruz cemented Trump's position as the presumptive GOP nominee.
June 2016 -- Mercer family endorses Trump
The Mercer family, led by Republican megadonor Robert Mercer,
begins supporting Trump's candidacy and starts donating to pro-Trump efforts. The family previously backed Cruz in the GOP primaries.
The family financially backs Cambridge Analytica, which started working for Trump over the summer of 2016. Some members of Cambridge Analytica staff were incorporated in the Trump campaign's data operation team.
June 9, 2016 -- Trump tweets about Clinton's deleted emails
Responding to a quip from Clinton, Trump
posted on Twitter: "How long did it take your staff of 823 people to think that up--and where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted?"
This tweet came the same day that Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner met a group of Russians at Trump Tower. Trump Jr. was told before the meeting that one of the Russians would offer incriminating information about Clinton.
June 15, 2016 -- DNC claims it was hacked by Russian intelligence
The DNC and CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm it hired to investigate the breaches,
revealed publicly for the first time that its servers were penetrated. CrowdStrike said it "identified two sophisticated adversaries on the network" that were associated with Russian intelligence services.
Trump
dismissed the notion that Russia was behind the hacks, saying "we believe it was the DNC that did the 'hacking' as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader. Too bad the DNC doesn't hack Hillary Clinton's 33,000 missing emails."
July 19-21, 2016 -- Republican National Convention is held in Cleveland
Trump
officially became the presidential nominee for the Republican Party during the Republican National Convention, which was held in Cleveland. During the convention, a handful of Trump campaign advisers briefly met with then-Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.
Between July 21 and July 31, 2016 -- Cambridge Analytica CEO emails WikiLeaks
Alexander Nix, the chief executive of data firm Cambridge Analytica, emailed Assange
seeking access to emails from Clinton's private server so he could turn them into a searchable database for the campaign or a pro-Trump political action committee.There is no evidence that Clinton's deleted emails were ever hacked or that WikiLeaks ever had possession of them.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the email was sent in late July 2016 at some point following the Republican National Convention. This was around the same time Cambridge Analytica started working for the Trump campaign as part of its three-pronged data operation based in San Antonio, Texas.
Right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon was a member of the Cambridge Analytica board when Nix sent the email, according to The New York Times. Bannon later became CEO of the Trump campaign and stepped down from the data analytics company. He took a top White House job in January but left over the summer.
July 22, 2016 -- WikiLeaks releases about 20,000 hacked DNC emails
WikiLeaks posted on its website
nearly 20,000 emails that were stolen from the DNC servers. Many of the emails were sent by senior DNC officials. Some of the emails suggested that the DNC favored Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primaries, leading to allegations that the primary was rigged.
July 25-28, 2016 -- Democratic National Convention is held in Philadelphia
Democrats held their convention in Philadelphia and formally selected Clinton as their nominee. The gathering was roiled by the WikiLeaks disclosures, which were released days earlier. The emails upset Sanders supporters, and forced DNC chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wassermann Schultz to
quit her post.
July 25, 2016 -- Trump says it's a "joke" that Russia hacked the DNC
Trump weighed in on the DNC leaks,
saying on Twitter: "The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me."
July 26, 2016 -- NYT reports that the US believes Russia hacked the DNC
The New York Times published a report that claimed US intelligence agencies told the White House that they were highly confident that the Russian government was responsible for hacking the DNC. This was the first public report suggesting that the US government agreed with the DNC's assessment.
July 27, 2016 -- Trump publicly asks Russia to hack Clinton's deleted emails
At a news conference, Trump publicly called on the Russian government to hack Clinton's private email server and reveal the deleted emails. Trump's campaign later said his comment was a joke.
"if it is Russia -- which it's probably not, nobody knows who it is -- but if it is Russia, it's really bad for a different reason, because it shows how little respect they have for our country, when they would hack into a major party and get everything," Trump said. "But it would be interesting to see -- I will tell you this -- Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens. That'll be next."
July 29, 2016 -- Trump campaign pays $100,000 to Cambridge Analytica
The Trump campaign made its first of five payments to Cambridge Analytica, cutting a check for $100,000, according to records from the Federal Election Commission.
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