Watergate

• June 17, 1972, Nixon was only months away from what turned out to be a smashing re-election victory, four men broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office building in Washington.

• May 17, 1973, committee -- formally called the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities -- began its hearings the goal to investigate the questionable activities of the 1972 Nixon re-election campaign.

• May 18, 1973, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox is assigned

• July 13 revelation by Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield of secretly recorded phone conversations by the president, Cox insisted that the White House turn over the tapes. The White House refused, but Cox persisted.

• Oct. 20, 1973, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox; Richardson, who originally hired Cox, refused and resigned instead. Then the job of firing Cox went to Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. He too refused and was himself fired. Finally, Nixon got Solicitor General Robert Bork to carry out the order. The chain of events became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre," and was seen as the true beginning of the end for Nixon’s presidency.

• Nov. 1, 1973, Leon Jaworsk became the Watergate special prosecutor after the firing of Archibald Cox

• July 24, 1974, the impeachment hearings became nationally televised.

• July 30, the third article of impeachment passed: contempt of Congress for defying its subpoenas. The full House was on course to impeach the president.

• Aug. 9, 1974, Nixon headed that off by resigning

So, the time line from the incident to resignation was 2 years and about a month.

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Russiagate KrimlinGate

• March 3, 2016: Trump taps Sessions to chair his campaign's national security advisory team.

• March 21: Trump tells The Washington Post editorial board that Walid Phares and Carter Page will be among his campaign's advisers for foreign policy.

• March 28: Trump hires Manafort to head the delegate efforts for his Republican primary campaign.

• May 19: Trump, now the presumptive GOP nominee, gives Manafort a promotion: campaign chairman and chief strategist.

• June 15: A cybersecurity firm hired by the DNC posts a public notice on its website describing an attack on the political committee's computer network by two groups associated with Russian intelligence.

• June: Private cybersecurity firms provide the FBI with details of the forensic evidence they gathered from DNC servers.

• June 20: After Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is abruptly fired, Manafort emerges as Trump's top campaign official.

• July 8: The Telegraph reports Page gave a lecture in Moscow that slams US policy toward Russia.

• July 11: At an RNC Platform Committee meeting, a Cruz delegate proposes an amendment that called on the US government to send lethal weapons to Ukraine in response to Russian "military aggression" in the region. Trump campaign aides initiated a process to stop that language from officially being adopted, according to CNN reporting.

• Between July 18-21: Sessions meets with Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak twice on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Gordon and Page, national security advisers to the Trump campaign, also meet with Kislyak during the convention. Phares allegedly attends as well, according to a later statement from Gordon.

• July 22, Days before the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks posts nearly 20,000 emails hacked from the DNC server. The documents include notes in which DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz insults staffers from the campaign of Clinton rival Bernie Sanders and messages that suggest the organization was favoring Clinton rather than remaining neutral. Wasserman Schultz resigns in the aftermath of the leak.

• July 25: The FBI announces it has launched an investigation into the DNC hack. US officials tell CNN they think the cyberattack is linked to Russia.

• July 27: At a press conference in Florida, Trump appears to call on Russia to hack Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's private emails: "I will tell you this -- Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens."

• August: The Western European intelligence operations began in August, after the British government obtained information that people acting on behalf of Russia were in contact with members of the Trump campaign. Those details from the British were widely shared among the NATO allies in Europe. Baltic nations have been gathering intelligence for at least that long, and has conducted surveillance of executives from the Trump Organization who were traveling in Europe.

• The sources said the intercepted communications are not just limited to telephone calls: The foreign agency is also gathering electronic and human source information on Trump’s overseas business partners, at least some of whom the intelligence services now consider to be agents of their respective governments. These operations are being conducted out of concerns that Russia is seeking to manipulate its relationships with Trump administration officials as part of a long-term plan to destabilize the NATO alliance.

• August 5: Roger Stone, an informal Trump adviser, writes a column for Breitbart News that repeats claims that Guccifer 2.0 -- and not Russia -- was behind the DNC hacks. US officials believe that Guccifer 2.0 is a front for Russian military intelligence.

• August 8: During an event in Florida, Stone boasts in a speech that he "has communicated with (WikiLeaks founder Julian) Assange," and that more documents would be coming, including an "October surprise."

• August 14: The New York Times reports on $12.7 million in secret cash payments earmarked for Manafort from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

• August 14-17: Stone exchanges private messages with Guccifer 2.0 on Twitter after the hacker was briefly banned from the social media platform. Months later, Stone posted two screenshots of the conversation on his blog and downplayed the exchange.

• August 19: CNN reports that FBI and Justice Department prosecutors are conducting an investigation into possible US ties to alleged corruption of the former pro-Russian President of Ukraine, including the work of Manafort's firm. That same day, Manafort resigns his position on Trump's campaign.

• August 21: In a Twitter post, Stone alludes to upcoming trouble for Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, saying "Trust me, it will soon (be) Podesta's time in the barrel."

• September 8: Sessions meets again with Kislyak at his Senate office sometime during the month.

• October 3-5: Stone sends two additional cryptic tweets predicting that action from Julian Assange and WikiLeaks will soon release more materials harmful to Clinton. "Payload coming," he tweeted.

• October 7: WikiLeaks releases the first batch of emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. The anti-secrecy website went on to release thousands of additional emails on a near-daily basis for the duration of the election season.

• October 10: Trump says he "loves" WikiLeaks during a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, just days after the first batch of hacked Podesta emails are released.

• November 18: Trump as President-elect appoints Flynn as his national security adviser.

• December: Trump's senior aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Flynn sit down at Trump Tower with Kislyak, according to a senior administration official, who describes it as an "introductory meeting" and "kind of an inconsequential hello." The meeting lasts about 10 minutes, the official says.

• December 1: CNN reports that Manafort has reemerged in Trump's orbit as a player shaping the new administration during the presidential transition period.

• December 12: CNN reports that Russian hackers accessed computer accounts of Republican lawmakers and GOP organizations. A source with knowledge of the investigation says that even though hackers breached the GOP computers, they opted not to release documents.

• December 19: Kislyak and Flynn have a conversation in the wake of the shooting of the Russian ambassador to Turkey in which Flynn expresses his condolences, according to a Trump transition official.

• December 25: Kislyak and Flynn exchange holiday pleasantries via text message on Christmas, according to multiple transition officials.

• December 28: The Russian ambassador texts Flynn, according to a transition official.

• Dec. 29: Obama announced sanctions against Russia, included the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian intelligence officers from the United States, and the forced closure of Russian-owned compounds in Maryland and New York used as resortlike retreats for that country's spies and diplomats.

• Dec. 29: Michael Flynn, already named as Trump's national security adviser, talks by phone with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

• Dec 30: Putin announces Russia will not retaliate to U.S. sanctions, surprising everyone and spurring a U.S. investigation

• Jan. 5, 2017: FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper briefed Obama and a small group of his top White House advisers on the contents of a classified intelligence report showing that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump. That's when White House officials learned that the FBI was investigating the Flynn-Kislyak calls. "The Flynn-Kislyak relationship was highlighted," a former senior U.S. official said, adding that the bureau made clear "that there was an actual investigation" underway.

• January 6: The top US intelligence agency releases a report concluding that Putin ordered a cyber campaign to help Trump and hurt Clinton in the US presidential election. The report also said the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU "used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com" to release material to influence the election "and relayed material to WikiLeaks."

• January 10: At Sessions' Senate confirmation hearing to become attorney general, Sen. Al Franken asks about a CNN report about intelligence community information that Trump campaign officials were in constant communication with Russians during the campaign. Sessions offers that he was a surrogate but never in contact with Russians.

• Jan. 12: an op-ed by Washington Post evealed Flynn's calls with Kislyak and called for an explanation from the White House on whether the two men had discussed sanctions.

• Jan. 14: Flynn assures Mike Pence that he and Kislyak did not discuss sanctions, according to Pence.

• Jan. 15: Pence tells "Fox News Sunday": "I talked to General Flynn yesterday, and the conversations that took place at that time were not in any way related to the new U.S. sanctions against Russia or the expulsion of diplomats."

• Jan. 19: Clapper and Brennan made the case to Comey for informing the Trump team about Flynn. The FBI director pushed back primarily on the grounds that notifying the new administration could complicate the agency's investigation.

• January 23: Spicer, now the White House press secretary, reiterates that Flynn told him sanctions were not discussed in the calls. Three days after Trump officially becomes president, US officials say investigators are scrutinizing several calls between Flynn and Russia's ambassador.

• Jan. 26: Yates notified White House counsel Donald McGahn about the concerns that she and the former intelligence chiefs had about Flynn's misrepresentations to Pence and others. McGahn, in turn, informed Trump, leading to a review of whether Flynn had violated any laws. White House lawyers quickly concluded that no laws had been broken, according to Spicer.

• Feb. 8: Flynn categorically denies to a reporter that he had discussed sanctions with Kislyak. The Senate confirms Sessions to be the US attorney general.

• Feb. 9: A spokesman amends Flynn's denial, saying he "indicated that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn't be certain that the topic never came up." Pence finds out he had been misled by Flynn, according to two administration officials.

• February 10: An aide close to Flynn says he cannot rule out that the adviser spoke about sanctions on the call with Kislyak. On the same day, Trump says he is unaware of reports that Flynn may have spoken about sanctions during the calls and says he will "look into that." A US official then confirms that Flynn and Kislyak did speak about sanctions, among other matters.

• About 5 p.m., Feb. 13: Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway says the White House has "full confidence" in Flynn. Meanwhile, Spicer, right, says Trump is "evaluating the situation."

• 8:17 p.m., Feb. 13, 2017: The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department had told the White House in January that because Flynn had misled Pence about his communications with the Russian diplomat, he "might be vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow."

• 11 p.m., Feb. 13: Flynn resigns

• Fed 14: The New York Times reports that Trump Campaign Aides in Constant Contact With Russian Intelligence During Campaign

• Feb 14: Pence was told about Flynn warning from DOJ 15 days after Trump, on Thursday, white house sources say

• Feb 15: Reports surfaced confirming a Baltic nation is gathering intelligence on officials in the Trump White House and executives with the president’s company, the Trump Organization, out of concern that an American policy shift toward Russia could endanger its sovereignty, according to a third person with direct ties to that nation’s government. The Baltic nation has been gathering intelligence for at least since August 2016, and has conducted surveillance of executives from the Trump Organization who were traveling in Europe.

Some details about Trump’s business partners were passed to the American government months ago. For example, long before the president’s inauguration, German electronic surveillance determined that the father of Trump’s Azerbaijani business partner is a government official who laundered money for the Iranian military; that information was shared with the CIA, according to a European source with direct knowledge of the situation.

Of equal concern to our allies is Trump’s business partner in the Philippines, who is also the special representative to Washington of that country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte. This government official, Jose E.B. Antonio, is the head of Century Properties, which in turn is a partner with the president’s business in the construction of Trump Tower at Century City in Makati, Philippines. According to people with direct knowledge of the situation, a European intelligence service has obtained the contracts and other legal documents in the deal between the Trump Organization and Antonio. That deal has already resulted in large payments to Trump’s business, with millions of dollars more on the way–all coming from an agent of the Philippine president.

• February 16: FBI officials tell CNN that they do not plan to pursue charges against Flynn barring any new information,

• Feb 16: Trump stepped up his war Thursday on the officials leaking information about his presidency, vowing that they will be caught and punished. "The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers!" the president tweeted. "They will be caught!" He has announced he plans to assign a New York billionaire to lead a broad review of American intelligence agencies, according to administration officials, an effort that members of the intelligence community fear could curtail their independence and reduce the flow of information that contradicts the president’s worldview.

• Feb 19: News broke that Trump advisors crafted a plan to overthrow the Ukrainian government, legitimize the Russian invasion of Crimea, and end sanctions on Russia. A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia. Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul D. Manafort.

• February 24: CNN reports that the FBI rejected a recent White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between Trump's associates and Russians known to US intelligence during the 2016 campaign.

• February 27: Members of the House Intelligence Committee sign off on a plan to investigate Russia's alleged interference in the US elections, which includes examining contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia, and looking into who leaked the details. Committee chairman Devin Nunes brushes off calls by Democrats for an independent investigation.

• March 1: The Washington Post first reports that Sessions, now the attorney general, met twice with Kislyak in 2016.

• March 2: Sessions recuses himself from any investigations relating to Russia and the Trump campaign. USA Today reports that Gordon and Page met with Kislyak during the Republican convention in July. Gordon tells CNN that, along with national security advisers Page and Phares, he stressed to the Russian envoy that he would like to improve relations with Russia. "This is not any different than anything I said publicly and on panels," Gordon says. Page confirms in an MSNBC interview that he met with Kislyak in Cleveland.

• March 3: Russia echoes Trump's contention that the controversy over contacts between Kremlin officials and Trump's campaign is "a witch hunt."

• March 4: Trump tweets "Obama has my wires tapped in Trump Tower during the campaign", calling him a 'bad (sick) guy'. Calls for investigations.

• March 5: Kushner and Flynn met with the Russian ambassador to the United States at a time when the Trump administration's relationship with the Russians was under close scrutiny, a senior administration official says.

• March 10: The White House acknowledges that President Donald Trump's transition team was aware that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn engaged in work that would likely require him to register his consulting firm as a foreign agent before Flynn was tapped to serve as national security adviser.

• March 16: Flynn was paid more than $33,750 by Russia's state-run broadcaster RT TV-Russia for a speech in Moscow in December 2015, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, says. The US intelligence community has long assessed RT to be a propaganda tool of the Kremlin.

• March 19: The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked Trump adviser Roger Stone to preserve any records he might have that could be related to the panel's investigation into Russian actions targeting the US election

• March 20: FBI Director James Comey confirms publicly for the first time that the FBI is investigating Russian interference in the election and the President of the United States, and his campaign team, are under investigation for colluding or coordinating with a foreign power to undermine the democratic processes and sway the results of the 2016 election. We also found out from the FBI, NSA, and DOJ that no, Obama did not wiretap Trump. That was a ridiculous lie.

• March 21: House Intelligence Committee says they see "circumstantial evidence of collusion and direct evidence of deception.

• March 22: House Intelligence Committee lets us know there is now "Much more than circumstantial evidence" - hinting at direct evidence of collusion within the Trump team. We also learned from the FBI that they now believe "The Trump campaign was coordinating with Russia in timing the release of the information from the hacks to when they needed the push the most.