The Russian government conducted foreign electoral interference in the 2016 United States elections with the goals of sabotaging the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the presidential
ODNI declassified report Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections
American intelligence agencies concluded that Russian president Vladimir Putin personally ordered the covert operation, code named Project Lakhta, while Putin denied the allegations. At the 2018 Helsinki summit, Putin said that he wanted Trump to win because he talked about normalizing the U.S.–Russia relationship.
The Russian Institute for Strategic Studies began working for the Russian presidency after 2009.
Initially in 2016 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "I think the idea that fake news on Facebook influenced the election in any way, I think is a pretty crazy idea."
The Robert Mueller special counsel investigation was a criminal investigation into associates of 45th U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin regarding Russian interference in
Robert Mueller was appointed in May 2017 as special counsel.
Matthew Whitaker, who served as the Acting Attorney General from November 2018 to February 2019
Manafort speaking to media at the 2016 Republican National Convention
President Trump at the G20