The linked article is entitled: "The timeline of Trump's ties with Russia lines up with allegations of conspiracy and misconduct". Where there is smoke, there is fire.
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-russia-ties-michael-flynn-dossier-2017-2Extract: "In July 2016, while Manafort was still Donald Trump's campaign manager, a change was made to the Republican Party's policy on Ukraine. The change fits with the dossier's assertion that the Trump campaign agreed to soften US support for Ukraine in exchange for the Kremlin releasing damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
The Republican National Committee's original draft language on Ukraine proposed sending "lethal weapons" to the Ukrainian army to fend off Russian aggression. But after a sub-committee meeting at the convention, the "lethal weapons" line was softened significantly and changed to "provide appropriate assistance."
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A member of the Republican National Committee present at the meeting, however, confirmed to Business Insider that the change "definitely came from Trump staffers."
The altered Ukraine policy amendment, with the softer language, ultimately was included in the new GOP platform. A few days later, WikiLeaks began publishing the emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign. The timing coincided with the start of the Democratic National Convention the following week.
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Last Tuesday, Politico reported that Flynn will recommend that Trump support the ascension of Montenegro, a small Balkan nation, into NATO. Russia officially opposes such a move. But it aligns with the dossier's suggestion that the Trump White House would support raising commitments "in the Baltics and Eastern Europe to deflect attention away from Ukraine."
Last Thursday, moreover, both The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that Flynn had spoken with Russia's ambassador to the US about the US economic sanctions on Russia before Trump was sworn in — including at least one call on the day President Barack Obama imposed new penalties on Russia for its election-related meddling.
Both Flynn and Vice President Mike Pence initially denied that Flynn and Russia's ambassador discussed US sanctions in these calls. But counterintelligence officials told the Times that they have transcripts of the conversations and that the sanctions were discussed. Flynn has since backtracked on his denial, saying that he doesn't recall exactly what was discussed.
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Rosneft, meanwhile, ultimately signed a deal that was similar to the one the dossier described: On December 7, the oil company sold 19.5% of shares, worth roughly $11 billion, to the multinational commodity trader Glencore Plc and Qatar's state-owned wealth fund. Page was back in Moscow on December 8, one day after the deal was signed, to "meet with some of the top managers" of Rosneft, hetold reporters at the time.
Page's extensive business ties to state-owned Russian companies were investigated by a counterintelligence task force set up last year by the CIA, according to several media reports. The investigation, which is reportedly ongoing, has examined whether Russia was funneling money into Trump's presidential campaign — and, if it was, who was serving as the liaison between the Trump team and the Kremlin."
