The Moscow Miss Universe Pageant Timeline
Last Thursday night, just hours after they were given to Congress in response to repeated demands from GOP committee leadership, former FBI Director James Comey’s memos regarding his conversations with President Donald Trump were leaked to the press. One notable revelation was that Trump, unprompted, not only denied having consorted with prostitutes during his trip to Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant but even denied spending the night in the city at all. (Trump, true to form, has denied ever making the claim.)
As Comey told CNN, “It’s always significant when someone lies, especially about something you didn’t ask about.” That’s especially true when the lie is this easy to debunk. In addition to flight records and accounts from other individuals present, social-media records from the weekend show that Trump stayed in Moscow overnight. The timeline below, compiled by the Moscow Project for internal reference in May 2017, clearly documents that Trump arrived in the city on Friday, November 8, and did not land back in the United States until Sunday, November 10 (all times EDT):
Friday, November 8
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- 10:44 a.m.: The Azerbaijani-Russian singer and real-estate executive Emin Agalarov tweets a picture of himself and Trump at Crocus City Hall, welcoming Trump to Moscow
Welcome to Moscow @realdonaldtrump #missuniverse @ Crocus City Hall http://t.co/14GGIc95PO
— emin-music (@eminofficial) November 8, 2013
Saturday, November 9
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- 4:23 a.m.: Agalarov tweets a picture of Trump in the board room of the Moscow Ritz-Carlton, where Trump filmed a cameo for the music video for Agalarov’s song “In Another Life.”
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- 4:44 a.m.: Yulya Alferova, a business associate of the Agalarovs in charge of social media for the pageant, tweets a picture of the MSNBC journalist and Miss Universe Pageant co-host Thomas Roberts recording an interview with Trump at Crocus Hall’s restaurant.
Right now Mr.Trump @realDonaldTrump interviewed by @ThomasARoberts at new restaurant by @eminofficial #missuniverse pic.twitter.com/GCzKboIaeL
— Alferova Yulya (@AlferovaYulyaE) November 9, 2013
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- 5:08 a.m.: The Russian pop singer Philip Karkarov posts a picture of himself with Trump on Instagram, which is cross-posted to Twitter.
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- 5:27 a.m.: The Russian billionaire Artem Klyushin tweets a link to an Instagram video of a press conference with Trump and the Agalarovs.
Official press-conference /video @realDonaldTrump Арас Агаларов @agalarovaras Эмин @eminofficial #MissUniverse http://t.co/abAPHlq7Sf
— АРТЕМ КЛЮШИН (@ARTEM_KLYUSHIN) November 9, 2013
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- 6:04 a.m.: Karkarov tweets now-broken link to Instagram: “unexpected end of the evening after the DR A. Agalarovai K.Sobchak) “ @ OYUA_ALEXSEEVA : Here is gone on a spree @ fkirkorov and @anilorak”
неожиданное окончание вечера после ДР А.Агалароваи К.Собчак)“@OLYA_ALEKSEEVA:Вот как загуляли @fkirkorov и@anilorak http://t.co/Z8ZaahkKTo”
— Филипп Киркоров (@fkirkorov) November 9, 2013
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- 8:47 a.m.: Trump tweets that he is in Moscow for the Miss Universe Pageant.
I’m in Moscow for Miss Universe tonight – picking a winner is very hard, they are all winners. Total sellout of arena. Big night in Russia!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2013
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- 9:21 a.m.: Trump tweets that he was just “given a great tour of Moscow.”
I was just given a great tour of Moscow – fantastic, hard working people. CITY IS REALLY ENERGIZED! The World will be watching tonight!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2013
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- 12:10 p.m.: Alferova tweets a picture of Trump from red carpet at Crocus Hall.
Donald Trump @realdonaldtrump and Agalarov Aras @agalarovaras #missuniverse pic.twitter.com/Tgnj2bNWE8
— Alferova Yulya (@AlferovaYulyaE) November 9, 2013
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- 4:03 p.m.: Klyushin tweets a picture of Trump from the post-pageant red carpet.
Mr.Trump @realDonaldTrump & #missuniverse @mollysler thanks Emin @eminofficial for the show http://t.co/VDRIT4e5j1 pic.twitter.com/o1KvH3y8ra
— АРТЕМ КЛЮШИН (@ARTEM_KLYUSHIN) November 9, 2013
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- 4:05 p.m.: The Miami Herald reporter Joey Flechas tweets that Trump returned call from Moscow
From Moscow, @realDonaldTrump still returns media calls. On #Doral: “I have to respect the mayor and the office of the mayor.” @MiamiHerald
— Joey Flechas (@joeflech) November 8, 2013
Sunday, November 10
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- 8:26 a.m.: Alferova tweets a picture with Trump at a “business lunch.”
Business lunch with Donald Trump @realdonaldtrump, business and real estate development guru! http://t.co/1l0kebRO8l #moscow
— Alferova Yulya (@AlferovaYulyaE) November 10, 2013
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- 9:44 p.m.: Trump tweets that he’s back in U.S.
I just got back from Russia-learned lots & lots. Moscow is a very interesting and amazing place! U.S. MUST BE VERY SMART AND VERY STRATEGIC.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2013
November 11
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- 11:39 a.m.: Trump tweets to Aras Agalarov
@AgalarovAras I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next. EMIN was WOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2013