Russia Overview
Trump's deep affection for the authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin has been a matter of intense national scrutiny since the latter stages of the 2016 Presidential campaign. This story has been gathering speed since Trump's inauguration and is now the subject of numerous investigations. RAGEPATH is pursuing its own investigation into Trump's Russian ties. We will keep you updated as conclusive evidence becomes available.
We strongly recommend the ongoing public investigation maintained by the office of Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee.[1] We also strongly recommend Talking Points Memo as an excellent source for current and comprehensive information on investigations into Trump's ties with Russia. [2]
Contents
- 1 RAGEPATH Speculation on Trump and Russia
- 2 1985: Trump Volunteered to Negotiate Arms Treaty with USSR
- 3 1986: Trump Met Russian Ambassador, Planned Partnership with Soviet Government
- 4 1987: Trump Called for Linking Alliances to Cash
- 5 1987: Trump Traveled to Moscow
- 6 1987: Trump Attended State Department Lunch With Gorbachev
- 7 1988: Gorbachev Visited New York City
- 8 1996: Trump Explored Moscow Development Deal
- 9 1999: Trump Denounced Boris Yeltsin
- 10 Miscellaneous
- 11 Footnotes and Citations
RAGEPATH Speculation on Trump and Russia
Warning: This section contains unproven speculation. It represents major "working hypotheses" that shape RAGEPATH's investigative efforts. We will update our readers if we find evidence that conclusively disconfirms elements of these hypotheses.
- Here at RAGEPATH, we suspect that Trump has been an "asset" of Soviet and Russian intelligence services since the 1980s.
- We suspect that Trump was first introduced to Soviet intelligence agents by Roy Cohn, a close Trump confidante who once served as an attorney for Joe McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee.
- We suspect that Trump's relationship with Soviet intelligence agents was likely disrupted by the twin turmoils of Trump's bankruptcy in the early 90s and the Soviet Union's collapse.
- We suspect that Trump's relationship with Russian intelligence services resumed in the mid-90s, as Trump began to explore the development of a Trump Tower East in Russia.
- We suspect that CIA informant Felix Sater joined the Trump Organization because Trump was already involved with Russian intelligence assets of interest to the CIA. We suspect Sater was sent to Trump to cultivate Trump's connections.
- We suspect that Trump's business ties with Russian intelligence agents informed his highly public antipathy towards Russia's democratically-elected President Boris Yeltsin.
- We suspect that Putin's ascension from the Russian intelligence service to the presidency of Russia was a boon for Trump. While we don't think Trump and Putin knew one another personally, many of Trump's associates in the Russian intelligence services would have substantially enhanced their influence following Putin's rise to power.
- We believe that Trump would have been considered an "asset," not an "agent" - a useful but unpredictable source of vital intelligence. For his part, Trump may have traded information for information - not cash.
- Trump's 2004 role on "The Apprentice" raised his international profile substantially. Many people around the world came to see Trump as the embodiment of American business. We suspect that the Russian regime began to see Trump as a potential PR asset that could improve the regime's image abroad.
- Trump was overexposed to the U.S. real estate market as the Great Recession hit in 2008. We suspect that Russian intelligence officials saw an opportunity to cultivate a closer relationship with Trump by providing him with financial support and that this support explains how Trump averted a second financial collapse.
- We believe that during the Great Recession, the Russian regime used Trump as a public relations asset. We suspect Russian agents arranged for several high-profile deals in former Soviet Republics where the Russian regime was seeking to bolster its popular credibility and influence.
- We believe Russian officials would have avoided direct financial transactions with Trump, as they would have tarnished his credibility as an American "validator" of their regime. We have identified a set of criteria for suspicious transactions that may have stemmed from Moscow:
- Transactions involving intermediaries who are removed by two or more degrees from the Russian regime. Many of the intermediaries may have been out of favor with the Russian regime and directed money to Trump either (a) as a way to cultivate favor with Moscow or (b) in response to pressure from Moscow. Other counter-parties in Trump transactions may have had broad financial interests linked to Russia that would allow them to take a loss in one transaction that could be offset by an equivalent gain in a separate and apparently unrelated transaction.
- Transactions suspiciously lop-sided in favor of Trump. Such deals would bolster Trump's image as a consummate deal maker while creating "plausible deniability" that the transaction was in fact meant as a payment to Trump.
- Transactions involving parties who have conducted other big deals with prominent Western supporters of Russia. Trump is presumably not unique as an international asset, and his counter-parties in transactions may have been involved in similar business deals with Western figures who have been supportive of Russian political interests.
- Transactions taking place entirely overseas. Trump has direct ownership of few international assets. Trump's overseas assets are clustered in the United Kingdom and the Caribbean. Entirely foreign transactions may have been designed to prevent tainted money from "touching shores" with the United States.
- Transactions utilizing known money-laundering shelters. Many real estate transactions in the United States and abroad allow for substantial sums of money to exchange hands without identifying the true source of the cash involved. Large deals between Trump and shadowy companies lacking any other business history should raise red flags.
- We believe that Trump hosted the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow to deflect Western criticism of the Russian regime's legislation restricting the rights of gays and lesbians in Russia. Laws restricting the rights of gays and lesbians were enacted in the summer of 2013 and prompted calls in the Western world for a boycott of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.
- We suspect that Trump would have sought to avoid receiving payments from the Russian regime that he would have been required to report on his financial disclosure statements. Trump's first financial disclosure was released in July of 2015 and covered the previous year. Trump first began taking active measures to campaign for President in the summer of 2013. It is possible that Trump and Russia had a "settling of accounts" during the period from summer of 2013 to summer of 2014, in which he struck a cluster of deals in order to "close the books" with his Russian contacts without having to reveal the transactions.
- We suspect that Trump's affinity for Russia's autocratic regime stems from his long-standing ties to the Russian intelligence services and his sense of loyalty to business partners. No direct conspiracy between Trump and Putin is required to account for the public behavior we have witnessed. The same cannot necessarily be said for junior figures in either man's orbit. People affiliated with Trump have clearly taken payments from agents associated with the Russian regime in order to advance specific goals. On the Russian side, some of the suspicious activity we have witnessed may have originated with subordinates of Putin conducting operations on their own authority in the hopes of advancing their personal standing with the regime.
1985: Trump Volunteered to Negotiate Arms Treaty with USSR
Trump Wanted to Negotiate Nuclear Alliance with USSR
“ Trump has said he would like to be the U.S. negotiator in arms talks with the Soviets. "Some people have an ability to negotiate," he says. "It's an art you're basically born with. Either you have it or you don't.
"I feel for the first time in many years we're in a position to negotiate a really good treaty. I've been involved in studying the issue for years. I feel very knowledgable about the issues." And the issue, he says, is not so much the United States vs. the Soviet Union as it is both superpowers against a Third World country which gains nuclear capability. "I've never actually recommended myself as a negotiator," Trump says, "but I think what we need is someone who really knows the issues and knows how to negotiate." (Associated Press, February 24, 1985) ”Trump Credited Roy Cohn for Idea
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