Trump and a core group of ten to twenty aides, associates, and allies conspired with a hostile foreign power to sell that power control over America’s foreign policy in exchange for financial reward and—eventually—covert election assistance.
A set of Russian, Russian-American, and Soviet-born allies, many of whom are known criminals, rescued the family from its business struggles in the recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s, when many U.S. banks were declining to lend to the Trump Organization.
On returning from a business trip to Moscow in 1987, Trump spent nearly $100,000 on politically charged newspaper ads, attacking American allies like Japan and Saudi Arabia for spending too little on their own defense.
Once Trump’s companies recovered from a string of bankruptcies in 1991 and 1992, he returned his attention to the Russian market and announced plans for a Trump International–branded building in November 1996; the deal saw him invest $250 million and license his name to two buildings. When the deal fell through, he became associated (“indirectly or directly,” in Trump's own words) with Putin, helping the oligarch to secure a win for Russian contestant (who is rumoured to be having an affair with Putin) in the Miss Universe pageant owned by Trump. After winning, she was dethroned 120 days later because of her involvement in unspecified criminal conduct. The Express later noted that Trump had “[taken] an interest in Ms. Fedorova,” and that after her victory he “took care of her” as her handler.” It may be coincidence, but Fedorova's criminal boss boyfriend, Vladimir Golubev, has business ties to Trump's construction interests.
Soon after, a close criminal aide to Putin, Felix Sater, takes up a position delivering Russian clients and partners to Trump, including for the biggest Trump construction project of the 2000s, Trump SoHo (which also targeted investors from the United Arab Emirates and was later sue for deceptive sales practices involving Don Jr.
Soon after, a close criminal aide to Putin, Felix Sater, takes up a position delivering Russian clients and partners to Trump, including for the biggest Trump construction project of the 2000s, Trump SoHo (which also targeted investors from the United Arab Emirates and was later sue for deceptive sales practices involving Don Jr.
Meanwhile, Paul Manafort moved into a forty-third-floor apartment in Trump Tower, at a time when he is making millions working for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine. Manafort had previously proposed in a confidential strategy plan that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and former Soviet republics to benefit President Vladimir Putin’s government. He is paid $10 million in 2006 by close Putin ally Oleg Deripaska — the same year he buys his apartment in Trump Tower. Trump wasted no time signing a one-year development deal with Sater's Bayrock Group for a Trump Tower Moscow in 2005; though the deal fell through, a site had been selected.
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