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Trump Tower Moscow: The Definitive Story Of How Trump's Team Worked The Russian Deal During The Campaign

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  jbb  •  2 years ago  •  46 comments

By:   Anthony Cormier, Jason Leopold (BuzzFeed News)

Trump Tower Moscow: The Definitive Story Of How Trump's Team Worked The Russian Deal During The Campaign
On the day of the third Republican presidential debate, Trump personally signed the letter of intent.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T


On the day of the third Republican presidential debate, Trump personally signed the letter of intent.

By sierratall-v2-12950-1536788127-0_large.jpg?downsize=60:*&output-format=jpg&output-quality=auto by Anthony Cormier

BuzzFeed News Reporter

and sierratall-v2-12880-1536788437-12_large.png?downsize=60:*&output-format=jpg&output-quality=auto by Jason Leopold

BuzzFeed News Reporter

All through the hot summer campaign of 2016, as Donald Trump and his aides dismissed talk of unseemly ties to Moscow, two of his key business partners were working furiously on a secret track: negotiations to build what would have been the tallest building in Europe and an icon of the Trump empire — the Trump World Tower Moscow.

Talks to construct the 100-story building continued even as the presidential candidate alternately bragged about his relationship with Vladimir Putin and rejected suggestions of Russian influence, and as Russian agents worked to sway US public opinion on Trump's behalf.

While fragments of the Trump Moscow venture have trickled out — most recently in a report last night by Yahoo News — this is the definitive story of the Moscow tower, told from a trove of emails, text messages, congressional testimony, architectural renderings, and other documents obtained exclusively by BuzzFeed News, as well as interviews with key players and investigators. The documents reveal a detailed and plausible plan, well-connected Russian counterparts, and an effort that extended from spearfishing with a Russian developer on a private island to planning for a mid-campaign trip to Moscow for the presidential candidate himself.

sub-buzz-24537-1526569708-1.jpg?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Michael Cohen

The tower — a sheer, glass-encased obelisk situated on a river — would have soared above every other building in Moscow, the architectural drawings show. And the sharply angled skyscraper would have climaxed in a diamond-shaped pinnacle emblazoned with the word "Trump," putting his name atop the continent's tallest structure.

Michael Cohen, the president's embattled personal fixer, and Felix Sater, who helped negotiate deals around the world for Trump, led the effort. Working quietly behind the scenes, they tried to arrange a sit-down between Trump and Putin, the documents show. Those efforts ultimately fizzled. But the audacious venture has been a keen focus of federal investigators trying to determine if the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

The tower — a sheer, glass-encased obelisk — would have soared above every other building in Moscow.

Last month, Senate Intelligence Committee staffers peppered Sater for hours with questions about the Trump Moscow project. Sater testified that Cohen acted as the "intermediary" for Trump Moscow and was eager to see the deal through because he wanted to "score points with Trump."

Sater also testified that Trump would regularly receive "short updates about the process of the deal." Cohen has said that he briefed Trump three times on the deal, all before the end of January 2016. Cohen, the White House, and the Trump Organization did not return messages seeking comment.

Special counsel Robert Mueller planned to ask Trump himself about his discussions with Sater and Cohen about the Trump Moscow project, according to the New York Times. One of Mueller's questions was: "What communication did you have with Michael D. Cohen, Felix Sater, and others, including foreign nationals, about Russian real estate developments during the campaign?" Additionally, Mueller intended to query Trump about any discussions he had during the campaign "regarding any meeting with Mr. Putin."

Even before the appointment of Mueller as special counsel in May 2017, FBI agents investigating Russia's interference in the election learned that Cohen was in frequent contact with foreign individuals about Trump Moscow — and that some of these individuals had knowledge of or played a role in 2016 election meddling, according to two FBI agents. The agents declined to name those individuals. Both agents have detailed knowledge about the bureau's work on the collusion investigation that predated Mueller's appointment.

Patrick Mcmullan / Getty Images

Donald Trump and Felix Sater (center) in 2007.

In public statements, Cohen has said that he informed Trump the deal was dead in January 2016, but new records show he was still working on it with Sater at least into June. In May, six weeks before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Sater asked Cohen when he and Trump would go to Moscow. In a text message, Cohen replied: "MY trip before Cleveland. Trump once he becomes the nominee after the convention."

Throughout the nine-month effort, Sater, who was born in the Soviet Union and worked for years as an undercover source for US intelligence agencies and the FBI, told Cohen he had connections to top Russian officials and businessmen: Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, brothers who grew up with Putin and were considered his "shadow cabinet"; Andrey Molchanov, a billionaire Russian politician Sater was introduced to by a close personal friend, who proposed building the tower on his property; and a former member of Russia's military intelligence to whom Sater passed photographs of Cohen's passport to obtain a visa.

Whatever the significance of the negotiations to the election, the men took measures to keep the plans secret. Text messages often ended with a simple "call me." They communicated, at times, via Dust, a secure, encrypted messaging application. Sater once warned that they "gotta keep this quiet."

But now, the story can be told.

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Lingxiao Xie / Getty Images

View of the Lenin mausoleum and the Kremlin.

Spinning in Putin's chair


For three decades , Donald Trump came up short in Moscow.

The first attempt to build a signature tower in the Russian capital was in 1987, when he visited the Soviet Union to scout locations. In 1996, his company announced another "exploratory trip" that came to nothing. In 2005, he set his sights on an abandoned pencil factory before that deal flickered and failed. In 2013, after hosting the Miss Universe pageant there, Trump tweeted, "TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next."

His children tried, as well. Donald Trump Jr. visited six times during an 18-month period beginning in 2008, describing it as a "scary place" to do business because of what he saw as inherent corruption in Russia. During a 2006 visit, Donald Jr. was joined by his sister Ivanka and Sater, who said Trump Sr. asked him to chaperone. At the time, Sater was with a development company called Bayrock Group, which helped scout locations and secure financing for the Trump Organization's licensing deals across the globe.

Ivanka "sat behind the desk, spun in the chair twice, and that was that."

For Ivanka and Donald Jr., Sater arranged a tour of the Kremlin. Sater, as would be the case over and over in his life, had an inside connection. He phoned an old friend, a Russian billionaire, whom he knew through his Bayrock connections. The billionaire sent a fleet of cars and guards to escort them through the Kremlin, and when a tour guide pointed out Putin's office, Ivanka Trump asked if she could sit in his chair at an antique desk. One of the guards said, "Are you crazy?"

"I said, 'What is she going to do, steal a pen?'" Sater recalled. "He let us in. She sat behind the desk, spun in the chair twice, and that was that."

Provided to BuzzFeed News

An architectural rendering of the proposed Trump Tower in Moscow.

The tallest tower in Europe


After Trump announced his candidacy in July 2015, Sater saw the opportunity of a lifetime: Why not parlay the presidential run into a business deal?

"I figured, he's in the news, his name is generating a lot of good press," Sater told BuzzFeed News. "A lot of Russians weren't willing to pay a premium licensing fee to put Donald's name on their building. Now maybe they would be."

The first step was to get the Trump Organization to sign on, so Sater arranged a meeting sometime in September 2015 with Cohen in Manhattan. The two men were old friends who had hung out as teenagers in Brooklyn. Their paths intersected again in the 2000s at Trump Tower, where Sater was an adviser and Cohen later became one of Trump's attorneys. (Sater had once occupied the same office, three doors down from Trump, that Cohen used in Trump Tower.)

Sater said he intended to negotiate an even split between himself and the Trump Organization: as much as $100 million.

The plan was fairly simple. Trump no longer built towers, but he licensed his name and expertise to give real estate projects an air of luxury. These licensing deals were especially lucrative for the Trump Organization, pulling in millions in fees and, often, a cut of the sales. At the meeting in late September, Sater said he agreed to line up the developer and the financing; Cohen would get Trump to sign on the dotted line.

The building, originally called Trump World Tower Moscow, was supposed to be the tallest in Europe at well over 100 stories. Sater said he intended to negotiate an even split between himself and the Trump Organization: as much as $100 million or more, which would have amounted to 30% of the sales. "But first I needed to get more meat on the bones and show the Trump Organization that they needed me," he told BuzzFeed News.

Sater used a network of contacts from his days in both business and intelligence to line up potential suitors. On Oct. 9, he emailed Cohen to say he planned to meet with Molchanov, the billionaire developer, to try to persuade him to provide the land on which to build Trump Moscow. Molchanov did not return a message seeking comment.

On Oct. 12, he again emailed Cohen. Their surrogates in Moscow would be meeting with Putin and a "top deputy" just two days later, and they had financing: VTB Bank President and Chairman Andrey Kostin was on board to fund the project, Sater said in an email.

The bank was a dicey choice. VTB was under US sanctions at the time, with American citizens and companies forbidden to do business with it. Asked by congressional investigators if he knew the bank was blacklisted, Sater responded: "Of course. I wasn't seeking funding, the local development partner would have. Trump Organization never gets financing from local partners."

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"Mr. Kostin or any other VTB Group's senior representatives never held any negotiations on any matter relating to the construction of the Trump Tower," a VTB spokesperson said in a statement. "We'd like to stress that no VTB Group subsidiary ever had any dealings with Mr. Trump, his representatives or any companies affiliated with him."

The licensing agreement came together relatively quickly. Sater turned to a wealthy Moscow developer he knew from the days when Ivanka spun around in Putin's chair: Andrey Rozov. His company, IC Expert, became the developer, and the sides traded proposals. At one point, as the letter of intent was passed back and forth during the negotiations, the Trump Organization changed an upfront fee from $100,000 to $900,000. On Oct. 28, 2015, the day of the third Republican presidential debate, Trump personally signed the letter of intent.

In a celebratory email sent from his Trump Organization account, Cohen asked Sater and Rozov that the "nature and content of the attached LOI not be disclosed" until later and said "we are truly looking forward to this wonderful opportunity."

Mikhail Svetlov / Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg.

"No such thing as a former Russian spy"


About a week after Trump signed the document, Sater and Rozov, the developer, went on vacation to the Bahamas. Rozov rented Little Whale Cay, a private island, for $175,000, and the two men went diving and spearfishing. In an email, Sater told Cohen that another, unidentified friend was flying in to join them. This mystery individual, who is not named in the documents and whom Sater would not identify, knew two of the richest and most powerful men in Russia, the Rotenberg brothers.

In the 1960s, Arkady Rotenberg joined the same judo club as a young Putin, and they have remained close ever since. Arkady Rotenberg now controls a wide swath of interests in Russia, from banking to construction. His younger brother, Boris, controls SGM Group, a massive construction company. Sater saw the mystery man, who had worked with the Rotenbergs, as his entree to the brothers.

"Everything will be negotiated and discussed not with flunkies but with people who will have dinner with Putin."

Over cocktails and cookouts on the island, Sater told BuzzFeed News, he "was pitching the shit" out of the mystery man. Trump had recently praised Putin on TV, so Sater emailed Cohen saying, "Get me the clip." His plan was to have the mystery man pass it to the Rotenbergs. Neither the brothers nor Rozov returned messages seeking comment.

"Everything will be negotiated and discussed not with flunkies but with people who will have dinner with Putin and discuss the issues and get a go-ahead," Sater wrote to Cohen on Nov. 3. "My next steps are very sensitive with Putin's very, very close people. We can pull this off."

On Dec. 1, Sater emailed Cohen, asking him to send him photographs of his passport to facilitate a trip to Moscow.

The following day, reporters for the Associated Press met with Trump on the campaign trail and asked him about Sater. "I'm not that familiar with him," Trump replied.

Negotiations for Cohen to visit Russia began to heat up. On Dec. 13, Sater emailed that he had an old friend on the phone with him right then, who was trying to arrange the trip. This friend is a former member of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence unit that the US intelligence community believes interfered during the 2016 election.

Sater had known the spy for decades. He was one of Sater's most reliable contacts during the two decades he worked as a confidential source for US law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The man, who is not being named because CIA officials say his life could be in jeopardy, delivered to Sater Osama bin Laden's satellite phone numbers in 1998 and, later, handed over photographs of a North Korean official seeking nuclear weapons.

The man is no longer formally associated with the GRU, but Sater told Senate investigators he understands that "there is no such thing as a former Russian spy." The former spy declined to comment.

On Dec. 17, Cohen forwarded a Google alert to Sater. Putin had described Trump as "talented" and "a very colorful man." Cohen wrote: "Now is the time. Call me."

Two days later, Sater told Cohen that their invitations and visas were being arranged by VTB Bank, and that Kostin, the bank's powerful president and chairman, would meet Cohen in Moscow. Key to getting VTB on board was the former GRU spy; Sater told congressional and special counsel investigators that the former spy said he had a source at VTB Bank who would support the deal.

"Kostin will be at all meetings with Putin so that it is a business meeting not political," Sater wrote to Cohen. "We will be invited to the Russian consulate this week to receive invite and have visa issued."

But the Russians still needed Cohen's passport. That afternoon, Cohen sent iPhone photographs of his passport, including the first page with his passport number, photograph, and other identifying details. The pages match those shared with BuzzFeed News last May. Sater told BuzzFeed News that he sent them to the former GRU spy.

On Dec. 19, Sater asked for Trump's passport as well.

Cohen wrote: "After I return from Moscow with you with a specific date for him."

Sater: "What do you mean?"

Cohen: "It's premature for his and I am the one going."

Provided to BuzzFeed News

Architectural renderings of the proposed Trump Tower in Moscow.

"I will not let you fuck with my job"


Around Christmas 2015 , polls had Trump at the top of the Republican ticket.

But Cohen was antsy. He traveled to St. Barts with his family and grew impatient waiting for the invitation to Moscow. Four days after Christmas, he emailed Sater: "No response from Russia?"

The next day: "Where are they?"

Sater: "I'm waiting for them after New Year's."

The two men had known each other since they were roughneck teenagers hanging out in Brooklyn. Sater, who was born in the Soviet Union and came to the US when he was 6, became a stockbroker, lost his license after a bar brawl, then helped scam investors out of $40 million in a stock fraud. He escaped prison time for that crime by becoming a valuable confidential source for US intelligence agencies and the FBI, doing everything from locating al-Qaeda training camps to spying on Russia's military-industrial complex to going undercover to catch cybercriminals.

Cohen, meanwhile, grew up in Long Island, got his law degree, and worked as a personal injury attorney in Queens. He was an owner of a failed casino boat venture in Florida, and his family amassed taxi medallions and real estate holdings in New York City before he landed a job as Trump's personal fixer.

Cohen and Sater grew closer during their time at the Trump Organization. Both men hooked up again sometime in 2006 and were intimately familiar with how the company structured its deals across the globe.

"Not you or anyone you know will embarrass me in front of Mr. T."

But now, Cohen lashed out at his friend with a fusillade of angry text messages on Dec. 30. "One month plus since the signing of the LOI that I wasted my time on. I put the others all on hold and still, despite every conversation with you, nothing." He went on: "I will not let you fuck with my job and playing point person." And he revealed his deep-seated need for Trump's approval: "Not you or anyone you know will embarrass me in front of Mr. T when he asks me what is happening."

Like Cohen, Sater was also supposed to visit St. Barts over the holidays with his family, but he wrote Cohen that he was too hurt and embarrassed by a recent ABC News story that quoted Trump, from a 2013 deposition, saying he wouldn't know Sater if he walked in the room.

Cohen: "I don't give a shit about the story that lasted all of one day. No one picked it up because no one cares."

Sater: "It lasted one day because I kept my mouth shut for you and your team." He added: "The schmuck that I am I said no comment. Because you told me to kill it, and we have bigger fish to fry."

The messages ended with a sharp rebuke from Cohen: "Not going to argue with you. Please don't reach out to anyone any longer regarding this."

But Sater refused to give up. The following morning, New Year's Eve 2015, he sent Cohen an image of a letter from GenBank — not VTB Bank, as they had earlier discussed — inviting the men to Moscow for a visit.

Just nine days earlier, the US Treasury Department had sanctioned GenBank for operating in Crimea after the disputed Russian takeover. GenBank became the first Russian financial institution to move into the Crimean peninsula.

"After almost two months of waiting you send me some bullshit letter from a third-tier bank."

Sater told Cohen that GenBank operates "through Putin's administration and nothing gets done there without approval from the top. The meetings in Moscow will be with ministers — in US, that's cabinet-level and with Putin's top administration people. This likely will include Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary. To discuss goals, meeting agenda and meeting time between Putin and Trump."

Cohen was incensed. "First it was a government invite, then VTB and then some third-rate bank signed by a woman Panamarova with no title. It's like being invited by Independence Savings Bank. Let me do this on my own. After almost two months of waiting you send me some bullshit letter from a third-tier bank and you think I'm going to walk into the boss's office and tell him I'm going there for this? Tell them no thank you and I will take it from here."

Sater: "Michael a lot of work has been done and it's not a third-rate anything."

Cohen: "We're done. Enough. I told you last week that you thinking you are running point on this is inaccurate. You are putting my job in jeopardy and making me look incompetent. I gave you two months and the best you send me is some bullshit garbage invite by some no name clerk at a third-tier bank. So I am telling you enough as of right now. Enough! I will handle this myself."

He added, "Do you think I'm a moron? Do not call or speak to another person regarding MY project."

Alexei Druzhinin

Putin and his spokesman Dmitry Peskov (right).

"We would like to respectfully invite you to Moscow"


Even though Cohen vowed to go with an "alternate," it is unknown whom he meant. Two FBI agents told BuzzFeed News that Cohen spoke to multiple Russians about Trump Moscow. They did not name the individuals, and Sater, who suspected Cohen was working his own sources, said he never learned their identities.

But if Cohen truly had contacts, he didn't act like it. On Jan. 21, he tried to reach Peskov — the Kremlin's press secretary, whom Sater had mentioned in his emails to Cohen — by writing to a general email address for media inquiries.

"I respectfully request someone, preferably you, contact me so that I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals," Cohen wrote to Peskov.

"It's set, they are waiting and will walk you into every office you need to make sure you are comfortable for DT trip."

Peskov later said that he did not respond to Cohen.

Four days later, Cohen received a letter from Andrey Ryabinskiy, a Russian mortgage tycoon and boxing promoter. "In furtherance of our previous conversations regarding the development of the Trump Tower Moscow project," Ryabinskiy wrote, "we would like to respectfully invite you to Moscow for a working visit." The meeting would be to tour plots of land for the potential tower, to have "round table discussions," and to coordinate a follow-up visit by Trump himself. Ryabinskiy did not return a message left with his attorney.

It is not clear how Cohen responded, but Sater asked Cohen for travel dates for both Cohen and Trump the same afternoon Ryabinskiy sent the letter. "Will do," Cohen wrote.

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Early the next morning, Sater asked if Cohen could take a phone call with "the guy coordinating" — whom Sater later testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee was the former GRU officer. Cohen said he could indeed take the call. It is not clear how the conversation went, but Sater's subsequent email suggests it was positive: "It's set, they are waiting and will walk you into every office you need to make sure you are comfortable for DT trip," Sater wrote.

But after Jan. 27, communications between Cohen and Sater appear to go dark. And in a statement he released a week before he was scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee last September, Cohen said the Trump Moscow effort "was terminated in January of 2016," which Cohen noted was "before the Iowa caucus and months before the very first primary."

But the venture did not end in January.

Mark Reinstein / Getty Images

Trump during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

"The entire business class of Russia will be there"


The early months of 2016 were a crucial period both for Russian meddling in the election and for Trump's political ascendancy. In March, hackers later revealed to be connected to Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate — or GRU, the same agency that Sater's source once worked for — gained access to thousands of Democratic National Committee emails. Those emails would later be published slowly, mainly by WikiLeaks, creating a steady drumbeat of negative press about Hillary Clinton.

By May, Trump had rocked the political world, beating more than 10 candidates to lock in the Republican nomination as he headed toward the convention in Cleveland. That same month, Sater surfaced again in texts and emails to pitch Trump Moscow.

Sater has told investigators that during the first months of 2016, he and Cohen were using Dust, at Cohen's suggestion, to communicate secretly about the Moscow project. Those messages, which were encrypted and are deleted automatically, have disappeared forever, Sater told BuzzFeed News. But on May 3, the day Trump won the Indiana primary and his top opponent Ted Cruz suspended his campaign, Sater sent Cohen an ordinary text message: "Should I dial you now?"

"I had a chat with Moscow. ASSUMING the trip does happen the question is before or after the convention."

Sater told BuzzFeed News that he and Cohen had a conversation about setting up Cohen's trip to Moscow to reignite the tower project. The next day, May 4, they discussed when in the presidential campaign Trump should take the extraordinary step of flying to a country at odds with the United States in order to negotiate a major business deal. Sater texted Cohen: "I had a chat with Moscow. ASSUMING the trip does happen the question is before or after the convention. I said I believe, but don't know for sure, that it's probably after the convention. Obviously the pre-meeting trip (only you) can happen anytime you want but the 2 big guys were the question."

Cohen wrote back that day: "MY trip before Cleveland. Trump once he becomes the nominee after the convention."

Sater: "Got it. I'm on it."

The following day, Sater told Cohen that Peskov — the press officer whom Cohen had written to in January — "would like to invite you as his guest" to an economic forum in Russia. The country's top government and finance officials would gather at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Sater said, and Peskov "wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you to either Putin or Medvedev."

"The entire business class of Russia will be there as well. He said anything you want to discuss, including dates and subjects, are on the table." He concluded, "Please confirm that works for you."

"Works for me," Cohen said.

Two weeks later, Sater told Cohen he was filling out a visa application for the two of them. And on June 13, with the Republican convention due to open in just over a month, Sater forwarded Cohen a letter from Alexander Stuglev, the head of Roscongress, a Russian economic organization that hosts the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, formally inviting them. Stuglev did not respond to requests for comment.

The next morning, Sater texted Cohen four times, and the two men met at about 2:45 p.m. in the atrium of Trump Tower. Sater wanted to go to the Russian consulate that day, in order to get the visas in time for the Economic Forum, which started four days later. But Cohen, Sater recalled, demurred, and so the trip to St. Petersburg never happened.

"He said, 'We'll go after Cleveland,'" Sater said, referring to the Republican convention. "So I figured that's what we'd do."

Sater kept holding out hope — working his sources in Russia right through the convention — until July 26, 2016, when Sater, while relaxing in the backyard of his Long Island home, read a tweet by Trump and knew right then that the deal was dead.


kUuht00m_normal.jpg Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia.
10:50 PM - 26 Jul 2016ReplyRetweetFavorite

" Fuck me , I thought to myself. All that work for nothing ," Sater told BuzzFeed News.

He poured himself a big glass of scotch, he recalled, and lit a cigar. ●

  • sierratall-v2-12950-1536788127-0_large.jpg

    Anthony Cormier is an investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York. While working for the Tampa Bay Times, Cormier won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.

    Contact Anthony Cormier at anthony.cormier@buzzfeed.com.

    Got a confidential tip? Submit it here

  • sierratall-v2-12880-1536788437-12_large.png

    Jason Leopold is a senior investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles. He is a 2018 Pulitzer finalist for international reporting, recipient of the IRE 2016 FOI award and a 2016 Newseum Institute National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame inductee.

    Contact Jason Leopold at jason.leopold@buzzfeed.com.


Tags

jrDiscussion - desc
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JBB
Professor Principal
1  seeder  JBB    2 years ago

The real reason John Durham has nothing and his investigation never will come to anything is that beginning at least by 2014 and continuing right up until election day 2016 Donald Trump was in constant secret negotiations with clandestine agents of Russian State Intelligence Services to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and was lying about it! The CIA and FBI investigations into Trump's Russian involvement were predicated on this plus many other longstanding and secretive relationship between The Trump Organization and known agents of Russian State Intelligence Services...

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
1.1  Sean Treacy  replied to  JBB @1    2 years ago
ing at least by 2014 and continuing right up until election day 2016

Lol... Your own links don't even support your claim. 

"— until July 26, 2016, when Sater, while relaxing in the backyard of his Long Island home, read a tweet by Trump and knew right then that the deal was dead."

As usual, none of your lies are supported by your links.  Do you read them?

There's this thing called the Mueller report. You should read it. I'd say it would save you from embarrassment, but you keep posting links that don't support your claims, so I doubt it would be any different after you read the Mueller report. So I guess a Buzzfeed (lol) article from 2018 is as good as anything else to project lies upon. 

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.1.1  seeder  JBB  replied to  Sean Treacy @1.1    2 years ago

Read the whole article. Trump never gave up trying until after the 2016 election. He didn't think he was going to win. In any case the CIA and FBI investigations into Trump's Russian ties were well and legally predicated. Meaning...

John Durham has no case. NOTHING AT ALL!

What part can't you wrap your head around?

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
1.1.2  Sean Treacy  replied to  JBB @1.1.1    2 years ago

Read the whole article. 

I did. I quoted from your own article.  Do you not understand the calendar?  The election was not in July 2016. Your own handpicked source claims the deal was dead in July 2016. 

How embarrassing for you!

hat part can't you wrap your head around?

You are the only person in America who thinks the Trump tower negotiation  somehow proves Durham has no case. Do you ever think why that may be? 

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.1.3  seeder  JBB  replied to  Sean Treacy @1.1.2    2 years ago

We are talking about the reasons (Predicate) for the CIA and FBI investigations of Trump which began at least by 2014 regarding Trump Tower Moscow. The origins of those investigations were caused by Trump's secretive negotiations with clandestine agents of Russian State Intelligence Services. The investigations were based on Trump's own actions and Trump's own lies. After all, Trump was running for President of the United States of America while secretly working with Russian Secret Agents. John Durham cannot prove otherwise because those are facts admitted to by Don Trump Jr, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Cohn and Trump himself. Again, what about that are you incapable of understanding? Trump was running for President while also seeking out and establishing relationships with known agents of Russian State Intelligence Services. What did he expect? For the CIA and FBI to just look away?

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.1.4  Greg Jones  replied to  JBB @1.1.3    2 years ago

Can you provide proof of any of these statements.

Of course you can't. And even if any of this is true, no one with a brain cares

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.1.5  Greg Jones  replied to  JBB @1.1.1    2 years ago

You don't what Durham has...and he's not done.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.1.6  seeder  JBB  replied to  Greg Jones @1.1.5    2 years ago

If he had anything he would indict by now...

He is just milking the government for the $.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
1.1.7  Sean Treacy  replied to  JBB @1.1.3    2 years ago
e are talking about the reasons (Predicate) for the CIA and FBI investigations of Trump

No shit. Those reasons are well documented.  The negotiation between Cohen and some Russians to use Trump branding on a tower had nothing to do with it. Read the IG's report. It's explains who was investigated and the predicate that justified those investigations.  It will stop you from embarrassing yourself. 

By all means, For the millionth time, cite a source claiming that  "The origins of those investigations were caused by Trump's secretive negotiations with clandestine agents of Russian State Intelligence Services."  

That's all you have to do to be proven correct. Just a single cite to a legitimate source documenting that claim. You've cited dozens of sources that don't make that claim. Why?

Because there's zero evidence to support that claim. ZERO.  None of the many, many  sources you've dishonestly cited even come close to making that claim.

It's just you and your imagination. 

which began at least by 2014 regarding Trump Tower Mosco

fter all, Trump was running for President of the United States of America

This is a lie. Do some basic research and stop the Goebbels impression. 

while secretly working with Russian Secret Agents.

This is insane. Really. 

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
1.1.8  Sean Treacy  replied to  Greg Jones @1.1.4    2 years ago

Of course you can't.

He never, ever does. Just repeats the same BS over and over and follows the Goebbels maxim about repeating a lie enough.

It's all documented by Mueller and the IG. He just denies reality. 

 
 
 
goose is back
Sophomore Guide
1.1.9  goose is back  replied to  Sean Treacy @1.1.7    2 years ago
By all means, For the millionth time, cite a source claiming that  "The origins of those investigations were caused by Trump's secretive negotiations with clandestine agents of Russian State Intelligence Services." 

.............crickets...................................

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.2  Greg Jones  replied to  JBB @1    2 years ago
"The CIA and FBI investigations into Trump's Russian involvement were predicated on this plus many other longstanding and secretive relationship between The Trump Organization and known agents of Russian State Intelligence Services..."

None of these alleged "relationships" has ever been proven to exist.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.2.1  seeder  JBB  replied to  Greg Jones @1.2    2 years ago

That is not true! Or else, why did El Trumpo pardon Paul Manafort and Roger Stone?

Never heard of Carter Pagr or Michael Cohn?

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.2.2  Greg Jones  replied to  JBB @1.2.1    2 years ago

What crimes did they commit?

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.2.3  seeder  JBB  replied to  Greg Jones @1.2.2    2 years ago

They lied about Trump's Russian involvement!

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.2.4  Greg Jones  replied to  JBB @1.2.3    2 years ago

What involvement? Was it a crime for a businessman to talk to foreign businessmen about building a hotel. There was no valid reason to investigate Trump...as the faux Mueller investigation proved

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.2.5  seeder  JBB  replied to  Greg Jones @1.2.4    2 years ago

All that really matters is that the CIA and FBI were just doing their jobs when they started investigations of Trump's secretive negotiations with clandestine agents of Russian State Intelligence Services. Meaning, John Durham's Investigation is doomed because the Trump Russia Investigation was legally predicated. Comprehendo?

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
1.2.6  Sean Treacy  replied to  JBB @1.2.5    2 years ago
doing their jobs when they started investigations of Trump's secretive negotiations with clandestine agents of Russian State Intelligence Servic

Sorry, your Goebbels imitation isn't working. That was a lie last year. It was a lie last month. It was a lie last week. And it's still  a lie no matter how many times you say it today. 

How many times are you going to try repeating this lie without ever posting a link supporting your claim that the FBI and CIA were investigating Trump in 2014?

 
 
 
Drinker of the Wry
Junior Expert
1.2.7  Drinker of the Wry  replied to  JBB @1.2.5    2 years ago

Exactly, when has the CIA or FBI ever abused their authority!

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.2.8  Texan1211  replied to  Sean Treacy @1.2.6    2 years ago
How many times are you going to try repeating this lie without ever posting a link supporting your claim that the FBI and CIA were investigating Trump in 2014?

Probably until some chumps fall for it.

[deleted]

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Expert
1.2.9  Jeremy Retired in NC  replied to  JBB @1.2.3    2 years ago
They lied about Trump's Russian involvement!

So with that, that would mean the majority of the Democrat party should be in jail.  They even oversaw the investigation that turned up no evidence of what you are claiming.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.2.10  seeder  JBB  replied to  Jeremy Retired in NC @1.2.9    2 years ago

No, what it means is that Trump and about a dozen close associates and family members had highly suspect secretive meetings and communications with Russian spies which got Trump and those associates and family members investigated by the CIA and FBI...

These investigations were based on standard procedures for those investigative agencies, legal and predicated on evidence the CIA and FBI gained by doing what they do, spying! Spying on Putin, Russia and Russian spies. 

The FBI and CIA don't say much. Figure it out.

John Durham cannot make a case against our FBI and CIA for doing their jobs! Therefore Durham has NOTHING! NO CASE! NEVER WILL!

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Expert
1.2.11  Jeremy Retired in NC  replied to  JBB @1.2.10    2 years ago

Wouldn't this be the same agencies that was being used by Meuller?  The agencies that come up with ZERO evidence?  

Therefore Durham has NOTHING!

That rock you seem to be living under must be pretty deep down there.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
1.2.12  Sean Treacy  replied to  JBB @1.2.10    2 years ago

No, what it means is that Trump and about a dozen close associates and family members had highly suspect secretive meetings and communications with Russian spies which got Trump and those associates and family members investigated by the CIA and FBI...
 
this is all a lie.  He cant provide a single source showing trump was being investigated by the FBI and CIA from 2014 on.

He just made it up and repeats it endlessly hoping someone is stupid enough to believe his fantasy.

 
 
 
Ronin2
Professor Quiet
1.2.13  Ronin2  replied to  JBB @1.2.1    2 years ago

Carter Page? Now your blaming the f'ing victim! He was a CIA asset; which the FBI conveniently left off their FISA request.

Carter Page was never charged with anything. He did absolutely nothing wrong! He was spied on illegally; and was used as a Trojan Horse into the Trump campaign!

I will provide proof. 

The Justice Department has concluded that two of the four court orders allowing the FBI to conduct secret national security surveillance on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page were not valid because the government made "material misstatements" in obtaining them, according to a newly declassified judicial order.

The disclosure by James Boasberg, the top judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, underscores the extent to which the FBI bungled its handling of a highly sensitive case, a failure that is continuing to have serious policy and political repercussions.

The order says the department told the court it now believes it did not have probable cause to believe that Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, which was required to obtain the surveillance.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

However, Horowitz found that the FBI never had any real evidence against Page before beginning its investigation, codenamed Operation Crossfire Hurricane. Soon after the investigation was opened, it became clear that Page had been wrongly accused and was, in fact, working for the CIA, not the Russians. Page himself later said he was working with the CIA, yet the media not only dismissed his claim but was very openly dismissive while portraying him as a bumbling fool.

Horowitz found that FBI investigators and lawyers had determined that the allegations involving Page fell short of a case for probable cause to open a secret warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Those investigators were then told by the eventually fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to look at the Steele dossier, which was actually funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Clinton campaign denied repeatedly that it funded the dossier but finally admitted doing so after being confronted by media with new information.

Despite warnings about the credibility of Steele and red flags over the unreliability of the dossier, Horowitz found that “FBI leadership” used the dossier to justify its application for a FISA warrant. Democratic members of Congress and a wide array of media outlets have long told the public that the dossier was just one part of the FISA application. That is false. Horowitz states that the dossier played the “central and essential role” in securing the secret surveillance of the Trump campaign, including four investigations with both electronic surveillance and undercover assets.

Early on, Horowitz found that an unnamed government agency, widely acknowledged to be the CIA, told the FBI that it was making a mistake about Page and that he was working for the agency as an “operational contact” in Moscow. Indeed, he was working as an asset for the CIA for years. While it was falsely reported that Page met with three suspicious individuals there, he had no contact with two of those individuals. More importantly, Page did the right thing and told American officials about being contacted by the third person, because he felt they should know.

It gets even worse. Throughout Operation Crossfire Hurricane, evidence continued to flow into the FBI that Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the infamous dossier, was unreliable and working against the election of Trump. Not only was he known to be trying to get this false information to the press, but evidence mounted that he misrepresented sources and stated false information. While it took long, someone at the Justice Department finally decided to act on the FISA matter regarding Page. The official in charge of FISA applications, Kevin Clinesmith, was told to ask the CIA again about whether Page had been working for the agency. He was again told that Page in fact was, yet Clinesmith allegedly changed the CIA response to describe Page as not working for it. He is now being criminally referred by Horowitz for falsifying that information.

Investigators also found an array of messages against Trump on the social media accounts of Clinesmith, including one declaring “vive le resistance” after Trump won. Meanwhile, throughout this period, the FBI was leaking aplenty but no one leaked the Page was actually a CIA asset. Instead, he was left to twist slowly in the wind. Media reports all but convicted Page of being a Russian spy. Evan Hurst wrote about him last year asking, “Why the hell are Republicans dying on this hill to defend Carter Page ,” whom Hurst described, in all caps, as “a literal actual Russian intelligence asset.”

Natasha Bertand later wondered why anyone would question the case against Page. After all, she wrote, Senator Mark Warner, who is ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had warned reporters to “be careful what you wish for” and one of his aides told her that is is “simply impossible to review the documents” on Page and conclude anything other than that the FBI “had ample reason” to investigate him. Her article was published long after the FBI had been told that Page was working with the CIA, but many other stories ran with similar comments from senators suggesting that anyone defending Page would be ridiculed after the release of some damning evidence. Mueller and Horowitz have now confirmed that there was never such evidence showing Page was a Russian asset. Indeed, the evidence showed he was an American asset.

As Horowitz has now stressed, there is a difference between starting an investigation based on mere allegations and continuing the investigation based on known falsehoods. His report documents how direct exculpatory information was quickly shared with the FBI. I do not know anything about Page other than what I have read in these reports. All I know is that he is an American citizen put under a secret surveillance operation based on a dossier shown to be both unfounded and unreliable. He then remained under surveillance with three renewals of secret warrants, even though the FBI was told repeatedly that Page was working with the CIA and that the dossier used to obtain those warrants was considered unsupported. Finally, Page was the subject of an alleged falsification of a document presented to the FISA court to obscure that exculpatory information.

Goebbels would be so proud of today's US media and their leftist lemmings. They have told the Carter Page lie so damn often that they actually believe it.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.2.14  seeder  JBB  replied to  Ronin2 @1.2.13    2 years ago

Carter Page was selling information about the Trump campaign to Putin's Russian State Intelligence Services, which I  all spying for an enemy, but he called a "consulting service"...

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
1.2.15  Sean Treacy  replied to  Ronin2 @1.2.13    2 years ago
which the FBI conveniently left off their FISA request.

I think that's being kind. They doctored evidence to get the FISA application granted.  

And Durham already has a conviction for it. 

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.2.16  Texan1211  replied to  JBB @1.2.14    2 years ago

Yet another [deleted] claim without any proof offered.

 
 
 
goose is back
Sophomore Guide
1.2.17  goose is back  replied to  JBB @1.2.3    2 years ago
They lied about Trump's Russian involvement!

Oh Yeah.......they lied................lie.....lie.....lie...lie....lie   lies...Trump lied...........lies.........all lies..........nothing but lies......CIA....FBI.....lies.....lies

Is this what goes through your mind when you try and sleep at night?

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
2  Nerm_L    2 years ago

So, why doesn't Joe Biden sanction Trump?  Why doesn't Biden freeze Trump's assets?  That's Biden's preferred method to defend democracy, after all.  And Trump is a Russian oligarch according to what has been reported.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  JBB  replied to  Nerm_L @2    2 years ago

Can you point to where the author said any of that?

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
2.1.1  Nerm_L  replied to  JBB @2.1    2 years ago
Can you point to where the author said any of that?

The article uses Michael Cohen to lay out the case that Trump sought a business arrangement with Putin the same way Russian oligarchs do.  Communications were established through intelligence and military channels.  There were attempts to influence Putin's inner circle to endorse the business arrangement.  There were prospects for financing using a Russian bank under US sanctions.

The article makes the case that Trump is a Russian oligarch with ties to Putin.

So, why doesn't Joe Biden sanction Trump?  Why doesn't Biden freeze Trump's assets?  Biden has been sanctioning government officials, former government officials, and private individuals.  Biden doesn't need Congress or courts; Biden could sanction Trump and freeze Trump's assets by executive order.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
2.1.2  seeder  JBB  replied to  Nerm_L @2.1.1    2 years ago

The FBI and CIA began investigating Trump and Company because of the many secretive interactions Trump had with clandestine operatives of Russian State Intelligence Services while they were just going about their own standard course of business.

The CIA's and FBI's regular standard course of business, that of spying on our enemy's spies. It is what they do for a living! Trump did not get an exemption for being Trump! So, don't play dumb with me! This ain't my first rodeo...

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
2.1.3  Nerm_L  replied to  JBB @2.1.2    2 years ago
The FBI and CIA began investigating Trump and Company because of the many secretive interactions Trump had with clandestine operatives of Russian State Intelligence Services while they were just going about their own standard course of business. The CIA's and FBI's regular standard course of business, that of spying on our enemy's spies. It is what they do for a living! Trump did not get an exemption for being Trump! So, don't play dumb with me! This ain't my first rodeo...

Yeah, that's kinda the point of the article, isn't it?

But Biden has drawn a red line and is taking bold action against Russians.  The article makes the case that Trump is just another Russian oligarch.  Why doesn't Biden use his Presidential power to deal with Trump like any other Russian oligarch?  Biden only has to order sanctions; no need for Congressional investigations or prosecutions.  Biden could sanction Trump and freeze Trump's assets by executive action alone.  So, why hasn't Biden done that?

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
3  Texan1211    2 years ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
3.1  Texan1211  replied to  Texan1211 @3    2 years ago

[Deleted]

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
4  Texan1211    2 years ago

Hmmmm......where is all of the illegal activity that was allegedly happening?

Jeeze, an almost 4 year old article from a questionable source.

LMAO

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Expert
5  Jeremy Retired in NC    2 years ago
Posted on May 17, 2018, 12:18 pm

Must be a slow day in the "But Truuuummmmppppp!!!!!" world that a 4 year old article is used.  What makes this even more pathetic this was posted during the Bobbie Meuller investigation into ANYTHING Trump did with the Russians and it come up empty handed.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
5.1  seeder  JBB  replied to  Jeremy Retired in NC @5    2 years ago

WHOOSH! 

That is the point going over your head. Beginning at least by 2014 and continuing until well past the 2016 election our own US CIA and FBI were legitimately investigating Trump for Trump's involvement with many Russian spies and multiple other Russian high officials including Vladimir Putin himself. Do you think our spies should be completely incompetent?

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Expert
5.1.1  Jeremy Retired in NC  replied to  JBB @5.1    2 years ago
That is the point going over your head. Beginning at least by 2014 and continuing until well past the 2016 election our own US CIA and FBI were legitimately investigating Trump for Trump's involvement with many Russian spies

And all come up empty.  You know as well as everybody else that if there was something there in 2014 - 2016 the Democrats would have used it during the campaign.  After 2016, Bobbie Meuller ran an investigation to find ANYTHING that Trump could have done illegal and come up empty handed.  

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
5.1.2  Sean Treacy  replied to  JBB @5.1    2 years ago

Why do you keep lying? You’ve been asked for months to prove this allegation. You never do.  

why embarrass yourself?

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
5.1.3  Texan1211  replied to  JBB @5.1    2 years ago
That is the point going over your head. Beginning at least by 2014 and continuing until well past the 2016 election our own US CIA and FBI were legitimately investigating Trump for Trump's involvement with many Russian spies and multiple other Russian high officials including Vladimir Putin himself.

Please post proof for this rather preposterous claim. 

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
5.1.4  seeder  JBB  replied to  Texan1211 @5.1.3    2 years ago

Why not read the article and connect the dots?

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
5.1.5  Sean Treacy  replied to  JBB @5.1.4    2 years ago

Why not read the article and connect the dots?

Does it ever occur to you to wonder why you can't find a single source that "connects the dots?"  It was the most covered story in the US for years and not one legitimate source makes the argument you do.

Do you feel like Russell Crowe in a beautiful mind making connections in a garage with yarn because not a single other American is capable of seeing these conspiracies like you? 

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
5.1.6  Texan1211  replied to  JBB @5.1.4    2 years ago

Your article is old and lacks facts.

Instead if asking us to connect some magical dots, how about supplying some real proof for the bogus claims?

 
 
 
bbl-1
Professor Quiet
6  bbl-1    2 years ago

Trump Tower, Moscow?  Does not matter anymore.  Quite possible that in a matter of weeks the Putin autocracy will be replaced with something--------else.

 
 

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