Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #houseoftrump
Most recents (14)
2/As I reported in #HouseofTrump, FBI files asserted that Kislin was tied to the infamous Russian mobster Vyachslav Ivankov. Trump's ties to Kislin dated back to the late 70s when he bought 100s of TVs from him for the Grand Hyatt. 
3/ Kislin's alleged ties to Russian Mafia notwithstanding, Trump got him to assist in issuing mortgages for condos in Trump World Tower
4/Kislin partner Tamir Sapir played a key role in bailing out Trump by partnering w Bayrock and helping fund the ill-fated Trump SoHo. Meanwhile, Kislin was a significant contributor to Giuliani who appted him to NYC's Economic Dev't Corp.
1/ It's worth remembering the entire context of McCarthy's remarks which @washingtonpost printed at the time. It shows that not only was McCarthy NOT joking, he was speaking in response to a series of events that began to reveal the corrupt core of the Trump-Russia scandal.
2/ As I write in #HouseofTrump, McCarthy's remarks came in June 2016, just 6 days after the Trump Tower meeting, and the same day the GOP House leadership had met Ukrainian PM Groysman, leading Paul Ryan to make the astonishing claim that the GOP was standing up to Russia.
3/ That's when McCarthy chimed in. McCarthy had a reputation for blurting out inconvenient truths, having said on Fox a key reason for Benghazi hearing was to drive down Hillary's poll numbers.
@peterbakernyt @maddow @griffwitte Orban has a lot in common w Trump, as I show in #HouseofTrump, in that both were allegedly compromised by Russian mobster Semion #Mogilevich.
2/In Orban's case, that took place in 1994 when, as a rising young pol in Hungary, he reportedly took large sums of money from a Mogilevich associate named Dietmar Clodo--and was videotaped in the act.
3/Orban, of course, went on to become Prime Minister of Hungary in 1998 after denouncing various "Moscow puppets"and pro-Russian projects as treasonous. But when he was elected again in 2010, he reversed field and become a Putin apologist.
1/Worth remembering that Bernie's campaign manager Tad Devine was Manafort's partner in Ukraine where they helped install Putin-puppet Yanukovych as Prime Minister in 06, and as President in 2010.
2/Curiously, @SenSanders has NOT voted to support sanctions against Russia. First time out, he said, he "voted against the sanctions bill last week because it contains sanctions on Iran that I believe could endanger the Iran nuclear agreement. Below from #HouseofTrump.
3/When sanctions came up again, on Jan. 16, 2019, Trump had already torn up the Iran agreement. But @SenSanders missed the vote again, saying he had to deal w people criticizing his treatment of women by his 2016 campaign.
1/Fascinating that AG William Barr should have $ ties to Howard Lorber's Vector Group. As I reported in #HouseofTrump, House of Putin, during his 1996 trip to Moscow, Trump was accompanied by Lorber and partner Bennett LeBow who had ties to very interesting people in Mosco
2/ LeBow, in turn, partnered w Vadim Rabinovich who had recent participated in famous Tel Aviv meeting of mobsters at which Ukrainian energy trade was ceded to mob boss Semion #Mogilevich.
3/ Once in Moscow, Trump, Lorber & LeBow were shown around by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who was also allegedly tied to #Mogilevich.
1/ As I show in #HouseofTrump, Trump's assault on truth and reality resembles that of Vladislav Surkov, Putin's former Deputy Prime Minister, who created a new kind of propaganda. @robreiner
2/ Coming out of the bohemian world of performance art, Surkov mixed theatrical techniques w the latest in the dark arts of marketing and applied it all in service of Vladimir Putin.
3/ Surkov saw his mission as creating one big reality TV show for Putin. (Sound familiar?) Before Surkov, political discourse resembled one ongoing battle for control of the narrative. But Surkov undermined the entire notion of truth, so the opposition was completely befuddled.
Amazing how @CNN and @DanaBashCNN transform Kellyanne Conway into an icon of female empowerment while omitting a far darker part of her life.
2/ In fact, like many Trumpsters, her roots go back to the Italian American Mafia that dominated Atlantic City. In fact, as I write in #HouseofTrump, her grandfather was Jimmy 'the Brute" di Natale, an associate of Little Nicky Scarfo who ran the mob in nearby Philadelphia.
3/ Relations to Scarfo and to Paddy McGahn, a relative of WH counsel Don McGahn, were important to Trump when he moved into the Atlantic City casino world. CNN had time to focus on Kellyanne's great success picking blueberries--but omitted this.
1/I, like McCabe, don't believe in coincidences either & one of the great untold stories is how McCabe's vast experience investigating the Russian Mafia repeatedly led him back to Trump Tower. @batchelorshow @FiringLineShow
2/As I write in #HouseofTrump, in Feb. 2013, two Trump reps allegedly attended a party given by Semion #Mogilevich at Ukraine Hotel in Moscow to celebrate bday of top mobster Sergei Mikhailov. Also, in attendance was Emin Agalarov.
3/Aras Agalarov has denied ties to Mafia, but his son Emin was, in effect, playing the same role Johnny Fontane had in The Godfather, entertaining the Mafia. Also, after Emin married the daughter of corrupt Azerbaijani president, they won massive lucrative contracts.
1/Yes, Manafort may have lied to Mueller because he wanted a pardon from Trump. But let me amplify what I told @amjoyshow about why he may have been scared of the Russian Mafia.
2/Manafort's story in some ways resembles that of Eduard Nektalov who I write about in #HouseofTrump. Manafort had a place in Trump Tower, and Nektalov lived in Trump World Tower. Nektalov was being investigated by the Treasury Dept for money-laundering...
3/Manafort was also involved in money-laundering and, among other vehicles, used a company called Lucicle that was in the name of an associate of Russian crime boss Semion Mogilevich
@tina_nguyen Yes. To be clear, as I reported in #HouseofTrump, House of Putin, if you want to #FollowtheMoney, this should be a key focal point.
The Mystery of Donald Jr.’s Blocked Calls—Revealed? twitter.com/share?text=The…
The Mystery of Donald Jr.’s Blocked Calls—Revealed? twitter.com/share?text=The…
2/One of the key people in question was Vadim Rabinovich, who, just a month before Trump's '96 Moscow trip, had attended a meeting in Tel Aviv, in which Semion #Mogilevich, the RU Mafia financial whiz, was ceded a huge part of lucrative Ukraine energy trade.
3/For many years afterwards, #Mogilevich operated thru series of "opaque intermediaries" in the Ukraine energy trade that skimmed about 3/4 of $1 billion per year.
1/Fascinating that "blocked #" phone call circa 2016 Trump Tower meeting went to real estate developer Howard Lorber who was much more than just a family friend. In '96, when Trump went to RU to try to develop Trump Tower in Moscow, Lorber came w his partner Bennett LeBow.
2/As per #HouseofTrump, LeBow had begun investing in Moscow in early 90s when one inevitably dealt w dubious characters--among them Vadim Rabinovich who had just taken part in Tel Aviv meeting giving Semion #Mogilevich control of lucrative Ukraine energy trade.
3/ In effort to develop Trump Tower Moscow, they were shown around by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov who was also close to #Mogilevich & Vyacheslav Ivankov(below), a murderous mobsters who happened to be a Trump Tower resident on 5th Ave and a regular at Trump's Taj Mahal.
As per #HouseofTrump, why it's possible Trump has been a Russian agent for more than 30 years. 1/After Trump married Ivana in '77, the Czech StB began spying on her family at a time when Czechs shared intel with the Soviet Union's KGB.@RepAdamSchiff @KenDilanianNBC @john_sipher
2/ In 1984, after Trump Tower was built, the Russian Mafia laundered money through Trump real estate for the first time. Genl Oleg Kalugin, former head of counterintelligence for KGB, told me that's how intel operations begin.
3/Unlike the Italian-American Mafia, the Russian Mafia is a state actor. Kalugin (below) told me "the Mafia is one of the branches of the Russian government." That means the Soviets probably knew Trump would launder money.
This should come as no surprise: Trump has been taking Russia's line against NATO for more than 30 years--beginning w his first trip to Moscow in 1987.
After @realDonaldTrump returned, he took full page ads in @nytimes, Boston Globe, & @washingtonpost attacking NATO. As I show in #HouseofTrump, he even went to NH to test water for presidential run.
Oleg Kalugin told me Trump was likely the target of sexual kompromat during his 1987 trip. His abortive presidential run in '88 and anti-Western alliance stance raise question of whether he became Russian asset more than 30 yrs ago.
@just_security @AshaRangappa_ @john_sipher @alexzfinley 1) Excellent piece. The tradecraft described in it characterizes perfectly the events in #HouseofTrump beginning in 1984 when David Bogatin meets w Trump and buys 5 condos w all cash purchases, thereby apparently laundering Russian Mafia thru Trump condos.
@just_security @AshaRangappa_ @john_sipher @alexzfinley 2) Then, in 1986, you have Soviet ambassador Yuri Dubinin & dtr shamelessly flatter Trump and invite him to Moscow.
@just_security @AshaRangappa_ @john_sipher @alexzfinley 3) During the 1987 trip, Oleg #Kalugin told me Trump may have been caught in kompromat
