MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: Trump Thought Suspicious Deal He Did in Late 2008 with Russian Oligarch—Which Netted Him Tens of Millions on a Property He Couldn't Sell—Was a Deal with Putin, Meaning Trump Entered the White House Considering Himself Indebted to Putin amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/09/05…
PS/ I don't think people are understanding how big this is. We previously thought Trump anticipated *future* earnings from deals with Putin, and that this explained his obsequiousness toward Russia's president.
It now seems like he felt he had *already done business* with Putin.
It now seems like he felt he had *already done business* with Putin.
PS2/ It goes beyond that. If Trump thought Rybolovlev was Putin's direct agent, it means when Trump's plane met Rybolovlev's twice in the days before the 2016 election, Trump thought he was getting communications directly from Putin *right before an election Putin was attacking*.
PS3/ And it goes beyond even that, because Trump's meetings with a man he believed to be Putin's direct agent came *after* the U.S. intelligence community had publicly declared (in October) the Kremlin was waging cyberwar on America.
Those meetings now appear small-t treasonous.
Those meetings now appear small-t treasonous.
PS4/ I know I'm a broken record, but this is why we need as many metajournalists in the U.S. as possible.
When you've written 2,500 pages on all the evidence that exists in the Trump-Russia case, it gives you a unique perspective on every new piece of information that comes out.
When you've written 2,500 pages on all the evidence that exists in the Trump-Russia case, it gives you a unique perspective on every new piece of information that comes out.
PS5/ I don't think media yet realizes that what appears to be a throwaway line in a book could actually be the most important line in that book. But I'm confident anyone who has read the Proof series is sufficiently in a position to make that observation, and add that revelation.
PS6/ What now appears to be the case is that in late October 2016—believing himself to have already profited to the tune of tens of millions of dollars from a real estate deal with Vladimir Putin—Donald Trump met twice with the man he considered Putin's agent in that transaction.
NOTE/ I'll thread about this more robustly later on today (Sunday). The 2,500-pg. trilogy I spent the last 22 months writing is speaking into this moment in a way I think has notable implications for how we understand today's revelations. Some final pieces are falling into place.
