Thread by @SethAbramson

(THREAD) MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: In 2008, Trump believed himself to be cutting an eight-figure real estate deal with Vladimir Putin himself—a transaction that netted him tens of millions. This news appears to unlock the Trump-Russia collusion mystery. I hope you'll read on and RT.

1/ In 2008, Trump sold a property he had *no buyers for*—after years of looking—for tens of millions in profit. The sale was to a Russian oligarch close to Putin who promptly razed every "improvement" to the land Trump had ever made, calling into question the purpose of the sale.

2/ A decade later, the Putin-allied Russian oligarch—a shrewd businessman, Dmitry Rybolovlev—was still trying to unload Trump's property in a way that let him break even. The sale was one of the single biggest scores of Trump's life—and one of America's biggest real estate deals.

3/ So much has been written about the 2008 Trump-Rybolovlev real estate deal that really you can just Google it and scores of lengthy examinations of it—all focused on how suspicious it was—will come up. Here's one example, via the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: sfchronicle.com/opinion/articl…

4/ Until now, intrigued Trump-Russia biographers like me nevertheless had to move on from the incident, as without access to Trump's financial records the appearance of corruption is all we had—even if Rybolovlev showed up in Trump's life in two later, equally suspicious events.

5/ Indeed, in 2018 Proof of Collusion—part of a book series revealing Trump's illicit dealings; its latest entry, Proof of Corruption, drops Tuesday—detailed two odd October 2016 Trump-Russia meetings. It *now* seems like these may be the key to the eternal Trump-Russia mystery.

6/ By the same token, in 2019 Proof of Conspiracy—the second book in the "Proof" book series—detailed Rybolovlev's involvement in Trump's life in spring 2016, as his campaign was desperately seeking a covert edge over a Clinton campaign they believed they could not beat honestly.

7/ In the 2 weeks before the 2016 election, Trump's plane "met" with Rybolovlev's plane—for an extended period—on two separate American tarmacs: one in Charlotte, one in Las Vegas. Both men lied *repeatedly* about every conceivable aspect of the incidents. charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-…

8/ By October 2016, Rybolovlev had done Trump *another* solid besides gifting him $54 million for no reason in 2008—as an Israeli cyberintelligence company that had worked extensively for him (Psy-Group) had executed an election-interference op for Trump paid for by the Emiratis.

9/ I won't go into exhaustive detail here about either the Psy-Group operation or the October 2016 tarmac meetings—only because I wrote books on the two events (Proof of Conspiracy in 2019, and Proof of Collusion in 2018, respectively). Suffice to say the documentation is robust.

10/ But while these events are detailed with full sourcing in Proof of Collusion and Proof of Conspiracy—and while the Trump/Psy-Group story is carried forward in the about-to-be-released Proof of Corruption—it wasn't until today we heard Trump's view of his suspicious 2008 deal.

11/ What we now know—from Trump friend, fixer, attorney, and business associate Michael Cohen—is that what Trump thought in 2008...

...was that he was dealing with Vladimir Putin.

That's right: he thought he was being rescued—more than that, *enriched by $54 million*—by Putin.

12/ Trump believed Rybolovlev was acting as a direct conduit between himself and Putin in 2008—and believed that acceding to the directives of that backchannel had enriched him to the tune of (I can't repeat this enough, given that Trump is only a fake billionaire) *$54 million*.

13/ As an aside, I'll note here that Cohen's book confirms that the dossier of raw intel compiled by former MI6 Russia desk chief and longtime FBI partner Chris Steele was—as Steele told the FBI—approximately 70% accurate. The dossier said Putin used business deals to lure Trump.

14/ In 2008, Donald Trump was facing imminent financial ruin—and he perceived *Vladimir Putin himself* to have rescued him from the worst fate any Trump could ever experience: real, actual, humiliating destitution brought about by his own staggering incompetence as a businessman.

15/ So when Putin's builder Aras Agalarov came to Trump less than 60 months later (in 2013) promising he could do the biggest real estate deal of Trump's life—one that would surpass even the Rybolovlev deal—and that it'd be done with Putin's approval, Trump was *already hooked*.

16/ Just so, when an Israeli firm tied to Rybolovlev came to Trump's campaign in early 2016 and offered illegal foreign election assistance requiring collusion with two nations, Trump *wasn't* going to say no. Likewise if Rybolovlev wanted to meet twice right before the election.

17/ It doesn't matter if Trump was correct or not in believing the 2008 deal that rescued him from financial ruin and set a record for the richest real estate deal in America to that date was actually between him and Putin—though it probably was. The fact is, *Trump believed it*.

18/ So we now know what Trump would have considered his two secret October 2016 meetings with Rybolovlev to be: meetings with a top emissary of Vladimir Putin.

That's why he lied about them.

But now there's an even bigger problem for Trump—the exact date of the tarmac meetings.

19/ On October 7, 2016, the U.S. intel community announced to America that the Russians were waging cyberwar on America's electoral infrastructure. Trump had received a briefing on this but heard the news again with the rest of the world. From that moment, Putin was a U.S. enemy.

20/ Maybe you see the problem now: Trump appears to have met (or at "best," had his agents meet with) a man he believed to be Putin's top emissary...

...once on October 30 and once on November 3.

Which means those tarmac meetings comprised a grotesque treachery against America.

21/ It also means that Trump entered the White House (a) compromised, as Putin knew Trump had met with his emissary—or arranged for agents to meet with his emissary—*after* the USIC announcement of October 7, and (b) believing himself *indebted to Putin* by at least $54 million.

22/ And we know that Donald Trump was aware of the 3-pronged pre-election disinformation scheme Rybolovlev's longtime Israeli associates Psy-Group executed for his campaign—with funding by the United Arab Emirates—as the Proof series reveals they pitched the plan directly to him.

23/ So there can be no doubt any longer about the origins of Trump's insidious relationship with Putin, and why, when Trump announced his Russia policy in mid-2015, it was the most pro-Russia foreign policy ever devised by a U.S. politician: he believed Putin had paid him for it.

24/ Just so, the connection between (1) the Russian disinformation campaign the Trump campaign did not directly coordinate with, and (2) the Israeli-Emirati disinformation campaign the Trump campaign *did* coordinate with—and indeed directly adopted and mirrored—was *Rybolovlev*.

25/ And get *this* additional fact from Proof of Conspiracy (2019): the Trump adviser who coordinated the Trump-Israel-UAE disinformation scheme that dovetailed with the Kremlin's efforts, George Nader, (a) knows Netanyahu personally, (b) was the *UAE's liaison to the Kremlin*.

CONCLUSION/ For years, people around the world have asked, "What's Trump's deal with Putin?" We now know what the "deal" was—a *literal* 2008 deal that rescued Trump from bankruptcy and that *Trump believed he had completed with Vladimir Putin*. After that, Trump was compromised.

IMPORTANT NOTE/ The fully sourced (5,000-citation) story of Trump's dealings with (a) Russian oligarchs, (b) Emirati and Israeli agents, continues in {checks watch} a matter of *hours* with the 576-page epic Proof of Corruption—which you can preorder here: amazon.com/dp/1250272998?…

IMPORTANT NOTE 2/ For those who like your 5,000-hyperlinked-source books to come to you in an *ebook* format, here's a preorder link for the ebook, which will arrive on your Kindle in a matter of hours: amazon.com/Proof-Corrupti…

IMPORTANT NOTE 3/ For those who don't use Amazon, here's a host of other ebook links for the about-to-be-released Proof of Corruption: us.macmillan.com/books/97812502…

IMPORTANT NOTE 4/ And again for those who don't use Amazon, here's a host of other *hardcover* preorder links for the about-to-be-released Proof of Corruption (scroll down just a smidge at the link and you'll see them): read.macmillan.com/lp/proof-of-co…

PS/ Obviously we can't source whether Trump and Rybolovlev have spoken from the men themselves—Donald Trump has lied 20,000 times in office, and Rybolovlev is a Kremlin agent. But POLITICO offers this tidbit from a Rybolovlev spokesperson who appears to have slipped at one point:

PS2/ The Trump-Rybolovlev relationship is hard to write on. Only a fool or liar would take either man's word on whether they've spoken—those claims aren't reportable. But I've tried to make clear we don't know if Trump or an agent of his was on his plane when it "met" Rybolovlev.

PS3/ We know the planes "met" twice, in 2 states, within 10 days of the election. So, not a coincidence. We know Rybolovlev was aboard both times. We know his spokesperson claims there's a "relationship." Was it Trump or an agent who met Rybolovlev in October 2016? We don't know.

PS4/ But we also needn't be blind to history. Trump confessed he met Russia's top oligarchs in November 2013—but he wouldn't release the names and neither would the Kremlin. Trump has a long history of wanting to meet with *anyone* who is close to Putin, and meet them *anywhere*.

PS5/ Trump is so passionate about meeting Putin's agents he has had such agents in Trump Tower on multiple occasions, even sneaking them in back doors. So does it finally matter if Trump himself met Rybolovlev on that plane, or if Trump had Kushner or Don Jr. take the meeting?

PS6/ Remember when Maria Butina's ex-boyfriend told the media that Butina met secretly with Donald Trump Jr.? Every aspect of the story checked out, but people with an odd interest in bending over backward for Trump were like, "Well, if *Trump* wasn't there... do we really care?"

PS7/ Many of us have been trying to figure out for *years* how Trump gets away with what he does. One answer is that he uses intermediaries for his dirty work, then non-attorneys pretend "agency" isn't a legal concept with any heft, so unless Trump is present, it *didn't matter*.

PS8/ Trump did one of the biggest deals of his life with a Russian oligarch. That oligarch's flack says there's a "relationship." Trump has met many Russian oligarchs but won't say who. This particular one orchestrated "plane meetings" with either Trump or an agent.

It's enough.

PS9/ Trump says he considers being on a call with someone a "meeting." He's used countless methods to hide his calls—even from Congress. So if you ask, "Do you think Trump in some way 'met' Rybolovlev?", I'd say yes. If instead he sent an agent, *he* created that doubt/confusion.

PS10/ But would I ever, as a journalist, quote *for the truth of the matter* a Kremlin agent involved in meddling with our elections *or* a man known to have lied 20,000 times as POTUS? No—I consider that irresponsible. So we do the best we can with what these liars have left us.

LAST THOUGHT/ In the law, the term "justiciability" means the ability of a legal matter to be adjudicated (sometimes an issue's core logistics make it impossible). Scoundrels try to win cases by making them "non-justiciable." Trump evades responsibility by being "non-reportable."