Thread by @SethAbramson

(THREAD) Little has been written on Trump-Turkey collusion, which pervaded the 2016 election and runs through Trump's presidency—a quid pro quo of U.S. policy for personal benefits granted to Trump by Erdogan—which is why I wrote about it in Proof of Corruption. Read on for more.

1/ Trump had two Turkish agents—literally, men working on behalf of the Turkish government—on his national security team during the 2016 election season: Giuliani and Flynn. Both men were in contact with the Turkish government as they advised Trump on sensitive matters.

2/ Meanwhile, Roger Stone—Trump's top off-campaign adviser—was dealing, like Flynn, with intelligence elements within both the Israeli and Turkish governments (his emails said a "Lieutenant General" was involved). Stone was seeking an "October surprise" from Turkish intelligence.

3/ During his presidency Trump has illicitly intervened in a string of federal investigations to aid Turkish president Erdogan, even though Trump has publicly said that he has a "conflict of interest" in setting U.S. policy in Turkey because of his own business interests there.

4/ Trump's former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, says Trump's interference in this string of federal investigations was done to further Trump's own personal and pecuniary relationships, not to aid or protect the United States. That itself would be an impeachable offense.

5/ The Turkey-related federal investigations that Trump is known to have interfered in include (but likely are not limited to):

🔹 The ZARRAB case: Trump protects Turkey's evasion of US sanctions.
🔹 The GULEN case: Trump tries to extradite a US resident to be killed by Erdogan.

6/ But that's not all. Also:

🔹 The HALKBANK case: Trump protects a Turkish bank connected to the criminal evasion of US sanctions.
🔹 The RUSSIAN MISSILE case: Trump aids Erdogan's efforts to conduct sensitive military deals with the Kremlin (thus aiding Vladimir Putin, too).

7/ Did Donald Trump know that in fall 2016—pre-election, as his friend and adviser Stone was seeking Turkish intelligence to aid Trump—his other top adviser, Flynn, was both talking about kidnapping a US resident for Erdogan *and* (apparently) working with Stone? It seems likely.

8/ We know Trump would sacrifice *anything*—including even aiding Iran in escaping US sanctions (which is what Erdogan was doing in the ZARRAB and HALKBANK cases)—to protect his Turkish business interests. But it's worse than even that: he would endanger the lives of US soldiers.

9/ Against the advice of all the Republicans in Congress—as well as his entire military advisory corps—Trump withdrew US soldiers from Syria on Erdogan's command. And that's the right word: it was a "command." Trump appeared to be as much an agent of Turkey as Flynn or Giuliani.

10/ That withdrawal *again* aided Russia—as it gave Putin many of our Syrian bases. It *also* led to the escape of tens of thousands of ISIS prisoners—who US soldiers will now have to fight *again*. It *also* led to our soldiers being shelled... *by Erdogan*. It disgraced the US.

CONCLUSION/ Many Americans think they know all there is to know about Trump's collusive acts in 2016, during his presidency, and in 2020.

Whether you read Proof of Corruption or not, I need you to know: you don't know all that happened. Not even 10%. It's worse than you believe.