“I have always been interested in building in Russia,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post after returning from Moscow in 2013. He was also proud that “almost all of the oligarchs were in the room.”-72
Trump negotiated the deal that brought the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow with the blessing and support of the Agalarovs. “We just had a meeting… we all seemed to like each other, shook hands and signed our contract within a week’s time,” Emin said in his Forbes interview, adding that the pageant would cost $20 million to host. Trump first announced Moscow winning the bid in June 2013. “Moscow right now in the world is a very, very important place. We wanted Moscow all the way.”3
After being turned away by American banks due to bankruptcies, Trump has been getting considerable investments from Russian sources, including many with known criminal ties. At one point he even turned to Muammar Gaddafi, the terrorism loving Libyan dictator that blew up American soldiers at a discotech in Germany, funded the Irish Republican Army, destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland and the French UTA Flight 772 over the Sahara. Those airline attacks alone killed 413 total passengers and crew.4
Trump certainly must have been thrilled to be in the presence of the super Nouveau-riche of Moscow, a city where Mercedes Benz was selling more cars than anywhere else in the world. Even Putin’s personal counter-assault teams from the KGB rode in armored stretch Mercedes G-Wagons. The money was spilling from Russia and Trump was now associating himself with some of the most powerful people in the eastern hemisphere.
The beauty pageant would be held in the Crocus City Hall, a 7,500-seat concert hall just four years old. Trump was dazzled, and desired the attention of the only oligarch who mattered, Vladimir Putin. He tweeted with gleeful apprehension, “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow—if so, will he become my new best friend?”5
When Trump met with the Agalarovs in November 2013, Alex Sapir and Rotem Rosen were also in attendance. The Russian developers helped construct the Trump Soho hotel and condominium project in Manhattan.-72 Sapir’s father was alleged to have had close ties to ex-KGB officers. This should hardly be surprising as the KGB, now FSB, is a deeply-entrenched part of the new Russia, where ex-KGB hands reach out to make deals and take advantage wherever they can to the benefit of Putin’s regime.
Sapir told New York’s Real Estate Weekly that Russian visitors to the Trump Soho “have been telling us they wish there was something modern and hip like it in Moscow…. A lot of people from the oil and gas businesses have come to us asking to be partners in building a product like Trump Soho there.” Russian money would be enough for Trump. “The Russian market is attracted to me,” Trump said. Upon returning to the United States Trump gave his experience in Russia glowing reviews. “I just got back from Russia—learned lots & lots,” Trump tweeted upon his return to the U.S. “Moscow is a very interesting and amazing place! U.S. MUST BE VERY SMART AND VERY STRATEGIC.”6
Trump did not say whether or not he met Putin, but was fond of his reputation in the country. Putin “has a tremendous popularity in Russia,” Trump told Fox News. “They love what he’s doing. They love what he represents.”7
The pageant experience left Trump with a newfound “understanding” of Russian society. Trump explained in an interview with Fox News May 6, 2016, “I know Russia well,” Trump said. “I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago, which was a big, big incredible event.” Asked whether he had met with Putin there, Trump declined to say, though he added: “I got to meet a lot of people.” “And you know what?” he continued. “They want to be friendly with the United States. Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along with somebody?”8
The man Trump so enamored, whom Trump was so desperate to meet and impress was not just the ruler of Russia. He was a man steeped in the most dangerous of experiences—he was a master of espionage and an expert at manipulation and exploitation. He could do to Donald Trump what he did to the oligarchy of Russia; make him or break him with a single sentence of approval or insult. Trump, knowing he was culling favor with a powerful man—he had nuclear weapons and beautiful women—responded with obsequiousness that must have pleased such a spy king. Putin must have recognized this showman as a target who could be developed into a political asset friendly to Russia.
Putin’s Candidate Development Strategy
If Putin were to consult the spy-handling experts at the FSB or recall his lessons from the Yuri Andropov School of Intelligence, he would not be hard pressed to find a more suitable candidate that shared his values and could “Make America Great Again.”
Putin has successfully manipulated people from when he was a junior spy, parlaying his ascent to the premiership of Russia. The new FSB methods are exactly the same as the old KGB methods he learned, but harness technology to speed up operational timelines. Not only has Putin used human intelligence and espionage asset management to great effect, but he has also led the way in using the computer information systems technology he was tasked to steal in the 1980s. The creation of new perceptions through propaganda to secure the state has always been a mainstay of the Soviet systems, now it just protects the assets and standing of the oligarchy. Russia fully understood the potential of the internet age to mold perceptions and create its own reality, and information warfare is a central tenet of Russian political, diplomatic, and military operations. The internet age has just sped up the time that propaganda—both innocent and malicious—can infect the global information flow and corrupt whatever target Vladimir Putin desires.
A defector from the KGB, Yuri Bezmenov, gave a series of lectures on KGB recruitment strategies and precisely whom the organization targeted for recruitment by its officers. Bezmenov’s information was confirmed by other former Russian officers as standard fare for recruitment of spies worldwide, particularly in the West.
To some it may come as a surprise that the KGB considered extremist leftists, communists, and so forth, ill-suited to divulge the secrets the KGB wanted, or to gain the highest levels of government clearance. After the 1950s it was KGB policy to always try to recruit the highest level spies from circles that were unexpected; they specifically targeted Westerners from conservative ideological profiles. Bezmenov said:
My KGB instructors specifically made a point. Never border with leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes. Aim higher. Try to get into wide circulation, established conservative media. The rich. Filthy rich movie makers. Intellectuals. So-called academic circles. Cynical egocentric people who can look into your eyes with an angelic expression and tell you a lie.9
If there were ever a candidate for recruitment by hostile intelligence agency then Trump would be moved to the head of the class. When he came onto the political scene, FSB officers must have surely remembered this lesson about recruiting the rich, the egomaniacs, and the liars. The record is patently clear that Donald Trump misleads and deceives with impunity. Trump’s methodology of denial, deception, misdirection, tacit victim-blaming, and outright fabrication has come to permeate every aspect of his campaign.