56. Pfeiffer, “Former Trump Adviser Tells a Story about the President-Elect and Prostitutes.”
57. Scott Shane et al., “How a Sensational, Unverified Dossier Became a Crisis for Donald Trump,” New York Times, January 11, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-intelligence.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fnicholas-confessore&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection.
58. Adam Entous et al., “Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier,” Washington Post, October 24, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/clinton-campaign-dnc-paid-for-research-that-led-to-russia-dossier/2017/10/24/226fabf0-b8e4-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html?utm_term=.20253e4063af.
59. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), “Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?” Twitter, October 19, 2017, 4:45 a.m., https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/920981920787386368.
60. Ken Bensinger et al., “These Reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties to Russia,” BuzzFeed News, January 10, 2017, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/these-reports-allege-trump-has-deep-ties-to-russia.
61. Ibid.
62. Ibid.
63. “Russians abandon plans for Trump Tower construction in Moscow region,” Construction.ru, February 17, 2017, http://russianconstruction.com/news-1/26505-russians-abandon-plans-for-trump-tower-construction-in-moscow-region.html.
64. Ibid.
65. Kirsch, “The Full Exclusive Interview.”
66. Emily Stewart, “Trump is ‘definitely still involved’ in his hotel business, a new report says,” Vox, December 30, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/12/30/16832964/trump-business-washington-hotel.
67. Page Six Team, “Trump Researching 2016 Run,” New York Post, May 27, 2013, https://pagesix.com/2013/05/27/trump-researching-2016-run/.
68. Kevin Robillard, “Report: Trump spends $1M on 2016 research,” Politico, May 27, 2013, https://www.politico.com/blogs/click/2013/05/report-trump-spends-1m-on-2016-research-164818.
69. Page Six Team, “Trump Researching 2016 Run.”
70. Yulya Alferova (@AlferovaYulyaE), “I’m tweeting, Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump is talking . . . Again and again about Obama)),” Twitter, November 9, 2013, 7:24 a.m. Moscow, https://twitter.com/alferovayulyae/status/399195775185731584?lang=en.
71. Anna Nemtsova, “She Met Donald Trump at the Moscow Ritz (Not That Way!),” Daily Beast, January 20, 2017, https://www.thedailybeast.com/she-met-donald-trump-at-the-moscow-ritz-not-that-way.
72. Will Stewart, “Exclusive: the oligarch who brings Putin ‘solutions not problems’—how billionaire tycoon at center of meeting with Don Jr is Russian leader’s go-to for tough projects (like wooing Trump),” Daily Mail, July 13, 2017, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4690806/Agalarov-s-relationship-Trump-manna-Putin.html.
73. Ibid.
74. Ibid.
75. Roth, “The Man Who Drives Trump’s Russia Connection.”
76. Neil MacFarquhar, “A Russian Developer Helps Out the Kremlin on Occasion. Was He a Conduit to Trump?” New York Times, July 16, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/world/europe/aras-agalarov-trump-kremlin.html.
77. Ibid.
78. Ibid. The “outside” header on the main page of the Times has additional text for the same article: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/indexes/2017/07/17/todayspaper/index.html.
79. Stewart, “Exclusive: The oligarch who brings Putin ‘solutions not problems.’ ”
80. “Azerbaijan Corruption Report,” GAN Business Anti-Corruption Portal, July 2016, https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-profiles/azerbaijan/; Adam Davidson, “Donald Trump’s Worst Deal,” New Yorker, March 13, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal; Adam Davidson, “Trump’s Business of Corruption,” New Yorker, August 21, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/trumps-business-of-corruption; Veronika Bondarenko, “Donald Trump’s Hotel in Azerbaijan Linked with Corruption, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard,” Business Insider, March 6, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-azerbaijan-hotel-linked-with-corruption-iran-2017-3; Andrew E. Kramer, “Former Trump Tower in Azerbaijan, Dogged by Controversy, Is Engulfed by Fire,” New York Times, April 28, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/world/asia/fire-trump-tower-azerbaijan.html.
81. Davidson, “Donald Trump’s Worst Deal”; Davidson, “Trump’s Business of Corruption”; Bondarenko, “Donald Trump’s Hotel in Azerbaijan”; Kramer, “Former Trump Tower in Azerbaijan.”
82. Matthew Yglesias, “Donald Trump’s fishy behavior on Russia is bigger than possible email collusion,” Vox, July 11, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/11/15947434/something-weird-donald-trump-russia.
83. Crowley, “When Donald Trump Brought Miss Universe to Moscow.”
84. “Donald Trump’s Tweet About “Best Friend Putin” Is Most Retweeted From Final Debate,” Hollywood Reporter, October 19, 2016, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/donald-trumps-tweet-best-friend-939986.
85. Stewart, “Exclusive: The Oligarch Who Brings Putin Solutions.”
86. Ibid.
87. Corn and Isikoff, “What Happened in Moscow.”
88. Ibid.
89. Ibid.
90. Ibid.
91. Kirsch, “The Full Exclusive Interview.”
92. Harris et al., “In a Personal Letter, Trump Invited Putin.”
93. Evgenia Pismennaya, “The Day Trump Came to Moscow: Oligarchs, Miss Universe and Nobu,” Bloomberg, December 21, 2016, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-21/the-day-trump-came-to-moscow-oligarchs-miss-universe-and-nobu.
94. Andrew Kaczynski, “80 Times Trump Talked about Putin,” CNN, March 21, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/03/politics/trump-putin-russia-timeline/.
95. Megan Twohey and Steve Eder, “For Trump, Three Decades of Chasing Deals in Russia,” New York Times, January 16, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-business.html; “Excerpts From The Times’ Interview with Trump,” New York Times, July 19, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-transcript.html.
96. Twohey and Eder, “For Trump, Three Decades of Chasing Deals in Russia.”
97. Martin Longman, “The Odd Chabad Connection Between Putin and Trump,” Washington Monthly, November 27, 2017, https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/11/27/the-odd-chabad-connection-between-putin-and-trump/.
98. David B. Green, “Who Is Lev Leview, the Israeli Billionaire with Ties to Jared Kushner and Putin,” Haaretz, July 25, 2017, https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/who-is-the-israeli-billionaire-with-ties-to-kushner-and-putin-1.5435007.
99. Konrad Putzier, “Hotel Trio Aims to Bring Manhattan to Moscow,” Real Estate Weekly, November 12, 2013, http://rew-online.com/2013/11/12/hotel-trio-aims-to-bring-manhattan-to-moscow/.
100. Ibid.
101. Trump Twitter, November 10, 2013, 6:44 p.m.
102. Trump Twitter, November 11, 2013, 8:39 a.m.
103. Bensinger et al., “These Reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties to Russia.”
104. Angel Au-Yeung, “World Cup 2018 Exclusive: The 15 Russian Billionaires Connected to the Games,” Forbes, June 30, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2018/06/11/world-cup-2018-fifa-russia-billionaires-putin-sanction-trump/#4b7b283e11d2.
105. Vasilyeva, “Russian Real Estate Deals Never Materialized for Trump.”
106. Sarah Fitzpatrick et al., “Daniels’ Lawyer: Cohen Got $500,000 from Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg,” NBC News, May 8, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/daniels-lawyer-cohen-got-500k-russian-oligarch-viktor-vekselberg-n872481; Au-Yeung, “World Cup 2018 Exclusive.”
107. Ibid.; Ben Schreckinger and Julie Ioffe, “Lobbyist Advised Trump Campaign While Promoting Russian Pipeline,” Politico, October 7, 2016, h
ttps://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-campaign-lobbyist-russian-pipeline-229264.
108. Tom Hamburger et al., “Inside Trump’s financial ties to Russia and his unusual flattery of Vladimir Putin,” Washington Post, June 17, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.164960a98173.
109. Ibid.
110. Ibid.
111. Vernon Silver and Evgenia Pismennaya, “Trump’s Two Nights of Parties in Moscow Echo Two Years Later,” Bloomberg, July 13, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-13/trump-s-two-nights-of-parties-in-moscow-reverberate-years-later.
112. Yulya Alferova (@AlferovaYulyaE), “Waiting for your business to start in Russia, Mr. Trump @realDonaldTrump! @eminofficial #Russia #Moscow,” Twitter, November 11, 2013, 3:51 a.m., https://twitter.com/alferovayulyae/status/399867018725568512?lang=en.
113. Scott Glover and Sara Sidner, “Trump’s lawyer referred a client to Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer, raising new questions about collaboration,” CNN, April 6, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/06/politics/michael-cohen-referred-keith-davidson-client-invs/index.html; Tom Arnold (@TomArnold), “RT THREAD Final Chuck LaBella tweets: Heard from his new high-powered lawyer who repped Trumps Playmate GF & others with DJT dirt & handles,” Twitter, October 21, 2017, 11:37 a.m., https://twitter.com/TomArnold/status/921807708092710912.
114. Vice Staff, “VICELAND Is Sending Tom Arnold on a Hunt for More Trump Tapes,” VICE News, May 2, 2018, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gym4y3/viceland-is-sending-tom-arnold-on-a-hunt-for-more-trump-tapes.
115. Tracy Connor and Brandy Zadrozny, “Tom Arnold tweets picture with Michael Cohen, says he has all the tapes,’ ” NBC News, June 21, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-mugs-trump-critic-tom-arnold-n885611.
116. Jimmy Geurts, “Tom Arnold Was Talking Trump Sex Tape Last Week,” International Herald Tribune, January 11, 2017, http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20170111/tom-arnold-was-talking-trump-sex-tape-last-week.
117. Glover and Sidner, “Trump’s lawyer referred a client to Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer.”
118. Sara Sidner and Scott Glover, “Hush money deals business as usual for Stormy Daniels’ ex-attorney,” CNN, April 27, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/27/politics/stormy-daniels-attorney-hush-agreements-invs/index.html.
119. Kendra Becker, “NBC Boss Shocked That Arnold Schwarzenegger Agreed to Celebrity Apprentice,” Irish Examiner/Goss.ie (Ireland), September 14, 2016, http://goss.ie/uncategorized/nbc-boss-shocked-arnold-schwarzenegger-agreed-celebrity-apprentice-80557.
120. Trump, “Building the Trump Brand.”
121. Tom Arnold (@TomArnold), “Trump LOVES Chuck LaBella. I’d kill if a reporter asked DJT about him. Chuck can confirm pee pee tape & Putin call & Apprentice Miss U filth,” October 16, 2017, 9:39 a.m., https://twitter.com/tomarnold/status/920146901651116032?lang=en.
122. Tom Arnold (@TomArnold), “Not in my control. Mark Burnett has all. Mark’s most loyal man in town, his son was DJT’s ring bearer, Trump boned him. He should fight back Tom Arnold added, Robert Jolley @bj95432geemale,” Twitter, March 28, 2017, 11:11 a.m., https://twitter.com/tomarnold/status/846786772197507072; Katie Kilkenny, “Tom Arnold Slams Mark Burnett for Protecting Trump in Rambling ‘Live’ Appearance,” Hollywood Reporter, August 16, 2018, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tom-arnold-slams-mark-burnett-protecting-trump-rambling-live-appearance-1135353; Chris Cillizza, “Katrina Pierson’s explanations of the alleged ‘n-word’ tape make no sense,” CNN, August 14, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/14/politics/katrina-pierson-donald-trump-omarosa/index.html.
123. Tim Mak, “How Did Steven Seagal and Vladimir Putin Become BFFs? Bob Van Ronkel Introduced Them,” NPR, July 3, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/07/03/624059365/how-did-steven-seagal-and-vladimir-putin-become-bffs-bob-van-ronkel-introduced-t; Kyle Swenson, “The Putin-Seagal Bromance: The Backstory,” Washington Post, August 8, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/08/meet-the-la-dealmaker-who-helped-bring-steven-seagal-and-vladimir-putin-together/?utm_term=.3616dda53d0d; Greg Walters, “It’s Entirely Possible Putin Used a Pop Star to Get to Trump Jr.,” VICE News, July 14, 2017, https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/eva8dj/is-it-possible-putin-used-a-pr-rep-and-pop-star-to-get-to-trump-jr; Corn and Isikoff, “What Happened in Moscow.”
124. Mak, “How Did Steven Seagal and Vladimir Putin Become BFFs?”; Swenson, “The Putin-Seagal Bromance”; Walters, “It’s Entirely Possible Putin Used a Pop Star to Get to Trump Jr.” ; Corn and Isikoff, “What Happened in Moscow”; Bob Van Ronkel (website), photos of Van Ronkel with Vladimir Putin et al., http://bobvanronkel.ru/bvr#/en/.
125. Mak, “How Did Steven Seagal Vladimir Putin Become BFFs?”; Swenson, “The Putin-Seagal Bromance”; Walters, “It’s Entirely Possible Putin Used a Pop Star to Get to Trump Jr.”; Corn and Isikoff, “What Happened in Moscow?”
126. AFIO (website), “POSSIBLE KGB TELEVISION SERIES: Producer Bob Van Ronkel is currently putting together a multimillion-dollar television series tentatively titled ‘Files From the KGB,’ ” August 13, 2001, https://www.afio.com/sections/wins/2001/2001-32.html.
127. Van Ronkel website.
128. Melissa Gomez, “Steven Seagal Appointed by Russia as Special Envoy to the U.S.,” New York Times, August 5, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/world/asia/steven-seagal-putin-russia.html; Emma Stefansky, “Steven Seagal Receives Official Russian Citizenship from Vladimir Putin,” Vanity Fair, November 26, 2016, https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/steven-seagal-vladimir-putin-russian-citizenship.
129. Chuck LaBella, Internet Movie Database biography entry for Chuck LaBella, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1238132/.
130. Ibid.
131. Ibid.
132. Arnold Twitter, October 16, 2017, 9:39 a.m.
133. Max Seddon and Rosie Gray, “Putin’s Action Hero: How Steven Seagal Became the Kremlin’s Unlikeliest Envoy,” BuzzFeed News, April 20, 2015, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maxseddon/putins-action-hero-how-steven-seagal-became-the-kremlins-unl.
134. Ibid.
135. Ibid.
136. Ibid.
137. Walters, “It’s Entirely Possible Putin Used a Pop Star to Get to Trump Jr.”
138. Van Ronkel website.
139. Demetri Sevastopulo and Max Seddon, “Trumps Keep Controversy in the Family,” Financial Times, July 14, 2017, https://www.ft.com/content/3397e9f8-6874-11e7-8526-7b38dcaef614.
140. Walters, “It’s Entirely Possible Putin Used a Pop Star to Get to Trump Jr.”
141. Ollie Gillman, “Putin ‘begged to meet Trump at 2013 Miss Universe but was left disappointed after the billionaire arrived late—so the Russian had an oligarch’s daughter deliver a gift instead,’ ” Daily Mail, July 29, 2016, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3714527/Putin-begged-meet-Trump-2013-Miss-Universe-left-disappointed-billionaire-arrived-late-Russian-oligarch-s-daughter-deliver-gift-instead.html.
142. Swaine and Walker, “Trump in Moscow.”
143. Corn and Isikoff, “What Happened in Moscow”; Rosalind S. Helderman, “Putin dismisses question about whether Russia has compromising information on Trump,” Washington Post, July 16, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/putin-dismisses-question-about-whether-russia-has-compromising-information-on-trump/2018/07/16/19e29f90-8915-11e8-85ae-511bc1146b0b_story.html?utm_term=.06ed2052952b.
144. Trump, “Building the Trump Brand”; Katherine Faulders, “Donald Who? Putin Doesn’t Remember Trump in Moscow,” ABC News, July 17, 2018, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-putin-remember-trump-moscow/story?id=56652016.
145. Craig and Chen, “Donald Trump Considered Path to Presidency Starting at Governor’s Mansion in New York.”
146. Ibid.
147. Ibid.
148. Ibid.
149. Ibid.
150. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), “Funny how the Fake News Media doesn’t want to say that the Russian group was formed in 2014, long before my run for President. Maybe they knew I was going to run even though I didn’t know!” Twitter, February 17, 2018, 11:46 a.m., https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/964949269374529538.
151. Construction.ru, February 17, 2017, http://russianconstruction.com/news-1/26505-russians-abandon-plans-for-trump-tower-construction-in-moscow-region.html.
152. Hunter Walker and Brett Arnold, “Michael Cohen’s efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow went on longer than he has previously acknowledged,” Yahoo! News, May 16, 2018, https://ca.news.yahoo.com/michael-cohens-efforts-build-trump-tower-moscow-went-longer-previously-acknowledged-232845349.html.
153. Kirsch, “The Full Exclusive Interview.”
154. Ibid.
155. Ibid.
156. Ibid.
157. Ibid.
158. Nolan D. McCaskill, “Trump Tells Wisconsin: Victory Was a Surprise,” Politico, December 13, 2016, https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-wisconsin-232605.
159. Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (New York: Henry Holt, 2018).
160. Ibid.
161. Rebecca Savransky, “Scarborough: Trump didn’t think he would win, campaign was ‘money-making scam,’ ” Hill, August 29, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/media/348370-scarborough-trump-never-thought-he-was-going-to-win-campaign-was-a-money; Chase Peterson-Withorn, “Trump Refuses to Divest Assets, Passes Control to Sons,” Forbes, January 11, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2017/01/11/donald-trump-will-hand-over-business/#4e16976360d7.
162. Jennifer Rubin, “The Emoluments Case is the Nightmare Trump Has Long Feared,” Washington Post, July 25, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/07/25/trump-loses-big-in-emoluments-case/?utm_term=.df858fa0ff5e.
CHAPTER THREE: KOMPROMAT
1. Todd Franklin, “Multiple Sources Corroborate Trump ‘Pee-Pee’ Tape—Additional Tapes Alleged,” IR.Net, September 4, 2017, http://ir.net/news/politics/127232/multiple-sources-corroborate-trump-pee-pee-tape-additional-tapes-alleged/.
Proof of Collusion Page 38