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Possible title: Donald Trump and national security

{{Trump–Russia relations}} {{Donald Trump series|expanded=Russia controversies}}

Donald Trump is seen by many, especially in the United States and British intelligence communities, as a counterintelligence risk and national security threat. Trump has allegedly been cultivated by Russian intelligence agencies for at least 40 years, with efforts to create and collect kompromat that can be used to gain leverage over him.

Intelligence agencies assert that Russia possesses compromising tapes of Trump's sexual behavior from his many trips to Russia. The CIA reportedly views these reports about kompromat as credible, and the Senate Intelligence Committee "found ... that there may be substance to some of the allegations regarding Trump". The leaders of U.S. and British intelligence agencies view Trump as under Vladimir Putin's influence, and many experienced intelligence personnel view Trump not as a Russian spy, but as an "asset" and "agent of influence", someone who uses his position, power, and influence in the interests of an enemy power.

A "former head of Russia's foreign intelligence services" reported that "they had Trump over a barrel". FBI Director Robert Mueller testified that Russia had blackmail leverage over Trump due to his lies about his dealings with Russia.

History of cultivation, compromise, and kompromat

Sources describe how Trump appears vulnerable to at least three types of kompromat (compromising material): those of a sexual, financial, and corrupt practices nature. These vulnerabilities go back many years, far before his 2015–2016 presidential campaign. The Russians and their allied intelligence agencies appear to have been cultivating him and collecting kompromat on him for at least 40 years.

According to former KGB major Yuri Shvets, Russia has been cultivating Trump as a Russian intelligence "asset", not an actual "agent" (spy), for many years. He became the target of a joint KGB and Czech intelligence services spying operation after he married Czech model Ivana Zelnickova and has been cultivated as an "asset" since 1977: "Russian intelligence gained an interest in Trump as far back as 1977, viewing Trump as an exploitable target." Shvets describes why "Trump was the ideal target for Soviet recruitment. 'He was the perfect combination of extremes: Extreme vanity, extremely low IQ, extreme vulnerability to flattery, and of course, extremely greedy.'" Trump was just one of many targeted by the KGB: "The Russians were trying to recruit like crazy and going after dozens and dozens of people." This time, the KGB believed their efforts had paid off, and they celebrated their success.

Three years later, Trump finished his first large building project, the Grand Hyatt New York hotel, furnishing it with "hundreds of televisions from a Russian immigrant who was a KGB spotter and who highlighted him as a potential asset, being an up-and-coming businessman". "Then, in 1987, Trump and Ivana visited Moscow and St Petersburg for the first time. Shvets said he was fed KGB talking points and flattered by KGB operatives who floated the idea that he should go into politics." Shvets compared the young Trump to the Cambridge Five, where early recruitment bore fruit for Russia much later:

For the KGB, it was a charm offensive. They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery.
This is what they exploited. They played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality and believed this is the guy who should be the president of the United States one day: it is people like him who could change the world. They fed him these so-called active measures soundbites and it happened. So it was a big achievement for the KGB active measures at the time.

Shvets said Trump was "groomed by the Russians to pursue a political career", and immediately after Trump returned to the United States in 1987, he began to seek the Republican nomination for president. He also began publishing unorthodox and anti-American sentiments. Trump was not viewed as an actual spy but as an asset who is a "useful idiot". Kyle Cunliffe, a lecturer in intelligence studies, puts it this way:

We're talking about Trump being a self-interested businessman who's happy to do a favour if it works to his own best interests – and that includes staying out of jail. ... Simply put, an agent is a partner for life, whereas an asset is a friend with benefits. And, most likely, if Trump has been one of the two, it's the latter.

The Senate Intelligence Committee also looked at Trump's potentially blackmailable activities in Russia in 1996 and interviewed several witnessess, including Leon Black, who, like Trump and their mutual friend Jeffrey Epstein, also had problems with various sexual misconduct accusations:

Two decades before he ran for president, Donald J. Trump traveled to Russia, where he scouted properties, was wined and dined and, of greatest significance to Senate intelligence investigators, met a woman who was a former Miss Moscow.
A Trump associate, Robert Curran, who was interviewed by the Senate investigators, said he believed Mr. Trump may have had a romantic relationship with the woman. On the same trip, another Trump associate, Leon Black, told investigators that he and Mr. Trump 'might have been in a strip club together.' Another witness said that Mr. Trump may have been with other women in Moscow and later brought them along to a meeting with the mayor.
Mr. Trump was married to Marla Maples at the time.

Compromising tapes rumor

Ritz-Carlton Moscow (2014)

In late 2013, after Trump left the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, Muscovites began to hear about compromising tapes of Trump with prostitutes in the Ritz-Carlton hotel, with "tales of [Trump's] weird sexual indiscretions" being described as an "open secret" and "a well-known story" in Moscow, and Moscow prostitutes saying "the 'golden shower' orgy story is true". The rumor is about an alleged "golden showers" incident at the Ritz-Carlton hotel when Trump stayed there the weekend of November 8‍–‍10, 2013.

The unproven incident involving prostitutes peeing on a bed, which Trump allegedly orchestrated and watched, was purportedly secretly arranged and recorded by Russian FSB intelligence to be used as kompromat to blackmail and control Trump. The constant threat that Vladimir Putin could release the alleged pee tape(s) has been proposed as one reason why Trump has never criticized Putin. The rumor relates to Trump's vulnerability to blackmail by Putin and others, and to allegations that Trump is a threat to national security.

While the media has tended to focus on the sexual nature of the alleged scandalous incident, others have focused on how Trump's well-known hatred of Obama led him to compromise national security with the far more serious scandal and kompromat he created when he allegedly "intentionally disrespected the President of the United States" and became blackmailable.

Michael Cohen testified to the House Intelligence Committee on March 6, 2019, that the rumor was about the "infamous pee tape when Mr. Trump was in Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant", and that he and Trump had known about the rumor since shortly after Trump left Moscow in November 2013. (The public first learned of their awareness in 2019.)

It was only after the Steele dossier's publication in 2017 that Trump publicly mentioned the rumor and focused his ire on the dossier as if it were the creator of a new rumor. Some other sources did the same. Trump and some sources falsely claim Steele "made-up" the rumor or that it was "born" because of the dossier.

James Comey

FBI Director James Comey met with Trump several times where Trump, without prompting, brought up the pee tape allegation. Trump stayed in Moscow the weekend of November 8‍–‍10, 2013, with one full overnighting, but Trump told Comey "the Moscow trip was so quick that his head never hit a pillow — even for one night". Even though no one had yet mentioned the speculated time of the alleged incident, Trump repeatedly used an advanced type of lying by using two types of lies at the same time; Trump lied very specifically by omitting (by denying) the fact he spent one whole night in Moscow (when the incident allegedly did happen), while paltering by mentioning the fact he spent only part of the next night (when the incident could not have happened). This caused Comey to doubt the sincerity of Trump's denials. Comey said these lies reflected Trump's "consciousness of guilt".

Comey said he did not know if the "golden showers" rumor was true, but he came to believe it was possible. On ABC's "20/20", he told George Stephanopoulos:

I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. It's possible, but I don't know.

Cohen's 2019 testimony of Trump's early knowledge of rumor

Michael Cohen's testimony to the House Intelligence Committee on March 6, 2019, made clear that Steele's Russian sources were not inventing a rumor; rather, they were sharing the old 2013 rumor already known to Cohen and Trump:

Michael Cohen has testified that he and Trump became aware of the allegations about a tape of compromising information in late 2013 or early 2014, shortly after the Miss Universe 2013 pageant and significantly prior to the 2016 U.S. election cycle. The alleged tape related to Trump and prostitutes. Cohen has testified that he discussed the allegations with Trump, who asked Cohen to find out where the allegations were coming from. Trump told Cohen that the allegations were not true.

Cohen also said that "he had been aware of other similar allegations that began shortly after Trump's travel to Moscow in 2013".

Cohen acted on Trump's request, and, in "2014 or 2015", he contacted his friend Giorgi Rtskhiladze "to see if Rtskhiladze could find out if the tape was real". Rtskhiladze responded on October 30, 2016, with an ensuing series of text messages between Rtskhiladze and Cohen that are covered in the Mueller report's "Footnote 112" and the House Intelligence Committee's "Exhibit 38".

When Rtskhiladze contacted Cohen, he said he had stopped "flow of some tapes from Russia". Cohen then asked him "Tapes of what?" and Rtskhiladze replied "Not sure of the content but person in Moscow was bragging had tapes from Russia trip." Their communication continued, and Lawfare observed that the goal of these communications about the tapes "was to run them down and keep them quiet so that Trump could 'make it to' the White House". This happened about a week before the 2016 election and well before the Steele dossier became public knowledge on January 10, 2017.

Rtskhiladze later claimed that the tapes were "fake", but District Judge Christopher R. Cooper cast doubt on that claim: "As for Rtskhiladze's professed belief that the tapes were fake, that suggestion is somewhat undercut by Rtskhiladze's statement, only present in the Senate Report, suggesting that the tapes may have been real, and that they were 'what happens when you visit crocus I guess.'"

Michael Cohen (2011)

Under questioning by Representative Jackie Speier, Cohen described the tape stopped by Georgi Rtskhiladze as "the infamous pee tape when Mr. Trump was in Moscow for the Miss Universe Pageant". Speier asked: "It wasn't infamous then, was it?" and he replied: "Yes, yes. That the tape - the conversation about the tape has gone back almost a couple months past when they were there for the Miss Universe Pageant that that tape existed." (p. 227) When Speier asked "So you're suggesting you've known about the rumors about this tape for many years before October 30th?" he replied that he had talked to "many people" over the years:

Cohen estimated that, over the course of several years, six different people contacted him regarding the alleged tape. Cohen stated that one individual threatened to release the alleged information if the individual was not paid a large sum of money. Cohen indicated that he would have been willing to pay the individual to suppress the information if it could be verified, but Cohen was never shown any evidence. Cohen has also said that individuals in the media contacted him regarding a tape of Trump. ... [T]hose individuals included David Pecker, Dylan Howard and Harvey Levin.

Not only did Cohen identify the tapes he and Rtskhiladze had been hunting for years, now stopped by Rtskhiladze, as the pee tape mentioned in the Steele dossier, Judge Cooper wrote: "Rtskhiladze's own words as reproduced in the Senate Report show that he, at the very least, suspected in 2017 that the tapes referred to in his texts with Cohen and the tapes mentioned in the Steele Dossier were one and the same."

During her questioning of Cohen, Speier noted how that original rumor from 2013 did not die: "but it persists, and then you're hearing it again on October 30th". When Speier said "It does not become public knowledge until January of 2017, when BuzzFeed releases the Steele dossier." Cohen corrected her and confirmed there was some form of "public knowledge" of the pee tape before the Steele dossier: "That's not really true. There were conversations way before that. TMZ, Harvey Levin called me, said he had heard about the existence of it. You know, other people had heard of the existence of that tape."

Separate but related allegations that predate the Steele dossier and 2016 campaign

While the unauthorized publication of the Steele dossier in January 2017 brought awareness of alleged sexual kompromat about Trump to the public, the Senate Intelligence Committee investigated earlier awareness of "separate but related allegations":

Russia has a longstanding practice of collecting compromising information to attempt to influence or coerce prominent individuals, posing a potential counterintelligence threat. Allegations that the Russian government had compromising information on then-candidate Trump emerged in 2016, and were more fully made public in early 2017, through memos produced by Christopher Steele. Separate but related allegations, which were not public, in some cases predated both Steele's memos and Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Collectively, the allegations raised a potential counterintelligence concern, that Russia might use compromising information to influence the then-presidential candidate's positions on relations with Russia. The Committee sought, in a limited way, to understand the Russian government's alleged collection of such information, not only because of the threat of a potential foreign influence operation, but also to explore the possibility of a misinformation operation targeting the integrity of the U.S. political process. (p. 636)

The Senate Intelligence Committee also noted that Trump knew about the "alleged compromising tapes of him in Moscow", allegations that "are separate from" the later Steele dossier:

The Committee's Report also shows that prior to and during the campaign, Trump was informed of alleged compromising tapes of him in Moscow. These allegations are separate from Christopher Steele's reports, which were not used to support the Committee's work. The Committee found that the Russian intelligence services clearly engage in the collection of compromising information for leverage, and that there may be substance to some of the allegations regarding Trump, which leaves open an ongoing concern about Russian influence operations. (p. 945)

Vulnerability to kompromat and blackmail

Many writers and investigations have mentioned possible threats of kompromat and ways that Trump may be vulnerable to blackmail.

Vera Papisova wrote: "If allegations are true, and the Russian government does have compromising financial and personal information about Donald Trump, then we should be more concerned about whether or not this will have an effect on his foreign policy — and not laughing at his sexual preferences."

Jaclyn Friedman points out the "big scandal": "People are so focused on the 'scandalous' sex act that they're missing the treason. The big scandal here, which is getting lost in all the pointing and laughing, is that, if these allegations are true, he's compromised U.S. sovereignty by being either blackmailed or blackmailable by Russia."

Paul Wood, BBC journalist, wrote: "The significance of these allegations is that, if true, the president-elect of the United States would be vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians. I understand the CIA believes it is credible that the Kremlin has such kompromat - or compromising material - on the next US commander in chief."

Bruce Ohr testified to the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees about the subject of kompromat. He said that on July 30, 2016, Steele told him that "Russian intelligence believed 'they had Trump over a barrel'  ... [a] broader sentiment [that] is echoed in Steele's dossier". Paul Wood described the source as "another Danchenko contact, a 'former senior intelligence officer now a Kremlin official'. This was later said to be no less than a former head of Russia's foreign intelligence services. This source did not talk specifically about the 'pee tape' but, Danchenko told Steele, he said they had sexual kompromat on Trump going back years. 'We've got him over a barrel.'"

The Senate Intelligence Committee also suggested that Putin could blackmail Trump:

[O]n October 22, 2016, O'Brien sent an invitation email to the group of expatriate businessmen, including Geovanis, regarding the 2016 holiday dinner in Moscow. In that email, O'Brien wrote, 'I keep thinking that VVP [Putin] must have some great material on Donald.' (p. 655)

A Lawfare summary of the Senate Committee's final report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections examined its "findings regarding reports of 'kompromat' of a sexual nature that may have been collected on Donald Trump during his various visits to Moscow" and found they were "significantly redacted. The blacked-out portions include a fuller description of the threat posed by Russian intelligence services' collection of kompromat."

While the Senate Intelligence Committee investigated the possibility of Russian kompromat on Trump, much of the discussion was redacted in the public version of the report, and witnesses were less than cooperative: "A number of witnesses told the Committee their memories were unclear." (p. 638) Ultimately, the Committee "did not establish" that Russia had kompromat on Trump.

Mueller in 2011

FBI Director Robert Mueller testified that Russia had blackmail on Trump due to financial factors because he lied about negotiating with Russia for a Trump Tower deal in Moscow. He "repeated five times in one press conference, Mr. Mueller, in 2016, 'I have nothing to do with Russia.'" Those repeated false statements made him vulnerable to blackmail:

Any undisclosed foreign arrangements would raise red flags about candidates for national office, making them vulnerable to blackmail by others privy to those secrets. Russians call such nuggets of damaging information 'kompromat,' a concept that's become familiar enough to enter the international lexicon.

On September 5, 2017, in a Russian state TV broadcast, Russian politician Nikita Isaev (Isayev) confirmed the Kremlin had kompromat on Trump. He was the leader of the far-right New Russia Movement, and he called for retaliation against the Trump administration over its closure of several Russian diplomatic compounds across the U.S. As retaliation, he threatened the release of unspecified kompromat on Trump held by the Russian government. Isaev said: "Let's hit Trump with our Kompromat!" Host: "Do we have it?" Isaev: "Of course we have it!"

Witting or unwitting "asset" and "agent of influence"

John Sipher, a former member of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service, describes differing aspects of whether Trump is a witting or unwitting asset of Russian intelligence agencies:

A number of commentators and critics have labeled President Trump an Agent of the Russian Federation. It is often not clear if they mean that he is unwittingly adopting Russian propaganda, knowingly doing the bidding of the Kremlin or is an out-and-out controlled secret asset of the Russian intelligence services. All are sordid. Some are merely repulsive while others are illegal and even treasonous (in the common though not legal understanding of that term).

McCabe in 2017

When asked by Anderson Cooper if Trump might be a Russian asset, former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said "I think it's possible. I think that's why we started our investigation, and I'm really anxious to see where (special counsel Robert) Mueller concludes that."

Max Boot has listed "18 reasons Trump could be a Russian asset". He mentioned the dossier when he described more "evidence of Trump's subservience to Putin", and he tied it to new government confirmations of rumors about Trump's alleged indiscretions in Russia:

The Senate Intelligence Committee offered some provocative new nuggets, including suggestions that Trump might have engaged in dalliances with Russian women during visits to Moscow that left him open to blackmail. This is the first confirmation from any branch of the U.S. government that rumors of Russian kompromat on Trump — a central feature of the infamous Steele Dossier — may have some basis in fact.

Intelligence agencies may create an asset by compromising the person, and this is done by keeping track of their lies, indiscretions, and potential sexual scandals. Any of these can be used as kompromat to gain leverage over the asset, enabling them to be pressured in many ways:

President Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen says that Trump repeatedly lied during the campaign when he denied have any deals or anything to do with Russia. Others knew as well, presumably — his daughter and son-in-law who worked on the project, Felix Sater who reached out to the Russian and — this is key — the Russians. If you believe Cohen, then Russians knew Trump was lying and Trump knew that they knew. That's leverage. Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi explains: 'At any time, Vladimir Putin could use — or perhaps he already has used — knowledge of Trump's deceit to pressure Trump on everything from sanctions to public statements to policy on Ukraine.'

Trump's lies about his business projects in Russia created the necessary conditions for Trump to be compromised: "As candidate and again as president, Trump lied about his business ties with Russia." Peter Strzok explains the consequences of those lies:

The moment Trump said publicly, 'I have no business dealings with Russia,' he knew he was lying. Putin knew he was lying, and the FBI had reason to believe he was lying. But American citizens didn't know that. The then-presidential candidate's public denial of his business dealings in Russia signaled to Putin that Trump was more interested in maintaining his personal financial interests than in telling the truth to the American people, and that he needed Putin's complicity to maintain the lie. To use an intelligence term that you will be seeing a lot in this book, in this moment Trump became compromised. Trump's compromising behavior did not begin or end with the lie about his business interests in Russia. The list was long and alarming. ... All these actions made Trump vulnerable to coercion by Russia, and now he was behaving in a way that suggested he was indeed being manipulated by our adversary. The dilemma for us was, what was the Bureau going to do about it?

Watts in 2017

Former FBI special agent Clint Watts says that "Trump handed Putin 'a window of opportunity should he choose to use it to discredit President Trump at any time President Trump doesn't do what President Putin likes.'" Former acting CIA director John McLaughlin described how the "seeds of blackmail" can come from "ongoing business negotiations" and "the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, even if nothing came of it".

Lawfare described how Trump's lies about the plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow gave the Russians "leverage" over him and "compromised" him:

This was a lie, and for those quick to dismiss the notion that Donald Trump was to any degree compromised by the Russians, consider the lie for a moment. Trump made these comments publicly in a high-stakes situation. He knew when he did so that they were untrue. The Russians also knew they were untrue. And Trump also knew that the Russians knew that they were untrue. The only people who didn’t know they were untrue were the American public. This creates leverage, because Trump also knew at some level that the Russians could expose his lie in a high-stakes situation at any point. Such knowledge creates counterintelligence risk for the simple reason that it creates a powerful incentive on the part of the candidate not to cross the party with leverage.

Jennifer Rubin, columnist for The Washington Post, wrote:

Senator Adam Schiff "raises the possibility that this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to President Trump's financial dealings with Russia. If true, and especially if Trump was engaged in money laundering that might violate U.S. laws (something yet to be proven), Schiff says 'Russians would be well aware of it,' and could hold (or be holding) that over Trump's head."

Both of Trump's sons have "admitted that Russians supplied the Trump Organization much of its capital needs", and Trump's former architect, Alan Lapidus, has described how Trump's "involvement with Russia was deeper than he's acknowledged". He helped Trump survey property in Russia in 1997, yet, to his consternation, Trump later "kept protesting that he knew nothing about Russia and hadn't tried to do much business there". Lapidus said: "The quid pro quo has to be in there somewhere. ... Trump could not get money here. He found Russia, and the Russians gave him a lot of money. He has got to be doing a quid pro quo. It's just logical. It's just too much money."

Rubin cites The Moscow Project's description of Trump's relationship with Russia. In the context of heavy investments by Russians in Trump's properties and "a president under several investigations for his connections to the Kremlin":

Russia's outsize role in Trump's reemergence from financial tribulations that nearly destroyed his real estate empire merit additional attention. What emerges is the story of a man indebted to Russia through the oligarchs that President Vladimir Putin helped create and now controls.

Right after the dossier was published, the BBC's Paul Wood described four sources for claims of possible Trump–Russia blackmail: "the head of an East European intelligence agency"; "an intelligence agency of one of the Baltic States"; "active duty CIA officers dealing with the case file"; and Christopher Steele ("a former British intelligence agent").

Panetta as Director of the CIA

Tim Weiner wrote that experienced intelligence personnel, such as "veteran American spies, spymasters, and spy-catchers", including Leon Panetta, have described Trump as an "agent of influence", someone who uses his position, power, and influence in the interests of an enemy power:

Leon Panetta, who ran the CIA and the Pentagon under President Obama, has no doubt about it. He told me that, by any definition, 'Trump, for all intents and purposes, acts as an agent of influence of Russia.' ... [Many] veteran American spies, spymasters, and spy-catchers ... concur with Panetta. But they have other theories as well. There's the useful idiot scenario. Or maybe it's money: the Russians might have kompromat—compromising information—about Trump's finances. And some think it might be worse than that.

Clapper Senate Intelligence Hearing on Worldwide Threats 2012

John R. Schindler says of former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that "Nobody knows the IC better than Clapper." Then he describes Clapper's description of Putin's influence over Trump as "The most jaw-dropping statement ever uttered about any American president by any serious commentator.":

I think this past weekend is illustrative of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is. He knows how to handle an asset, and that's what he's doing with the president. ... You have to remember Putin's background. He's a KGB officer. That's what they do. They recruit assets. And I think some of that experience and instincts of Putin has come into play here in his managing of a pretty important account for him, if I could use that term, with our president.

Schindler also described Trump as an "agent of influence":

In particular, Trump's flashy 1987 trip to the Soviet Union – an obvious KGB operation to anyone versed in Chekist matters – led to his becoming an apparent agent of influence for Moscow. That is, a conduit for political favors and information, often in exchange for commercial deals of the sort Trump has always prized. Knowing this, the history of the Trump Organization over the last few decades takes on a different coloration.

Trump viewed as under Putin's influence

Putin with U.S. president Donald Trump at the summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, 16 July 2018

Many sources, especially from the intelligence community, have noted how Trump praises Putin, and they have stated that Trump acts like a "Russian asset", "agent", "puppet", or "useful idiot" controlled by Putin. While such comments are not limited to describing Trump's actions at the Helsinki summit in 2018, many were triggered by those events.

Trump's admiration for Putin

Trump has often flattered Putin. On June 18, 2013, Trump tweeted: "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?"

Trump's praise of Putin, and how he lied about the relationship, was noticed. The Guardian wrote that in November 2013, in Moscow, Trump "said something he would come to regret":

Asked by an interviewer whether he had a relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the brash New York businessman could not resist boasting. 'I do have a relationship with him,' Trump said. Russia's strongman had 'done a very brilliant job', Trump told MSNBC's Thomas Roberts, before declaring that Putin had bested Barack Obama. 'He's done an amazing job – he's put himself really at the forefront of the world as a leader in a short period of time.' ... On at least three occasions following the Miss Universe trip, Trump had publicly claimed to have met Putin. But when asked by reporters at a campaign stop in Florida in July 2016 to clarify the status of his relationship with the Russian president, as concerns over Russian election interference mounted, Trump gave a rather different version. 'I never met Putin,' said Trump. 'I don't know who Putin is.'

2018 Helsinki summit

The press conference at the 2018 summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018 (English version) 46 minutes

Main article: 2018 Russia–United States summit

Several leaders and lawyers in the U.S. intelligence community reacted strongly to Trump's performance at the summit. They described it as "subservien[ce] to Putin" and a "fervent defense of Russia's military and cyber aggression around the world, and its violation of international law in Ukraine" which they saw as "harmful to US interests". They also suggested he was either a "Russian asset" or a "useful idiot" for Putin, and that he looked like "Putin's puppet".

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper saw Trump's behavior and wondered "if Russians have something on Trump".

Former CIA director John Brennan, who has accused Trump of "treason", tweeted: "He is wholly in the pocket of Putin."

At the joint press conference, when asked directly about the subject, Putin denied having any kompromat on Trump. Even though Trump was given a "gift from Putin" the weekend of the pageant, Putin asserted "that he did not even know Trump was in Russia for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013 when, according to the Steele dossier, video of Trump was secretly recorded to blackmail him."

After Putin was asked "about the purported existence of a certain racy video clip in his country's possession", Jay Willis noted Putin's strange answer; he could have cleared Trump but did not do so: "He's not saying it exists. But he's also not saying it doesn't exist. ... What this answer does not include: any straightforward denial that the pee tape exists."

In reaction to Trump's behavior at the summit, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke in the Senate: "Millions of Americans will continue to wonder if the only possible explanation for this dangerous and inexplicable behavior is the possibility—the very real possibility—that President Putin holds damaging information over President Trump."

Natasha Bertrand described how Trump's actions at the Helsinki summit:

led many to conclude that Steele's report was more accurate than not. ... Trump sided with the Russians over the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Moscow had waged an all-out attack on the 2016 election. ... The joint news conference ... cemented fears among some that Trump was in Putin's pocket and prompted bipartisan backlash."

Other comments

Hayden in 2006

Former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said Trump was a "polezni durak" - a "useful fool" who is "manipulated by Moscow".

During the final presidential debate, Hillary Clinton said Putin "would rather have a puppet as president of the United States".

Richard Dearlove, "The former head of the United Kingdom's spy agency said a potential second term for former President Trump is a national security threat to his country."

Paul Wood, referring to descriptions of Trump by Hillary Clinton and Michael Morell, wrote that both "agent" and "puppet" "imply some measure of influence or control by Moscow".

Peter Strzok

Peter Strzok, former FBI deputy assistant director of counterintelligence, has analyzed Trump's life, leading him to believe Trump was and is "compromised" and thus, wittingly or unwittingly, indebted to Putin. Strzok describes the many things Trump did and said before and during his presidency that made him vulnerable to blackmail and pressure from foreign adversaries. Strzok posits the question: "When a president appears to favor personal and Russian interests over those of our nation, has he become a national security threat?"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi questioned Trump's loyalty to America when she asked him: "[Why do] all roads lead to Putin?"

Former acting CIA director Michael Morell has written: "In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation."

John Sipher considers Trump a Russian agent in a limited sense. He starts by saying Trump is not an agent in the traditional sense, and later says he is "an agent of a foreign power":

I think it is entirely plausible that Mr. Trump is somehow compromised by his personal and financial dealings with Russia and Russians, but I do not think he is an 'agent' in the sense that intelligence professionals use the term. Let me explain. ... Based on the U.S. definition of an agent, it is unlikely that President Trump is a recruited and controlled source of the Russian intelligence services. To a professional he is a nightmare. Yes, he is a cauldron of potentially exploitable vulnerabilities. ... He clearly crossed a line and can be objectively labeled an agent of a foreign power in the standard definition of the word. From the Russian perspective, it is a win-win even if the relationship doesn't meet the cloak-and-dagger definition of a wholly clandestine espionage agent.

Brennan in 2018

Former CIA Director John Brennan has written:

Brennan stressed repeatedly that collusion may have been unwitting, at least at first as Russian intelligence was deft at disguising its approaches to would-be agents. 'Frequently, individuals on a treasonous path do not even realize they're on that path until it gets to be too late,' he said.

Ynet, an Israeli online news site, reported on January 12, 2017, that U.S. intelligence advised Israeli intelligence officers to be cautious about sharing information with the incoming Trump administration until the possibility of Russian influence over Trump, suggested by Steele's report, has been fully investigated.

Adam Davidson, a staff writer at The New Yorker, has described "sistema", the system of kompromat and constant fear that affects the actions of people from Russia and other nations in that part of the world, even when they work in the United States. Anyone who works with them is endangered. Everyone collects kompromat on everyone, even their friends and business partners, so everyone exists with the threat of even small missteps being used against them, so they try not to antagonize others. Trump is endangered because he has worked with "many ethnic Turks from Central Asia, such as the Mammadov family, in Azerbaijan; Tevfik Arif, in New York; and Aras and Emin Agalarov, in Moscow [and] large numbers of émigrés from the former Soviet Union."

Davidson writes:

If there truly is damaging kompromat on Trump, it could well be in the hands of Trump's business partners, or even in those of their rivals. ... [They save it] knowing that it might one day provide some sort of business leverage—even with no thought that he could someday become the most powerful person on Earth. ... Had he never sought the Presidency, he may never have had to come to terms with these decisions. But now he is much like everyone else in sistema. He fears there is kompromat out there—maybe a lot of it—but he doesn't know precisely what it is, who has it, or what might set them off.

Political scientist Keith Darden said that Trump has "never said a bad word about Putin. ... He's exercised a degree of self-control with respect to Russia that he doesn't with anything else." Darden said: "He is capable of being strategic. He knows there are limits, there are bounds on what he can say and do with respect to Russia."

In response to Trump, George Takei cited the United States Oath of Allegiance when he described Trump as a domestic threat: "As Commander-in-Chief, he is sworn to protect us from threats both foreign and domestic. You, sir, are the latter."

In the final "Annex C" of the Senate Intelligence Committee report, the Democratic Senators added their "Additional Views of Senators Heinrich, Feinstein, Wyden, Harris, and Bennet". After describing "The Trump Campaign's Cooperation with Russia", they concluded:

It is our conclusion, based on the facts detailed in the Committee's Report, that the Russian intelligence services' assault on the integrity of the 2016 U.S. electoral process and Trump and his associates' participation in and enabling of this Russian activity, represents one of the single most grave counterintelligence threats to American national security in the modern era. (p. 948)

Senator Ron Wyden added his views to "Appendix C":

The fifth and final volume of the Committee's report includes a wealth of extremely troubling new revelations about the counterintelligence threat posed by Donald Trump and his campaign. Much of the new information in this report, however, remains needlessly classified. That is unfortunate, not only because the counterintelligence concerns that surround Donald Trump constitute an ongoing threat to national security, but because this report includes redacted information that is directly relevant to Russia's interference in the 2020 election. (p. 949)

Russian election interference to help Trump

Main article: Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections

The Russian government interfered in the 2016 United States elections with the goals of sabotaging the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. According to the U.S. intelligence community, the operation—code named Project Lakhta—was ordered directly by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The "hacking and disinformation campaign" to damage Clinton and help Trump became the "core of the scandal known as Russiagate". The 448-page Mueller Report, made public in April 2019, examined over 200 contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials but concluded that there was insufficient evidence to bring any conspiracy or coordination charges against Trump or his associates.

The Internet Research Agency (IRA), based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and described as a troll farm, created thousands of social media accounts that purported to be Americans supporting radical political groups and planned or promoted events in support of Trump and against Clinton. They reached millions of social media users between 2013 and 2017. Fabricated articles and disinformation were spread from Russian government-controlled media, and promoted on social media. Additionally, computer hackers affiliated with the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) infiltrated information systems of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and Clinton campaign officials, notably chairman John Podesta, and publicly released stolen files and emails through DCLeaks, Guccifer 2.0, and WikiLeaks during the election campaign. Several individuals connected to Russia contacted various Trump campaign associates, offering business opportunities to the Trump Organization and proffering damaging information on Clinton. Russian government officials have denied involvement in any of the hacks or leaks.

Russian interference activities triggered strong statements from U.S. intelligence agencies, a direct warning by then-U.S. president Barack Obama to Russian president Vladimir Putin, renewed economic sanctions against Russia, and closures of Russian diplomatic facilities and expulsion of their staff. The Senate and House Intelligence Committees conducted their own investigations into the matter. Donald Trump denied the interference had occurred.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation of Russian interference in July 2016, including a special focus on links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies and suspected coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Russian attempts to interfere in the election were first disclosed publicly by members of the United States Congress in September 2016, confirmed by US intelligence agencies in October 2016, and further detailed by the Director of National Intelligence office in January 2017. The dismissal of James Comey, the FBI director, by President Trump in May 2017, was partly because of Comey's investigation of the Russian interference.

The FBI's work was taken over in May 2017 by former FBI director Robert Mueller, who led a special counsel investigation until March 2019. Mueller concluded that Russian interference was "sweeping and systematic" and "violated U.S. criminal law", and he indicted twenty-six Russian citizens and three Russian organizations. The investigation also led to indictments and convictions of Trump campaign officials and associated Americans, on unrelated charges. The Mueller report, made public in April 2019, examined numerous contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials but concluded that, though the Trump campaign welcomed the Russian activities and expected to benefit from them, there was insufficient evidence to bring any conspiracy or coordination charges against Trump or his associates.

The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee investigation submitted the first in their five-volume 1,313-page report in July 2019. The committee concluded that the January 2017 intelligence community assessment alleging Russian interference was "coherent and well-constructed". The first volume also concluded that the assessment was "proper", learning from analysts that there was "no politically motivated pressure to reach specific conclusions". The final and fifth volume, which was the result of three years of investigations, was released in August 2020, ending one of the United States "highest-profile congressional inquiries". The Committee report found that the Russian government had engaged in an "extensive campaign" to sabotage the election in favor of Trump, which included assistance from some of Trump's own advisers.

In November 2020, newly released passages from the Mueller special counsel investigation's report indicated: "Although WikiLeaks published emails stolen from the DNC in July and October 2016 and Stone—a close associate to Donald Trump—appeared to know in advance the materials were coming, investigators 'did not have sufficient evidence' to prove active participation in the hacks or knowledge that the electronic thefts were continuing."

Timelines of investigations into Donald Trump and Russia

Wikipedia has many Timelines related to Donald Trump and Russian interference in United States elections, such as Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and Topical timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

The timelines include events described in investigations into the myriad links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies until July 2016, with July 2016 through election day November 8, 2016, following. Events and investigations also occurred during the presidential transition from November 9, 2016, to January 20, 2017, and continued through the first and second halves of 2017; the first and second halves of 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, largely as parts of the Crossfire Hurricane FBI investigation, the Special Counsel investigation, multiple ongoing criminal investigations by several State Attorneys General, and the investigation resulting in the Inspector General report on FBI and DOJ actions in the 2016 election.

Careless handling of classified information and documents

Donald Trump's disclosures of classified information

President Trump meets with Lavrov (pictured) and Kislyak on May 10, 2017.

Main article: Donald Trump's disclosures of classified information

Donald Trump's careless handling of United States government records, especially those containing classified information, during his tenure as the 45th U.S. president has come under scrutiny. A number of incidents in which the president disclosed classified information to foreign powers and private individuals have become publicly known, sometimes with distinct national security and diplomatic consequences.

Notably, on May 10, 2017, Trump disclosed classified information to Russian government representatives, creating political and security concerns in the United States and its allies, especially Israel. Soon after the meeting, American intelligence extracted a high-level covert source from within the Russian government because of concerns the individual was at risk, in part, by the repeated mishandling of classified intelligence by Trump and his administration.

Other questionable behaviors during his presidency have included Trump's sharing of national defense information on social media and private disclosures, both known and unknown. During Trump's tenure as president, lax security at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago was a cause of concern because of the uncontrolled flow of guests and events at the resort—a concern that endured post-presidency, because Trump retained classified documents after leaving office.

FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents

The Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered classified documents at Trump's residence, the Mar-a-Lago.

Main article: FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents

Plasmic Echo was the codename for a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified and national defense-related government documents beginning in 2022, looking for possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.

In November 2022, a special counsel investigation was launched to take over the FBI investigation, under the direction of Jack Smith, a special counsel appointed by United States Attorney General Merrick Garland.

On June 8, 2023, Trump was indicted on charges related to the documents in the Federal District Court in Miami. It was the first time a former U.S. president had faced federal charges. Trump was arraigned at the federal courthouse in Miami on June 13, 2023, on 37 criminal charges, pleading not guilty to all charges.

Federal prosecution of Donald Trump (classified documents case)

Main article: Federal prosecution of Donald Trump (classified documents case)

United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, Waltine Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira was a federal criminal case against Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, Walt Nauta, his personal aide and valet, and Mar-a-Lago maintenance chief Carlos De Oliveira. The grand jury indictment brought 40 felony counts against Trump related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents after his presidency, to which he pleaded not guilty. The case marks the first federal indictment of a former U.S. president.

Further reading

Articles

• Davidson, Adam (July 19, 2018). "A Theory of Trump Kompromat". The New Yorker.

Books

• Comey, James (2018). A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership. Flatiron Books. ISBN 978-1-250-19245-5.
• Harding, Luke (2017). Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win. Random House. ISBN 978-0-525-52093-1.
• Hettena, Seth (2018). Trump/Russia: A Definitive History. Melville House. ISBN 978-1-612-19739-5.
• Isikoff, Michael; Corn, David (2018). Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5387-2874-1.
• Nance, Malcolm (2019). The Plot to Betray America: How Team Trump Embraced Our Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It. Hachette. ISBN 978-0-316-53576-2.
• Simpson, Glenn; Fritsch, Peter (2019). Crime in Progress: Inside the Steele Dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump. Random House. ISBN 978-0-593-13416-0.
• Strzok, Peter (2020). Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-358-23706-8.

Government sources

• "Mueller Report: Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election. Volumes I and II". Department of Justice. March 2019.
• "Deposition of Michael Cohen, Part 2" (PDF). House Intelligence Committee. March 6, 2019. pp. 225–229, 235–236, 254.
• "Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election, Volume 5: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities" (PDF). Senate Intelligence Committee. August 18, 2020.

External links

• Wittes, Benjamin (August 21, 2020). "A Collusion Reading Diary: What Did the Senate Intelligence Committee Find?". Lawfare. Retrieved October 17, 2023.

Categories

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Donald}} {{Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections}} {{Mueller special counsel investigation}} [[Category:Donald Trump controversies|Sexual misconduct allegations]] [[Category:Espionage scandals and incidents]] [[Category:Federal political sex scandals in the United States]] [[Category:Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections]] [[Category:Russia–United States relations]] [[Category:Trump administration controversies|Sexual misconduct allegations]]