House of Trump, House of Putin2

by Craig Unger

  2. “Read the Transcript of the Conversation Among GOP Leaders Obtained by the Post,” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/national/read-the-transcript-of-the-conversation-among-gop-leaders-obtained-by-the-post/2209/?tid=a_mcntx.

  3. “Rep. Kevin McCarthy how he would differ from John Boehner,” Fox News, September 29, 2015, http://video.foxnews.com/v/4519442873001/?#sp=show-clips.

  4. Dmitri Alperovitch, “Bears in the Midst: Intrusion into the Democratic National Committee,” CrowdStrike Blog, June 15, 2016, https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/bears-midst-intrusion-democratic-national-committee/.

  5. Entous, “House Majority Leader.”

  6. “Putin’s Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security,” minority staff report prepared for the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, January 10, 2018, https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FinalRR.pdf.

  7. Alex Hern, “Russian Troll Factories: Researchers Damn Twitter’s Refusal to Share Data,” Guardian, November 15, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/15/russian-troll-factories-researchers-damn-twitters-refusal-to-share-data.

  8. Jeanna Smialek, “Twitter Bots Helped Trump and Brexit Win, Economic Study Says,” Bloomberg, May 21, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-21/twitter-bots-helped-trump-and-brexit-win-economic-study-says?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_daily202.

  9. Brian Naylor, “How the Trump Campaign Weakened the Republican Platform on Aid to Ukraine,” NPR, August 6, 2016, https://www.npr.org/2016/08/06/488876597/how-the-trump-campaign-weakened-the-republican-platform-on-aid-to-ukraine.

  10. Michael Birnbaum and Jose A. DelReal, “Trump Tells Ukraine Conference Their Nation Was Invaded Because ‘There Is No Respect for the United States,’” Washington Post, September 11, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/11/trump-tells-ukraine-conference-their-nation-was-invaded-because-there-is-no-respect-for-the-united-states/?utm_term=.e89f0b0a85aa.

  11. Carrie Johnson, “2016 RNC Delegate: Trump Directed Change to Party Platform on Ukraine Support,” NPR, December 4, 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/568310790/2016-rnc-delegate-trump-directed-change-to-party-platform-on-ukraine-support.

  12. Transcript of The Situation Room, CNN, aired March 2, 2017, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1703/02/sitroom.02.html.

  13. Peter Stone, David Smith, Ben Jacobs, Alec Luhn, and Rupert Neate, “Donald Trump and Russia: A Web That Grows More Tangled All the Time,” Guardian, July 30, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/30/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine-russia-putin-ties.

  14. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, “Report on Russian Active Measures,” March 22, 2018, https://static01.nyt.com/files/2018/us/politics/20180427%20Intelligence%20Committee%20Report.pdf?authuser=1.

  15. Rosalind S. Helderman, “Despite Early Denials, Growing List of Trump Camp Contacts with Russians Haunts White House,” Washington Post, March 4, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/despite-early-denials-growing-list-of-trump-camp-contacts-with-russians-haunts-white-house/2017/03/03/a5b196d8-002d-11e7-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html.

  16. “Jeff Sessions Calls Russia Claims a ‘Detestable Lie,’” Al Jazeera, June 13, 2017.

  17. “Transcript: Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy Speech,” New York Times, April 27, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/us/politics/transcript-trump-foreign-policy.html.

  18. James Kirchick, “Donald Trump’s Russia Connections,” Politico, April 27, 2016 (updated April 29, 2016), https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trumps-russia-connections-foreign-policy-presidential-campaign/.

  19. Tom Batchelor, “Donald Trump Met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak During Election Campaign,” Independent, March 8, 2017, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-meeting-election-campaign-a7617261.html.

  20. Ken Dilanian, “Did Trump, Kushner, Sessions Have an Undisclosed Meeting with Russian?,” NBC News, June 1, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/did-trump-kushner-sessions-have-undisclosed-meeting-russian-n767096.

  21. Ned Parker, Jonathan Landay, Warren Strobel, “Exclusive: Trump Campaign Had at Least 18 Undisclosed Contacts with Russians: Sources,” Reuters, May 18, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-contacts-idUSKCN18E106. Sessions Have an Undisclosed Meeting with Russian?,” NBC News, June 1, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/did-trump-kushner-sessions-have-undisclosed-meeting-russian-n767096.

  22. Nicholas Fandos and Sharon LaFraniere, “Republicans on House Intelligence Panel Absolve Trump Campaign in Russia Meddling,” New York Times, April 27, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/us/politics/house-intelligence-committee-russia-investigation-report.html.

  23. Robert Maguire, “Could This Russian-Born Trump Donor Be the Key to a Cryptic Manafort Note?,” OpenSecrets.org, September 1, 2017, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/09/russia-born-trump-donor-be-the-key-to-a-cryptic-manafort-note/.

  24. Rebecca Ballhaus and Julie Bykowicz, “Data Firm’s WikiLeaks Outreach Came as It Joined Trump Campaign,” Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/data-firms-wikileaks-outreach-came-as-it-joined-trump-campaign-1510339346.

  25. Greg Farrell, David Voreacos, and Henry Meyer, “Papadopoulos Claimed Trump Campaign Approved Russia Meeting,” Bloomberg, October 31, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-31/papadopoulos-claimed-trump-campaign-approved-russia-meeting.

  26. Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Greg Miller, “Sessions Discussed Trump Campaign-Related Matters with Russian Ambassador, U.S. Intelligence Intercepts Show,” Washington Post, July 21, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-discussed-trump-campaign-related-matters-with-russian-ambassador-us-intelligence-intercepts-show/2017/07/21/3e704692-6e44-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?utm_term=.6f7b751ff5a3.

  27. Scott Shane, Mark Mazzetti, and Adam Goldman, “Trump Adviser’s Visit to Moscow Got the F.B.I.’s Attention,” New York Times, April 19, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/us/politics/carter-page-russia-trump.html.

  28. Michael D. Shear and Matthew Rosenberg, “Released Emails Suggest the D.N.C. Derided the Sanders Campaign,” New York Times, July 22, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/us/politics/dnc-emails-sanders-clinton.html.

  29. Nicholas Confessore and Karen Yourish, “$2 Billion Worth of Free Media for Donald Trump,” New York Times, March 15, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html.

  30. Press Briefing, “Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Use of a Personal E-Mail System,” July 5, 2016, https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system.

  31. Ashley Parker and David E. Sanger, “Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails,” New York Times, July 27, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-clinton-emails.html.

  32. United States of America v. Internet Research Agency LLC et al., case number 1:18-cr-00032-DLF, indictment, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1035562/download.

  33. Stone et al., “Donald Trump and Russia.”

  34. Dana Priest, Ellen Nakashima, and Tom Hamburger, “Russia Suspected of Election Scheme,” Washington Post, September 6, 2016.

  35. Tom Burgis, “Dirty Money: Trump and the Kazakh Connection,” Financial Times, October 19, 2016, https://www.ft.com/content/33285dfa-9231-11e6-8df8-d3778b55a923.

  36. Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger, and Rachel Weiner, “At Height of Russia Tensions, Trump Campaign Chairman Manafort Met with Business Associate from Ukraine,” Washington Post, June 19, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/at-height-of-russia-tensions-trump-campaign-chai
rman-manafort-met-with-business-associate-from-ukraine/2017/06/18/6ab8485c-4c5d-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html?utm_term=.afd6aa642763.

  37. Ibid.

  38. Greg Walters, “Paul Manafort, a Mysterious Russian Jet, and a Secret Meeting,” Vice News, March 30, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-clinton-emails.html.

  39. Spencer S. Hsu and Rosalind S. Helderman, “Manafort Associate Had Russian Intelligence Ties During 2016 Campaign, Prosecutors Say,” Washington Post, March 28, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manafort-associate-had-russian-intelligence-ties-during-2016-campaign-prosecutors-say/2018/03/28/473228e8-3231-11e8-8bdd-cdb33a5eef83_story.html?utm_term=.1e1c36fd3f9b.

  40. Ashley Feinberg, “Paul Manafort’s Daughter Texted Friends About How Tight Her Dad Was With Trump,” Huffington Post, November 1, 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paul-manafort-daughter-trump-texts_us_59f748b6e4b03cd20b832fe0.

  41. Nicholas Confessore and Barry Meier, “How the Russia Investigation Entangled Rick Gates, a Manafort Protégé,” New York Times, June 16, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/us/politics/rick-gates-russia.html.

  42. Philip Bump, “The Confusing Timeline on Roger Stone’s Communications with WikiLeaks,” Washington Post, March 13, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/13/the-confusing-timeline-on-roger-stones-communications-with-wikileaks/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.85e045835c03.

  43. Media Matter Staff, “Roger Stone Confirms That He’s In Communication With Julian Assange,” Media Matters for America, August 9, 2016, https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2016/08/09/roger-stone-confirms-hes-communication-julian-assange/212261.

  44. Boston Herald Radio, “Roger Stone Joins Herald Drive Discussing 2016 Election,” Soundcloud, https://soundcloud.com/bostonherald/roger-stone-joins-herald-drive-discussing-2016-election-1.

  45. Julia Ioffe, “The Secret Correspondence Between Donald Trump Jr. and WikiLeaks,” Atlantic, November 13, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-secret-correspondence-between-donald-trump-jr-and-wikileaks/545738/.

  46. Ryan Nakashima and Barbara Ortutay, “AP Exclusive: Russia Twitter Trolls Deflected Trump Bad News,” Associated Press, November 10, 2017, https://apnews.com/fc9ab2b0bbc34f11bc10714100318ae1.

  47. Ibid.

  48. Matthew Rosenberg, Nicholas Confessore, and Carole Cadwalladr, “How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions,” New York Times, March 17, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news.

  49. Mattathias Schwartz, “Facebook Failed to Protect 30 Million Users from Having their Data Harvested by Trump Campaign Affiliate,” Intercept, March 30, 2017, https://theintercept.com/2017/03/30/facebook-failed-to-protect-30-million-users-from-having-their-data-harvested-by-trump-campaign-affiliate/.

  50. Elliot Hannon, “Once Dismissive, Facebook Now Says 126 Million Users Shown Russian-Generated Election Propaganda,” Slate, October 30, 2017, http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2017/10/30/facebook_now_says_126_million_users_were_shown_russian_election_propaganda.html.

  51. Cadwalladr, “Google, Democracy.”

  52. Paul Fahri, “Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones backs off ‘Pizzagate’ claims,” Washington Post, March 2, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-backs-off-pizzagate-claims/2017/03/24/6f0246fe-10cd-11e7-ab07-07d9f521f6b5_story.html?utm_term=.ea35ab720daf.

  53. Andrew E. Kramer, “Zuckerberg Meets with Medvedev in Key Market,” New York Times, October 1, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/technology/zuckerberg-meets-with-medvedev-in-key-market.html.

  54. Jim DeFede, “CBS4 News Exclusive: Trump Denies Ties to Russia,” CBS Miami, July 27, 2016, http://miami.cbslocal.com/2016/07/27/cbs4-news-exclusive-trump-denies-ties-to-russia/.

  55. Aaron Blake, “The First Trump-Clinton Presidential Debate Transcript, Annotated,” Washington Post, September 26, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/26/the-first-trump-clinton-presidential-debate-transcript-annotated/?utm_term=.1c1c9b9cc88f.

  56. Ibid.

  57. Matt Apuzzo, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldman, and Eric Lichtblau, “Comey Tried to Shield the FBI from Politics. Then He Shaped an Election,” New York Times, April 22, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/us/politics/james-comey-election.html.

  58. Ibid.

  59. Eric Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers, “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia,” New York Times, October 31, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donald-trump.html.

  60. “National Polls, President,” FiveThirtyEight, November 8, 2016, https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/national-polls/.

  61. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Rally in Warren, Michigan, C-Span video, October 31, 2016, https://www.c-span.org/video/?417729-1/donald-trump-campaigns-warren-michigan&start=242.

  62. Donald Trump Campaign Rally in Orlando, Florida, C-Span, November 2, 2016, https://www.c-span.org/video/?417871-1/donald-trump-campaigns-orlando-florida.

  63. Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Carrie Dann, “Trump Has Been Strikingly Consistent in Denying Russian Hacking Role,” NBC News, January 6, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/trump-has-been-strikingly-consistent-denying-russian-hacking-role-n703866.

  64. Maltz, “Kushner Foundation Gives $342K.”

  65. Nicole Perlroth, Michael Wines, and Matthew Rosenberg, “Russian Election Hacking Efforts, Wider Than Previously Known, Draw Little Scrutiny,” New York Times, September 1, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/us/politics/russia-election-hacking.html.

  66. Ibid.

  67. Ibid.

  68. “Who Will Win the Presidency?,” FiveThirtyEight, November 8, 2016, https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/.

  69. Nate Silver, “The Real Story of 2016,” FiveThirtyEight, January 19, 2017, http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-real-story-of-2016/.

  70. Ben Schreckinger, “Inside Donald Trump’s Election Night War Room,” GQ, November 7, 2017, https://www.gq.com/story/inside-donald-trumps-election-night-war-room.

  71. Julia Ioffe, “The Secret Correspondence Between Donald Trump Jr. and Wikileaks,” Atlantic, November 13, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-secret-correspondence-between-donald-trump-jr-and-wikileaks/545738/.

  72. John Haltiwanger, “WikiLeaks Told Trump Jr. to Tell His Dad to Not Concede If He Lost on Election Day,” Newsweek, November 13, 2017, http://www.newsweek.com/wikileaks-told-trump-jr-tell-his-dad-not-concede-if-he-lost-election-day-710147.

  73. Schreckinger, “Inside Donald Trump’s.”

  74. Ibid.

  75. Edward B. Colby, “Trump vs. Clinton: Relive the Drama of Election Night 2016,” Newsday, November 8, 2017, https://projects.newsday.com/nation/trump-clinton-relive-election-night-2016/.

  76. Ibid.

  77. Smialek, “Twitter Bots Helped Trump.”

  78. Philip Bump, “Donald Trump will be president thanks to 80,000 people in three states,” Washington Post, December 1, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/donald-trump-will-be-president-thanks-to-80000-people-in-three-states/?utm_term=.f1bc96a13817.

  79. “Russia: State Duma Applauds Trump’s Victory in US Elections,” YouTube, published November 9, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HzAdP3y-k8.

  TRUMP’S FIFTY-NINE RUSSIA CONNECTIONS

  1. Ben Schreckinger, “The Happy-Go-Lucky Jewish Group That Connects Trump and Putin,” Politico, April 9, 2017, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/the-happy-go-lucky-jewish-group-that-connects-trump-and-putin-215007.

  2. Alessandra Stanley, “Russian Tycoon Finds Politics Good Business,” New York Times, July 4, 1995, https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/04/world/russian-tycoon-finds-politics-good-business.html.


  3. Richard Behar, “Trump and the Oligarch ‘Trio,’” Forbes, October 3, 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2016/10/03/trump-and-the-oligarch-trio/#5bdd156a5314.

  4. Anthony Cormier, Chris McDaniel, John Templon, and Tanya Kozyreva, “Michael Cohen Pitched Investors for a Powerful Ukrainian Oligarch’s Company,” Buzzfeed, June 9, 2017, https://www.buzzfeed.com/anthonycormier/michael-cohen-pitched-investors-for-a-powerful-ukrainian?utm_term=.ilq0xjbE5#.oxYBQoPmM.

  5. Sonam Sheth, “A Putin Ally’s Jet Arrived in the US Within Hours of a Meeting Between Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and a Russian Operative,” Business Insider, March 30, 2018, http://www.businessinsider.com/oleg-deripaska-jet-arrived-in-us-after-manafort-kilimnik-meeting-2018–3.

  6. Luke Harding, “The Hidden History of Trump’s First Trip to Moscow,” Politico, November 19, 2017, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/19/trump-first-moscow-trip-215842.

  7. Peter Zwack, “Death of the GRU Commander,” Defense One, February 1, 2016, https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/02/death-gru-commander/125567/.

  8. US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, “Two Defendants Sentenced for Participating in Racketeering Conspiracy with Russian-American Organized Crime Enterprise Operating International Sportsbook That Laundered More Than $100 Million,” press release, April 30, 2014, https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/newyork/news/press-releases/two-defendants-sentenced-for-participating-in-racketeering-conspiracy-with-russian-american-organized-crime-enterprise-operating-international-sportsbook-that-laundered-more-than-100-million.

  9. Raymond Bonner, “Laundering of Money Seen as ‘Easy,’” New York Times, November 29, 2000, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/29/business/laundering-of-money-seen-as-easy.html.

  10. Andrew E. Kramer, “He Says He’s an Innocent Victim. Robert Mueller Says He’s a Spy,” New York Times, April 6, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/world/europe/robert-mueller-kilimnik-ukraine-russia-manafort.html.