Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Inside Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russia and His Unusual Flattery of Vladimir Putin

Donald Trump was in his element, mingling with beauty pageant contestants and business tycoons as he brought his Miss Universe pageant to Russia for a much-anticipated Moscow debut. Nonetheless, Trump was especially eager for the presence of another honored guest: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump tweeted Putin a personal invitation to attend the pageant, and a one-on-one meeting between the New York businessman and the Russian leader was scheduled for the day before the show.
Putin canceled at the last minute, but he sent a decorative lacquered box, a traditional Russian gift, and a warm note, according to Aras Agalarov, a Moscow billionaire who served as a liaison between Trump and the Russian leader.
Still, the weekend was fruitful for Trump. He received a portion of the $14 million paid by Agalarov and other investors to bring the pageant to Moscow. Agalarov said he and Trump signed an agreement to build a Trump Tower in the heart of Moscow - at least Trump's fifth attempt at such a venture. And Trump seemed energized by his interactions with Russia's financial elite, at the pageant and a glitzy after-party in a Moscow nightclub.
"Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room," Trump bragged to Real Estate Weekly upon returning home.
Trump's relationship with Putin and his warm views toward Russia, which began in the 1980s when the country was still part of the Soviet Union, have emerged as one of the more curious aspects of his presidential campaign.
The overwhelming consensus among American political and national security leaders has held that Putin is a pariah who disregards human rights and has violated international norms in seeking to regain influence and territory in the former Soviet bloc. ...
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Disgusting. Just another no brainer, but his supporters close their eyes to it.

Hey, America kills people too!

Plus, Putin would eat Donald for lunch. Just a little flattery and Donald goes weak in the knees.

What a moron.

-Martha