I wasn’t truly aware how long, and how embarrassingly, this had been going on.
The most striking thing to me, about this Washington Post article, is its placement in the paper.
This article appeared in the March 9th, 2018 NATIONAL SECURITY section.
In a personal letter, Trump invited Putin to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant
By Shane Harris, Rosalind S. Helderman and Karoun Demirjian
Donald Trump was so eager to have Vladimir Putin attend the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow that he wrote a personal letter to the Russian president inviting him to the event, according to multiple people familiar with the document.
At the bottom of the typed letter, Trump scrawled a postscript adding that he looked forward to seeing “beautiful” women during his trip.
2013. Moscow. Pee-pee tape. Remember?
The real estate magnate, who owned the Miss Universe pageant, wrote the note at a time when he was looking to expand his brand to Russia.
The letter, the first known attempt at direct outreach by Trump to Putin, has been turned over to investigators probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign.
This article is from March, 2018. Which means that all the embarrassment from Trump toward Putin at the Surrender Summit is being seen by Mueller through the prism of Trump’s lust for a Russia market. And a Moscow Trump Tower.
Motive
His letter to Putin was written that month, according to the people familiar with the document.
The pageant was part of a years-long effort to bring the Trump name to Russia. Trump has repeatedly sought to build a tower in Russia since the late 1980s, without success.
Trump was approached by billionaire Moscow developer Aras Agalarov and his pop star son, Emin, who said they would pay to bring Miss Universe to the Russian capital.
I don’t doubt that Vlad has lots of kompromat on Don.
I just don’t think he's had to use it. Yet.
Trump’s greed for Russian money and women, and a Moscow Trump Tower has been the driving force, and is what his run for president was all about. No Kompromat necessary.
Trump was eager for Putin to attend the event, but the Russian president canceled a planned appearance at the last minute, Aras Agalarov told The Washington Post in a 2016 interview.
“That was a very complicated situation then, because I promised Trump he would meet Putin,” Agalarov said.
Instead, Putin sent a “friendly” letter and a gift of a Russian lacquered box, he said. “So he was leaving with very warm feelings,” Agalarov said. “He [Trump] was very happy.”
Yes, THAT Aras Agalarov.
So if you’re wondering how this ties into Russiagate, look no further. Aras Agalarov was the man who lured Trump (with money) to have his 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow. Trump charged him with helping to get Putin to attend.
Who is Aras Agalarov?
Agalarov is sometimes referred to as the “Trump of Russia” due to his penchant for self-branding his buildings. In 1989, he founded Crocus Group, one of Russia’s leading development firms. The company has developed over 43M SF of property, according to the Crocus website. Agalarov has an estimated net worth of $1.7B and was awarded “Order of Honor of the Russian Federation” shortly after hosting the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant (owned by Trump) in Moscow.
How did the developer and his son connect with the Trumps?
Emin told Forbes in March he and his father first met Trump roughly five years ago when they traveled to Las Vegas with interest in bringing the 2013 Miss Universe pageant to Moscow. They eventually paid about $7M in fees to host the event at one of their developments.
Father and son viewed it as a first step toward something greater: a licensing deal for potential Trump-branded properties in Russia.
And we all know how Donny loves his licensing deals.
Want further connections into Agalarov/Trump?
Yes, Aras’s son is Emil Agalarov. THAT Emil Agalarov.
Mueller’s team also has examined Trump’s relationship with the Agalarovs, which extended beyond the 2013 pageant.
In June 2016, a music promoter representing Emin Agalarov emailed one of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., and asked if he would meet with a Russian lawyer who the promoter said could give him damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. responded. Days later, he met with the lawyer at Trump Tower in New York. A U.S.-based employee for the Agalarovs also attended, as did Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Trump Jr. has said that no information about Clinton was provided at the meeting.
So we have a direct link between Donald Trump's Russia-lust, Putin-man-crush, and Conspiracy Against the United States with an adversarial power, to steal the 2016 Presidential Election.
They KNEW that who they were dealing with, were Russians with direct connections to Vladimir Putin.