In 1987, Donald Trump was invited to Moscow by Yuri Dubinin, who would later become the Soviet ambassador to the United States. The purpose of the invitation was ostensibly to discuss a possible real estate project in the capital of the Soviet Union. But the real reason, it turns out, was much more sinister: Dubinin and the Soviets were hopeful of recruiting Trump as a possible asset for intelligence inside the American business world.
According to a new report from Politico, back in the Eighties the Soviets were looking for new sources of information on the United States:
“The Center, as KGB headquarters was known, was especially concerned about its lack of success in recruiting US citizens, according to Andrew and Gordievsky. The PR Line—that is, the Political Intelligence Department stationed in KGB residencies abroad—was given explicit instructions to find ‘U.S. targets to cultivate or, at the very least, official contacts. The main effort must be concentrated on acquiring valuable agents.'”
Trump showed up on the KGB’s radar screen the minute he began dating and later married Czech model Ivana Zelnickova, who is the mother of Trump’s children Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka.
Making contact with Donald Trump and other businessmen in the United States was also a major component of the KGB’s training materials. In what can best be called a spy manual, KGB agents were urged:
“Further improvement in operational work with agents calls for fuller and wider utilization of confidential and special unofficial contacts. These should be acquired chiefly among prominent figures in politics and society, and important representatives of business and science. These should not only supply valuable information but also actively influence a country’s foreign policy ‘in a direction of advantage to the USSR.”
Trump In Moscow
When Trump arrived in Moscow in January of 1987, the KGB went to work cultivating him by showering him with luxuries and lavish hospitality:
“‘Everything is free. There are good parties with nice girls. It could be a sauna and girls and who knows what else,’ said former KGB — and its successor the GRU — agent Viktor Suvorov. All premises Trump visited on the trip would have been under 24-hour control and surveillance.
“‘The interest is only one. To collect some information and keep that information about him for the future.”
Wild Night In Old Russia
The pattern for trapping Americans into cooperating with the KGB was as one would expect, according to Suvorov:
“It’s at this point you say: ‘Knock, knock! Do you remember the marvelous time in Moscow? It was a wonderful evening. You were so drunk. You don’t remember? We just show you something for your good memory.'”
The “something” would usually be compromising photos and/or videos of the subject engaged in sexual activity. This may account for suggestions in the infamous Steele dossier that Russian intelligence has videos of Trump engaged in “golden showers” with Russian prostitutes.
Trump Seeks Higher Ground
Though nothing concrete developed during Trump’s first trip to Moscow, he did make it clear that he had plans to seek political office one day, according to Politico:
“Nothing came of the trip — at least nothing in terms of business opportunities inside Russia. This pattern of failure would be repeated in Trump’s subsequent trips to Moscow. But Trump flew back to New York with a new sense of strategic direction. For the first time he gave serious indications that he was considering a career in politics. Not as mayor or governor or senator.
“Trump was thinking about running for president.”
If the Russians knew this and also had some kind of damaging information on Trump, they might have been able to urge him to seek the White House as a way of having the ultimate insider in the U.S. government.
Featured Image Via the BBC
