ACT I: The assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in London, Nov. 1, 2006. A former Kremlin insider, he was a “walking encyclopedia” on the Russian Mafia.[4] He had been set to testify in a Spanish court about its international crimes.[5]

The Two Killers, Lugovoi and Kovtun, left traces of Polonium, 100 billion times deadlier than cyanide,[6] at their every step.[7] They also left a video record by choosing a London hotel with 37 security cameras to lure and poison Litvinenko.[8] Damning testimony also came from 62 witnesses.[9] Kovtun, a wannabe porn star,[10] told a contact: “I have a very expensive poison.”[11]

REPRISE, MARCH 4, 2018, Salisbury, England. Former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter were poisoned with nerve gas, both in intensive care.[12] A policeman and 18 bystanders were also treated.[13] CCTV cameras again caught the victims and a suspect.[14] Skripal was part of a 2010 spy swap.[15] In a 2010 video, Putin vowed that “traitors” like him would “kick the bucket.”[16] British home secretary Amber Rudd called the crime “brazen and reckless.”[17]

ACT I’s Director: A British inquest led by Sir Robert Owen,[18] following Steele’s MI6 probe,[19] pointed to Vladimir Putin as issuing the assassination order. Under him, the Russian Mafia and the FSB—successor to the KGB—had joined forces.[20] “Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a mafia state.”[21] Head of the FSB in 1999,[22] Putin rose to power after apartment bombings killed 293, which he blamed on Chechnyan terrorists.[23] But FSB agents were caught planting bombs in another apartment.[24] Russian investigators of the bombings,[25] Mafia whistle-blowers[26] and journalists[27] are among two dozen since murdered under Putin.[28]

Denials of the Act I/II Directors. Putin mocked the deathbed accusations of Litvinenko against him[74] and gave assassin Lugovoi a state honor.[75] Kovtun also remains free in Russia.[76] Lugovoi said the “western mass media” framed him.[77] As for the Russian media, Putin had shut down all independent TV.[78] Trump called press critical of him “the enemy of the people.”[79]

Boris Nemtsov, an ex-deputy minister about to lead an anti-Putin rally in 2015, was gunned down near the Kremlin.[80] His was one of two dozen such deaths under Putin.[81] Putin’s press agent Dmitry Peskov intimated that Western agents killed him.[82]

On Russian election meddling in 2016 for Trump, per the US intel consensus, Peskov called it “nonsense.” Trump echoed, “Fake news! Russia says nothing exists.”[83] US intel chiefs were “political hacks,” Trump said, adding, Putin “said he didn’t meddle.”[84] When Putin “tells me that, he means it.”[85]  Trump told Fox, “a lot of bad things happened on the other side, not on this side.”[86] The Russia probe was “a Democratic hit job,”[87] a “witch hunt.”[88] Putin agreed: it was “bollocks,” a “sensation.”[89]

Although Trump traveled with Mafia-linked multiple felon Felix Sater and met with him multiple times weekly, Trump testified in 2013, with a straight face, that if Sater was “in the room right now I really wouldn't know what he looked like.”[90]

Peskov called the Steele dossier report of “Kompromat” on Trump held by Russia “pulp fiction.”[91] But hotel rooms equipped with prostitutes and video cameras have been standard KGB/FSB fare over decades for visiting Americans of interest.[92]

At a G20 summit dinner in July 2017, Trump went over and spoke with Putin for an hour.[93] Only Russia’s translator listened, a breach of US security protocol.[94] Criticisms of the private chat were a “manifestation of schizophrenia,” said Peskov;[95] “sick” and “sinister” said Trump.[96] Similarly, Tass alone snapped Trump with Kislyak when he called Comey “a nut job.”[97] On Dec. 1, 2016, Jared Kushner asked Kislyak about using secure Russian, not US, channels to receive Russian briefings on Syria.[98]

[1] This quote has been widely reported, e.g., in Friedman, Red Mafiya, Kindle Loc. 140-45; New Republic, July 13, 2017, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat”; Shekhovtsov, Russia and the Western Far Right, p. xix, citing Marina Martynova, Politicheskaya elita Rossii na rubezhe XXI veka (Arkhangelsk: Pomorskiy gosudarstvenny universitet, 2001), p. 169. Yeltsin added that post-Communist Russia was “the superpower of crime.” For post-Communist Russia as a “Mafiocracy,” see also Galeolti, Mark, “Crime, Corruption and the Law,” pp. 135-150 in Bowker and Ross, eds., Russia after the Cold War (“Towards a Mafiocracy,” p. 148).

[2] See note below for “a British inquest led by Sir Robert Owen.”

[3] Washington Post, Feb. 6, 2018, “Hero or hired gun: How a British former spy became a flash point in the Russia investigation”; Harding, Collusion, Kindle Loc. 175-82. See also Harding, A Very Expensive Poison, Kindle Loc. 2673-75, 5014-16.

[4] Luke Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 115-126 for the quote; for more on Litvinenko’s period as a Kremlin insider and his commanding knowledge of Russian organized crime: Loc. 158-211, 266-68, 427-29, 453-57, 466-69, 609-14, 668-79, 745-51, 833-9, 841-45, 1809-12. As Harding summarized in Collusion, Loc. 172-75: Litvinenko’s “thesis was later cited in leaked U.S. diplomatic cables out of Madrid. It said the Kremlin, its well-resourced spy agencies, and the Russian mafia had merged. In effect, they formed a single criminal entity, a mafia state.”

[5] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 869-939, see also Loc. 2440-49.

[6] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 1028-33, 2151-54. The only facility in the world that produced polonium in the quantity used in the Litvinenko killing was in Russia. Other facilities around the world produced only quantities of the material about 20,000 times smaller (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 2151-59, 2170-80, 2262-65).

[7] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 1036-43, 1091-98, 1104, 1123-25, 1127-31, 1133-36, 1177-79, 1214-15, 1231-40, 1243-46, 1382-87,  1509-16,  1636-52, 2404-11, 2499-2500, 2507-10,  2599-66, 2689-94, 4195-4200, 4210-11, 5114-18.

[8] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 1462-87, 1509-16,  1519-23, 1851-52, 2424-26, 4203-4, 5195-8, 5287-8. Russian dissident Boris Nemtsov was gunned down near the Kremlin on February 27, 2015 (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4396-4479) in an area highly protected by Russian security forces, also with many CCTV cameras nearby (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4453-59). But Russian officials who investigated the murder told the press that these cameras somehow hadn’t been working when Nemtsov was gunned down (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4493-95).

[9] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 5186-91; see also Loc. 1050-81, 1408-23, 2541-44, 5092-95.

[10] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 1253-59, 1303-7.

[11] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. , Loc. 1418-23.

[12] The Guardian (UK), March 7, 2018, “Sergei Skripal was deliberately poisoned with nerve agent, say police”; Washington Post, March 6, 2018, “Former Russian spy critically ill in Britain after suspected poisoning”

[13] As cited in the note above; also The Guardian (UK), March 8, 2018. “Russian spy attack; police officer left ill named as DS Nick Bailey.”

[14] Washington Post, March 7, 2018 (AP), “UK authorities to reveal more in Russian ex-spy case”; The Guardian (UK), March 6, 2018, “Woman in Russian spy mystery is Sergei Skripal's daughter”; The Guardian (UK), March 7, 2018, “Sergei Skripal was deliberately poisoned with nerve agent, say police”; Washington Post, March 6, 2018, “Former Russian spy critically ill in Britain after suspected poisoning”

[15] The Guardian (UK), March 6, 2018, “Woman in Russian spy mystery is Sergei Skripal's daughter.”

[16] The Telegraph (UK), March 7, 2018, “'Traitors will kick the bucket': Vladimir Putin swore revenge on poisoned Russian spy Sergei Skripal”; for video, see express.co.uk, March 7, 2018, “Shocking clip of Putin threat to 'CHOKE traitors' emerges after ‘attack’ on Russian ex-spy,” https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/927682/vladimir-putin-russia-sergei-skripal-spy-fsb-anna-chapman-bbc-newsnight; The Sun (UK), “Chilling video clip of Vladimir Putin threat to ‘CHOKE traitors’ emerges after ‘attack’ on Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal,” https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5735518/vladimir-putin-choke-traitors-video-russian-spy-sergei-skripal-poisoning/.

[17] The Guardian (UK), March 7, 2018, “Sergei Skripal was deliberately poisoned with nerve agent, say police”; BBC News, March 8, 2018, “Russian Spy: Salisbury attack was 'brazen and reckless.'” Home secretary Rudd also called the poisoning “an outrageous crime.”

[18] The inquiry was conducted in January thru July, 2015, its report issued on January 21, 2016 (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3960-3, 4207-8). See the report and exhibits from the inquiry at its website, www.litvinenkoinquiry.org.

[19] See note 3 above.

[20] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 453-57, 668-79, 890-940, 2912-13, 3961-62, 4048-50, 4066-76; also Loc. 158-68, 195-201, 554-56, 643-47, 1540-42, 1878-88, 2792-95, 3864-68, 4004-5. For the FSB as successor to the KGB, Harding, Expelled, Kindle Loc. 191-95, 225-28, 245-47, 2756-60.

[21] From the testimony of the Owen inquest of Ben Emmerson, counsel for Litvinenko’s wife, Marina, from his testimony at the Owen inquest (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3961-2, 4048-50, 4066-80, 4094-98). See note below for “The Owen inquest pointed to Putin as ordering the killing, his Russia a “Mafia state.” Others with close knowledge of Russian organized crime who have declared Russia to be in effect a Mafia state include Litvinenko (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 668-79, 4917-24; see footnote #1 above),  Boris Yeltsin, as quoted above; Jose Grinda Gonzales, a special prosecutor in Spain who handled an extensive series of court cases involving Russian Mafia activity in Spain (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 890-95, 2911-26); Boris Nemtsov, the former Russian deputy minister and Putin critic who was gunned down near the Kremlin on February 27, 2015, about to lead an anti-Putin rally (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4396-4479), his allegations of Russian state and Putin links to the Mafia cited above (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4503-7); and Garry Kasparov, the former Russian chess champion who became Russian pro-democracy activist: “If you really want to understand the Putin regime in depth . . . go directly to the fiction department and take home everything you can find by Mario Puzo” (Harding, Expelled, Kindle Loc. 405-6, 554-62).

[22] See Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 410-417.

[23] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 654-57, 667-68. Putin rose to power from chief of the FSB in 1998, Prime Minister in 1999 and then President 2000 (Harding, Expelled, Loc. 264-67, 282-84).

[24] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 657-68. See the exceptionally detailed and well sourced Wikipedia entry, “Russian apartment bombings,” last modified 2-14-2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?%20title=Russian_apartment_bombings&oldid=825653513.  For the Russian FSB, successor to the KGB, as a terrorist organization, Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 633-47, 668-79.

[25] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 684-700; see Wikipedia, “Russian apartment bombings,” as cited above, section on “Attempts at an independent investigation.”

[26] Another such victim in addition to Litvinenko was Alex Perepilichnyy, fatally poisoned on November 10, 2012, who was telling investigators of a money laundering ring involving the Russian mafia and state. He had agreed to testify in a trial in Switzerland about the $220 million state-backed money laundering fraud that Serge Magnitsky had uncovered (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3242-67, 3330-80, 3402-24, 5334-36). Boris Nemtsov, the former Russian deputy minister, alleged links of Putin with a Russian Mafia gang (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4503-7). He was gunned down near the Kremlin on February 27, 2015, about to lead an anti-Putin rally (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4396-4479).

[27] E.g., the investigative journalist and vocal Putin critic Anna Politkovskaya, shot dead in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment in October 2006 after having survived a non-lethal poisoning in 2004 (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 971-2, 1813-21). More generally, see Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3985-88.  A Washington Post editorial, Jan. 20, 2009, “Two More Critics of Vladimir Putin Take Bullets in the Head,” notes that  Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer, and Anastasia Baburova, a journalist, both critics of Putin, were both shot in the head in broad daylight by an unknown, masked assailant within a mile from the Kremlin.

[28] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3985-88; Washington Post, March 6, 2018, “The long, terrifying history of Russian dissidents being poisoned abroad”; Buzzfeed, June 15, 2017, “From Russia With Blood,” Part Two of a six-part investigation; NY Times, Aug. 20, 2016, “More of Kremlin’s Opponents Are Ending Up Dead.” Russia is under suspicion for possible culpability in 14 deaths in the UK alone (BBC, March 7, 2018, “Sergei Skripal and the 14 deaths under scrutiny.”) See Rebecca Favret, “Back to the Bad Old Days: President Putin's Hold on Free Speech in the Russian Federation,” Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business, vol. 12, p. 299-315 (2013). Favret writes (pp. 301-2), “Putin has pushed through numerous laws that stifle free speech and the media in an effort to stamp out criticism. Opponents of the President have been swiftly silenced-either through prosecution and imprisonment under the new laws or through extra-legal tactics, including the mysterious disappearances and blatant assassinations of vocal dissidents.” In 2010, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists listed Russia as the fourth-most dangerous nation in the world for journalists, which is suspected to be linked to the climate of terror fostered against critics of Putin (Favret, op. cit., p. 302n15). Specific examples of such killings in addition to those noted in the preceding three footnotes (“investigators of the bombings,” “Mafia whistle-blowers,” and “journalists”) are noted in Washington Post, March 6, 2018, “The long, terrifying history of Russian dissidents being poisoned abroad” and Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc.  2242-57, 3135-54, 3226-30, 3242-67, 3273-77,  3323-4,  3330-32, 3663-7, 3779-80, 3402-24, 4396-4479. Also Harding, Expelled, Loc. 1475-1542; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 1876-78.

[29] Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3816-56; Forbes, Oct. 3, 2017, “Donald Trump And The Felon: Inside His Business Dealings With A Mob-Connected Hustler”; Bloomberg, June 21, 2017, “Trump, Russia, and Those Shadowy Sater Deals at Bayrock.” See also photo of Trump with Felix Sater and Tevfik Arik at the launch party for the Trump SoHo project in September 2007, a project that Sater helped develop (NY Times, April 5, 2016, “Donald Trump Settled a Real Estate Lawsuit, and a Criminal Case Was Closed”; Washington Post, May 17, 2016, “Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump”; Wall Street Journal, Sept. 1, 2016, “Donald Trump and the Mob”).

[30] Sater was given the office by the Trump organization, and the phone number on his business card previously belonged to an attorney in Trump’s general counsel’s office (Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, as cited above). See also Bloomberg, June 21, 2017, “Trump, Russia, and Those Shadowy Sater Deals at Bayrock.” 

[31] Sater testified that he saw Trump “on a constant basis” (Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, as cited above; Bloomberg, June 21, 2017, as cited above; see also New Republic, July 13, 2017, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat”). Jody Kriss, an insider in Sater’s firm, Bayrock, which partnered with Trump, testified that at one point Sater was meeting with Trump multiple times weekly and saw the Trumps “frequently” (Bloomberg, June 21, 2017, as cited above).  A third source reported that Sater and Trump had standing meetings each week (Business Insider, Nov. 23, 2017, “Trump Organization to distance itself from one of its biggest headaches in the Russia probe”).

[32] Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3808-14. Harding reported: “According to court documents, Sater’s father—originally called Mikhail Sheferofsky—was a Mogilevich crime syndicate boss who headed the Russian mafia in Brooklyn. He served prison time in Britain for counterfeiting and fraud. In the United States Sater Sr. ran an extortion scheme in Brighton Beach. The charge sheet accused him of terrorizing restaurants, food stores, and a local medical clinic. This took place during the 1990s and involved the ‘wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence and fear.’”

[33] Washington Post, May 17, 2016, “Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump”; Wall Street Journal, Sept. 1, 2016, “Donald Trump and the Mob”; Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, as cited above; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3814-22.

[34] As cited in the note above, also Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, “Donald Trump And The Felon: Inside His Business Dealings With A Mob-Connected Hustler”; NY Times, April 5, 2016, “Donald Trump Settled a Real Estate Lawsuit, and a Criminal Case Was Closed”; Bloomberg, June 21, 2017, “Trump, Russia, and Those Shadowy Sater Deals at Bayrock”;  Politico, May 22, 2016, “Just What Were Donald Trump's Ties to the Mob?”; David Johnston, The Making of Donald Trump, p. 163.

[35] Friends since childhood: Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3910-15. Cohen described himself as Trump’s “fix it guy,” adding, “Anything that he needs to be done, any issues that concern him, I handle”  (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 11, 2017, “Intelligence Dossier Puts Longtime Trump Fixer in Spotlight”).

[36] Bloomberg, June 21, 2017, as cited above ; Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, as cited above; Washington Post, May 17, 2016, “Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump”; Johnston, The Making of Donald Trump, p. 163. As a one-time business partner of Sater, Ernest Mennes, recounted in a court document, Sater called Mennes in 2006 and told Mennes that Sater’s cousin “would electrically shock Mr. Mennes’ testicles, cut off Mr. Mennes’ legs, and leave Mr. Mennes dead in the trunk of his car” if Mennes revealed Sater’s criminal record (Washington Post, May 17, 2016, as cited above).

[37] Slate, Nov. 17, 2016, “Megyn Kelly: Fox News Had to Explain to Trump Lawyer Why It Would Be Bad if I Were Killed.” Cohen also retweeted “let’s gut her” about Megan Kelly, who made uncomplimentary remarks about Trump (ibid.).

[38] NY Times, Aug. 28, 2017, “Trump Associate Boasted That Moscow Business Deal ‘Will Get Donald Elected” (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/politics/trump-tower-putin-felix-sater.html). See Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3915-27.

[39] Washington Post, June 17, 2016, “Inside Trump’s financial ties to Russia and his unusual flattery of Vladimir Putin.”

[40] NY Times, Aug. 28, 2017, as cited above; Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, “Donald Trump And The Felon: Inside His Business Dealings With A Mob-Connected Hustler”; Bloomberg, Feb. 21, 2017, “Trump Can't Seem to Shake Those Russia Problems”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3827-33; Johnston, The Making of Donald Trump, p. 163. When asked about having been given a tour of Moscow by Sater, Ivanka replied that she took “a brief tour of Red Square and the Kremlin” and that it was possible that she sat in Putin’s chair, but she didn’t recall it (NY Times, Aug. 28, 2017, as cited above). But the Trump organization general counsel said that it was merely a coincidence that Donald Jr., Ivanka and Sater were all in Moscow at the same time (Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, as cited).

[41] NY Times, July 11, 2017, “Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said”; Washington Post, July 11, 2017, “Donald Trump Jr. was told campaign meeting would be with ‘Russian government lawyer,’ according to emails”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3205-88. The meeting occurred on June 9, 2016. Bannon commented on that June meeting to author Michael Wolff, as quoted in Fire and Fury, p. 255 (whose explosive such quotes Bannon notably failed to deny): “The chance that Don Jr. did not walk these jumos up to his father's office on the twenty-sixth floor is zero.”

[42] As summarized in Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3462-67, details in Browder, Red Notice, chapter 37-39, pp. 327-55.

[43] For details of the Russian state-backed money laundering fraud exposed by Serge Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer, and his brutal death in a Russian jail, see Browder, Red Notice, pp. 199-278; also summarized in Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3309-24. Bill Browder in Red Notice, p. 351, summarized that this $220 money laundering case “involved high-level Russian corruption and organized crime.” Alex Perepilichnyy, a key witness in the case who was lethally poisoned while his testimony was pending, had detailed to investigators the connections of the Russian Mafia and Russian state to this money laundering fraud (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3330-32).

[44] Wolff, Fire and Fury, p. 255. Bannon said of the Trump’s participation in this meeting, “Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately” [emphasis added].

[45] Wolff, Fire and Fury, p. 278.

[46] Wolff, Fire and Fury, p. 278.

[47] Wolff, Fire and Fury, p. 278.

[48] Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, Trump: The Art of the Deal, NY: Ballantine Books, 1987; Harding, Collusion, Loc. , Loc. 2898-2933, 4425-58. The full name of this Russian agency was Goscomintourist.

[49] Harding, Collusion, Loc. 2936-52, 4425-58, see Loc. 2954-71.

[50] New Republic, July 13, 2017, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat”; USA Today, March 28, 2017, “Trump's business network reached alleged Russian mobsters”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3950-59.

[51] New Republic, July 13, 2017, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat”; See Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3778-3807, 3860-75.

[52] New Republic, July 13, 2017, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat”; ABC News, March 21, 2017, “Russian mafia boss still at large after FBI wiretap at Trump Tower”; See Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3872-75.

[53] The bank was Deutsche Bank, which was caught having engaged in massive Russian money laundering transactions. Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3965-4183. The fines were $475 million on US dollars from the New York State Department of Financial Services plus 163 million pounds from London’s Financial Conduct Authority (Harding, Collusion, Loc. 4132-42). See also Harding, Collusion, Loc. 4189-93 concerning Jared Kushner’s loan of $285 million and $25 million line of credit with Deutsche Bank.

[54] NY Times, May 19, 2017, “Trump Told Russians That Firing ‘Nut Job’ Comey Eased Pressure From Investigation”; Washington Post, May 11, 2017, “Trump said he was thinking of Russia controversy when he decided to fire Comey”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 2455-2570.

[55] NY Times, Feb. 19, 2017, “A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates”; Washington Post, Feb. 19, 2017, “Amid Russia scrutiny, Trump associates received informal Ukraine policy proposal”; Bloomberg, Feb. 21, 2017, “Trump Can't Seem to Shake Those Russia Problems”; Business Insider, Feb. 21, 2017, “Trump's lawyer has told 4 different stories about the Russia Ukraine 'peace plan' debacle”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3945-51.

[56] NY Times, Feb. 19, 2017, as cited above.

[57] Flynn resigned on February 13, 2017; Washington Post, Dec. 1, 2017, “Timeline: What Flynn copped to - and what he didn’t.”

[58] Washington Post, Dec. 1, 2017, “Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI on contacts with Russian ambassador”; NY Times, Dec. 3, 2017, “Trump, Defending Himself After Flynn Guilty Plea, Says F.B.I. Is in ‘Tatters’”; Washington Post, Feb. 9, 2017, “National security adviser Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials, officials say”;  Harding, Collusion, Loc. 1757-1813

[59] On Moscow’s payroll in 2016, Flynn failed to disclose payments from RT, a Russian propaganda channel. Washington Post, April 1, 2017, “Michael Flynn did not initially reveal income from Russia-related entities on his personal financial disclosure”; CNN, April 30, 2017, “Michael Flynn's worst week in Washington.”

[60] This was a gala sponsored by RT. NBC News, April 18, 2017, “Guess Who Came to Dinner With Flynn and Putin”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 1642-1649, 4463-66, see also Loc. 1653-70, 1680-87, 1703-22.

[61] CNN, March 4, 2017, “More Trump advisers disclose meetings with Russia's ambassador”; Washington Post, July 18, 2016, “Trump campaign guts GOP’s anti-Russia stance on Ukraine”; Business Insider, March 3, 2017, “JD Gordon, Trump adviser, changes story”; Business Insider, Feb. 11, 2017, “The timeline of Trump's ties with Russia lines up with allegations of conspiracy and misconduct”; USA Today, March 2, 2017, “Exclusive: Two other Trump advisers also spoke with Russian envoy during GOP convention”; Business Insider, Nov. 2, 2017, “Trump campaign adviser: Sessions 'would have told me' if he knew about Papadopoulos' push for Trump-Putin meeting”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 1086-89, 1103-1114, 4354-67.  Putin’s invasion and annexation of the Crimea was, as Harding summarizes, “the first formal annexation of territory in Europe since 1945” (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3839-40). Putin justified his annexation of the Crimea as spurred by protection of ethnic Russians, the same rationale that Hitler used to justify his land seizures in Europe in 1938 and 1939 (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3864-68).

[62] Business Insider, March 3, 2017, “JD Gordon, Trump adviser, changes story about GOP Ukraine shift”; Business Insider, Feb. 11, 2017, “The timeline of Trump's ties with Russia lines up with allegations of conspiracy and misconduct”

[63] USA Today, March 2, 2017, as cited above; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 1111-14.

[64] CNN, Nov. 3, 2017, “JD Gordon says Trump listened to Papadopoulos and 'heard him out'”

[65] WikiLeaks began leaking the hacked DNC emails on July 22, 2016 (NY Times, July 22, 2016, “Released Emails Suggest the D.N.C. Derided the Sanders Campaign”). The Trump camp gutted the GOP platform plank on lethal weapons to the Ukraine by July 18, 2016 (Washington Post, July 18, 2016, “Trump campaign guts GOP’s anti-Russia stance on Ukraine”).

[66] Steele Dossier, PDF p. 8.

[67] Vanity Fair, April 2017, “How ex-spy Christopher Steele compiled his explosive Trump-Russia dossier”; The Guardian (UK), Jan. 12, 2017, “Donald Trump dossier: intelligence sources vouch for author's credibility.” See Harding, Collusion, 290-98.

[68] Washington Post, Feb. 6, 2018, “Hero or hired gun: How a British former spy became a flash point in the Russia investigation”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 175-82. See also Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 2673-75, 5014-16.

[69] Washington Post, Feb. 6, 2018, as cited above; NY Times, Jan. 8, 2018, “Fusion GPS Founder Hauled From the Shadows for the Russia Election Investigation.” Steele was initially commissioned by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication funded in part by GOP hedge fund executive Paul Singer. Singer had opposed Trump prior to Trump winning the GOP presidential nomination.

[70] Politico, Aug. 26, 2016, “Trump’s mob-linked ex-associate gives $5,400 to campaign.”

[71] NY Times, Aug. 28, 2017, as cited above; see Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3915-27.

[72] NY Times, Oct 30, 2017, “Russian Influence Reached 126 Million Through Facebook Alone”; Washington Post, Nov. 1, 2017, “How Russian trolls got into your Facebook feed”; CNN, Oct 31, 2017, “Facebook, Twitter, Google testify before Congress”; Washington Post, Oct. 30, 2017, “Russian content on Facebook, Google and Twitter reached far more users than companies first disclosed, congressional testimony says.”

[73] Washington Post, Feb. 16, 2018, “Special counsel Mueller indicts 13 Russians for election interference.”

[74] Referring to the statements of Litvinenko accusing Russia and Putin, in particular, of poisoning him, which Litvinenko made between his poisoning on November 1, 2006 and his death three weeks later, Putin said that “Mr Litvinenko, unfortunately, is not Lazarus” (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4301-4, 5318-20).

[75] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4254-56, 4262-66, 2991-95; see Loc. 2686-2689, 2813-14.

[76] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 2854-56, 2866-67. Russia insisted that Lugovoi and Kovtun were actually poisoning victims and announced a criminal inquiry into what it claimed to be the poisoning of Kovtun (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 2334-35, 2381-82).

[77] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 2652-55; Lugovoi added that the western mass media had launched “a real war against me and against Russia,” and that British intelligence had murdered Litvinenko.” See also Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 2334-35, 2415-19, 2762-68, 2851-2.

[78] Harding, Expelled, Loc. 2003-4.

[79] LA Times, Feb. 24, 2017, “After Trump calls media an enemy of the people, White House bars many news outlets.”

[80] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4396-4490.

[81] See note above for “Russian investigators of the bombings, Mafia whistle-blowers and journalists are among two dozen since murdered under Putin.”

[82] Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 4475-85.

[83] Trump, Twitter, Jan. 13, 2017, 6:11 AM, as quoted in The Washington Post, June 1, 2017, “Every Russia story Trump said was a hoax by Democrats: A timeline.”

[84] Washington Post, Nov. 11, 2017, “‘He said he didn’t meddle’: Trump talks with Putin about U.S. elections and Syria in brief interactions”; Washington Post, Nov. 12, 2017, “James B. Corney., called a 'liar' and 'leaker' by Trump., tweets a quote about truth and justice.”

[85] Washington Post, Nov. 11, 2017, as cited above.

[86] Trump to Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, telephone interview, Feb. 23, 2018, as quoted in NY Times, Feb. 24, 2018, “2 Weeks After Trump Blocked It, Democrats’ Rebuttal of G.O.P. Memo is Released”; Politico, Feb. 24, 2017, “Trump urges national unity, investigation of 'the other side' amid Russia probe.”

[87] Washington Post, Nov. 11, 2017, as cited above.

[88] Washington Post, Feb. 24, 2018, “Trump dismisses Democratic memo as a ‘BUST’ and takes another swipe at the ‘Witch Hunt’ probing his campaign.”  He tweeted on Feb. 24, 2018, “this whole witch hunt is an illegal disgrace.” Trump has repeatedly characterized the Trump Russia probe, as in progress by Special Counsel Mueller, the FBI, and Congress, using that phrase, “witch hunt.”

[89] Washington Post, Nov. 11, 2017, as cited above.

[90] Forbes, Oct 25, 2016. Donald Trump and the Felon”; also quoted in Washington Post, May 17, 2016, “Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump”; Bloomberg, Feb. 21, 2017, “Trump Can't Seem to Shake Those Russia Problems”; New Republic, July 13, 2017, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat.”

[91] Wall Street Journal, Jan. 11, 2017, “Trump, Russia Both Hit Out at Claims in Intelligence Dossier.”

[92] Harding, Collusion, Loc. 1014-20, 1024-30, 1043-47, 2941-52.  See Harding, Expelled, Loc. 299-302.

[93] NY Times, July 18, 2017, “Trump and Putin Held a Second, Undisclosed, Private Conversation”; CNN, July 19, 2017, “Trump, Putin met for nearly an hour in second G20 meeting”;  Harding, Collusion, Loc. 3392-97.

[94] As cited in the note above.

[95] NY Times, July 18, 2017, as cited above.

[96] NY Times, July 18, 2017, as cited above; CNN, July 19, 2017, as cited above.

[97] NY Times, May 19, 2017, “Trump Told Russians That Firing ‘Nut Job’ Comey Eased Pressure From Investigation”; Washington Post, May 11, 2017, “Trump said he was thinking of Russia controversy when he decided to fire Comey”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 2455-2570.

[98] Washington Post, May 26, 2017, “Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin”; NY Times, May 26, 2017, “Kushner Is Said to Have Discussed a Secret Channel to Talk to Russia”; Politico, June 6, 2017, “How to Understand Kushner’s ‘Back-Channel’”; CNN, July 24, 2017, “Kushner confirms Russia meetings, says 'all of my actions were proper'”; Harding, Collusion, Loc. 4197-4201, 4236-39, 4483-86.

[99] See note 7 above.

[100] See note 8 above.

[101] See note above for “A British inquest led by Sir Robert Owen pointed to Vladimir Putin as issuing the assassination order.”

[102] From the testimony of the Owen inquest of Ben Emmerson, counsel for Litvinenko’s wife, Marina, from his testimony at the Owen inquest (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3961-2, 4048-50, 4066-80, 4094-98). Emmerson spoke for Litvinenko, paralleling in his presentation to the court the testimony of Litvinenko during the three weeks between his poisoning and death, Nov. 1-22, 2006. The thrust of Emmerson’s presentation was reflected in the findings of the Owen Commission Report. Emmerson’s statement to the Inquest included this assessment: “Vladimir Putin is nothing more than a common criminal dressed up as a head of state” (Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc.  3961-62, 4094-98). For others with close knowledge of Russian organized crime who have declared Russia to be in effect a Mafia state, see the note above, under “Act I’s Director,” for “Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a mafia state.”

[103] USA Today, Feb. 17, 2018, “Trump's claims of Russian meddling as a 'hoax' hit choppy waters with FBI indictments.”

[104] NY Times, Dec. 3, 2017, “Trump, Defending Himself After Flynn Guilty Plea, Says F.B.I. Is in ‘Tatters.’”

[105] Trump tweet of June 15, 2017, 4:57 AM, CNN, June 15, 2017, “The Russia investigation is now inside the Oval Office.” Shortly after Robert Mueller III was appointed special counsel, Trump tweeted on May 18, 2017 that Mueller’s appointment “hurts our country” and proved that Trump is the subject of “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history” (CNN, May 19, 2017, “NYT: Trump brags to Russians about firing 'nut job' Comey.”)

[106] See e.g. Washington Post, June 17, 2016, “Inside Trump’s financial ties to Russia and his unusual flattery of Vladimir Putin.” Putin said in December, 2015 that Trump was “colorful and talented,” after which Trump said that this compliment from Putin was an “honor.” In June 2016, Trump, when asked if he would renounce Putin’s support, said, “A guy calls me a genius and I’m going to renounce?” Trump said. “I’m not going to renounce him.” BBC, Sept. 8, 2016 (“Trump says Putin ‘a leader far more than our president’”) reported that in September 2016, Trump said that Putin “has been a leader far more than our president [Obama] has been.” When Trump was asked about his previously complementary remarks about Putin, Trump said, “I think when he calls me brilliant I'll take the compliment, ok?.”

[107] CNN, March 21, 2017, “80 times Trump talked about Putin,” Trump to Iowa radio host Simon Conway, Dec. 21, 2015.

[108]  Washington Post, Nov. 12, 2017, “James B. Corney., called a 'liar' and 'leaker' by Trump., tweets a quote about truth and justice”; Politico, Feb. 18, 2018, “Trump attacks everyone but Russia.”

[109] Washington Post, Dec. 6, 2017, “Flynn told former business associate that Russia sanctions would be ‘ripped up,’ according to congressional witness.”

[110] Politico, Jan. 29, 2018, “White House to Congress: Russia sanctions not needed now.”

[111] Washington Post, Jan. 30, 2018, “The Trump administration’s weird explanation for withholding Russia sanctions”; Washington Post, Aug. 2, 2017, “Trump signs what he calls ‘seriously flawed’ bill imposing new sanctions on Russia”; Wall Street Journal, Aug. 2, 2017, “Trump Signs—and Slams—Russia Sanctions”; Washington Post, Feb. 22, 2018, “Trump’s claim that he’s been ‘much tougher on Russia than Obama.’”

[112] Washington Post, Jan. 30, 2018, as cited above. See Business Insider, Feb. 22, 2018, “3 Russian spy chiefs visited the US days before Trump decided against new sanctions on Russia”; Washington Post, Jan. 31, 2018, “CIA director Mike Pompeo met Russian spy chiefs in Washington”; Mother Jones, Jan. 30, 2018, “The Trump Administration Let a Russian Spy Chief Visit the US— Even Though He Was Legally Barred”; Reuters, Jan. 30, 2018, “Russian spy chief met U.S. officials in U.S.”

[113] NY Times, Apr. 5, 2016, “Donald Trump Settled a Real Estate Lawsuit, and a Criminal Case Was Closed”; Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, “Donald Trump And The Felon: Inside His Business Dealings With A Mob-Connected Hustler”; Washington Post, Oct. 16, 2015, “Trump swam in mob-infested waters in early years as an NYC developer”; The Atlantic, Oct. 3, 2016, “The Many Scandals of Donald Trump,”; Politico, Aug. 26, 2016, “Trump’s mob-linked ex-associate gives $5,400 to campaign”; Politico, May 22, 2016, “Just What Were Donald Trump's Ties to the Mob?”; Washington Post, May 17, 2016, “Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump”; BillMoyers.com, June 21, 2016, “The Donald Trump Story You’re Not Hearing About”; ABC News, Dec. 10, 2015, “'Senior Advisor': Trump and the Man Once Linked to the Mob. Memory Lapse? Trump Seeks Distance From 'Advisor' With Past Ties to Mafia”; Forbes, Oct. 3, 2016, “Trump And The Oligarch ‘Trio’”; CNN, July 31, 2015, “Donald Trump and the mob”;  The Daily Mail (UK), July 31, 2016, “How Trump made the Mob an offer they could not refuse”; Mother Jones, Sept 23, 2016, “The Many Times Donald Trump Has Lied About His Mob Connections”; Bloomberg, Aug 5, 2016, “The Company That Donald Trump Keeps”; Newsweek, May 1, 2016, “The Truth About Trump And The Mob”; The Daily Beast, Feb 29, 2016, “The Klansmen and Mobsters in Donald Trump’s Closet”; The Daily Beast, May 26, 2011, “Inside Donald Trump's Empire: Why He Didn't Run for President in 2012”; US News, May 7, 2016, “Mob Ally's Daughter: Trump Was Close to My Dad”; Pensito Review, Sept 18, 2015, “Why the Silence about Donald Trump’s Mob Ties”; The Independent (UK), July 8, 2013, “Donald Trump walks out over questions about his mafia connections during BBC Panorama interview”; The Federalist, July 28, 2015, “How Close was Donald Trump to the Mob?”; Yahoo, March 7, 2016, “Trump challenged over ties to mob-linked gambler with ugly past”; The Telegraph (UK), May 26, 2016, “Donald Trump exclusive: Russian mob-linked fraudster a 'key player' in presidential hopeful's business ventures”; New York Post (AP), Dec. 5, 2015, “Donald Trump’senior adviser is a stock fraud felon with mob past.” Trump’s ties and dealings with organized crime and other criminal figures are also covered extensively in Johnston, The Making of Donald Trump; Johnston, Temples of Chance, and Barrett, The Greatest Show.  Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Johnston summarized that it concludes that “throughout his adult life, Donald Trump has done business with major organized crime figures and performed favors for their associates” (Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan 8, 1992, “Book Alleges Trump Did Business with Mob”). Johnston wrote in 2016 (Politico, May 22, 2016, “Just What Were Donald Trump's Ties to the Mob?), “No other candidate for the White House this year has anything close to Trump’s record of repeated social and business dealings with mobsters, swindlers, and other crooks.”

[114] Wall Street Journal, Sept. 1, 2016, “Donald Trump and the Mob.”

[115] Structural concrete was used to construct both Trump Tower and Trump Plaza in New York City (Barrett, The Greatest Show on Earth, Kindle Loc. 4026-9, 4072-86). It was purchased at inflated prices from a company secretly owned by two New York Mafia bosses, Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno and Paul Castellano (Politico, May 22, 2016, “Just What Were Donald Trump's Ties to the Mob?”; Washington Post, Oct. 16,  2015, “Trump swam in mob-infested waters in early years as an NYC developer”; Johnston, Temples of Chance,  p. 82; Barrett, The Greatest Show on Earth, Kindle Loc. 4026-9, 4072-86; Johnston, The Making of Donald Trump, pp. 45-48). The concrete contract between Trump and S&A Concrete for Trump Tower became one count in the federal racketeering indictment and subsequent conviction of Salerno (Barrett, The Greatest Show, Kindle Loc. 846-50, 3953-58; Johnston, The Making of Donald Trump, 2016, pp. 47-48; Washington Post, Oct. 16, 2015, as cited above.   Concrete is rarely used as a structural material for tall buildings due to key disadvantages compared with the typical structural steel (Politico, May 22, 2016, as cited above; Johnston, The Making of Donald Trump, p. 45). New York’s Trump Tower was the tallest building in the U.S. constructed using structural concrete at the time it was completed (Barrett, The Greatest Show, Kindle Loc. 64-67) and the most expensive private concrete job in history (Ibid., Kindle Loc. 3941-53). The concrete in Trump Tower, for example, weighs fifty percent more than all the steel in New York’s Empire State Building (Barrett, The Greatest Show, Kindle Loc. 3941-53).

[116] This new world order might also encompass other Mob-linked allies of Putin such as Berlusconi in Italy. For Berlusconi’s close friendship with Putin: Harding, Expensive Poison, Loc. 3594-95. His links with Italian organized crime: The Independent (UK), May 12, 2014, “Silvio Berlusconi's links with Italian organized crime confirmed”; Repubblica (Palermo), Dec. 21, 2017, “Berlusconi pays the bosses of Cosa Nostra". Here is the note of Falcone found in his office”; RTE News (Ireland), Oct. 31, 2017, “Berlusconi under investigation once again for mafia links”; BBC News, Oct. 31, 2017, “Silvio Berlusconi probed over alleged links to mafia bombings.”

[117] Galeolti, Mark, “Crime, Corruption and the Law,” pp. 135-150, in Mike Bowker and Cameron Ross (eds), Russia after the Cold War, see “Towards a Mafiocracy,” pp. 135, 142. This source notes that as reported in 1997, some 70-80 percent of businesses in Russia pay 20-30 percent of their profits in protection money to organized crime. Two sources involved in the Art world with dealings in Russia told this author of organized crime demanding 25% of profits in Russia.

[118] Trump’s loans from Deutsche bank, which was fined for massive Russian money transactions, are noted above. The avenues of pressure that Putin held on Trump, also the unusual number of campaign aides and cabinet appointees of Trump with ties to Russia are summarized in Harding, Collusion, Loc. 4253-69.

[119] See notes above for “hotel rooms equipped with prostitutes and video cameras have been standard KGB/FSB fare over decades for visiting Americans of interest” and for Trump’s visit to Russia in 1987 as a guest of Intourist, a KGB front.

[120] NY Times, Feb. 13, 2018, “Michael D. Cohen, Trump’s Longtime Lawyer, Says He Paid Stormy Daniels Out of His Own Pocket”; Wall Street Journal, Jan. 12, 2018, “Trump Lawyer Arranged $130,000 Payment for Adult-Film Star’s Silence”; NY Times, Feb. 14, 2018, “Trump Lawyer’s Payment to Porn Star Raises New Questions.” See also CNN, March 5, 2018, “WSJ: Cohen complained about lack of reimbursement for porn star payment”; Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2018, “Trump Lawyer’s Payment to Stormy Daniels Was Reported as Suspicious by Bank.” Michael Wolff quotes Bannon in Fire and Fury, concerning Marc Kasowitz, another lawyer and fixer for Trump (Fire and Fury, p. 238). Bannon said, “Look, Kasowitz has known him [Trump] for twenty-five years. Kasowitz has gotten him out of all kinds of jams. Kasowitz on the campaign—what did we have, a hundred women? Kasowitz took care of all of them.” (Id., p. 280). Trump’s history does not provide a credible indication that he would have avoided the KGB’s pervasive web of sexual entrapment during his several visits to Russia.

[121] Washington Post, Nov. 12, 2017, as cited above.