Some Publicly known facts are these.
1. In 2013, Russia invited the Miss Universe pageant to be held in Moscow. Donald Trump owned the franchise.
2. During that time, according to an email released in July 2017 by Donald Trump Jr., Trump met with a developer, billionaire Aras Agalarov, who offered to pass on “dirt” about Hillary Clinton from Russia’s top prosecutor to help the Trump campaign. (NPR)
3. Trump himself would later boast about the many highfliers he met in Moscow, during a 2015 appearance on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show. “I was with the top level people, both oligarchs and generals and top-of-the-government people. I can’t go further than that, but I will tell you I met the top people,” Trump said.
4. During the Mueller investigation, 2016 emails from a longtime business associate of Trump called Felix Sater, were entered as evidence. Sater boasted that he had lined up financing for a Trump Tower in Moscow with VTB Bank, which is under US sanctions. The New York Times reported that in another email obtained by the newspaper, Sater wrote that he would get “Putin on this programme and we will get Donald elected”.
5. The REASON the VTB Bank was under sanctions was because of Russian money-laundering taking place in New York City. The Russian whistleblower of that money-laundering scheme had been arrested and murdered in prison, after torture. President Obama placed Sanctions on Russian banks and businesses, named after the murdered Russian, The Magnitsky Act.
6. In retaliation, Putin stopped all adoptions of Russian orphans by American families, among other things.
7. The-money laundering case was due to come up in New York City, and it promised to have blockbuster revelations about the American co-conspirators, who had sold high-end real estate to Russians to facilitate the money laundering.
8. By pure coincidence, Russians happened to be very good customers of Trump properties. Reuters reported in 2017 that 63 individuals “from the second and third tiers of Russian power” with Russian passports or addresses, had bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida, alone, according to public documents, interviews and corporate records.
And there may have been more Russian purchases. At least 703 – or about one-third – of the owners of the 2044 units in the seven Trump buildings were limited liability companies, or LLCs, which have the ability to hide the identity of a property’s true owner. (Reuters)
9. Trump Tower New York also had Russian residents. ABC News reported in 2017 that Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort also had a condo there, for which he paid $3.6 Million, reportedly in cash, thanks $17 million he had earned working for Russian political leaders in Turkey, as an unregistered foreign agent. Manafort offered his services for FREE to Trump, to run his campaign.
Two other men who also worked as unregistered foreign agents for those same Russian leaders in Turkey were also hired by Trump, Rick Gates, and Gen. Michael Flynn.
10. ABC News also reports that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort agreed to take a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in June 2016 after being promised potentially damaging information on Hillary Clinton, according to email records. What did they discuss? “Oh, just adoption,” said Don Trump Jr.
In other words, the Magnitsky Act Sanctions. For which Putin had retaliated, by halting adoptions. The Russian lawyer was the same lawyer who would be defending Russia in the Russian money-laundering case that was about to begin in New York City.
11. But JUST before the Russian money-laundering case was about to begin, Trump was inaugurated. And on that very day, January 20th, 2017, he fired all 50 US Attorneys. Including the one who was going to PROSECUTE that case in New York City.
12. The case was turned over to Trump’s new Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. And Sessions SETTLED IT OUT OF COURT. The fake Russian LLCs were only fined $5.9 million dollars, even though the NYC properties had been purchased through $230 million directly from the Russian Treasury. But most importantly, NONE OF THE AMERICAN CO-CONSPIRATORS, who SOLD the properties, were even named in the settlement.
13. Trump attempted to have the Magnitsky Act Sanctions dropped against Russia but at that time, Mitch McConnell and other Republicans passed legislation that denied him the power to do so. (NBC News, July 12, 2017.
14. In July of 2017 Trump attended the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. Halfway through a dinner that followed the meetings, Trump abruptly got up, and sat down next to Putin, and had an hour-long private conversation with only Putin’s interpreter involved. Reporters had been barred from the dinner, as had political aides. Only the world leaders, their spouses, and their interpreters were present. Those recounting the conversation described it as animated and friendly, with the two men smiling as they spoke.
What was the conversation about? “Just adoption,” Trump said, before ranting that the world’s interest in what was discussed was “sick”. (CNN, Business Insider)