What do we know about Trump-Russia dossier’s explosive allegations
By now, people have surely heard something about the infamous Trump-Russia dossier that was published by BuzzFeed News last year. At the time of its release, lots of the claims seemed to be too outlandish to be true. Now? Not so much.
The dossier has been debated with people arguing over what parts are true — from claims about Donald Trump’s personal and business ties to Russia to claims he and his campaign knew about hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s email.
In the months since the dossier was first published, we’ve scoured the dossier from front-to-back, cover-to-cover and can verify, partially confirm and show evidence for almost all the claims made in the dossier.
Here’s what we know:
The Kremlin Indirectly Funded Moscow Visits By Carter Page, Michael Flynn, Jill Stein, And Lyndon LaRouche
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former Trump national security adviser who resigned amid scandal earlier this year, was paid by Russia’s state-funded television network, RT, to speak at its gala along with Green Party candidate Jill Stein. It’s unclear if the Kremlin paid for Stein’s trip.
Carter Page met with top Russian officials at the state oil firm, Rosneft, and also delivered at Russia-friendly speech to the Moscow Institute that turned out to be the catalyst for an FBI investigation into the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia.
Trump Had Ties To Aras Agalarov In Russia
In 2013, Trump met with Aras Agalarov, the founder of one of Russia’s largest real estate companies, Herman Gref, Putin’s former economic minister and CEO of a state-run bank. Trump had a working dinner about the Miss Universe Pageant with Rob Goldstone, Aras Agalarov and Emin Agalarov in Las Vegas.
A year later, Trump’s daughter Ivanka met with Aras Agalarov’s son Emin to scout sites for a Trump Tower Moscow location.
It was later revealed that publicist Rob Goldstone sent emails to Donald Trump Jr. in 2016 that said the Crown prosecutor of Russia met with the Agalarovs and offered the Trump campaign with information that would “incriminate Hillary” Clinton, who was running against Trump for president, and offering “support” for Trump from the Russian government. Trump Jr. and future White House adviser Jared Kushner met with representatives, including an attorney for the Russian government.
Trump Previously Explored Moscow And St. Petersburg Real Estate But Was Unsuccessful
Trump has been trying to build a Trump Tower in Moscow since 1987, including attempting a proposal while he was running for president in 2015 and 2016.
Real estate developer Felix Sater tried to get Trump to visit Russia and sent an email noting that he would “elect a president,” referring to Trump. He also said he would help get Putin and his team to “buy in” on Trump’s campaign.
Manafort Was Fired Because Of Ukrainian Corruption And Lewandowski Wanted Him Out
Reports confirmed that Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, was being wiretapped as part of a federal investigation.
Manafort, along with other former Trump campaign aides Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos were indicted as part of an ongoing investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia.
Trump Hired Prostitutes To Urinate On A Bed At The Ritz Carlton In Moscow
Trump stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow during the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. Additionally the Associated Press reported he was offered prostitutes by Emin Agalarov, but that’s all that’s been confirmed so far.
Carter Page Met With Senior Kremlin Internal Affairs Official Igor Diveyken Who Had “Kompromat” On Clinton And Might Release It To Trump’s Campaign
Though former Trump adviser Page initially lied and said he did not meet with anyone during a lecture he gave in Moscow at The New Economic School, he told Chris Hayes he met with “some people” in Russia. Page was not sure if they were Russian intelligence officials.
The FBI reportedly investigated if Page met with any Russian officials during his Moscow trips.
Russia Did Not Want To Risk Leaking New Material, So Its Tactics Shifted To Spreading Misinformation
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed that Russia’s state-run propaganda contributing to influencing the 2016 election by pumping up negative coverage of Clinton while promoting pro-Trump rhetoric. RT specifically published a series of negative Clinton videos related to information released by WikiLeaks.
The Kremlin Was Feeding Intelligence To Trump On This Opponents, Including Clinton
In June 2016, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, who was then Trump’s campaign chair, met with Russian Attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin, who reportedly had ties to Russian intelligence to get “compromising” information on Clinton, according to a series of emails.
The June meeting came after Russian officials had already approached George Papadopoulos, the Trump aide who pleaded guilty and has been cooperating with the Special Council’s investigation, with similar information.
