Seth Abramson Trump timeline
1/ On February 2, 2017, Kremlin agent and Trump pal Aras Agalarov announced the Trump Tower Moscow project was dead.
http://russianconstruction.com/news-1/26505-russians-abandon-plans-for-trump-tower-construction-in-moscow-region.html
2/ In announcing the project's end, Russian media confirmed that the project had begun in 2013, and that there was only ever ONE project.
3/ Agalarov did NOT announce the end of the project in June 2015, when Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States.
4/ Nor could he have done so, as we now know, from Washington Post reporting, that the project was alive and active in both 2015 and 2016.
5/ Just to underscore this: Trump was working on a real estate deal with a KNOWN Kremlin agent for SEVEN MONTHS while running for president.
6/ And Agalarov didn't claim the project had died simply because Trump had been elected president—but because Trump "couldn't do any deals."
7/ Recall that—by Trump's own public admission—as late as Election Day he did not believe he would win the presidency of the United States.
8/ Trump thought that—on November 9, 2016—he'd return to being a non-politician private citizen free to do big international business deals.
9/ So all of Trump's historically pro-Russia foreign policy was developed at a time he thought he was making a pitch for Trump Tower Moscow.
10/ To reverse his policy positions in office would be to admit that they'd not been formulated with U.S. interests in mind—a sad catch-22.
11/ Recall now that—when he DID win on November 8—Trump for weeks resisted ANY attempt to shut down his business dealings at home or abroad.
12/ He STILL hasn't divested himself of his business interests in conformance with our Constitution, precedent, or federal ethics watchdogs.
13/ So Agalarov waiting 85 DAYS after Trump's election as president to announce the end of the Trump Tower Moscow project is no coincidence.
14/ Let's first understand who Aras Agalarov is—as it's clear Trump knew EXACTLY who/what he was when he entered into business with him.
15/ UK media calls Agalarov a "Kremlin insider" who is "Putin's main property developer" and the primary "liaison between Putin and Trump."
16/ He's been called "Putin's right-hand man when it comes to carrying out development projects." Putin is reportedly very "fond" of him.
17/ (I'll pause to note that some of the source links for this 200-tweet thread will come at the end of the thread. Others will be in-line.)
18/ Agalarov has admitted to Russian media that he takes "orders" from Putin, completing big development projects—without tenders—on demand.
19/ By every *possible* legal definition of the term, Agalarov is not just a Kremlin agent but, even more specifically, an "agent of Putin."
20/ Agalarov is professionally a creature of Putin; he enjoys Putin's largesse. The chances he'd act counter to Putin's interests are zero.
21/ Doubt this? Consider that Putin awarded Agalarov Russia's "Order of Honour"—one of the highest honors any Russian civilian can receive.
22/ Consider, too, that Agalarov received this honor—Putin's clearest-possible imprimatur—TEN DAYS before Trump went into business with him.
23/ The Steele Dossier—MI6-derived work-product that the FBI probe into Trump-Russia ties relies upon—mentions Agalarov, though not by name.
24/ The Dossier details Russian efforts to entice Trump toward pro-Russia policies using promises of future MAJOR Russian development deals.
25/ Several such deals noted by the Dossier involve 2018 World Cup real estate projects. And Putin put AGALAROV in charge of those projects.
26/ So the Dossier that *forms the basis of the FBI's Russia probe* alleges Putin is using Agalarov to influence Trump. And that checks out.
27/ Agalarov has been DRAMATICALLY influencing Trump's actions since they met in June 2013, two years BEFORE Trump announced his candidacy.
28/ Don't fall for Team Trump's trick of acting like Trump decided to run for president on the *day he announced*. He decided in *mid-2013*.
29/ The Agalarov-Trump partnership began in June 2013, 18 months before Trump's announcement—and while he was *aggressively* considering it.
30/ Indeed, The New York Post announced Trump was exploring a run for president one month BEFORE Trump met Aras Agalarov in June 2013.
31/ A May 2013 NYP article, "Trump Researching 2016 Run," revealed Trump had spent $1 million on electoral research.
http://pagesix.com/2013/05/27/trump-researching-2016-run/
32/ Trump's May 2013 expenditures studied ALL FIFTY STATES to determine Trump's popularity in each—and Trump's attorney said he was SERIOUS.
33/ Michael Cohen: "We didn't spend $1 million on this research for it to sit on my bookshelf....Trump is exactly what this country needs."
34/ In the past, Trump has teased presidential runs either to boost his business standing or because he was serious about the possibility.
35/ So either Trump was keen to suddenly raise his business profile in May 2013 or he was engaging in a long prelude to a presidential run.
36/ Besides planning a possible 2016 presidential run, Trump spent May 2013 trying to decide where to hold the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.
37/ According to Trump, almost twenty nations around the world spent May 2013 frantically vying for the honor of hosting Miss Universe 2013.
38/ And yet, within ONE WEEK of meeting Agalarov for the FIRST TIME in June 2013, Trump awarded that year’s Miss Universe pageant to Russia.
39/ Reportedly, Trump and Agalarov quickly became SO close from June 2013 on it was like "manna"—God-granted nourishment—to Vladimir Putin.
40/ A western diplomat in Moscow has gone much further: "If there are skeletons in Trump's dealings with Russia, Aras knows where they are."
41/ (We'll return to this, but remember who Trump was partying with the night Steele's dossier says Putin got his kompromat: Aras Agalarov.)
42/ "And if Aras Agalarov knows Donald Trump's skeletons, you wouldn't bet on Vladimir Putin not ALSO knowing," added the Western diplomat.
43/ It's clear that "Trump Tower Moscow" was born sometime between June 2013 and the 2013 pageant—but likely *at* that June "first meeting."
44/ We know this because Trump Tower Moscow was announced by RT, Russia's Kremlin-run media outlet, on November 9th—the day of the pageant.
45/ Syncing announcement of the project and Trump's arrival in Moscow underscores that its broad strokes—at a minimum—had come much earlier.
46/ So U.S. media should be reporting Trump was negotiating with a known Kremlin agent at the same time he was exploring a presidential run.
47/ And that means Trump's development of a Russia policy—and him doing so with an eye toward business gains—began in the Spring of 2013.
48/ It also means that the efforts by Trump ally DeSantis in the House to preclude Mueller investigating anything pre-2015 is *Obstruction*.
49/ So how did the Agalarovs first sidle up to Trump? The plot involves a music video, a supermodel, and a Euro-pop musician: Emin Agalarov.
50/ Emin (Aras' son) cast Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo in a video of his—which led to her and a Miss Universe delegation going to Moscow.
51/ Emin was then married to the daughter of Azerbaijan's president. Trump had signed a big Azerbaijan deal in 2012.
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-azerbaijan-hotel-linked-with-corruption-iran-2017-3
52/ Several Senators have asked Congress to investigate "Trump Tower Baku"—a deal which involved the most corrupt businessmen in Azerbaijan.
53/ So when Trump met Aras and Emin in June 2013 they were implicitly able to help Trump realize TWO dream deals: towers in Moscow AND Baku.
54/ This explains why—in June 2013—it took Trump UNDER A WEEK to throw over 16 OTHER NATIONS and award his pageant to Aras, Emin, and Putin.
55/ The pageant was scheduled for the SAME DEVELOPMENT Trump Tower Moscow was later announced for—suggesting the TWO conversations were ONE.
56/ Indeed, Trump's pageant release was bizarre: “A big deal that'll bring our countries together!” he wrote—possibly of Trump Tower Moscow.
57/ He added, "Moscow right now is a very important place—we wanted Moscow all the way. One of the great families in Russia is our partner."
58/ So Trump's excitement was tied first and foremost to building new ties between himself and Moscow, Russia, and a "great Russian family."
59/ We know Trump quickly invited Putin, confirming this would be—amid Trump's presidential exploratory phase—a Trump-Putin political event.
60/ Indeed, what occurred in the second week of November 2013 in Moscow was nothing short of a colossal, well-prepared Trump-Kremlin summit.