(THREAD) Trump Tower Moscow sits at the heart the Trump-Russia scandal. This thread reveals the REAL story behind it. Please share widely.
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1/ On February 2, 2017, Kremlin agent and Trump pal Aras Agalarov announced the Trump Tower Moscow project was dead.
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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.
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3/ Agalarov did NOT announce the end of the project in June 2015, when Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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12/ He STILL hasn't divested himself of his business interests in conformance with our Constitution, precedent, or federal ethics watchdogs.
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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.
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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.
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15/ UK media calls Agalarov a "Kremlin insider" who is "Putin's main property developer" and the primary "liaison between Putin and Trump."
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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.
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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.)
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18/ Agalarov has admitted to Russian media that he takes "orders" from Putin, completing big development projects—without tenders—on demand.
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19/ By every *possible* legal definition of the term, Agalarov is not just a Kremlin agent but, even more specifically, an "agent of Putin."
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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.
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21/ Doubt this? Consider that Putin awarded Agalarov Russia's "Order of Honour"—one of the highest honors any Russian civilian can receive.
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22/ Consider, too, that Agalarov received this honor—Putin's clearest-possible imprimatur—TEN DAYS before Trump went into business with him.
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23/ The Steele Dossier—MI6-derived work-product that the FBI probe into Trump-Russia ties relies upon—mentions Agalarov, though not by name.
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24/ The Dossier details Russian efforts to entice Trump toward pro-Russia policies using promises of future MAJOR Russian development deals.
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25/ Several such deals noted by the Dossier involve 2018 World Cup real estate projects. And Putin put AGALAROV in charge of those projects.
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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.
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27/ Agalarov has been DRAMATICALLY influencing Trump's actions since they met in June 2013, two years BEFORE Trump announced his candidacy.
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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*.
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29/ The Agalarov-Trump partnership began in June 2013, 18 months before Trump's announcement—and while he was *aggressively* considering it.
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30/ Indeed, The New York Post announced Trump was exploring a run for president one month BEFORE Trump met Aras Agalarov in June 2013.
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