American Kompromat

American Kompromat Plot Summary

Introduction

In the shadowy world of Cold War espionage, intelligence agencies played the long game. While most Americans imagined spies as James Bond figures engaged in dramatic shootouts and car chases, the reality was far more mundane and methodical. The Soviet KGB excelled at identifying potential assets who might prove useful years or even decades later, cultivating them through flattery, business opportunities, and the careful exploitation of personality traits like vanity, greed, and narcissism. This patient approach to intelligence operations would ultimately yield extraordinary dividends when one of their most significant targets ascended to the highest office in America. This remarkable story reveals how foreign intelligence services identify vulnerabilities in democratic systems and exploit them over decades rather than months or years. Readers will discover the sophisticated methods used by the KGB to spot potential assets, the role of business connections in facilitating intelligence operations, and the devastating impact of financial entanglement with Russian interests. The narrative provides crucial insights for anyone interested in national security, the hidden forces shaping modern politics, and the persistent threat that foreign influence operations pose to democratic institutions around the world.

Chapter 1: Early Seeds: Soviet Intelligence Identifies Trump (1977-1987)

The late 1970s marked a period of intense espionage activity between the United States and Soviet Union. While most Americans imagined KGB operations involving secret codes and clandestine meetings, the reality was often more mundane and methodical. Soviet intelligence had mastered the art of identifying potential assets who might prove valuable years or even decades later, focusing on individuals with specific personality traits that made them susceptible to manipulation. In 1977, a young real estate developer named Donald Trump made his first major mark on Manhattan with the ambitious renovation of the decrepit Commodore Hotel into what would become the Grand Hyatt. This project required hundreds of television sets, leading Trump to make what seemed like an ordinary business decision to purchase them from Joy-Lud Electronics, a small store on Fifth Avenue. What made this transaction extraordinary was that Joy-Lud was co-owned by Semyon "Sam" Kislin, a Ukrainian émigré who had arrived from Odessa in 1972 and who, according to former KGB officer Yuri Shvets, was a "spotter agent" for Soviet intelligence. The KGB's assessment of Trump was systematic and thorough. They compiled approximately ten meaningful reports on him to determine if he could be cultivated as either a trusted contact or an agent. His personality traits made him particularly appealing to Soviet intelligence recruiters - his vanity, narcissism, financial ambition, and susceptibility to flattery were all qualities that made him an ideal target for long-term cultivation. The Soviets understood that while Trump wasn't yet particularly well-known outside New York, he was ambitious and hungry for international recognition. During this same period, the KGB had also begun surveillance of Trump through his first wife, Ivana Zelníčková, a Czech national from a district where the Czechoslovakian secret service (StB) maintained a strong presence. The StB, which reported directly to the KGB, monitored Trump's activities through Ivana's father, collecting information about the couple's private life and Trump's growing business ambitions. This created multiple channels of intelligence gathering around Trump and his activities. By 1980, as Trump's Grand Hyatt opened to great acclaim, the KGB had established several avenues of contact with him. They were playing the long game, and Trump was just one of hundreds of potential assets they were cultivating. The seeds planted during this period would eventually bear extraordinary fruit decades later, demonstrating the remarkable patience and foresight of Soviet intelligence operations. This early identification and assessment phase laid the groundwork for what would become one of the most successful intelligence cultivation operations in modern history.

Chapter 2: Cultivation Through Business: The Joy-Lud Connection

The Joy-Lud Electronics store at 200 Fifth Avenue served as far more than a simple retail establishment in 1980s New York. With a sign proudly proclaiming "We speak Russian," it had become a crucial outpost for Soviet intelligence operations in the city. The store's co-owners, Semyon Kislin and Tamir Sapir, had positioned themselves perfectly to serve Soviet officials who needed electronics compatible with their home country's systems while simultaneously functioning as a front for KGB operations. For Soviet intelligence, Joy-Lud served multiple purposes. It provided "clean" electronics to Soviet operatives, ensuring they weren't carrying American surveillance devices back to Moscow. It also functioned as a meeting point where KGB officers could make initial contact with potential assets in a seemingly innocent commercial setting. According to Yuri Shvets, a former KGB major who worked in Washington during this period, "For every espionage agent in the United States who had spent four or five years in this country and was returning back to Moscow, it was a must to bring back a TV set. The only place was Kislin's." After Trump's initial purchase of television sets from Joy-Lud, the KGB began a systematic process of evaluation. Standard KGB procedure required Kislin to notify his handler about the transaction with Trump. The New York rezidentura (station) would then open what was known as a delo operativnoy razrabotky (DOR), or file of operational development. This top-secret file would be given a code name and number and registered in the First Chief Directorate's database at KGB headquarters outside Moscow. During this period, the FBI had Joy-Lud under surveillance due to investigations into the Russian Mafia, which was working in concert with the KGB. Kenneth McCallion, a former federal prosecutor who worked with the FBI, confirmed that "guys from Brighton Beach and the Soviet embassy would be spotted going in and out of there." However, the FBI never connected the dots between Trump's purchases from Joy-Lud and the store's role as a KGB front, representing a significant intelligence failure that would have consequences decades later. By the early 1980s, Trump had become more than just a name in a KGB file. He was now a prospective asset who could potentially be developed over time. The KGB's patience would prove valuable as Trump's business empire grew and his ambitions expanded beyond real estate into international affairs and eventually politics. The Joy-Lud connection represents a classic example of how intelligence agencies use seemingly innocent business relationships as cover for more strategic operations, establishing relationships that can be leveraged for decades to come.

Chapter 3: Active Measures: Moscow Visit and Media Influence

By the mid-1980s, Donald Trump had developed a curious fixation with nuclear weapons and arms control negotiations. Despite having no background in foreign policy, Trump began presenting himself as an expert on nuclear issues, telling the Washington Post in 1984 that "it would take an hour-and-a-half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles." This seemingly random interest provided the KGB with the perfect opening to deepen their relationship with Trump through what intelligence professionals call "active measures" - operations designed to influence events and behavior in a target country. In January 1987, Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin wrote Trump a letter with "good news from Moscow" - Intourist, the Soviet government travel agency that served as a front for the KGB, had expressed interest in pursuing a joint venture to build a hotel in Moscow. According to Yuri Shvets, this invitation was orchestrated by General Ivan Gromakov of the KGB's First Chief Directorate. "If the trip included all expenses paid by Intourist," Shvets explained, "it was a clear indication that the KGB was behind it." Trump arrived in Moscow on July 4, 1987 - Independence Day - with his wife Ivana. They stayed at the National Hotel, where they were almost certainly under constant surveillance. During his visit, Trump was shown potential building sites and entertained lavishly. Former CIA Moscow station chief Rolf Mowatt-Larssen noted, "There's no way they would overlook a guy like Trump. He's a prominent American. Any trip - he goes to Moscow - it's going to be a full-court press." The most significant outcome of Trump's Moscow visit came shortly after his return to the United States. On September 1, 1987, full-page advertisements appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Boston Globe under Trump's name. Headlined "There's Nothing Wrong with America's Foreign Defense Policy That a Little Backbone Can't Cure," the ads called for the United States to stop defending allies like Japan and countries in the Persian Gulf, arguing that America was being taken advantage of by its allies. These positions perfectly echoed Soviet talking points about American foreign policy. According to Shvets, the ads were celebrated at KGB headquarters as one of the most successful active measures operations of that time. "The ad was assessed by the active measures directorate as one of the most successful KGB operations of that time," Shvets said. "It was a big thing - to have three major American newspapers publish KGB sound bites." Shortly after the advertisements appeared, Trump began exploring a run for president in the 1988 Republican primaries, representing the first tangible political outcome of the KGB's cultivation efforts. This period demonstrates how foreign intelligence services can shape public discourse in target countries through carefully cultivated assets. By exploiting Trump's vanity and desire for international recognition, the KGB had successfully turned him into an unwitting mouthpiece for Soviet propaganda, laying the groundwork for more significant influence operations in the future.

Chapter 4: Financial Entanglement: Russian Money Saves Trump (1990s)

The late 1980s and early 1990s marked a critical turning point in Trump's relationship with Russian interests. As the Soviet Union collapsed and a new Russia emerged under Boris Yeltsin, a wave of Soviet émigrés and Russian money began flowing into the United States. This created opportunities for money laundering on an unprecedented scale, and Trump's luxury real estate empire proved to be an ideal vehicle for these operations. By the early 1990s, Trump's business empire was in serious trouble. His Atlantic City casinos were failing, leaving him approximately $4 billion in debt. Traditional American banks had largely stopped lending to him after multiple bankruptcies and defaults. It was during this period of financial desperation that Russian money became his lifeline. As his son Donald Jr. would later admit at a real estate conference in 2008, "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." The pattern had actually begun years earlier. In 1984, Russian mobster David Bogatin purchased five condominiums in Trump Tower for $6 million in cash (equivalent to over $15 million today). According to the New York State attorney general's office, this transaction effectively laundered money from the Russian Mafia through Trump's real estate. This was not an isolated incident. A 2018 BuzzFeed News investigation revealed that more than 1,300 Trump-branded condos in the United States were sold in secretive, all-cash transactions that shielded buyers' identities and finances. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 accelerated these connections. General Vladimir Kryuchkov, the hard-line KGB chief, had presciently established approximately 600 front companies as safe havens for Soviet leaders and KGB operatives. These companies purchased commodities like oil, steel, and aluminum from Soviet enterprises at a fraction of their market value, then sold them in the West at full price. The billions in profits were laundered through Western financial institutions, creating a network that would outlast the Soviet Union itself. By the early 2000s, Trump had formed partnerships with several businessmen who had emerged from the ashes of the Soviet Union. Alexander Shnaider, Alexander Mashkevich, and Tevfik Arif - all former principals in Seabeco, a commodities firm with ties to the KGB - became Trump's partners in various projects. The Bayrock Group, a real estate development company based in Trump Tower with ties to the Kremlin, created a new business model to franchise Trump condos after his Atlantic City failures. These financial entanglements created profound vulnerabilities that could be exploited by Russian intelligence. As former CIA officer Glenn Carle observed, "While the Americans may have thought the Cold War was over, no one told the KGB or its successors." The patient cultivation that had begun in the late 1970s was now bearing fruit in ways that would have profound implications for American politics and national security, demonstrating how financial leverage can be used as a powerful tool of intelligence operations.

Chapter 5: The Epstein Network: Parallel Intelligence Operations

While the KGB and its successors were cultivating Trump, a parallel intelligence operation was unfolding through the network of Jeffrey Epstein, a mysterious financier whose wealth and connections would make him one of the most notorious figures in modern history. Epstein's operation represented a sophisticated system for collecting compromising information, or "kompromat," on powerful individuals across business, politics, science, and entertainment. Epstein's background was shrouded in mystery. Despite claiming to manage billions for clients, financial experts could never verify his claimed investment activities. He had risen from teaching mathematics at the prestigious Dalton School to working at Bear Stearns investment bank, then mysteriously accumulated enormous wealth through means that remained obscure even to Wall Street insiders. Evidence suggests connections to intelligence services, with Epstein once claiming he "belonged to intelligence," though he never specified which country's services. His close associate Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of Robert Maxwell, played a crucial role in his operation. Robert Maxwell had been a larger-than-life figure with media holdings across the globe who was simultaneously working for multiple intelligence agencies, including the KGB and Israel's Mossad. His mysterious death in November 1991, when he was found floating naked in the Atlantic Ocean near his yacht, sent shockwaves through intelligence communities worldwide. His daughter Ghislaine moved to New York shortly after his death and eventually formed her partnership with Epstein. Epstein's operation centered on sexual exploitation, particularly of underage girls. His properties, especially his mansion in New York and private island in the Caribbean, were equipped with hidden cameras that recorded compromising sexual encounters. These recordings created leverage over numerous high-profile individuals who visited his properties. What distinguished Epstein's operation was its scale and the caliber of his targets, which included billionaires, politicians, royalty, and academic luminaries. Particularly noteworthy were Epstein's connections to Russian figures. His "black book" of contacts included numerous Russian models and businesspeople with ties to Russian intelligence. Several women in his orbit had backgrounds connected to Russian state interests. According to former KGB officer Yuri Shvets, Russian intelligence would have viewed Epstein's network as a golden opportunity to gain access to America's technological secrets, particularly in artificial intelligence and supercomputing fields where Epstein had cultivated extensive connections. The parallel operations of Epstein and the Russian cultivation of Trump created multiple channels of influence that would converge years later. Both operations involved the collection of compromising information, the establishment of financial relationships, and connections to intelligence services. Together, they created an unprecedented vulnerability in American politics and society, demonstrating how private networks can be weaponized for intelligence purposes with devastating effects on democratic institutions.

Chapter 6: Asset Activation: The Road to the White House (2015-2016)

By 2015, nearly four decades after the KGB's first contact with Donald Trump, the long-dormant asset was finally activated in a way that would change American history. Trump's announcement of his presidential candidacy in June 2015 marked the beginning of what former KGB officer Yuri Shvets called "the greatest intelligence bonanza in history" - the potential installation of a Russian asset in the White House. The Russian intelligence apparatus, now under the leadership of Vladimir Putin (himself a former KGB officer), recognized the extraordinary opportunity presented by Trump's candidacy. Russian hackers, working for the military intelligence agency GRU, targeted the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, stealing emails that were strategically released through WikiLeaks to damage Clinton's campaign. Meanwhile, the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm, conducted a sophisticated social media campaign to sow division among American voters and boost Trump's candidacy. Trump's campaign was staffed with individuals who had deep ties to Russian interests. Campaign chairman Paul Manafort had received $75 million from pro-Putin oligarchs and worked with Konstantin Kilimnik, an operative for Russian military intelligence. Foreign policy advisor Carter Page had extensive business dealings in Russia. And Trump himself continued to pursue a Trump Tower Moscow project well into the campaign, despite publicly claiming he had no business interests in Russia. Throughout the campaign, Trump consistently took positions that aligned with Russian interests. He questioned the value of NATO, suggested he might recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea, and repeatedly praised Vladimir Putin. In July 2016, at a press conference, he publicly invited Russia to find Hillary Clinton's missing emails: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing." This extraordinary statement represented a presidential candidate openly encouraging a foreign power to interfere in an American election. The most troubling aspect of this period was the apparent coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. A meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 brought together Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort with Russians promising "dirt" on Hillary Clinton as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." This meeting represented the culmination of decades of cultivation, with the son of the original target now actively seeking assistance from the same foreign power that had been cultivating his father since the 1980s. After Trump's victory in November 2016, Russian officials celebrated openly. According to intelligence reports, Putin himself congratulated his staff for their successful operation. Within hours of Trump's election, Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets published an interview with Natalia Dubinina, daughter of the former Soviet ambassador who had first invited Trump to Moscow in 1987. This interview, according to Shvets, was "an attempt to cover the true nature of the KGB's contact with Trump" and served as a "hello" from Russian intelligence to their man in the White House.

Chapter 7: Institutional Capture: Dismantling Democratic Guardrails

Once in office, Trump began a systematic effort to dismantle the democratic guardrails that might constrain his power or expose his relationship with Russian interests. This process of institutional capture targeted key pillars of American democracy: the intelligence community, the Justice Department, the State Department, and the system of congressional oversight that had constrained executive power for generations. The assault on democratic institutions began with attacks on the intelligence community. Trump publicly disparaged intelligence agencies that had documented Russian interference in the 2016 election, comparing them to "Nazi Germany" and dismissing their findings as a "political witch hunt." He removed officials who raised concerns about Russian influence, including FBI Director James Comey, and installed loyalists in key positions. This campaign effectively intimidated the intelligence community, creating a chilling effect on counterintelligence investigations that might uncover foreign influence operations. The Justice Department transformation was particularly concerning. When William Barr became Attorney General in February 2019, he initiated a profound shift from an independent law enforcement agency into what critics described as a personal legal department for the executive. Barr had been a leading proponent of the "unitary executive" theory, which held that the president should have virtually unlimited authority over the executive branch. Under this doctrine, the president could fire officials for investigating his conduct, issue pardons to associates who refused to cooperate with investigations, and declare national emergencies to circumvent congressional authority. Perhaps most alarming was the systematic removal of inspectors general - the internal watchdogs designed to prevent corruption and abuse within government agencies. Between 2019 and 2020, the inspectors general for the Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the State Department were all removed after investigating potential misconduct. These removals effectively eliminated independent oversight of executive actions. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the deadly consequences of this institutional capture. Trump repeatedly downplayed the virus, contradicted public health officials, and promoted unproven treatments. He suggested injecting disinfectants and claimed the virus would "disappear" like "a miracle." As the death toll mounted, Trump delegated responsibility to the states while undermining their efforts to control the spread. By August 2020, more than 6.3 million Americans had been infected and 189,000 had died - far more than any other developed nation. The culmination of this institutional capture came during the 2020 election and its aftermath. Trump systematically undermined faith in the electoral process, falsely claiming widespread fraud and refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. After losing the election, he pressured state officials to "find" votes, filed dozens of meritless lawsuits, and ultimately encouraged supporters to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, resulting in a violent insurrection that threatened the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history.

Summary

The cultivation of Donald Trump as a Russian asset represents one of the most extraordinary intelligence operations in history. What began as a routine contact through a Soviet-controlled electronics store in New York evolved over four decades into a relationship that would fundamentally alter American politics and global power dynamics. The KGB's patient, methodical approach - identifying potential assets based on personality traits like vanity, greed, and susceptibility to flattery - created a foundation that their successors in Russian intelligence could build upon decades later. Through financial entanglement, media manipulation, and the exploitation of personal weaknesses, Russian intelligence services transformed a businessman into a vehicle for their interests at the highest level of American government. This history offers sobering lessons for democracies worldwide. Intelligence operations work across generations, with seeds planted in the 1970s and 1980s bearing fruit in the 21st century. Financial vulnerability creates political vulnerability, as individuals compromised by foreign money can be manipulated to serve foreign interests. Most importantly, democratic institutions are more fragile than most citizens realize, vulnerable to systematic assault from within when key positions are occupied by those who prioritize personal or foreign interests over democratic values. As democracies confront rising authoritarian powers and sophisticated influence operations, understanding these historical patterns becomes essential for preserving the democratic systems that have provided freedom and prosperity for generations.

About Author

Loading...

Craig Unger

Craig Unger is an American journalist and writer. His most recent book is The Fall of the House of Bush, about the internal feud in the Bush family and the rise and collusion of the neoconservative and Christian right in Republican party politics, viewing each group's weltanschauung and efforts concerning present and potential future US policy through a distinctly negative prism. His previous work, House of Bush, House of Saud explored the relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud. Craig Unger's work is featured in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. Unger has served as deputy editor of the New York Observer and was editor-in-chief of Boston Magazine. He has written about George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush for The New Yorker, Esquire Magazine and Vanity Fair.

Read more