Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Susan Wright on the Right

Home
Politics and Religion
The Trump Tower Moscow Deal Was Closer to Being a Thing Than We Thought

The Trump Tower Moscow Deal Was Closer to Being a Thing Than We Thought

Last updated on: December 19, 2018 at 10:36 am by Susan Wright

The Trump Tower Moscow Deal Was Closer to Being a Thing Than We Thought 2018-12-19T10:36:25-05:00 Susan Wright

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How do you know when Donald Trump and his circle are not lying?

Their mouths are closed.

Ok. That aside, I’ll say that perhaps Trump’s TV lawyer, Rudy Giuliani had no intent to lie. It is highly possible that he just doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

In fact, I’d say it is more than just possible that Rudy Giuliani doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It’s pretty much a feature, with him.

In this instance, the former mayor of New York appeared on CNN last Sunday to talk about the Trump Tower deal in Moscow that former Trump attorney and “fixer,” Michael Cohen said was ongoing, well after Donald Trump was the GOP nominee for the presidency.

According to what Giuliani told CNN’s Dana Bash, there was no real deal with Russia.

“It was a real estate project. There was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it,” Giuliani told Bash.

Yeah. About that…

On Tuesday night, CNN’s Chris Cuomo presented a document that the network had obtained, in regards to that Moscow deal.

What the document showed is that Trump did, in fact, sign the letter of intent.

Along with Trump’s signature was that of a Russian developer by the name of Andrey Rozov. Rozov is the owner of I.C. Expert Investment Company, and they would have been responsible for developing the property, had the deal gone through.

The document also showed just how intense the negotiations for the property were, and how lucrative this would have been for the Trump family.

Trump did not tell the public during the 2016 presidential campaign that his company explored the business deal with Russia and instead repeatedly claimed he had “nothing to do with Russia.” But the project, which was ultimately scrapped, would’ve given Trump’s company a $4 million upfront fee, no upfront costs, a percentage of the sales and control over marketing and design. The deal also included an opportunity to name the hotel spa after Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

Another point of note, in regards to then-candidate Trump and his Russia connections: He was working this deal at the same time he was openly courting Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government.

He praised them, praised Putin, blew off any concerns of Russia’s aggressive moves in Crimea and Ukraine, and at one point, even welcomed Russian hackers to “find” Hillary Clinton’s emails.

So here’s the thing: Is Donald Trump really that enamored of Vladimir Putin, or was he simply trying to grease the tracks to make his Trump Tower project go through, without a hitch?

Some are saying he was absolutely buttering up Putin, because, frankly, Putin is the Russian government. If you want anything to go through there, you have to get Vladimir Putin’s approval, first.

Of course, none of that explains why President Trump has continued to show more favoritism to Putin and his regime than he does many American institutions (such as our intelligence community).

Giuliani suggested on Sunday that Trump had spoken with Michael Cohen, Trump’s corporate attorney at the time, later than January 2016 about the proposed Moscow project, and said in an interview with ABC that the conversations may have gone as far as toward the end of the general election period.

“According to the answer that he gave, it would have covered all the way up to November of — covered all the way up to November 2016,” Giuliani said, seemingly referencing Trump’s written responses to special counsel Robert Mueller.

And I’ve had Trump defenders say it was ok for a businessman to continue doing business, while running for president.

Yeah. That’s not quite the whole story.

If his business was selling widgets at a corner store, that would be one thing. In this instance, he was engaged in a major business deal, for big money, with a hostile foreign government.

To do this, while running for the presidency, runs the risk of opening himself up for a host of potentially troublesome ethical entanglements.

He was making himself vulnerable and beholden to the Russian government.

Now the question becomes whether the end of that deal ever really happened.

Trump has remained a true friend of Putin, dragging his heels, when it comes to implementing sanctions against Russia.

He has thrown our intelligence community under the bus while standing next to Putin before the world.

OH – and have we forgotten how he revealed state secrets to Russian officials in the Oval Office, putting an allied undercover agent [from Israel, embedded with ISIS] in peril, soon after taking office?

Yes, if ending the Trump Tower Moscow deal was supposed to signal the end of Trump’s dealings with Russia, we would have no way to know it.

Previous Post

December 18, 2018

BREAKING: Trump Foundation to Dissolve, per Agreement With New York AG Office

Next Post

December 19, 2018 President Trump Declares the War Against ISIS Won

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz