Russia Loyalties Date to Soviet Era; May Be Heartfelt Free-Will Mutual Admiration/Support; Asset, Not Agent

Allegations of successful KGB recruitment have either been circumstantial, speculative, or from self-proclaimed eyewitnesses with doubtful credibility or no documentation. But President Trump's and his son's own words show that since 1987, he has openly supported Soviet and Russian authoritarian hardliners' domestic and foreign objectives, and Russia has supported him. There may not be anything clandestine or dishonest about it: he genuinely admires and praises them, and other dictators. And they admire him, or at least his potential, and find him easy to influence. So of course he's "an asset" to them in a benign sense, but that doesn't mean he's an actual "agent" who has agreed to take directions from them.

While there are many interesting articles about what Trump and the KGB may have been doing secretly, George Mason University professor Philip Auerswald instead has analyzed Trump's public words and deeds. Some key points:

• In 1987, "Traveling to Moscow at the invitation of Soviet ambassador Yuri Dubinin, in a private jet accompanied by 'two Russian colonels' (his words)," Trump stayed in Lenin's old suite, explored hotel development prospects and met with “top-level Soviet officials”.
• Despite three more development scouting trips, 1996, 2006, 2013, the hotels were never launched. But "While Trump manifestly failed to invest in Russia, Russia did not fail to invest in Trump." In 2014, Eric Trump told a sportswriter, "We don’t rely on American banks … We have all the funding we need out of Russia.”
• Trump first expressed his so-called* "America First" views two months after his first Russia trip, in "full-page ads in major newspapers to assail U.S. allies ... 'Why are these nations not paying the United States for the human lives and billions of dollars we are losing to protect their interests?'”
• In the barrage of talk shows and speaking appearances that followed for the next two years, Trump took advantage of every opportunity to return to the same theme. ... 'Forget about our enemies — Russia, we don’t deal with them that much … Our friends are making billions of dollars and stripping us of our dignity.'"
• "'That’s my problem with Gorbachev. Not a firm enough hand.'" But "other unnamed Soviets earned his admiration. When asked by Playboy about “top-level Soviet officials” with whom he’d met to “negotiate potential business deals … besides the real-estate deal,” he responded: “Generally, these guys are much tougher and smarter than our representatives.”'

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* I say "so-called" because "America First" movements have always been thinly-veiled tools of America's enemies, while appealing to some who have logical, good-faith reasons to support some of their positions, and others who genuinely believe in being selfish.

Trump’s NATO hostility and Russia relations trace back to 1987

by Philip E. Auerswald, The Hill, April 4, 2024

Other articles referred to above and in Auerwald's piece:

Donald Trump Jr. admitted a decade ago that many family assets come from Russia

Business Insider, Feb. 21, 2018

Donald Trump Jr. in 2008 Said a Lot of Trump Assets Were Pouring In from Russia
Business Insider, Feb. 21, 2018

 

A Day (And A Cheeseburger) With President Trump
By Bill Littlefield, WBUR, May 11, 2017

Excerpt: [2013] "Trump was strutting up and down, talking to his new members about how they were part of the greatest club in North Carolina," Dodson says. "And when I first met him, I asked him how he was — you know, this is the journalist in me — I said, 'What are you using to pay for these courses?' And he just sort of tossed off that he had access to $100 million." ... "So when I got in the cart with Eric," Dodson says, "as we were setting off, I said, 'Eric, who’s funding? I know no banks — because of the recession, the Great Recession — have touched a golf course. You know, no one’s funding any kind of golf construction. It’s dead in the water the last four or five years.' And this is what he said. He said, 'Well, we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.' I said, 'Really?' And he said, 'Oh, yeah. We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programs. We just go there all the time.' (Update: Eric Trump has denied saying this.)" 

After the WBUR story was aired, Eric Trump called it "completely fabricated ... fake news."

How Russian Money Helped Save Trump’s Business: After his financial disasters two decades ago, no U.S. bank would touch him. Then foreign money began flowing in.

By Michael Hirsh in Foreign Policy, 12/21/18

Excerpt: 'Donald Trump Jr [said] in 2008—after the Trump Organization was prospering again—that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.”'  

The Hidden History of Trump’s First Trip to Moscow
By LUKE HARDING, Politico, November 19, 2017

Examining claim Trump was recruited by KGB in 1987 and given codename 'Krasnov'
Jack Izzo & Amelia Clarke, Snopes, March 1, 2025

‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy
David Smith, The Guardian, Jan. 19, 2021

Was 40-year-old Trump recruited by the KGB?
by Alexander J. Motyl, The Hill, c 02/26/25

Donald Trump was recruited by KGB with codename 'Krasnov', claims ex-Soviet spy
Christopher Bucktin & Billy Gaddi, DailyRecord, 21 February 2025·