House of Trump, House of Putin: How Vladimir Putin and the Russian Mafia Helped Put Donald Trump in the White House

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'A bombshell.' Daily Mail 'Damning, terrifying and enraging.' The Spectator House of Trump, House of Putin offers the first comprehensive investigation into the decades-long relationship among Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian Mafia that ultimately helped win Trump the White House. It is a chilling story that begins in the 1970s, when Trump made his first splash in the booming, money-drenched world of New York real estate, and ends with Trump's inauguration as president of the United States. That moment was the culmination of Vladimir Putin's long mission to undermine Western democracy, a mission that he and his hand-selected group of oligarchs and associates had ensnared Trump in, starting more than twenty years ago with the massive bailout of a string of sensational Trump hotel and casino failures in Atlantic City. This book confirms the most incredible American paranoias about Russian malevolence. To most, it will be a hair-raising revelation that the Cold War did not end in 1991--that it merely evolved, with Trump's apartments offering the perfect vehicle for billions of dollars to leave the collapsing Soviet Union. In House of Trump, House of Putin, Craig Unger methodically traces the deep-rooted alliance between the highest echelons of American political operatives and the biggest players in the frightening underworld of the Russian Mafia. He traces Donald Trump's sordid ascent from foundering real estate tycoon to leader of the free world. He traces Russia's phoenixlike rise from the ashes of the post-Cold War Soviet Union as well as its ceaseless covert efforts to retaliate against the West and reclaim its status as a global superpower. Without Trump, Russia would have lacked a key component in its attempts to return to imperial greatness. Without Russia, Trump would not be president. This essential book is crucial to understanding the real powers at play in the shadows of today's world. Titlepage......Page 1 Copyright......Page 4 Dedication......Page 5 Epigraph......Page 6 Chapter One: (Virtual) World War III......Page 7 Chapter Two: Trump’s Beautiful Laundrette......Page 18 Chapter Three: Married to the Mob......Page 26 Chapter Four: Brighton Beach......Page 33 Chapter Five: Honey Trap......Page 45 Chapter Six: Gangster’s Paradise......Page 59 Chapter Seven: The Billionaire Boys’ Club......Page 70 Chapter Eight: Mogilevich’s Big Move......Page 83 Chapter Nine: Turn of the Screw......Page 94 Chapter Ten: The Money Pipelines......Page 107 Chapter Eleven: Easy Prey......Page 120 Chapter Twelve: International Man of Mystery......Page 131 Chapter Thirteen: Bayrock......Page 140 Chapter Fourteen: Moth, Flame......Page 151 Chapter Fifteen: Putin’s Revenge......Page 172 Chapter Sixteen: Blood Money......Page 182 Chapter Seventeen: War by Other Means......Page 193 Chapter Eighteen: The Battle Is Joined......Page 217 Chapter Nineteen: Back Channels......Page 228 Chapter Twenty: Endgame......Page 247 Trump’s Fifty-Nine Russia Connections......Page 267 Photographs......Page 282 Acknowledgments......Page 327 Notes......Page 330 Index......Page 385 About the Author......Page 411