Trump as a target of the KGB? Author Craig Unger is sure

t-online Trump as a target of the KGB? Author Craig Unger is sure Thomas Wanhoff • 4 hours • 4 minutes reading time Since the 1980s US author is sure: This is what lies behind Trump's closeness to Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Does the KGB have the US President in its hands? Donald Trump's closeness to Russia raises questions. A US author is certain: The President was the target of Russian agents. Donald Trump is always noticeable for his political closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A few days after taking office, the American authorities were prohibited from pursuing sanctions against Russian oligarchs. When making statements about the war against Ukraine, Trump repeatedly takes positions that are actually familiar from Putin. In the UN Security Council, the USA presented a resolution in which Russia is no longer named as the aggressor. The question is increasingly being asked: What is the relationship between Trump and Putin? A few days ago, statements by a former officer of the Committee for State Security (KGB) caused a stir on Facebook, according to which Trump was recruited by the then Russian secret service 40 years ago. He was reported to be under the code name "Krasnov". Now an American journalist is also certain: Trump was listed by Russia as an important source, known in American secret service jargon as an "asset". Such sources are spied on, but they are also given information - sometimes covertly - with which a secret service tries to steer decisions in a desired direction. Craig Unger has written several books about Donald Trump's connections to Russia. In an interview with the Ukrainian newspaper "Kyiv Independent" he said he was absolutely certain that Trump was used as a source by the KGB. Televisions bought from KGB front company? The secret service connections were built up in the 1980s, when Trump was enjoying success in the real estate business. When the entrepreneur bought the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, he bought the televisions for the hotel rooms from a business that was used as a cover for KGB activities. A KGB agent confirmed this to him, said Unger. The journalist had already published this information in his book "American Kompromat" three years ago. He is referring primarily to statements by Yuri Shvets, a former KGB officer who was once stationed in the US capital Washington. In 2021, he confirmed the recruitment attempts to the British newspaper "The Guardian". "This is an example of people being recruited as students and then rising to important positions; something like this also happened with Trump," he told the newspaper. According to reports, Russian intelligence put an agent on Trump. There were supposedly several conversations before Trump traveled to Moscow in 1987. For Unger, there is several pieces of evidence that are supposed to show Trump's relationship with the KGB. In 1984, a Russian mafia boss bought several apartments in Trump buildings, including Trump Tower. "Trump hosted the Russian mafia for many years before he even ran for president," said the journalist. Donald Trump poses with Miss Universe Gabriela Isler in Moscow in 2013. Reports keep coming about financing the Moscow trip The renowned American historian Timothy Snyder also wrote in his book "The Road to Unfreedom" about Trump's 1987 trip to Moscow as one paid for by the Soviet state. Trump was put up in a suite that was certainly bugged, said Snyder. According to a report by the US magazine Politico, a secret KGB letter from the 1980s advised agents to approach "prominent figures in the West" and persuade them to cooperate as "agents" or "special contacts." During his visit to Moscow in 1987, which was allegedly organized by the KGB, Trump was heavily courted. A year later, Trump tried to run for US president for the first time, but failed. He took out an ad in the New York Times questioning America's role in NATO - a position that could only suit Russia. Unger: Western intelligence services destroyed "What we are seeing now is that he is essentially destroying Western intelligence services. I cannot imagine that Ukraine or other European partners will want to share intelligence information with the US as long as Trump is president, because it will probably be passed directly to Vladimir Putin," said Unger.