Epstein Secrets

officials—and others close to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin—and associates of President-elect Trump,

tish and the Dutch, had provided information describing meetings in European cities between Russian officials—and others close to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin—and associates of President-elect Trump, according to three former American officials who requested anonymity in discussing classified intelligence.

st view that Trump’s election imperiled Democratic norms. This 13,500-word story—handily connecting the dots of Russia’s geopolitical mortification, Putin’s ambition, the country’s cyber talents, Trump’s own nascent authoritarianism, and the U.S. intelligence community’s suspicions about Putin and Russi

e into the Trump administration? (Much of this was retailed to reporters by Sam Nunberg, the former Trump factotum who was now doing duty for Bannon. Nunberg was frank about his tactics: “I beat the shit out of Gary whenever possible.”) It is a measure of the power of blood (or blood by marriage), and lik

k “What has he gotten himself into with the Russians?” pressed Ailes. “Mostly,” said Bannon, “he went to Russia and he thought he was going to meet Putin. But Putin couldn’t give a shit about him. So he’s kept trying.” “He’s Donald,” said Ailes. “It’s a magnificent thing,” said Bannon, who had taken

ty to connect the dots. Even if he hadn’t personally conspired with the Russians to fix the election, his efforts to curry favor with, of all people, Vladimir Putin had no doubt left a HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019901 trail of alarming words and deeds likely to have enormous political costs. Shortly after the election,

, his efforts to curry favor with, of all people, Vladimir Putin had no doubt left a HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019901

most famous man in the world,” Trump told his on-again, off-again aide Sam Nunberg at the outset of the campaign. “But do you want to be president?” Nunberg asked (a qualitatively different question than the usual existential candidate test: “Why do you want to be president?”). Nunberg did not get an answ

-17, 232-34, 261-62 Scaramucci and, 270-72, 282-85 Prince, Erik, 265, 267 Private Eye magazine, 74 Producers, The (film), 15-16 Pruitt, Scott, 21 Putin, Vladimir, 7, 8, 24, 37-38, 99-102, 153, 155 Qatar, 230-31 Raffel, Josh, 142, 207, 258-59, 279 Reagan, Ronald, 26, 27, 34, 58, 90, 126—27, 144, 20

2-34, 261-62 Scaramucci and, 270-72, 282-85 Prince, Erik, 265, 267 Private Eye magazine, 74 Producers, The (film), 15-16 Pruitt, Scott, 21 Putin, Vladimir, 7, 8, 24, 37-38, 99-102, 153, 155 Qatar, 230-31 Raffel, Josh, 142, 207, 258-59, 279 Reagan, Ronald, 26, 27, 34, 58, 90, 126—27, 144, 201, 222 Rem

OUSE_OVERSIGHT_020103 in the White House for two years and then leave to run Trump’s reelection campaign. “If you can get this idiot elected twice,” Nunberg marveled, you would achieve something like immortality in politics. But through another window, Bannon couldn’t possibly remain in place. He seemed

, 222 Nooyi, Indra, 88-89 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 77 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 99 North Korea, 291-93, 297 Nunberg, Sam, 11, 13, 16, 22, 144, 237-38, 248, 282, 291, 300 Nunes, Devin, 170 Obama, Barack, 27, 35-36, 41-45, 54, 61-63, 67, 90, 101, 104, 128, 164, 187