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

invariably incurred Trump’s annoyance.) Kushner enlisted Scarborough and Brzezinski in something of a regular morning television Bannon slag-a-thon. H. R. McMaster, the three-star general who had replaced Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor, had secured the president’s pledge that he could veto members of

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

sidestep the people in your organization and to dominate them. It was just one irony of his courtship of admired military figures like James Mattis, H. R. McMaster, and John Kelly: they found themselves working in an administration that was in every way inimical to basic command principles. 7 OK Ok Almost from

-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

was “not taking a pencil to anything.” Nearby, in a small conference room watching the movie Fargo, were Dina Powell, Gary Cohn, Stephen Miller, and H. R. McMaster, all of whom would later insist that they were, however physically close to the unfolding crisis, removed from it. And, indeed, anyone “in the room”

o 6. MICHAEL COHEN 75 7. THE WOMEN 88 8. MICHAEL FLYNN 99 9. MIDTERMS 113 10. KUSHNER 125 11. HANNITY 1 43 12. TRUMP ABROAD 156 13. TRUMP AND PUTIN 169 EFTA00316513 x CONTENTS 14.100 DAYS 185 15. MANAPORT 196 16. PECKER, COHEN, WEISSELBERG 209 17. MCCAIN, WOODWARD, ANONYMOUS 223 18. KAVA

on people carrying Bannon's message as well as the president's. What's more, his enemies in the White House were moving out, includ- ing Hope Hicks, H. R. McMaster, the former national security advisor, and the ever shrinking circle of allies supporting the president's son-in- law and daughter. Bannon was ofte