Trump, Putin, Epstein
IT'S NOT A HOAX
This postcast was sent to me by a follower (Dana) of my Substack. Visit the following link: https://whowhatwhy.org/podcast/trump-putin-epstein-its-not-a-hoax/.
It is an excellent interview with Craig Unger, the NYT’s bestselling author of several books on the topic of Trump and his entrapment by the Russian KGB. Unger is an authority on the who, what, when of “Trump’s entrapment to Russia – a journey only an ignorant American man would fall for: promises of business in Russia, mounds of constant flattery, women/sex, and then a deposit of $100M to save him from a 7th bankruptcy.
I am not editing it but only passing it along to my readers.
Warm wishes, Elizabeth
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Jeff Schechtman 08/22/25
A decades-long trail of money and kompromat that isn’t just scandal — it’s a threat to the world order and to democracy itself.
For nearly a decade, the refrain has been the same: Russia, Russia, Russia. Each time the alarms sound, we’re told to wait for the “smoking gun” — the kompromat tape, the bank record, the document that will finally answer the questions raised by the tortuous relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. And each time, polite company shrugs, dismisses, or simply moves on.
But what if the story was never about one document, one tape, or one transaction? What if the scandal isn’t a theory at all, but a map of simple facts — facts that my guest on this WhoWhatWhy podcast, Craig Unger, has been assembling for years, in plain sight, across real estate ledgers, mob connections, intelligence archives, and the murky world of Jeffrey Epstein?
Unger is the bestselling author of House of Trump, House of Putin, and American Kompromat. For over a decade, he’s been documenting what he argues is the most audacious intelligence operation in modern history.
In this conversation, Unger argues that what played out in Alaska last week wasn’t just another bizarre Trump-Putin spectacle. It was the latest chapter in a 40-year operation that began when Soviet money came pouring out of a collapsing empire and found a willing conduit in New York’s high-stakes real estate market. From Trump Tower to Epstein’s shadowy orbit, from oligarch cash to NATO’s survival, Unger traces the dots that others have ignored — and shows what they spell when you finally connect them.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It isn’t speculation. It’s the uncomfortable truth that while we’ve been distracted by partisan squabbles, a long-armed intelligence operation has been unfolding before us. And if Unger is right, it’s not just about Trump, or Putin, or even Ukraine. It’s about a threat to the very architecture of Western democracy.
Jeff Schechtman 08/22/25
A decades-long trail of money and kompromat that isn’t just scandal — it’s a threat to the world order and to democracy itself.
For nearly a decade, the refrain has been the same: Russia, Russia, Russia. Each time the alarms sound, we’re told to wait for the “smoking gun” — the kompromat tape, the bank record, the document that will finally answer the questions raised by the tortuous relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. And each time, polite company shrugs, dismisses, or simply moves on.
But what if the story was never about one document, one tape, or one transaction? What if the scandal isn’t a theory at all, but a map of simple facts — facts that my guest on this WhoWhatWhy podcast, Craig Unger, has been assembling for years, in plain sight, across real estate ledgers, mob connections, intelligence archives, and the murky world of Jeffrey Epstein?
Unger is the bestselling author of House of Trump, House of Putin, and American Kompromat. For over a decade, he’s been documenting what he argues is the most audacious intelligence operation in modern history.
In this conversation, Unger argues that what played out in Alaska last week wasn’t just another bizarre Trump-Putin spectacle. It was the latest chapter in a 40-year operation that began when Soviet money came pouring out of a collapsing empire and found a willing conduit in New York’s high-stakes real estate market. From Trump Tower to Epstein’s shadowy orbit, from oligarch cash to NATO’s survival, Unger traces the dots that others have ignored — and shows what they spell when you finally connect them.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It isn’t speculation. It’s the uncomfortable truth that while we’ve been distracted by partisan squabbles, a long-armed intelligence operation has been unfolding before us. And if Unger is right, it’s not just about Trump, or Putin, or even Ukraine. It’s about a threat to the very architecture of Western democracy.
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For those of you who are interested, Amazon will offer my eBook “From Democracy to Democrazy” FREE on May 7 and 8. Please pass this info along to others. Sincere thanks, Elizabeth
There is a new video on You Tube. The link is:
Enjoyed reading your response and yes, it was Cassidy who quoted Trump as saying "he is scared of being poisoned" - which is an admission of guilt more than just a statement. Strangely, I think he may face the same fate as Epstein - suddenly die in a cell. Time will tell, but for certain he will not out live or out maneuver Putin. First he is way too ignorant, and second, Putin can turn off his lights at any time he wishes.
I am always encouraged by your remarks but also others who are just now beginning to see reality. There are so many people out there and around the world who call themselves Russian experts - some that I agree with, but many more that I don't. They see Russia as foreigners looking in, and I see Russia from being "in".
Nauseating. I am recalling, also, that White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson came forward and testified to Liz Cheney's congressional committee, under oath, that her 'Boss' was afraid of being poisoned. Which is a method of Russian 'control' of folks since, I think, Lenin.
I think Unger's narrative of the 'boss' of Russian oligarchs, Vladimir Putin having both kompromat and financial control of the Trump crime empire is entirely valid. Robert Mueller, as Director of the FBI, warned of that back in the early '00's; and,
Then that concern disappeared from the in-box.
So, I think that the present occupant of the derelict White House knows that if he falls out of power, his life will become one of hearings and charges and fines and scandal at the hands of the DC establishment; or,
if he falls out of power, and is less useful to the Russian mafia because of his diminished status, there could come a random swipe of Novichuk and the big man would collapse to the ground and no longer be "The most powerful man on earth", as he's allegedly yelling of late.
So, I think djt is attempting to play a game in which he diminishes Putin sufficiently that Putin is removed from power, and then in djt's narrow, binary thought processes: He'll be the boss of bosses and can operate untouchable with complete impunity.
Except: neither the world or the world of crime operates that way. And, as a result, we will all be left living lives that are more "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" in a world that is in thrall to those most willing to use violence, or the threat of it, to have impunity, and have it their way.
Thanks for this conversation with Craig Unger.
Tim Long, Just Up the Hill from Lock 15