Makes You Wonder

How long was Trump mulling a 2016 run for president and how long was he angling to get some help from Russia? Why did he hold the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow?

During the summer of 2013, Donald J. Trump mused about whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would meet him at the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow that fall. “If so, will he become my new best friend?” Mr. Trump posted on Twitter.

Mr. Putin did not make it, but the beauty competition in Moscow put the Trump family in touch with other people with connections to the Kremlin.

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[Rob] Goldstone told The Washington Post that he had arranged the June 9, 2016, meeting with Donald Trump Jr. on behalf of a client and had attended it along with the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya. On Monday, Mr. Goldstone identified the client as Emin Agalarov, a pop star in Russia.

  NYT

Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Rob Goldstone...why do many of the people surrounding Donald Trump look like gangsters?

Mr. Goldstone, who did not respond to an email seeking comment, has worked with Mr. Agalarov, who along with his father, Aras, develops major real estate projects in Russia.

Aha. I was wondering why Agalarov would be involved in this business. Real estate deals - the money laundering, racketeering side of the Trump organization's business.

Mr. Trump, an owner of the Miss Universe pageant at the time, selected the Agalarovs to host the worldwide competition in 2013 in Moscow, and has discussed collaborating on a tower in Moscow with them. He also appeared in one of Emin’s music videos, which featured pageant contestants.

And here's another answer to my question of how long Trump was angling toward getting help from Russia for his 2016 run...

“I called it my weekend in Moscow,” said Mr. Trump, who had announced his candidacy for president a few months earlier. He added: “I was with the top-level people, both oligarchs and generals, and top of the government people. I can’t go further than that, but I will tell you that I met the top people, and the relationship was extraordinary.”

A braggart who will hang himself in the end.

The Agalarovs appear to have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. Shortly before the Miss Universe pageant, Mr. Putin presented Aras Agalarov with the Order of Honor, one of Russia’s highest civilian awards.

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After Mr. Trump’s victory in the presidential election last fall, Mr. Goldstone and Emin Agalarov celebrated the results in separate social media posts, with Emin posting a photo of himself, his father, and Mr. Trump on Instagram with the message, “The sky is the limit! Congratulations Mr. President.”

Woohoo! The money tap is full open!

For nearly three decades before he became president, Mr. Trump sought business deals in Russia, chasing that goal with little success .

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It was in the mid-2000s, as the Trumps aggressively sought to license the family name for international real estate projects, that they began coming to Moscow regularly.

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[Felix] Sater [who continued to work with the Trump Organization even after it came to light that he had pleaded guilty to a role in a stock manipulation scheme involving Mafia figures and Russia criminals and has served as an American government informant,] worked on a plan for a Trump Tower in Moscow as recently as the fall of 2015, but he said that had come to a halt because of Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.

More to come, I'm sure.