This has been one helluva Friday

I've only got energy for one more Trump story that came out today.

While Trump was running for president, his business team was trying to develop a Trump tower in Moscow — with the help of a former Russian military intelligence officer. But in a twist, that former officer also provided intelligence to the US.

[...]

This connection between Trump and Russian intelligence — made public here for the first time — is known to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team and raises fresh questions about the president’s connections to the Kremlin. The former agent, who had served in Russia’s military intelligence arm known as the GRU and later worked as an arms dealer, negotiated for financing from a Russian state-owned bank that was under US sanctions at the time.

But there is a twist: The former Russian spy also helped pass intelligence to the United States government on key national security matters, including al-Qaeda’s weapons caches and North Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons. BuzzFeed News is not naming the Russian agent because two US intelligence officials said that doing so would endanger his life.

[...]

Information that the former Russian spy passed to [Trump associate Felix] Sater included details about Russian military technology, the satellite phone numbers of Osama bin Laden, the locations of al-Qaeda weapons depots and training camps, and photographs of a North Korean military official purchasing nuclear materials.

  Buzzfeed

That is quite a twist, and it's leaving me feeling a little more than confused. So, could he also have given other intel on Trump?

In November 2015, Sater emailed Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, famously saying in one message that he would “get all of Putin’s team to buy in” on the Trump tower deal, and boasting that he could get Putin to publicly praise the Republican candidate during the campaign. There is no evidence that Sater delivered on those promises. Sater previously told BuzzFeed News that his emails amounted to salesmanship, and the whole Trump Moscow project ultimately fizzled.

But a later message from Sater to Cohen, sent in early 2016, mentions a contact in Russia who could help facilitate the deal. That individual is a former colonel with Russia’s military intelligence, the two sources told BuzzFeed News. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cohen also did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent through his attorney.

They were a little busy today.