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An investigation

The Receipts

How Russia bought an American president in ten acts

This series traces the documented financial and intelligence connections between Donald Trump and Russia from 1977 to today - KGB recruitment patterns, mob-owned condos in Trump Tower, a casino that kept breaking the money laundering rules, Deutsche Bank lifelines, and the Moscow tower deal he chased into 2016. Eleven essays. Exposed with receipts.

12 parts 25,677 words April 12th, 2026 to May 1st, 2026

Read the introduction Read the series
Rachel, seen from behind, reads a marked-up document at her desk under a lamp, facing a wall of pinned files, photos and red string.

Ten acts. Forty-nine years. One story.

  1. PrologueWhere it all begins
  2. Act I 1977 - 1986The Mark
  3. Act II 1983 - 1986The Test
  4. Act III 1987The Invitation
  5. Act IV 1986 - 1993Brighton Beach
  6. Act V 1990 - 2016The Laundromat
  7. Act VI 1998 - 2016The Lifeline
  8. Act VII 2001 - 2015The Front Company
  9. Act VIII 2006 - 2015The International Pipeline
  10. Act IX 2013 - 2016The Deal
  11. Act X Part A 2016-2020The Playbook
  12. Act X Part B 2007 - 2026The Playbook

Each bar shows the years an act covers

The evidence

  1. Start here

    Introduction

    I Can Prove Trump’s Russia Problem Goes Back to 1977 and I Will

    Where it all begins.

  2. 1977 - 1986

    The Mark

    The KGB Had a Checklist for Picking Targets and Trump Checked Every Box

    The setup.

  3. 1983 - 1986

    The Test

    Trump Tower Was Open for Business and the Mob Came Shopping

    The proof of concept.

  4. 1987

    The Invitation

    How the Soviet Union Rolled Out the Red Carpet for Donald Trump

    The recruitment.

  5. 1986 - 1993

    Brighton Beach

    How the Russian Mob Set Up Shop in Trump’s Buildings

    The operation.

  6. 1990 - 2016

    The Laundromat

    How Trump’s Taj Mahal Kept Breaking the Money Laundering Rules

    The infrastructure.

  7. 1998 - 2016

    The Lifeline

    Deutsche Bank, Russian Money, and Trump’s Biggest Lender

    The pipeline.

  8. 2001 - 2015

    The Front Company

    Why Bayrock Looks Like a KGB Business Inside Trump Tower

    The KGB playbook with expensive suits.

  10. 2013 - 2016

    The Deal

    Trump Tower Moscow and the ‘Nothing to Do With Russia’ Denial

    Going steady.

    With the receipts

  11. 2016-2020

    The Playbook

    From Asset to Authoritarian

    The operation, the receipts, the cover-up.

  12. 2007 - 2026

    The Playbook

    How Russia Pulled It Off

    A century-old Russian operation finally caught America.

Show the receipt

In Act IX, a mustard tab sits next to each checked sentence. Open it to see the record behind it: the page, the passage and where it came from.

  • Primary recordThe document itself: a filing, a report, a hearing record.
  • Other outlet’s reportingAnother newsroom’s reporting, linked so you can read it.
  • My readMy reading of the record, marked as mine.
  • Unresolved questionWhat the record doesn’t settle yet.

Act IX The Deal

Don Jr.’s response when offered the meeting was, in writing, “if it’s what you say I love it.”

Primary recordVol. I, p. 110
Scan of page 110 of the Mueller report, Volume I, showing the passage quoted below

The meeting was proposed to Donald Trump Jr. in an email from Robert Goldstone, at the request of his then-client Emin Agalarov, the son of Russian real-estate developer Aras Agalarov. Goldstone relayed to Trump Jr. that the "Crown prosecutor of Russia ... offered to provide the Trump Campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia" as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." Trump Jr. immediately responded that "if it's what you say I love it," and arranged the meeting through a series of emails and telephone calls.

U.S. Department of Justice: Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election, Volume I, March 2019

Read Act IX with every receipt

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Both shows, plus what I turned up in the records. Every issue ends with what else went up.

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