Trump Was A Russian Asset For 40 Years, Claims Ex-KGB Spy

The Russians used Donald Trump for 40 years, transforming a narcissistic young businessman into a gullible asset whose pro-Russia stand as U.S. president delighted and even astonished the Kremlin.

Yuri Shvets, a former KGB spy, made these incredible revelations to The Guardian. He's also a key source of information in a new book, "American Kompromat," written by journalist Craig Unger.

“This is an example where people were recruited when they were just students and then they rose to important positions; something like that was happening with Trump,” said Shvets when speaking about Trump's recruitment as an asset by the KGB, the notorious spy agency of the former Soviet Union.

He said businessman Trump, who visited Moscow in 1987, was cultivated as a Russian asset over 40 years starting with his marriage to his first wife, Ivana Zelnickova, a Czech fashion model. He also said it was the Russians that first planted the idea in Trump's head that he should enter U.S. politics.

When Trump and Ivana visited Moscow and St. Petersburg for the first time in 1987, Trump was flattered by KGB operatives who floated the idea he should go into politics.

“For the KGB, it was a charm offensive," according to Shvets. "They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery."

It were these personality flaws the KGB exploited, said Shvets.

“This is what they exploited. They played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality and believed this is the guy who should be the president of the United States one day: it is people like him who could change the world. They fed him these so-called active measures soundbites and it happened. So it was a big achievement for the KGB active measures at the time.”

Witting Russian asset, Donald Trump.

The Russians even helped Trump's hotel business in the U.S. prosper. Shvets revealed when Trump opened his first big property development in 1990, the Grand Hyatt New York hotel, the Russians had one of their operatives posing as the owner of an electronics business sell him 200 TV sets on favorable terms.

Unger, the author of seven book, among which are "House of Trump, House of Putin," affirms Trump was a valuable tool for the Soviet Union.

“He was an asset. It was not this grand, ingenious plan that we’re going to develop this guy and 40 years later he’ll be president," said Unger. “At the time it started, which was around 1980, the Russians were trying to recruit like crazy and going after dozens and dozens of people.”

“Trump was the perfect target in a lot of ways: his vanity, narcissism made him a natural target to recruit. He was cultivated over a 40-year period, right up through his election.” (2 Feb. 2021)