Somewhere in the vaults of Moscow’s Lubyanka, the long-time home of Russia’s security services, is a prized possession. Dating back to November 2013, it consists of some extraordinary images of a tall (6’3”) blond overweight man in a hotel room participating throughout the night with two prostitutes in a “golden rain” activity, on a bed supposedly slept in by the Obamas in 2009. Earlier that day the same blond Manhattan mogul watched 86 contestants don shimmering evening gowns and skimpy swimsuits for what he would call “the world’s biggest and most iconic beauty contest”. Beauty pageants had long appealed to him on both aesthetic and commercial grounds. “Honestly, when I bought Miss Universe the bathing suits got smaller, the heels got higher and the ratings shot up”, Donald Trump said in an interview with Vanity Fair in January 2016.
OK, there’s no direct evidence of what later became known throughout Washington as Trump’s “pee tape”, but many influential people are confident that it exists. After all, if the Kremlin allows the images to appear, any leverage it has over Trump would vanish. Donald Trump vehemently denies the incident, claiming no such event took place, and in any case he is “very much of a germaphobe”. But hotel rooms were always bugged during Soviet times and this continues today in Putin’s Russia, especially during the stay of foreign visitors or even those threatening Putin’s presidency, on whom the Kremlin would like to have some “kompromat” or leverage. Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov discovered this to his cost when videos of him having sex with a prostitute appeared across the media in 2016, putting an end to any thoughts of challenging Vladimir Putin at the next presidential elections. Kasyanov’s career was over and Putin’s grin grew wider.
Denne historien er fra September 22, 2024-utgaven av The Sunday Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra September 22, 2024-utgaven av The Sunday Guardian.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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