By Wonderwall.com Editors
6:00am PST, Feb 17, 2024
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Donald Trump's social media company Trump Media made its stock market debut on March 26 thanks in part to a 2022 emergency assist from a Russian-American lender with ties to Russia and the Kremlin, according to a new report from The Guardian.
Citing information contained in leaked documents, the outlet concluded that in 2021 and 2022, Trump Media was "burning through cash" because of an SEC investigation, but couldn't get a loan because of the former president's association with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The company was essentially "saved" by $8 million it received from a lender called ES Family Trust, which, per The Guardian, "operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security into the Trump Media merger."
Postolnikov's uncle, Aleksandr Smirnov, was a former first deputy justice minister in Russia for the Kremlin," said The Guardian's Hugo Lowell, who broke the story, on MSNBC's tk on tk.
"But the Russia connections don't stop there," he added, noting that the trust's settlor (the entity that establishes a trust and transfers assets to trustees) is an attorney in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Asked about the pushback from Trump Media's legal team, Lowell said, "If you don't like the reporting about Russia, why does Trump associate himself with so many people who have connections to Russia?"
With Trump's Russia ties back in the news, we're taking a closer look at the former presdient's long history of touting tk…
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Speaking at a rally in South Carolina on Feb. 10, Donald Trump warned NATO allies that if elected president, he "would encourage" Russia "to do whatever the hell they want" to any member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that didn't meet its defense spending target.
"You didn't pay, you're delinquent. … No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay," he said of countries that haven't spent at least 2% of their GDP on defense.
The comments sparked widespread controversy, given NATO's mutual aid provision. They also echoed the Republican presidential hopeful's long history of touting a positive relationship with Putin, an authoritarian seen by many world leaders as a war criminal.
Days later, after Putin said he'd prefer that Joe Biden win the election, Trump had an interesting reaction…
Keep reading to see what Putin and Trump said, and for a refresher on what Trump's previously said about his ties to the Russian leader…
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Vladimir Putin said in a February 2024 interview with Russian state television that he believes President Joe Biden being reelected in 2024 would be a better choice for Russia's interests because he's "more experienced, more predictable … a politician of the old formation."
Former President Donald Trump reacted at a campaign rally in South Carolina on Feb. 14, saying, "President Putin of Russia has just given me a great compliment, actually. He just said that he would much rather have Joe Biden as president than Trump. Now that's a compliment. … And of course, he would say that."
Keep reading for more…
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In August 2023, Donald Trump called himself the apple of Vladimir Putin's eye during an appearance on Fox's "Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show."
"Putin would've never gotten into Ukraine, but that's just on my relationship with him. My personality over his," Trump said of the Russian president.
"I was the apple of his eye and I would say, 'Don't ever do it.' It was tough stuff there but he would have never done it."
The former president made similar comments in February 2023 when he claimed his strong bond with Putin would have prevented the war in Ukraine.
"Putin never ever would have gone into Ukraine if I were president," Trump told supporters at a campaign event in Florida, per Rolling Stone. "I actually had a very good relationship [with Putin]," he added.
MORE: Politicians, entertainers and more react to Trump's NATO, Russia comments
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Though Donald Trump claimed in 2023 that Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine had he still been president, Trump praised the Russian leader for his "genius" invasion of Ukraine one year earlier.
Speaking to radio hosts Buck Sexton and Clay Travis about Russia's war in 2022, Trump said: "I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. He used the word 'independent' and 'we're gonna go out and we're gonna go in and we're gonna help keep peace.' You gotta say that's pretty savvy."
At a fundraising event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida the next day, he defended his previous comments about Putin's intelligence.
"They say, 'Trump said Putin's smart.' I mean, he's taking over a country for two dollars' worth of sanctions," Trump could be heard telling the audience in video from the event.
"I'd say that's pretty smart. He's taking over a country — really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in."
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In September 2023, Donald Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker he was pleased to hear Vladimir Putin approved of his position on Russia's war in Ukraine.
"I like that he said that. Because that means what I'm saying is right," Trump said on "Meet the Press."
The remark came after Putin said at an economic forum in Russia, "Mr. Trump says he will resolve all burning issues within several days, including the Ukrainian crisis. We cannot help but feel happy about it."
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While in office in 2018, Donald Trump sided with Vladimir Putin instead of his own government when its determination Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election in an effort to put Trump in office.
"President Putin says it's not Russia. I don't see any reason why it would be," Trump said at a summit in Helsinki in 2018 after spending two hours in a closed-door meeting with Vladimir Putin, according to CNN.
"I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," he added.
It wasn't the first time Trump backed Putin over his own government and administration…
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At a 2016 press conference, Donald Trump asked Russia to do some more hacking into the accounts of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.
"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," he said at the time.
The report showing Russia meddled in the 2016 election in Trump's favor was confirmed and supported by The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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Donald Trump's also spoken in glowing terms of Russia's relationship with the press under Vladimir Putin's grip.
While posing for photos before a meeting with Putin at the G20 summit in Japan in 2019, then-President Trump referred to the reporters and photographers who'd gathered for the photo op as a "problem" and ordered someone to "get rid of them," per CNN.
Speaking to Putin, Trump then said, "Fake news' is a great term, isn't it? You don't have this problem in Russia but we do."
Putin, whose regime has long been accused of intimidating, censoring and violently muzzling Russia's independent press and social media platforms, responded, "We also have. It's the same."
It's not quite "the same," of course. As of Feb. 18, at least 59 journalists had been killed in Russia since Putin came to power in 1999, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Another 22 had been imprisoned and 7 were listed as missing. On Feb. 12, meanwhile, Russia essentially banned the U.N.'s Declaration of Human Rights' Article 19, which states, "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression," including "through any media regardless of frontiers." The move comes one month before Russia's presidential elections in mid-March.
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Donald Trump, pictured here with wife Melania Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin, began citing his "relationship" with the foreign leader long before his tenure in the White House.
Speaking to MSNBC about the Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow in 2013, Trump was asked if he had ties to Putin.
"I do have a relationship and I can tell you that he's very interested in what we're doing here today," the real estate mogul replied. "He's probably very interested in what you and I are saying today, and I'm sure he's going to be seeing it in some form, but I do have a relationship with him and I think it's very interesting to see what's happened."
While running for office in 2016, however, Trump changed his tune…
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"I have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius," Donald Trump told Bill O'Reilly in a February 2016 interview, The Washington Post reported at the time. "He said, 'Trump is a genius and he is going to be the leader of the party and he's going to be the leader of the world or something.'"
Putin did not, in fact, call Trump a "genius." While speaking to a reporter after a press conference in December 2015, Putin was asked about Trump and his White House bid.
The Russian leader said in response that Trump was "a very bright and talented person" and "the absolute leader of the presidential race," multiple news outlets reported. (The word that was translated into "bright" can also mean "flamboyant," according to The New York Times.)
After learning of Putin's praise, Trump issued a campaign statement in which he said, "It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond."
