It is very long:
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Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
1/ The first thing to understand is that in January 2017, a celebrity friend of Trump made a startling accusation that never got picked up by the media—that Trump spoke with Putin via speakerphone at the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, others heard the call, and it was incriminating.
10:28 PM - 22 Nov 2017
2/ On January 9, 2017, Tom Arnold tweeted to Trump, publicly, that "Chuck LaBella [NBC Talent Development Executive] was not only listening on speakerphone when Putin called (you lied to 60 Minutes, by the way) but he knows everything else, and just in case, Putin filmed it all."
35 replies 1,274 retweets 3,177 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
3/ Subsequent tweets from Arnold referencing LaBella, in January and thereafter, confirmed that Arnold was speaking of the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. It should be emphasized that Trump has never acknowledged this phone call or this contact with Putin in any way, shape, or form.
35 replies 1,017 retweets 2,483 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
4/ The next things one has to understand are: (a) the so-called "pee tape" does not involve any sexual behavior by Trump; (b) a tape "of a sexual nature" from this night has been confirmed by the CIA to the BBC (January 2017); (c) there are eight confirmed witnesses...
20 replies 787 retweets 2,264 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
5/ ...who've been located by major media or intelligence agencies who can speak to events relevant to these allegations from the Steele Dossier (because they immediately preceded them); (d) this issue has nothing to do with sex—and everything to do with Trump being compromised...
10 replies 655 retweets 2,128 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
6/ ...by a blackmail-enabling video that is confirmed to exist *and*—the evidence now suggests—a phone call that directly suggests a "quid pro quo" smoking gun connecting Trump's run for the presidency and his thirty-year desire to build Trump Tower Moscow; and (e) we now have...
82 replies 757 retweets 2,191 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
7/ ...so much more intel about the events of November 9, 2013—and the wee hours of November 10, 2013—than has been reported in U.S. media that to relay it creates the sense I'm making it up. *I am not*. The media is behind on this story and you can either accept that fact or not.
42 replies 639 retweets 2,216 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
8/ Here is the first thing we know that hasn't been widely reported: the roster of people Trump spent his self-described "lost weekend in Moscow with" (November 8 to the morning of November 10, 2013, during which time he held business meetings and attended a pageant and a party):
8 replies 567 retweets 1,757 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
9/ Here are the people who were with Trump for all or some of his 2013 trip to Moscow:
Keith Schiller
Phil Ruffin
Emin Agalarov
Aras Agalarov
Chuck LaBella
Bob Van Ronkel
Yulya (Yulia) Alferova
Artem Klyushin
Herman Gref
Vladimir Kozhin
Alex Sapir
Rotem Rosen
Roustam Tariko
19 replies 917 retweets 2,087 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
10/ Several other people had brief, consequential encounters with Trump—like Miss Hungary 2013, Kata Sarka—and their stories are part of this story as well. There are many fine articles about this weekend, and here's a particularly good one:
10 replies 843 retweets 2,142 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
11/ Here's another good article about that weekend (note that Trump referring to this as a "weekend in Moscow" itself underscores a key lie that he's now telling about it, as once the Russia scandal began he changed it from a "weekend" to a one-day trip):
16 replies 775 retweets 1,949 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
12/ And here's a third and final (for now) article about the events of that weekend in Moscow.
Public reporting gets us many of the names of the people in Trump's entourage, but several others were discovered by independent journalists. More on that now.
13 replies 720 retweets 1,830 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
13/ First, we have to see Trump's November '13 entourage as "paired": Schiller the ever-present bodyguard, Ruffin the ever-present friend; Emin and Aras Agalarov, father and son; Yulya Alferova and Artem Kluyshin, husband and wife; Herman Gref and Vladimir Kozhin, Putin agents...
4 replies 477 retweets 1,482 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
14/ ...Alex Sapir and Rotem Rosen, Trump's "Trump Soho" business partners; Chuck LaBella and Bob Van Ronkel, Hollywood fixers; Roustam Tariko, a vodka magnate who had a brief encounter with Trump, much like Kata Sarka (and she deserves to be added to this group of key figures).
8 replies 459 retweets 1,420 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
15/ I'm going to start with LaBella and Ronkel because they get us directly to the Putin phone call and I'm not trying to stall here—just trying to explain things clearly—so to prove that I'll go right to them, then discuss the others. First, you have to know who these guys are.
9 replies 415 retweets 1,388 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
16/ Ronkel (pictured here with Trump at the pageant) is an American expat who lived in Moscow for 10 years with one job: get Hollywood talent to Russia. Ronkel's specific talent is selling Hollywood stars on the idea that they can get rich by doing business in and with Russia.
16 replies 571 retweets 1,531 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
17/ Ronkel is good at his job—which is why when you go to his site you're assaulted immediately by several photos of him with Vladimir Putin. Ronkel and Putin became friendly in part because Ronkel does a great service for Russia by bringing the world's biggest celebrities there.
44 replies 527 retweets 1,452 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
18/ Here's is Ronkel's November 2013 list of accomplishments, taken directly from his website:
21 replies 480 retweets 1,429 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
19/ At least three of those events—the bottom three—occurred at the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which LaBella and Trump attended. It's not clear if Van Ronkel met with Seagal at the pageant or elsewhere—though in either case it should be noted that Seagal is Putin's good pal now.
8 replies 435 retweets 1,403 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
20/ LaBella—who Arnold claims was with Trump the entirety of the pageant—was then an NBC Talent Development Executive. But beyond that, he'd been involved as producer in several Miss Universe pageants (2010, 2011, 2012) and a judge in others (particularly Miss Teen USA pageants).
6 replies 409 retweets 1,289 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
21/ LaBella's role with respect to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant is unclear: IMDB doesn't list it at all for him, but other sites say he was a producer for that show as he was in 2012, 2011, and 2010. We do know he worked on five episodes of "The Apprentice" with Trump in 2013.
3 replies 384 retweets 1,285 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
22/ Again, Tom Arnold has claimed—repeatedly—that LaBella was also tasked with being NBC's liaison to Trump during the pageant (NBC co-owned the pageant with Trump) and was therefore with him for any and all incriminating behavior that may have occurred during Trump's 2013 trip.
9 replies 504 retweets 1,500 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
23/ Going back to Van Ronkel, it's important to understand not just that he met with LaBella in Moscow and was tasked with helping stars like Trump find business opportunities in Moscow—he also was a Putin favorite because he tried to make a glowing TV show about the KGB in 2001:
7 replies 431 retweets 1,282 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
23 SOURCE/ A 2001 newsletter published by the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and available online.
3 replies 321 retweets 1,109 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
24/ In 2015, Buzzfeed News published an article that spoke in some detail about Van Ronkel, and established that his job is not just to get stars like Trump to Russia, but to be certain they understand that doing so will lead to *business deals with Russians* and *lots of money*:
15 replies 501 retweets 1,342 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
25/ So this is the part of the thread where I remind you that Van Ronkel—the Hollywood fixer who gets U.S. stars big-time Russian money—didn't just go to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant and hang out briefly with Trump, he had a meeting with him (and seems to have been a VIP, too):
4 replies 461 retweets 1,362 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
26/ Here's a fuller shot of Van Ronkel with Trump at the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow (November 9, 2013):
8 replies 426 retweets 1,242 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
27/ Did I mention that Van Ronkel's professional calling-card as a Moscow-based fixer is not just the ability to get U.S. celebrities like Trump big Russian money but *also* to connect them with Putin himself? Well, it is, as the Financial Times noted in a July 14, 2017 article:
6 replies 520 retweets 1,407 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
28/ But FT goes even farther, noting Van Ronkel was at the VIP-only post-pageant party with Trump *and* "worked on the pageant" itself. So now we have a Putin pal who introduces celebrities like Trump to Putin and gets them Russian deals partying and working with Trump in Moscow.
13 replies 436 retweets 1,345 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
29/ Here's where things get odd. To FT, Van Ronkel said Trump "looked bored" at the after-party. But he told VICE that Trump was "meeting anyone he could and trying to do business." The latter is much more consistent with Trump's stated intentions for the trip and his itinerary.
3 replies 360 retweets 1,123 likes
Seth Abramson
?Verified account @SethAbramson
22 Nov 2017
30/ Note also that Van Ronkel is a "longtime acquaintance"—per VICE—of Emin Agalarov: a constant presence with Trump in Moscow, the son of Putin's real estate developer Aras Agalarov, and the man set up the infamous June '16 Trump Tower meeting between Don Jr. and Kremlin agents.
8 replies 359 retweets 1,108 likes
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