Greg Miller - The Apprentice

TRUMP, RUSSIA AND THE SUBVERSION OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

WilliamCollinsBooks.com

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by William Collins

This William Collins eBook edition published in 2020

First published in the United States by Custom House, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers , in 2018

Copyright © 2018 by W P Company LLC

Cover design by Ploy Siirpant

Cover photographs © AFP/Getty Images (Trump); © Phoelixde/Shutterstock (Russian skyline); © Samiran Sarkar/Shutterstock (D.C. skyline); © Maxy M/Shutterstock (texture); © Anadolu Agency/Getty Images (back cover)

Greg Miller asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008325787

eBook Edition © 2020 ISBN: 9780008325763

Version: 2020-01-20

‘The most comprehensive account of the Trump-Russia story to date … Miller trots expertly through this troubling tale’

Sunday Times

‘[A] lucid and startling account … the clearest account yet of what Russia actually did’

The Times

‘How Clinton became Putin’s enemy after she attacked the legitimacy of Russian elections has been well told … But no one has done a better job than Miller of describing the vastness of Russian efforts to destroy her’

Guardian

‘Damn good … Miller’s book paints on a broad canvas, showing readers the full arc of an incredibly complicated political tale … Miller’s account of the Russian hacking of the Democrats is highly persuasive’

Washington Post

‘May read like a greatest hits of America’s horror show at the hands of a leader unfit to confront the threat of Russian interference’

Kirkus

‘Penetrating … Well-paced but rich in detail, Miller’s narrative is one of the best of the many new books on this evolving saga. His treatment of Trump’s possible obstruction of justice in trying to influence investigations by former FBI director James Comey and other intelligence officials is especially good’

Publishers Weekly , Starred Review

‘An integrated synthesis – a solid account that goes back many years to get elements of a full picture’

New York Journal of Books

‘We cannot understand what happened in the 2016 election, Russia-gate or the imploding Trump presidency by reading the 24-hour digital news on our phones … Fortunately, we still have a simple technology invented nearly six centuries ago: books. Greg Miller has written a damn good one’

KAI BIRD, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

To Rebecca, Katie, Peter, and Cole

For Mom and Dad

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for the Apprentice

Dedication

Prologue

Part One

1. The Hack

2. Putin’s Trolls

3. Moths to the Flame

Part Two

4. “I Believe You Have Some Information for Us”

5. The Missing Emails

6. Crossfire Hurricane

7. Deep Inside the Kremlin

Part Three

8. Dezinformatsiya

9. The Russian Ambassador

10. Briefing the President

Part Four

11. You’re Fired

12. The Special Counsel Strikes

Part Five

13. “I Can’t Put on the Charm”

14. Helsinki

Epilogue

Picture Section

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Greg Miller

About the Publisher

THE WARREN OF CUBICLES WAS SECURED BEHIND A METAL door. The name on the hallway placard had changed often over the years, most recently designating the space as part of the Mission Center for Europe and Eurasia. But internally, the office was known by its unofficial title: “Russia House.”

The unit had for decades been the center of gravity at the CIA, an agency within the agency, locked in battle with the KGB for the duration of the Cold War. The department’s prestige had waned after the September 11 attacks, and it was forced at one point to surrender space to counterterrorism operatives. But Russia House later reclaimed that real estate and began rebuilding, vaulting back to relevance as Moscow reasserted itself. Here, among a maze of desks, dozens of reports officers fielded encrypted cables from abroad, and “targeters” meticulously scoured data on Russian officials, agencies, businesses, and communications networks the CIA might exploit for intelligence.

Deeper inside was a conference room adorned with Stalin-era posters of heroically depicted Soviets, muscled soldiers and workers striding across fields or factories under the hammer and sickle. The room, swept routinely for listening devices, was the scene of increasingly tense meetings in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election, as senior agency officials sought to make sense of a series of disconcerting reports. In late July, the agency had gained access to an extraordinary stream of information showing that Russian president Vladimir Putin was himself directing the “active measures” operation aimed at disrupting the U.S. presidential race. U.S. intelligence partners were also warning Russia House about worrisome contacts between Russian figures and campaign associates of the Republican nominee.

Donald Trump’s vigorous displays of admiration for the Russian leader only made things more bewildering. He routinely praised Putin and even seemed to enlist Moscow in an effort to hack his opponent’s email account. The question was, why? Taking a hard line against Russia was the politically winning move, and yet Trump seemed subservient.

Unlike any presidential candidate in memory, Trump had shielded his finances from public scrutiny. He refused to release his personal tax returns. His business empire was a labyrinth of separate companies registered under different names. Many of those he had done business with hid their identities behind corporate shells. Some of his most prominent developments were deep in debt, though how deep and to whom was nearly impossible to discern.

During the campaign, there was consolation in the idea that Trump’s unsettling behavior toward Moscow was a product of inexperience—a problem that would be contained when he was surrounded by smarter advisers or wouldn’t matter anymore once he lost. But those inside U.S. spy agencies were privy to alarming secrets that were not so easily shrugged off. Among them was that the Kremlin was actively seeking to help elect Trump.