The Apprentice: Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American Democracy

330 Pages·2018·5.37 MB·English

by  Greg Miller

Dedication
To Rebecca, Katie, Peter, and Cole
For Mom and Dad
Contents
Cover
Title Page
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
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Photo Section
About the Author
Also by Greg Miller
Copyright
About the Publisher
Prologue
T
he 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.
Russia House was the point of origin for that assessment, which would later
be embraced by the U.S. intelligence community and infuriate the 45th
president. The Kremlin’s objectives began with sowing discord in American
democracy, but broadened in mid-2016 to backing a specific candidate—who at
this moment, his second day as leader of the free world, was making his way
toward CIA headquarters.
President Trump had barely been in office twenty-four hours when his
motorcade departed the White House grounds for the nine-mile trip to the CIA’s
Northern Virginia campus. The clouds and cold that had dampened Inauguration
Day lingered over a city littered with the debris of America’s post-election
divide—pro-Trump memorabilia, inauguration programs and celebratory
banners along the parade route; broken windows and burned vehicles on blocks
where protesters had clashed with police in riot gear. Trump’s arrival in the
White House had been followed by a women’s march that drew a crowd three
times larger than the inaugural audience,1 and now throngs of pink-clad activists
watched the caravan accelerate through the D.C. streets. Their gestures toward
the motorcade, countered by some salutes from Trump supporters wandering
Washington, reflected in the thick tinted glass of the president’s passing car.
The street-side crowds dissipated as the line of vehicles left downtown,
crossed into Virginia, and followed the Potomac River north, turning onto the
main route through the suburb of McLean and then past the zigzagging
barricades that guard the entrance to the CIA. The agency occupies a sprawling,
leafy campus in Northern Virginia enclosed by miles of electrified fence. At the
center of the property is a seven-story building with a row of glass doors opening
onto an iconic marble lobby—with the CIA seal inlaid in the terrazzo floor—
frequently depicted in movies.
The CIA welcome for Trump would be cordial, even warm, but it was by