Former spy says Russia plotted to kidnap Americans for trump election

Russian military intelligence plotted to kidnap Americans in Syria or Iraq before allowing a speedy resolution as a way to boost Donald Trump’s standing ahead of the 2020 election, according to the former MI6 spy who authored the infamous 2016 dossier on the then Republican nominee. Christopher Steele (pictured) makes his explosive claim in a memoir published Tuesday.

In it, he makes no secret of his opposition to Trump, who he says would herald a ‘new world disorder’ if he wins election in November. And he stands by his original dossier, packed with salacious allegations that Russia could have used to blackmail Trump, saying it was the product of credible sources. In ‘Unredacted: Russia, Trump, and the Fight for Democracy,’ he describes how he continued his work through the 2020 election.

His most eye-catching claim is that Russia investigated ways to manufacture an ‘October surprise’ to help Trump. A senior Russian intelligence officer set out the plan to one of Steele’s ‘collectors.’ ‘During at least the past week and no more than the past two weeks, in the (GRU) head-quarters in Moscow a small and highly secret group detached from all other tasks has been meeting on a sole mission; to instigate the kidnapping or hostage-taking of US citizens in either Iraq or Syria …’ reads an excerpt from a report compiled by Steele’s private research outfit, Orbis Business Intelligence.’ ‘And it would provide the opportunity for Trump and Putin to react forcefully and effectively over two to three days, leaving as little time as possible for any effective action from the media, or even for the media to digest what is actually happening,’ the report adds.

It represented a ‘radical, highly risky’ effort to snatch a victory from Joe Biden. ‘The aim is to fake a situation and then to “resolve” it with the effect that Russia appears as a friend to the U.S., and Trump’s relationship with Putin has all been worth it,’ concludes the report. The plan had a deadline of Oct. 20, two weeks before the election. ‘And it would provide the opportunity for Trump and Putin to react forcefully and effectively over two to three days, leaving as little time as possible for any effective action from the media, or even for the media to digest what is actually happening,’ the report adds.

Steele writes that it should serve as a waning of the ‘warped thinking in Moscow. ‘Approaching the 2024 election, and with all restraints off Putin, we must be alert to the potential for operations that could be even more aggressive, ambitious, and outlandish than this. Putin may feel he has nothing to lose—and everything to gain,’ he writes. Steele’s claims are likely to be received with skepticism. The publication of his dossier after the 2016 election triggered a political storm just before Trump’s inauguration.

It contained a string of unverified claims or ‘raw intelligence’ that Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia and that the candidate was vulnerable to blackmail, giving Moscow leverage over a future president. It included the claim that Trump had cavorted with (adult workers) at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. However, key elements of the dossier were later discredited. And the Trump campaign is warning readers not to believe any fresh allegations.

‘Any new information by this foreign agent who peddled the debunked Steele dossier should be wholly dismissed, and any media outlet that entertains anything he has to say is just the continuation of election interference intended to meddle in the campaign,’ said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung ahead of publication. Steele stands by his original research ‘I remain of the view that the original intelligence was obtained from credible sources,’ he writes in the book.

His book describes the impact of becoming public enemy number one for Republicans. Yet it also sets out how he continued his work in 2020, funded by private individuals. By then Putin believed that a reelected Trump would be more powerful than ever, according to Steele. ‘Putin knew that if he were re-elected, Trump would be much freer to act in Russia’s favour than he had been in his first presidential term,’ he wrote in a briefing report three months before the election.

In his next report he cited a senior Kremlin official saying that, if Trump won, Russia was hoping to get his help in talks with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky about the status of Russian-occupied areas of Crimea and Donbas. Putin also believed, he writes, that Trump would likely drop sanctions over Russian actions in Ukraine. Throughout his book, he makes no secret about his feelings towards Trump and a second term in office.

‘If Putin succeeds in helping Trump get reelected, I am convinced that the global political and economic order will be utterly changed,’ he writes. ‘We shall have entered a new historical era of strategic chaos, a “new world disorder.” It would presage a Russian victory in Ukraine, withdrawal from climate change commitments and ‘needless’ confrontation with China.

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