Narrator: What if the greatest threat to a nation's democracy didn't come from an invading army, but from a patient, decades-long intelligence operation designed to cultivate a single, powerful asset? What if this operation succeeded beyond its architects' wildest dreams, culminating in that asset reaching the highest office in the land? This isn't the plot of a spy novel; it's the central, explosive argument presented in Craig Unger's book, American Kompromat: How The KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales. Unger’s work moves beyond the headlines of criminal investigations to frame the story of Donald Trump and Russia as a multi-generational counterintelligence saga, one where money, sex, and political power were weaponized to compromise American sovereignty from within.

Narrator: The story, according to the book, begins not in 2016, but in the New York of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Former KGB major Yuri Shvets, a key source for Unger, asserts that the KGB’s cultivation of Donald Trump was a textbook intelligence operation. It started with a “spotter,” an individual tasked with identifying potential targets. That spotter was allegedly Semyon Kislin, a Soviet émigré who co-owned a small electronics store called Joy-Lud.

The store was a curious hub. It specialized in selling electronics that were compatible with the Soviet Union’s different voltage and television standards, making it a mandatory stop for Soviet diplomats and KGB agents ending their tours in the United States. In 1980, a young developer named Donald Trump was building his Grand Hyatt hotel and needed hundreds of television sets. Instead of going to a major wholesaler, he bought them from Kislin’s small shop—on credit. Shvets argues this was no ordinary business deal. It was the KGB’s first move. The transaction allowed them to assess Trump, identifying his defining traits: excessive vanity, deep-seated narcissism, and an insatiable greed. To an experienced recruiter, these weren't just weaknesses; they were open doors. This initial contact, seemingly a simple purchase, allegedly led the KGB to open a file on Trump, marking the beginning of a long and patient cultivation process.

Narrator: While the KGB was assessing Trump’s personality, another form of compromise was taking root: financial entanglement. The 1980s saw New York become a haven for the Russian Mafia, or organizatsiya, which was transitioning from street-level crime to sophisticated, white-collar schemes. One of their most lucrative operations was a massive gasoline tax fraud that generated hundreds of millions in illicit cash. This dirty money needed a place to be cleaned, and Trump’s real estate empire allegedly became the perfect laundromat.

Unger highlights the story of David Bogatin, a Russian mobster who had made a fortune in the gas tax scam. In 1984, Bogatin walked into the newly opened Trump Tower and purchased five luxury condominiums for six million dollars. The transaction was conducted in cash, and according to reports, Donald Trump himself was present at the closing. This wasn't an isolated incident. The book details how Trump-branded properties, with their tolerance for all-cash, anonymous shell company purchases, became a paradigm for laundering money for Russian organized crime. This created a powerful form of leverage. Whether Trump was a witting participant or simply willfully blind, his businesses became financially dependent on a flow of dark money from individuals with deep ties to Russian intelligence.

Narrator: By 1987, the KGB’s cultivation of Trump was ready for the next phase. He received an all-expenses-paid invitation to visit Moscow to discuss building a Trump Tower there. The trip was a masterclass in manipulation. Trump was flattered, treated like a global statesman, and put up in the Lenin Suite at the National Hotel, which was certainly bugged. The KGB’s goal was to feed his ego and plant ideas in his head.

The true success of the operation became clear shortly after his return. On September 1, 1987, Trump spent nearly one hundred thousand dollars to run a full-page open letter in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. The letter was a tirade against American foreign policy, criticizing allies like Japan and questioning America’s role in NATO. The talking points were so perfectly aligned with the Kremlin’s anti-Western propaganda that, according to Yuri Shvets, a celebratory cable was sent back to KGB headquarters in Yasenevo. They had executed a successful “active measure,” using a prominent American businessman to launder their disinformation into the mainstream American political discourse. Trump had proven he was more than just a potential contact; he was a willing mouthpiece.

Narrator: Parallel to the KGB’s political and financial cultivation of Trump, another, darker form of compromise was being perfected by his associates: sexual blackmail, or kompromat. The book dives deep into the world of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, arguing their operation was far more than a simple sex-trafficking ring. It was an intelligence operation. Ghislaine’s father, Robert Maxwell, was a media tycoon and a superspy who worked for multiple agencies, including the KGB and Mossad, and was a master of financial fraud.

Unger posits that Ghislaine and Epstein inherited and modernized this legacy. They used their immense wealth and social connections to create a world of glamour and decadence that attracted the world’s most powerful people—including Donald Trump, who called Epstein a “terrific guy.” Within this world, they allegedly operated a sophisticated honey-trap. Young, vulnerable girls were recruited, and their encounters with powerful men were secretly videotaped. The book cites accusers like Virginia Giuffre, who was recruited at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and Maria Farmer, who recalled Epstein pointing out hidden cameras and stating, “We keep everything.” This network wasn’t just for pleasure; it was a factory for producing leverage, ensuring the silence and cooperation of some of the most influential figures on the planet.

Narrator: For an asset to be truly effective, he needs protection. Unger argues that Donald Trump found his ultimate protector in Attorney General William Barr. The book portrays Barr not just as a lawyer, but as an ideologue driven by a belief in the “unitary executive”—a theory that grants the president nearly unchecked power. This ideology was nurtured in conservative circles like the Federalist Society and groups with ties to the secretive Catholic organization Opus Dei.

To illustrate the potential for these groups to enable cover-ups, Unger tells the parallel story of Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent who spied for Russia for over two decades. Hanssen was a devout member of Opus Dei, and when his wife discovered his treason and insisted he confess to a priest, the priest reportedly told him he did not have to turn himself in. This allowed Hanssen to continue spying for years. The book draws a direct line from the culture that protected Hanssen to the one that empowered Barr. Barr, in this telling, became Trump’s “Cover-Up General,” a figure willing to use the full power of the Justice Department to shield the president from accountability.

Narrator: The Trump presidency is framed as the culmination of this decades-long operation—the moment the harvest was reaped. Trump’s actions in office consistently aligned with Russian interests. He attacked NATO, pulled troops out of Syria to the benefit of Russia, and publicly sided with Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agencies.

William Barr’s role was to manage the fallout. He famously misrepresented the Mueller Report, releasing a four-page summary that selectively quoted phrases to create the false impression that Trump was fully exonerated. He then launched his own investigation, led by John Durham, to hunt for a fictitious “deep state” conspiracy against Trump. When peaceful protestors gathered in Lafayette Square, Barr personally ordered their violent removal so Trump could stage a photo-op with a Bible. According to Unger, these weren't the actions of an independent attorney general, but of a protector shielding a compromised president. The American carnage Trump spoke of in his inaugural address had, in a sense, been realized through the systematic dismantling of democratic norms and institutions from the inside.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from American Kompromat is that the story of Trump and Russia is not a political scandal, but a profound counterintelligence failure. It reveals how a patient foreign adversary can exploit the very fabric of an open society—its legal loopholes, financial systems, and political divisions—to cultivate and elevate an asset to the highest position of power. Unger’s narrative suggests that the most dangerous operations are not always the ones that are illegal, but the ones that are conducted in plain sight, hidden within the bounds of what is technically lawful.

The book leaves us with a chilling challenge: to look beyond the partisan noise and examine the deeper networks of money, ideology, and compromise that operate in the shadows. It forces us to ask a difficult question: how do you protect a democracy when its own systems can be turned into weapons against it?