Quote:2007: Trump debuted his Trump Super Premium Vodka at the Millionaire’s Fair in Moscow. Large orders for the gold-glazed spirit followed, but the brand fizzled by 2009, according to The New York Times.

2008: Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., told investors in Moscow that the Trump Organization had trademarked the Donald Trump name in Russia and planned to build housing and hotels in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi, and sell licenses to other developers, the Russian daily Kommersant reported. “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” Trump Jr. said at the time. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."

Trump Jr. traveled to Russia a half-dozen times in 18 months looking for deals, but none materialized. He said there were plenty of investment opportunities, but the business environment was dangerous and trustworthy partners hard to find. “It really is a scary place,” he said, according to eTurboNews, an online business publication.

2010: Trump’s next big U.S. project, the Trump SoHo in New York, was built with partner Bayrock Group, founded by Tevfik Arif, a former Soviet official.

 

1.) Russia has the huge alcohol market. They produce the 5th-most Vodka and are top-10 in alcohol consumption.

2.) From 2000-2007, Russian saw a housing boom, and Trump, believe it or not, owns a lot of property. When Trump visited Russia, the market started to slow which would explain why no deals came through.

3.) I don't know anything about Bayrock Group, but they're a real estate and development company.

 

Quote:2013: Trump brought the Miss Universe Pageant to Moscow, funded by $20 million from Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov. The venue was Agalarov’s Crocus City Hall on the outskirts of Moscow. Trump took part in a music video with Agalarov’s son, Emin.

2016: Trump's presidential campaign manager, Paul Manafort, resigned in August amid reports that he worked on the political campaign of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had been forced to flee office because of his pro-Russian stance.

 

4.) I don't know what to say. They paid him $20 million to host it there. He'd be stupid not to and I'm not sure why business deals with Russians implies that he's working with the Russian government.

5.) He resigned because they were going to replace him. Trump didn't want the distraction since that was around the beginning of when the media started portraying Trump as a psuedo-Russian operative or ... something. KellyAnne Conway had a great reputation at the time, and she came in and led them successfully.

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