- Years before he became president, Donald Trump wrote a series of adulatory letters to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- In the letters, Trump told Putin that he was a “big fan of yours” and asked him to be an honorary reader at a Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.
- The letters were released Tuesday by the House First Committee.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
Years before he became president, Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “I’m a big fan of yours” and pleaded with him to be a guest of honor at a Miss Universe pageant.
The House of Representatives Committee on Tuesday released a series of letters as part of its report on Russia’s efforts to intervene in the 2016 US presidential election.
They include a letter in which Trump wrote to Putin congratulating him on being named Time magazine’s 2007 Person of the Year. “Congratulations on becoming ‘Time Magazine’ ‘Man of the Year’ – you truly deserve it. As you have probably heard, I’m a big fan of yours!” Trump wrote.
U.S. Senate Education Committee
A second letter dated 2013 includes Trump trying to persuade Putin to attend the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, an event that is run and owned by Trump. The future president said the event would be a “great tribute to Moscow and Russia” and said his team had “rejected many competing countries in favor of Russia.”
He then asked Putin to attend the event as his “guest of honor” and suggested a private meeting with the Russian president for unspecified reasons in the days before the pageant.
The print letter also carried a handwritten message at the bottom in Trump’s signature all-caps style that said, “THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN!”
U.S. Senate Education Committee
The letter was dated June 26, 2013. On June 18, 2013, Trump had tweeted“Do you think Putin will go to the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in November? If so, will he become my new best friend?”
Putin did not attend the match, but sent a senior Kremlin official in his place, according to the First Chamber report.
Putin also responded to the letter, adding a decorative paint cabinet as a gift.
The unofficial translation of the letter included in the package said: “Dear Mr. Trump, I would like to congratulate you and your colleagues on your success in holding the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. I hope all participants in this remarkable event go home sill “
Shortly afterwards, Trump and a Russian associate named Emin Agalarov began discussing the possibility of building a common real estate company in Moscow.
The document was contained in the fifth and most likely final report, which runs nearly 1000 pages, on Russian interference in the elections.
It concluded that contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016 “represented a serious counter-intelligence threat” and detailed communication between Trump employees and Russian agents, including one Kremlin spy, according to the BBC.
Asked about the report on Tuesday, Trump replied that he “did not read it.”
