The Steele Dossier

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An oft-overlooked portion of the Steele Dossier is that Putin engaged Trump as a babysitter to his oligarchs. According to the dossier:

Further elaboration from the Steele Dossier:

For “at least 8 years,” Trump and his team plied Putin with information on Russian oligarchs. The next logical question is — how did Trump obtain that information and feed it to Putin without detection?

There’s Reason to Believe the Steele Dossier

Trump Properties Flooded by Russians

Trump properties have been long used as a Russian stronghold and playground in the USA. Bloomberg once referred to Trump Tower NYC as the “tower full of oligarchs.” And Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, which is largely Trump-owned, is commonly referred to as “Little Moscow” because of the saturation of Russians living there. Then there is Trump SoHo, which was developed by two scandal-ridden and Russian-emigrant-owned companies. One of the companies’ operations were run by an ex-con and son of a Russian mafia boss who worked under the infamous Mogilevich.

The sheer number of Russians who’ve lived in Trump properties, helped to develop Trump properties, and facilitated financing of Trump properties is notable.

Dolly Lenz, a New York real estate broker, said that she sold about 65 units in Trump World Tower to Russians. “I had contacts in Moscow looking to invest in the United States,” Lenz said. “They all wanted to meet Donald.” Sixty-five units sold by one broker at one Trump property.

Flooded with a blend of Russian oligarchs and Russian criminals, Trump properties provided Trump and his team ample opportunity to gather intel for Putin. But what was the mechanism? And how did Trump convey that information to Putin?

Trump Property Security Systems

Trump has long peddled the high-tech safety and security features of his properties. This is from a 2012 brochure marketing Trump Tower Manila:

Trump casinos use the latest technology in bio-metric, face-recognition software. One former director of surveillance for Trump Marina and The Sands in Atlantic City is enthusiastic about the software:

In 2014, AISG (American Integrated Security Group) was hired by Trump properties to secure “all of its hotels, golf courses, resorts and residences.” AISG has numerous high-tech security and surveillance offerings. From their website:

Interestingly, one of the co-founders of AISG, Avi Jacobi, had an 11-year career at Honeywell in the gaming security industry. And gaming security technology, such as bio-metric face-recognition software, is part of AISG’s services:

AISG’s website offers a case study of Trump National Doral, in which they quote Trump officials touting AISG’s license plate recognition software and the high-resolution facial zoom on their cameras.

Hiring a company with such thorough credentials and experience suggests that Trump properties have rock-solid security. That might be true if security were the goal; but there is reason to believe that this was not the case.

Insecure Security

The reality is that cyber security at Trump properties is not even close to optimal: hackable, weakly encrypted Wi-Fi networks at Mar-a-Lago and open Wi-Fi networks that don’t require a password at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Cyber security flaws seem to abound at Trump properties: hackable, weakly encrypted Wi-Fi networks at Mar-a-Lago and open Wi-Fi networks that don’t require a password at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Cyber security flaws seem to abound at Trump properties:

Additionally, 14 of Trump’s properties used a reservation booking service that was hacked, leaving its client data exposed for seven months. And, this wasn’t the first time something like that had happened.

This lack of cyber security at Trump properties begs the question: since the plethora of high-tech security features aren’t being used to keep clients and their information secure, what are they being used for?

Weaponizing Security for Surveillance

Take, for example, the numerous surveillance cameras Trump uses at each of his properties. On one hand, these cameras can help identify cases of theft; but they can just as easily track people on the property. Reports from former employees appear to substantiate this:

And, Trump used to keep a switchboard in his bedroom at Mar-a-Lago. Several former employees reported witnessing Trump personally eavesdropping on phone calls.

For our purposes, the salient point is that Trump had a switchboard in his personal residence (and in his bedroom, no less). This made it possible for him to eavesdrop on any land-line phone calls made on his property.

Gathering Intel on Russian Oligarchs

On one hand, Trump properties’ cyber security is flawed at best. On the other hand, Trump properties have:

> cameras capable of tracking clients

> switchboards with all-day access to clients’ phone calls

> license-plate recognition software capable of tracking when clients enter and leave the premises.

Instead of using their high-tech equipment to keep clients safe and secure, is Trump and his team using that high-tech equipment to surveil their clients? This is a particularly pertinent question because Putin employed Trump and his team to gather intel on Putin’s oligarchs. And, as mentioned above, many oligarchs stayed at Trump properties.

Though the potential of Trump’s surveillance leviathan is important, so is how Trump might have gotten intel to Putin without detection. I have one suggestion.

Written by Unhackthevote

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