Vladimir Putin personally ordered a top secret spy operation to help a 'mentally unstable' Donald Trump win the 2016 election...
Vladimir Putin personally ordered a top secret spy operation to help a 'mentally unstable' Donald Trump win the 2016 election, according to leaked documents believed to be from the Kremlin.
The Russian strongman held a meeting with his spy chiefs and senior ministers in January 2016 where they agreed to support Trump - who was then fighting to be the Republican nominee - in order to achieve Moscow's objectives of sowing 'social turmoil' in the US and weakening the American presidency, the papers suggest.
A decree bearing Putin's signature ordered Russia's three agencies to find practical ways to support the then-Republican frontrunner, according to The Guardian who have seen the documents.
The papers, which have not been verified by DailyMail.com, include a psychological assessment of Trump, describing him as an 'impulsive, mentally unstable and unbalanced individual who suffers from an inferiority complex'.
The documents also allude to compromising material the Kremlin held on the New York business tycoon turned reality star from an earlier visit to Moscow.
They refer to 'certain events' during the reality star's trips to Moscow.
Putin holds a meeting with his security council on January 22, 2016, the date of the alleged discussions about helping Trump
Donald Trump and his then wife Ivana visit Palace Square in St. Petersburg in July 1987
Putin's expert department prepared a report recommending that he use 'all possible force' to ensure that Trump became the 45th president of the United States.
Helping him secure victory 'will definitely lead to the destabilization of the US's sociopolitical system', the report predicts.
In January of 2016, Trump was one of 12 GOP contenders fighting it out for the Republican nomination for president. While he was doing well in the polls, there hadn't yet been a primary contest yet (the Iowa caucuses, the first in the nation, took place on February 1).
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton was fighting it out with Bernie Sanders for her party's nomination.
The Guardian showed the leaked documents from the January 22 meeting to Western spy agencies who carefully examined them and believe them to be genuine.
Independent experts say the tone of the papers is consistent with the Kremlin's style.
But Putin's spokesman Dmitri Peskov dismissed the claims, saying it was a 'great pulp fiction'.
The report, named 'No 32-04 \ vd' is classified as secret and says Trump is the 'most promising candidate' for Russia.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in his investigation of Russia's role in the 2016 election, concluded the Russian government 'interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.'
His report found the Russians used a social media campaign to boost Trump and disparage Clinton during the general election and that the Russian military intelligence agency GRU hacked into email accounts owned by volunteers and employees of the Clinton presidential campaign.
The documents outlined in Thursday's report is not the first mention of the Russians having kompromat on Trump.
The infamous Steele dossier contained allegations about Trump's Russia ties as well as unverified information about his alleged conduct in a Moscow hotel room during the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013.
Written by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, the document outlines the incident, which allegedly took place in the Ritz-Carlton's presidential suite in Moscow.
Because Barack and Michelle Obama, whom Trump despised, had stayed in that room, Trump allegedly hired 'a number of prostitutes to perform a 'golden showers' (urination) show [on the bed] in front of him'.
The act, which Trump has vehemently denied, was allegedly recorded using microphones and cameras by the Russian secret service (FSB) to ensure he bowed to the Kremlin's wishes.
Steele compiled the 35-page dossier between June and December, 2016, for a firm that had ties to the Democratic National Committee.
Buzzfeed published the dossier in January of 2017, before Trump took office. But intelligence officials knew of its existence long before it became public.
Then FBI director James Comey briefed then President Barack Obama on its contents and Comey later briefed Trump on its existence at Trump Tower during the transition.
In his memoir, Comey wrote Trump interrupted him as he described the material in the dossier.
He 'strongly denied the allegations, asking — rhetorically, I assumed — whether he seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes.'
The unverified Steele dossier memos referenced Trump's alleged conduct during the Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow in 2013
Putin's expert department prepared a report recommending that he use 'all possible force' to ensure a Trump win in the November election of 2016
Then President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in July 2018
As president, Trump took a softer stance on Russia than other holders of the Oval Office.
At a controversial press conference in Helsinki with Putin in July 2018, Trump declined to support the US government's assessment that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
'He just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be,' Trump said of Putin, who stood by his side.
Trump later had to walk back his comments, which sparked outrage in the United States on both sides of the political aisle.
As for Thursday's newly published information, the meeting led by Putin with his security officials and spy chiefs was definitely held in the Kremlin on the date of the alleged report.
Present were the then prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, defence minister Sergei Shoigu who is also in charge of the GRU foreign military intelligence agency, head of the SVR intelligence service Mikhail Fradkov, FSB boss Alexander Bortnikov and its former director Nikolai Patrushev.
A press release said the meeting covered the economy and Moldova.
But the leaked documents suggest the covert purpose of the discussions was the confidential plans to aid Trump in his election bid.
Putin's expert department, which provides the president with analytical reports, often based on foreign intelligence, is believed to be behind the documents allegedly written by Vladimir Symonenko.
On January 14, 2016, Symonenko circulated a three-page executive report of his team's findings.
Two days later, Putin signed an order instructing his foreign policy chief Alexander Manzhosin to gather the national security council to further study the document.
It is not known what they discussed in the meeting on January 22 but Putin and his officials signed off a multi-agency plan to interfere in the US democratic process, the leaked documents suggest.
The papers identify US weaknesses including a deepening political gulf, an increasing anti-establishment sentiment and the media.
Among the methods considered by the security council include inserting 'media viruses' into US public life which could affect the public mood, the documents suggest.
After the meeting, Putin issued a decree to set up a secret new interdepartmental commission to carry out the goals of the report as soon as possible, a separate leaked documents reveals.
Each spy agency was given a rule, with GRU chief Shoigu as the head of the new body, responsible for collecting information and 'preparing measures to act on the information environment of the object'.
It is believed the command refers to hacking US targets identified by SVR, Russia's foreign intelligence service.
The SVR was told to gather new information while the FSB was ordered to carry out counter-intelligence.
The spy chiefs were given just one week to return with concrete proposals.
Putin has repeatedly denied claims that he has interfered in Western democracy.
Weeks after the meeting, the Democratic National Committee was hacked with thousands of emails leaked in an attack believed to have been carried out by the GRU.
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