improper.237
In his several interactions with Cohen, Klokov is coy about the entangling of business and politics, at one point insisting that he must “separate their negotiations over a possible meeting between Trump and [Putin] from any existing business track,” even as at another point in the conversation he emphasizes to Cohen that a Trump-Putin summit would be publicized in such a way as to have a “phenomenal” impact on the “business dimension” of Trump’s interest in the Russian president, and that Putin’s prospective support for Trump would have, as the Mueller Report quotes Klokov, “significant ramifications for the ‘level of projects [Trump can do in Russia] and their capacity.’”238 Klokov’s message is clear: if Trump can please Putin and earn his support, Putin can ensure that Trump enjoys nearly boundless business opportunities in Russia. While Klokov may be correct in telling Trump’s lawyer that there is “no bigger warranty in any [Russian building] project than the consent of the person of interest”—Klokov’s euphemistic appellation for Putin—in America’s legal and political systems affairs of state are conducted differently, a fact neither Cohen nor Klokov acknowledges in their negotiations despite the involvement, in the deal they are discussing, of a candidate for the U.S. presidency.239
That the Cohen-Klokov discussion is part of a Kremlin effort to bribe Trump is made clear by a subsequent email from Erchova to the special counsel’s office, in which the Russian national confirms that her then husband (they have since divorced) was offering Trump “cooperation … on behalf of … Russian officials.”240 She adds that these “officials” wanted, among other things, to offer Trump “land in Crimea” alongside the benefit of an “unofficial” meeting with Putin.241
Less than two months after declining to pursue Klokov’s offer, Cohen decides to contact the Kremlin directly to win its support for Trump Tower Moscow.242 His “ask” of the Kremlin ultimately goes beyond “support,” however; he tells a Kremlin agent from the office of Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Elena Poliakova, that he wants the Kremlin to help Trump with “securing land to build the project and with financing,” according to the Mueller Report.243 Poliakova promises to follow up on the Trump Organization’s request. Within twenty-four hours, the Kremlin has gotten in touch with its intermediary to Trump’s business, Sater, who thereafter tells Cohen that he has the necessary permission to arrange for, as the Mueller Report will describe it, “an invitation … signed by Andrey Ryabinskiy of the company MHJ” for Cohen to travel to “Moscow for a working visit” about the “prospects of development and the construction business in Russia,” “the various land plots available suited for construction of this enormous Tower,” and “the opportunity to co-ordinate a follow up visit to Moscow by Mr. Donald Trump.”244 Though the invitation Sater secures will be signed by an agent of MHJ, Sater explains, the actual host of Trump’s trip to Moscow would be VTB, one of the largest state-owned banks in Russia and—at the time of its prospective invitation to Cohen—an entity subject to the very sanctions the Kremlin wants Trump to eliminate if he wins election in November 2016.245 Sater explains that VTB is merely being used as a front for the Kremlin, however, as VTB is allowed to discuss financing for a Trump Tower Moscow but “politically neither Putin’s office nor [the Russian] Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot [sic] issue [an] invite, so they are inviting [you] commercially/business.”246 Most startlingly, Sater tells Cohen that not only will VTB CEO Andrey Kostin be present at Cohen’s meetings in Moscow, but so too will Putin himself.247 The presence of Kostin at the meetings, Sater explains, is to make each meeting plausibly “a business meeting not political.”248 Cohen’s plans to travel to Moscow to meet Kostin and Putin get as far as Cohen sending his passport to Sater and acquiring Trump’s passport from Trump’s personal secretary.249 Cohen tells Sater that Trump will travel to Moscow “once he becomes the nominee[,] after the convention.”250
On May 5, 2016, just as Trump is clinching the GOP nomination for president, Sater informs Cohen that the Kremlin’s press secretary, Peskov, wants to personally invite Cohen to be his “guest” at the St. Petersburg economic forum from June 16 to June 19. According to Sater, Peskov “wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you to either Putin or [Russian Prime Minister Dmitry] Medvedev … the entire business class of Russia will be there as well. He [Peskov] said anything you want to discuss including dates and subjects