Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion Is Threatening American Democracy

by Seth Abramson

Overview

Instant New York Times Bestseller

"A richly documented indictment of power and corruption." —Kirkus Reviews

Through diligent research, Seth Abramson exposes a story that U.S. media has largely missed: a pre-election geopolitical conspiracy involving Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Russia that sought to put Trump in the White House—and succeeded.

In late 2015, convicted pedophile, international dealmaker, and cooperating witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation George Nader convened a secret meeting aboard a massive luxury yacht in the Red Sea. Nader pitched Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and other Middle Eastern leaders a plan for a new pro-U.S., pro-Israel alliance of Arab nations that would fundamentally alter the geopolitics of the Middle East while marginalizing Iran, Qatar, and Turkey. To succeed, the plan would need a highly placed American politician willing to drop sanctions on Russia so that Vladimir Putin would in turn agree to end his support for Iran. They agreed the perfect American partner was Donald Trump, who had benefited immensely from his Saudi, Emirati, and Russian dealings for many years, and who, in 2015, became the only U.S. presidential candidate to argue for a unilateral end to Russian sanctions and a far more hostile approach to Iran.

So begins New York Times bestselling author Seth Abramson’s explosive new book Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion Threatens American Democracy, a story of international intrigue whose massive cast of characters includes Israeli intelligence operatives, Russian oligarchs, Saudi death squads, American mercenary companies, Trump’s innermost circle, and several members of the Trump family as well as Trump himself—all part of a clandestine multinational narrative that takes us from Washington, D.C. and Moscow to the Middle Eastern capitals of Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Jerusalem, Cairo, Tehran, and Doha. Proof of Conspiracy is a chilling and unforgettable depiction of the dangers America and the world now face.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250256713
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	592
Sales rank:	702,166
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Seth Abramson is a former criminal defense attorney and criminal investigator who teaches digital journalism, legal advocacy, and cultural theory at the University of New Hampshire. A regular political and legal analyst on CNN and the BBC during the Trump presidency, he is the author of eleven books and editor of five anthologies. Abramson is a graduate of Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the PhD program in English at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and two one-year-old rescue hounds, Quinn and Scout. Read more about him at SethAbramson.net.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Red Sea Conspiracy and the Grand Bargain
Chapter 1: The Pedophile, the Mercenary, and the Flack
Chapter 2: The Iran Nuclear Deal, the Center for the National Interest, and the Valdai Discussion Club
Chapter 3: The Young Prince, Israeli Spies, the NRA Junket, and the Flynn Intel Group
Chapter 4: The Emirati Ambassador, the Mayflower Hotel, and Project Rome
Chapter 5: The Grand Havana Room, the Trump-Nader Meeting, and the Middle East Marshall Plan
Chapter 6: CSMARC, the Incognito Prince, the Seychelles, and the Chairman’s Dinner
Chapter 7: The Gang of Six, Whatsapp, and the Qatar Blockade
Chapter 8: Tel Aviv, the Purge, the Chairman, and the Spy Army
Chapter 9: 1MDB, Mesa, The Saudi Quartet, the Trump Doctrine, and the Death of Jamal Khashoggi
Chapter 10: The Syria Withdrawal, the Yemeni Civil War, Secret Summits, and the Saudi Nuclear Deal
Chapter 11: The Mueller Report
Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

09/09/2019

CNN analyst Abramson’s muddled follow-up to Proof of Collusion alleges a “Red Sea Conspiracy” hatched in 2015 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates and then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Their plan, according to Abramson, was to illicitly help Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in order to gain his support for a “grand bargain” that would end U.S. sanctions on Russia in exchange for Vladimir Putin’s help in evicting Iran from Syria, pave the way for dozens of new Saudi and Emirati nuclear plants, and forge an anti-Iranian, pro-Israeli military alliance among Sunni Arab nations. Abramson’s talk of quid-pro-quo is unconvincing since the “bargain” to end sanctions never materialized and the only specific election meddling he identifies is an unproven theory that the UAE funded pro-Trump social media operations. His disorganized, repetitive, almost unreadable narrative instead traces labyrinths of murky “ties,” meetings, and business deals that add up only to nebulous insinuations. Buried beneath the avalanche of conjecture are Abramson’s serious criticisms of Trump’s foreign policy, including his support of the Saudi regime’s brutal war in Yemen. The result is a confused proof of nothing that obscures more than it reveals. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"A richly documented indictment of power and corruption that bears urgent discussion in the coming electoral cycle." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2019-08-07
One-time attorney Abramson extends the argument begun in Proof of Collusion: How Trump Betrayed America (2018) by widening the net of culprits.

Donald Trump entered the field of presidential contenders without a discernible ideology save receiving money for nothing, a penchant that many actors were glad to serve. In this long, complex study, the author adds evidence concerning the principal actor, Russia, while layering on other parties: Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. Each has served Trump in various ways—Saudi Arabia, for example, by once bailing Trump out from bankruptcy—and each has been rewarded in turn, with Egypt removed from sanctions, given more military aid than it requested, and legitimated even as elected members of the Muslim Brotherhood were branded as terrorists. There are geopolitical issues surrounding this network of "Red Sea conspirators," as Abramson dubs them: All are committed to the continued supremacy of the oil economy, all are positioned to contain Iran and Syria, and all are autocratic to one extent or another—and there's not much Trump likes better than an autocratic leader. Russia remains the principal villain of the piece, but, as the author writes, "the Saudis and Emiratis marked…the additional slate of possibilities opened up by the Kremlin's burgeoning interest in a political neophyte with malleable ethics." By Abramson's extensive account, malleability has shifted into full-blown corruption, as Trump and his associates accepted Israeli intelligence here, Russian offers of support there, and the like. The author's deft tracing of the undeclared international shuttling back and forth between interested parties of former Trump aide Michael Flynn will make readers wonder why he's not locked inside a maximum security prison. Abramson closes by connecting the dots in current newspaper headlines: Netanyahu wins reelection in Israel, Saudi Arabia declares war on dissidents and neighboring nations alike, Trump pledges an additional 10,000 American troops for deployment in the Middle East, a prelude to war in Iran….

A richly documented indictment of power and corruption that bears urgent discussion in the coming electoral cycle.

Kirkus Reviews