Members-Only Article
The kinetic presidency of Donald Trump continues to stir up an abundance of news. But I wanted to draw your attention to some critical developments out of the UK over the weekend, ones that bear directly on Russian support for Donald Trump during the 2016 election and after. Indeed, they show up-close a Russian model of infiltrating and supporting campaigns to secure Russian strategic interests in Europe and the United States.
The story centers on a man named Arron Banks, financial supporter for the pro-Brexit “Leave” campaign in 2016 and what now appears to have been his deep financial ties to Russian businessmen and diplomats in London.
There was a more mainstream “Vote Leave” campaign as well as a smaller and more aggressive campaign called “Leave.EU”, which was bankrolled by Banks and associated with Nigel Farage, the UK Independence Party leader who was widely identified with the Leave campaign and campaigned for President Trump in 2016. The Leave.EU campaign also had a close relationship with the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica.