Trump Met With Russians At An Extremely Raunchy Vegas Nightclub, According To New Book ‘Russian Roulette’
Donald Trump met with Russian deal-makers and investors at a raunchy Las Vegas nightclub whose shows were so shocking — featuring simulated urination and sadomasochism, among other things — that a Nevada state judge banned them as “lewd” and “offensive,” Yahoo News is reporting. The allegations come in the form of a new book, Russian Roulette, excerpts of which were published today.
The new book, by authors Michael Isikoff, the Chief Investigative Correspondent for Yahoo News, and David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, purports to fill in gaps in the story of the supposed Russian interference in the 2016 election, which is currently being investigated by FBI Special Counsel Robert Muller.
In the excerpts released today, Isikioff and Corn seek to lay out what happened in November 2013, at a purported meeting in Moscow between Trump and several Russian associates. Trump was in town in order to get approval, and funding, for his long-standing dream of building a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Months before, claims the book, Trump was in Las Vegas for the Miss USA pageant in June 2013. After dining with some Russian contacts, Trump was joined by the then-reigning Miss Universe, Olivia Culpo, as well as his Russian contacts, at a Vegas nightclub known as The Act.
Mueller has evidence of secret meeting to set up backchannel between Trump and Russia: report https://t.co/ra2VRSbAsL pic.twitter.com/O5S87Hp21I
— The Hill (@thehill) March 8, 2018
As The Las Vegas Sun reported in 2013, so lewd and raunchy were the shows at The Act that they were shocking even by Las Vegas standards. One burlesque dance scene depicted a man with deformed arms “attacking” an unseen woman in a bathtub. Another act, entitled “Hot For Teacher,” purported to show college students urinating on their professor.
Trump, famously a teetotaler, was given Diet Coke to drink during the performances, according to the book.
Eventually, the explicit nature of the acts made their way to the Nevada Gaming Commission, which banned some of the acts — in particular, those featuring simulated urination — on the basis of being “lewd” and “offensive.” Eventually The Act, which had been at the Palazoo, closed for good.
Meanwhile, Trump’s plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow met a similar end as The Act. The Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia following its annexation of Crimea, and a faltering Russian economy brought on by, among other things, falling oil prices, doomed the project.
