''Trump: The Kremlin Candidate?'' is a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

first broadcast by the program ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, and first aired in the United Kingdom on 16 January 2017, four days before the

first inauguration of Donald Trump The United States presidential inauguration, inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States marked the commencement of Trump's first term as president and Mike Pence's only term as Vice President of the United States, ...

. It examined

links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies Since Donald Trump was a 2016 candidate for the office of President of the United States, multiple suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials were discovered by the Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation), FBI, a Mueller ...

and the relationship between

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. It features investigative journalist John Sweeney, who journeyed to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, and the United States during the course of his research. Sweeney had prior experience on the subject matter, having interviewed Trump in 2013, and Putin in 2014. The film was directed by Matthew Hill, Tomiko Newson, and Nick Sturdee. Throughout the documentary, Sweeney interviews intelligence and security analysts including

John E. McLaughlin John Edward McLaughlin (born June 15, 1942) is an American intelligence official who was Deputy Director of Central Intelligence and briefly acting Director of Central Intelligence. He is a Senior Fellow and Distinguished Practitioner-in-Reside ...

and

Malcolm Nance Malcolm Wrightson Nance (born 1961) is an American author and media pundit. He is a former United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer specializing in naval cryptology. Nance is an intelligence and foreign policy analyst who frequently discu ...

, individuals with prior ties to Putin such as

Aleksandr Dugin Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin (; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian far-right political philosopher. He is the leading theorist of Russian neo-Eurasianism. Born into a military intelligence family, Dugin was an anti-communist dissident during the ...

, Trump adviser

Roger Stone Roger Jason Stone (born Roger Joseph Stone Jr.; August 27, 1952) is an American Political consulting, political consultant and lobbyist. He is Donald Trump's longest-serving political adviser, best known for the Mueller special counsel investi ...

and Russian politician

Konstantin Kosachev Konstantin Iosifovich Kosachev (; born 17 September 1962) is a Russian politician and former diplomat. He is a senator at the Federation Council (Russian parliament's upper house) and chairs its Foreign Affairs Committee. He has been on the US s ...

. The documentary analyzes potential damaging information about Trump from the

Steele dossier The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report on the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump compiled by counterintelligen ...

, and assesses whether

Russian intelligence The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is the civilian foreign intelligence agency of Russia. The SVR succeeded the First Chief Directorate of the KGB in December 1991.The Security Organs of the Russian Federation: A Brief History 1991–2004' ...

has blackmail in the form of ''

kompromat Kompromat ( rus, компромат, p=kəmprɐˈmat, a=Ru-компрома́т.ogg, short for "compromising material") is damaging information about a politician, a businessperson, or other public figure, which may be used to create negative p ...

'' which they could use to manipulate him. The film describes

Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections The Russian government conducted Foreign electoral intervention, foreign electoral interference in the 2016 United States elections with the goals of sabotaging the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign, presidential campaign of Hillar ...

and discusses whether Russian

cyberwarfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyberattack, cyber attacks against an enemy State (polity), state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, ...

impacted the elections. Finally, the documentary posits how a potential fallout between Trump and Putin could impact worldwide

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

. After the film's initial release, it was featured at the

International Journalism Festival The International Journalism Festival () is a journalism event annually held in Perugia, Italy (in central Italy, about 100 miles, or 160 km, north of Rome). The festival attracts journalists and journalism students, as well as scholars an ...

Perugia, Italy Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, in April 2017. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' selected the documentary among "Monday's best TV", and '' The National'' featured it as "TV Pick of the Day". The '' Times Union'' called the film's revelations, "shocking and alarming". The documentary garnered an official response in the form of a critical statement from the Russian Embassy in London.

Contents summary

Investigative journalist John Sweeney delves into

. The documentary moves to different relevant locations including the United States, Russia, Lithuania, and armed conflict zones in Ukraine. Sweeney investigates the potential relationship between

and

. The documentary looks into the likelihood that

through

helped elect Trump as

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. Intelligence commentators interviewed in the film include:

CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in investigations of seve ...

chief technology officer

Dmitri Alperovitch Dmitri Alperovitch (; born 1980) is an American think-tank founder, author, philanthropist, podcast host and former computer security industry executive. He is the chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitics think-tank in Washingto ...

, former acting

CIA Director The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community. The director reports to the d ...

, and ''

The Plot to Hack America ''The Plot to Hack America: How Putin's Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election'' is a non-fiction book by Malcolm Nance about the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It was published in paperback, audiob ...

'' author

. Those interviewed for historical context are ''Between East and West'' author

Anne Applebaum Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She holds Polish citizenship as well. Ap ...

, and ''Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success'' author

Michael D'Antonio Michael D'Antonio (born May 11, 1955) is an American author, journalist, and commentator on CNN. He shared the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting with a team of ''Newsday'' reporters for their coverage of the Baby Jane Doe Case. He has writt ...

. Politicians and advisers interviewed include: Tsargrad TV editor-in-chief

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

member

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

, former

Prime Minister of Russia The prime minister of the Russian Federation, also domestically stylized as the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation and widely recognized as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia and the second highest ranking ...

Mikhail Kasyanov Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov ( rus, Михаи́л Миха́йлович Касья́нов, , mʲɪxɐˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsʲjanəf, links=no; born 8 December 1957) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia fr ...

, Russian politician

, and Trump political adviser

. People appearing in

archive footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

include:

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist for the first seven months of president Donald Trump's first ...

Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born 24 December 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports tha ...

, Vladimir Putin,

Rex Tillerson Rex Tillerson is an American energy executive who served as the 69th United States secretary of state from 2017 to 2018 in the first administration of Donald Trump. From 2006 to 2016, he was chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Exxon ...

, and Donald Trump. Sweeney interviews Putin political adviser Aleksandr Dugin in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and debates with him about Russian government respect for

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

. Author Michael D'Antonio provides background on his assessment of Trump's character, telling Sweeney Trump views himself as a

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

in a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

. The film attempts to conclude if Trump may be able to be manipulated by Putin due to the possibility that

may possess a

sex tape Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models, actors or non-professionals performing without pay, or actors for whom this material is not their only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is professionally made pornogra ...

of Trump. Sweeney examines what may befall Putin and Trump's nations were their warm ties to diminish over time. The documentary attempts to examine how the relationship between Trump and Putin could impact

in Europe and globally.

Production

Prior to his work on the documentary, Sweeney had previously interviewed both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. He was invited by Trump to meet with him in 2013 at Trump National Golf Club in

Bedminster, New Jersey Bedminster is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 8,272, an increase of 107 (+1.3%) from the 201 ...

. During an interview the same week at

Trump Tower Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use condominium skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organiza ...

, Sweeney asked Trump about his friendship with Russian-born

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

-connected individual

Felix Sater Felix Henry Sater (born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky; ; March 2, 1966) is a Russian-American mobster, convicted felon, real estate developer and former managing director of Bayrock Group LLC, a real estate conglomerate based out of New Yor ...

; Trump responded by calling Sweeney "thick" and abruptly leaving the interview. Sweeney had interviewed Putin in 2014 in Siberia, and asked him about the downing of

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile system, Bu ...

. Putin placed onus on Ukraine for the casualties, and Sweeney was blocked by Russian security from asking another question. During the course of production for the documentary, investigative journalist John Sweeney journeyed from the UK to the United States, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Russia. The documentary was directed by Matthew Hill, Tomiko Newson, and Nick Sturdee. It was produced by Andy Blackman, Matthew Hill, Diana Martin, Tomiko Newson, and Nick Sturdee.

Film editing Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

was done by Rachell Jupp and Joe Marcus. The documentary's runtime is 30 minutes in duration. During Sweeney's interview with Putin political adviser

in Moscow, he queried Dugin on the views of

with regards to

democratic ideals Democratic ideals is an expression used to refer to personal qualities or standards of government behavior that are felt to be essential for the continuation of a democratic policy. In the 20th century, T. H. Marshall proposed what he believed to ...

. Dugin criticized Sweeney's question, asserting the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

had attempted to force democracy on other countries. Sweeney brought up

Boris Nemtsov Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov; (9 October 195927 February 2015) was a Russian physicist, liberalism in Russia, liberal politician, and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. Early in his political career, he was involved in the introduction of reform ...

, a critic of Putin who was shot and killed immediately exterior to the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

, and asked Dugin how the killing of Nemtsov reflected on the democratic values of Russia. Dugin countered, "If you are engaged in Wikileaks you can be murdered." When Sweeney queried Dugin to name U.S. reporters who had perished at the hands of the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

, Dugin said it was a "completely stupid kind of conversation", ended the interview, and left the area.

Release and reception

The documentary first aired on the program ''

'' on

in the United Kingdom on 16 January 2017, four days before the

Inauguration of Donald Trump Inauguration of Donald Trump may refer to: * First inauguration of Donald Trump The United States presidential inauguration, inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States marked the commencement of Trump's first term ...

. The program was made available on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

the same month. It was screened in

on 6 April 2017 at the

. Investigative journalists John Sweeney of the UK and

Andrei Soldatov Andrei Alekseyevich Soldatov (, born 4 October 1975 in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian investigative journalist and Russian security services expert. Together with fellow journalist Irina Borogan he is co-founder and editor of the Agentura.Ru websit ...

of Russia were in attendance at the screening. ''

'' reviewer Ali Catterall wrote that the program was among "Monday's best TV". Catterall wrote, "John Sweeney travels to Russia, Ukraine and the US to investigate the most laughably open secret of recent times – the Kremlin's marionette-like manipulation of American politics – and ponders that the only thing scarier than Trump and Putin's friendship will be their falling out." ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' reporter Jack Seale reviewed the documentary, writing, "Ahead of Friday's inauguration, John Sweeney's Panorama report focuses on Trump's admiration for Vladimir Putin, a trait that sailed close to treason over the festive period when the President-elect sided with Russia in a diplomatic row with the US." Seale pointed out the question posed by the documentary about the potential relationship between Trump and Putin, "What, Sweeney wonders, will happen when these two eerily similar hotheads inevitably fall out?" '' The National'' journalist Julie McDowall selected the documentary as "TV Pick of the Day". McDowall commented, "maybe we are about to see a US president, the most powerful man in the world, who could be cowed and ordered about by an aggressive Russia just because it apparently has a sex tape on him." Regarding the quality of Trump-Putin interactions, McDowall wrote, that the documentary "examines the relationship and asks if it is better for all if the two are buddies. If they fall out it could produce fall-out." '' Times Union'' contributor Lawrence White wrote, "John Sweeney investigates the Trump-Putin connection and what it may mean for the world's collective well being." White commented, "The details in the investigative report are shocking and alarming." On 17 January 2017, the Russian Embassy in London issued a statement critical of the documentary, where they called it, "another low in outright post-truth propaganda in the defense of the unsustainable status quo in Britain, US and worldwide."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trump The Kremlin Candidate Conspiracy theories in the United States 2017 television specials Panorama (British TV programme) Documentary films about Donald Trump Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections Films about the first Trump presidency Works about computer hacking

Contents summary

Production

Release and reception

See also

References

Further reading

External links