In 2016, Donald Trump conspired with a foreign government to become President. On July 25, 2019, with the 2020 election around the corner, he decided to do it again.
The Asset explores how Trump acts on behalf of Russia’s interests, breaking down his ties to Russia and his effort to extort the Ukrainian government for personal political gain.
Left Photo: Getty Images/Jamie Squire. Right Photo: Getty Images/Mikhail Svetlov.
BONUS EPISODES
The aftermath of the Mueller report, and what comes next.
![Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem, and Russia’s Remaking of the West
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Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem, and Russia’s Remaking of the West
Max Bergmann interviews The Guardian’s Luke Harding about how Russia has sought to undermine the West by interfering and corrupting the politics of the US, UK, and other Western countries. Harding discusses his interviews with…
![Exclusive Interview with Senator Mark Warner
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Exclusive Interview with Senator Mark Warner
The Moscow Project Executive Director Max Bergmann sits down with Senator Mark Warner, Vice-Chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, for an exclusive interview on the committee’s report of Russian Active Measures, Campaigns, and Interference in the 2016…
![Rigged: America, Russia and 100 Years of Covert Electoral Interference
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Rigged: America, Russia and 100 Years of Covert Electoral Interference
Max Bergmann, the Executive Director of the Moscow Project speaks with historian and author David Shimer about the alarming and disturbing pattern of electoral interference in American politics by Russia. The Asset is a partnership between…
![What Happened?
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What Happened?
Max Bergmann sits down with Paul “Woody” Woodhull, the co-creator of The Asset podcast and president of the progressive podcast network, District Productive, to analyze the election outcomes and the future of Donald J. Trump….
SEASON 2
The backstory to the Ukrainian scandal that launched impeachment proceedings.
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Trailer: Here We Go Again
On July 25, 2019, President Donald Trump picked up the phone and called a foreign head of state for a favor. It wasn’t just any foreign head of state and it wasn’t just any favor….
![A Rock and A Hard Place
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A Rock and A Hard Place
Donald Trump’s efforts to extort the Ukrainian government for his own political gain are now at the center of the ongoing impeachment proceedings. But how did we get here? To understand that, we’ll need to…
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Scheming
On October 9, 2019, two Soviet-born Florida businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were arrested in Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C. It would soon turn out that these two men had been involved…
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Extortion
On July 25, 2019, Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and asked him for a favor: a public announcement of investigations into Trump’s political opponents. After he hung up, White House lawyers immediately sprang into…
![BONUS: This Week in Impeachment: November 25, 2019
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BONUS: This Week in Impeachment: November 25, 2019
Producer Peter Ogburn sits down with host Max Bergmann to find out what happened This Week in Impeachment. We discuss the stunning testimonies of Fiona Hill and David Holmes as well as the madcap antics…
![BONUS: Follow the Trail of Dead Russians
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BONUS: Follow the Trail of Dead Russians
“Follow the Trail of Dead Russians” was the advice given by national security expert Clint Watts when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In this excerpt from our Patreon page, Max Bergmann leads us…
![Impeaching
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Impeaching
Earlier in Season 2, we explained the backstory to the Ukraine scandal, tracing Trump’s efforts to extort a foreign government for his own personal gain. When a whistleblower complaint brought this scandal to light, it…
SEASON 1
The full story of Donald Trump's history with Russia.
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Whirlwind
The scandal of Russian interference became Topic # 1 in the first six months of 2017. In a whirlwind of bombshell stories and breaking developments, Trump’s Russia ties went from a fringe topic, ignored by…
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Bankrupt
Donald Trump’s businesses failed; a lot. He bankrupted hotels, casinos, an airline and—even an entire football league. And when they failed Trump needed someone to bail him out. And up until the late 1990s that…
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The Sistema
To understand the Russian interference in the 2016 election, it is essential to understand Vladimir Putin. And to understand Putin, you need to understand his KGB past, his rise to power, his fight for control…
![From Russia With Cash
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From Russia With Cash
Russian Money was pouring out of Russia into the US real estate market and Donald Trump was all about it. We follow the Russian money flowing into the Trump Organization, highlighting the shady cast of…
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The New Cold War
The fight over Ukraine’s future is key to the Trump-Russia story. It is central to understanding why, in 2016, Russia undertook such a brazen and risky assault on American democracy. Russia’s attempt to reassert itself…
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Cultivating an Asset
We go through the murky world of Russian intelligence. In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the old-style KGB tactics didn’t go away. Under Putin, Russian intelligence has been empowered. This episode goes the story of the Illegals…
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Running
We break down the beginnings of the two campaigns to elect Donald Trump: one run out of Trump Tower, and the other run out of the Kremlin. From the moment Trump announced he was running…
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Hack and Collude
Friday, July 22, 2016 was the day it became clear that the 2016 presidential election would be like no other ever experienced in the United States. On that day, the Russian cut-out WikiLeaks released a…
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Winning
October 7th, 2016, was one of the most important days in American political history. At 4:03 pm that day, the Access Hollywood tape was released. Just 29 minutes later, WikiLeaks – at 4:32pm on a…
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Conspiring
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election is the most damning document ever published about a sitting president. But as much as it told us, the Mueller report said it…
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Payoff
After the election, Russia sought to cash in for its efforts during the election. Collusion didn’t end with the 2016 election, as the Trump transition team and the Kremlin continued working together to plot ways…
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Cover Up
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report documents not only collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin to win the 2016 election but also Trump’s frantic efforts to cover up collusion with Russia. In this week’s…
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Epilogue: Rehashing
In the year since season one of The Asset concluded, we have learned a lot. There are tell all books about the Mueller investigation, explosive new reporting, and the bombshell Senate Intelligence Committee Report. In…