‘Merchant of death’ Viktor Bout urges Trump to seek asylum in Russia as his life is in danger from government threats and the Stormy Daniels investigation
- The convicted arms dealer sent a telegram to Trump warning that he was in danger
- He invited the former president to Russia, where he would receive protection
- He cited the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation following Trump’s arrest this week
Former ‘Merchant of Death’ arms dealer Viktor Bout has issued a bizarre warning to former President Donald Trump that his ‘life is in danger’.
Bout, who is back in Russia thanks to a prisoner exchange negotiated by the Biden administration for American basketball star Brittney Griner, said he sent a telegram to Trump warning following the former president’s arrest and arraignment in Manhattan this week.
“First of all, I believe that his life is in danger and that the legal process that has now begun in New York will not end in a conviction of Donald Trump and a disqualification from the election.
“He’ll probably just get knocked out there,” he said.
Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was released in a prisoner exchange, said on Russian state television that former President Donald Trump is in danger now that he has been charged in the Stormy Daniels case
Bout, who served 14 years in prison before his release in the US, had at least one thing wrong about the US justice system. Trump, even if convicted of filing false business documents related to the Stormy Daniels payoff, would not be disqualified from the presidency.
He provided no further evidence that Trump would be eliminated.
You are welcome in Russia. You will have a safe haven,” he wrote, according to the document he shared.
He even adopted some of Trump’s own language, referring to an “evil swamp that had taken over.”
Bout, who was played by actor Nicolas Cage in ‘Lord of War’, did so on Russian state television. News week reported, at a time of high tensions with Washington.
Bout made the unusual offer to invite Trump to Russia. Trump was under investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller for his campaign ties to Russia. Trump continues to oppose the investigation he calls “Russia, Russia, Russia,” even after his arrest this week in New York.
Bout claimed that Trump would be barred from the election, which is not the case under US law. He said Trump should come to Russia where he could get security and protection and lead an “uprising” against “globalists.”
Bout said he sent a telegram to Trump with the warning
“You are welcome in Russia,” the convicted arms dealer told Trump
Bout said the legal process in New York will not end. DA Alvin Bragg brought charges against the grand jury after the district attorney’s office declined to file charges while Trump was in office
Trump has denied the porn star’s claims of an affair
Trump criticized the prisoner exchange that freed Bout
Bout said, “That’s why I think it’s in the interest of all humanity and first of all the entire American people to invite Donald Trump here, in Russia, to give him safety and protection here so that he can revolt against the globalists and, most importantly, will not allow the elimination of the American people.”
The news came on a day when the Wall Street Journal reported that Evan Gershkovich had been formally charged with espionage in Moscow.
The newspaper and US officials have emphatically said the allegations are false. It comes amid Russia’s anger at the US, which provided billions in military aid to Ukraine after Russia invaded its neighbor last year.
National security spokesman John Kirby called it “inexcusable” that Russia would not grant consular access. He is reportedly being held in a notorious prison that has held dissidents and others since the Stalin era.
Trump blasted the trade that freed Bout last year, calling it “stupid.”
“What kind of a deal is it to trade Brittney Griner, a basketball player who openly hates our country, for the man known as ‘The Merchant of Death,'” Trump wrote on his Truth Social app.
He may have been referring to her call to stop playing the national anthem before games to protest the police killing of George Floyd and other African Americans amid nationwide protests.