On Thursday, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow revealed that President Donald Trump appears to get his craziest conspiracy theories directly from the Kremlin, parroting Vladimir Putin’s talking points on subjects like the relationship between the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan and its collapse.

A former FBI counterintelligence agent has said that the FBI is likely to look into how Trump got his mistaken version of Russian history.

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On Saturday afternoon, professor and Proof of Collusion author Seth Abramson posted a Twitter thread in which he analyzed how Trump gets intelligence and propaganda from Kremlin sources through the lens of a meeting Trump held at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. on March 31, 2016,

At that meeting, Trump “personally ordered” the Republican National Committee to update its platform on Ukraine to match Russia’s stance at that meeting.

“There was one mystery I was never able to resolve, and therefore isn’t resolved in” his book, Abramson tweeted. “The mystery: who the hell put a bug in Trump’s ear about Ukraine? The question was an important one because here was Trump… [then] having virtually no knowledge of foreign affairs, issuing an edict on Ukraine to his team for a convention he might never even make it to.”

Abramson sees a clue to what happened in the photo of the meeting—namely, the absence of Trump’s first National Security Advisory aide, Carter Page.

“Page—a once-suspected Russian spy—was so unqualified we can reasonably say his selection for Trump’s committee was the best thing that had ever happened to him,” Abramson writes. “Yet when you look at the pic atop this thread, you don’t see Carter Page. That’s right—Page *skipped out* on the first-ever meeting of a committee the elevation to which was the *literal highlight* of his entire professional career… Page not being able to make the meeting suggests the timing of the set-up of the meeting was very short indeed—which would match the very short timing for the scheduling of Trump’s first foreign policy speech, which was *officially* an event Manafort was responsible for.”

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So, Abramson, concludes, Trump held this meeting and changed his stance on Russia within four days of hiring Putin-tied operative Paul Manafort as an adviser.

21/ Yet within *96 hours* of Kremlin-agent/Ukraine-specialist Manafort being hired, Trump has: (1) Suddenly scheduled a national security meeting;

(2) Developed a full Ukraine policy;

(3) Decided to order his team to make a pro-Kremlin amendment to the RNC platform on Ukraine. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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Read the first part of Abramson’s thread below.

1/ VANITY FAIR has credited this feed with being the first to recognize the significance of the March 31, 2016 meeting Trump convened—at the Trump International Hotel DC—of his “National Security Advisory Committee.” I can tell you @NatashaBertrand deserves a lot of credit, too. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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2/ It was a single line from an article (below) Bertrand published on March 3, 2017 that caused me to spend hundreds of tweets dissecting all aspects of a meeting media had previously thought unimportant. It turns out it could be more key than I realized. https://t.co/fIZLG3Oyq4 — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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3/ Bertrand’s story revealed that, per the number-2 man on Trump’s National Security Advisory Committee—J.D. Gordon—Trump personally ordered the Committee to amend the RNC platform on Ukraine to benefit the Kremlin, and issued his orders at a March 2016 national security meeting. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

4/ I found that odd—so I tried to figure out what the meeting was and who’d attended. I quickly found the picture now atop this thread, and having spotted a ridiculously young man sitting among Trump’s national security advisors, I presumed it was George Papadopoulos. And it was. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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5/ Writing PROOF OF COLLUSION gave me the opportunity and impetus to learn more about that March 31, 2016 meeting of Trump’s “National Security Advisory Committee” than, well, anybody but Mueller and his team, I imagine. I relentlessly timelined and researched every aspect of it. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

5/ Writing PROOF OF COLLUSION gave me the opportunity and impetus to learn more about that March 31, 2016 meeting of Trump’s “National Security Advisory Committee” than, well, anybody but Mueller and his team, I imagine. I relentlessly timelined and researched every aspect of it. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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6/ But there was one mystery I was never able to resolve, and therefore isn’t resolved in PROOF OF COLLUSION—despite the book’s thorough accounting of that meeting and why it matters (and what its aftermath was). The mystery: *who the hell put a bug in Trump’s ear about Ukraine*? — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

7/ The question was an important one because here was Trump, at a March ’16 meeting, having never yet delivered a foreign policy address, and having virtually no knowledge of foreign affairs, issuing an edict on Ukraine to his team for a convention he might never even make it to. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

8/ Trump wouldn’t issue his first foreign policy address until 4 weeks later (April 27 at the Mayflower Hotel), and reporting since has revealed that that speech was written in April, not before—and not by Trump. (It was written by three Kremlin agents, but that’s another story). — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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9/ Moreover, Trump’s Kremlin agent-penned foreign policy speech *had no Ukraine policy*—Richard Burt, a Kremlin agent, saw to that—so how did Trump have such a forceful and *specific* Ukraine policy on March 31, 2016? One *so forceful* it directed his aides’ actions months later? — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

10/ I think I know the answer—in fact, it’s obvious. But let me make two notes first: (1) We know Trump is nervous about that meeting because he and his aides have lied about what happened at it and whether it was substantive; (2) Trump tells friends Paul Manafort could sink him. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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11/ NBC reported the latter fact in January ’18; Trump privately told friends the Mueller probe wouldn’t hurt him *because* Manafort wasn’t going to “flip” on him. (The obvious question: about *what*?) The first fact has been recorded repeatedly—in every story about that meeting. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

12/ Trump said he didn’t remember the meeting and nothing happened at it; Gordon says the meeting directed Trump’s position on a key RNC platform plank. Trump, Manafort, and Gordon said Trump had nothing to do with the plank change, but Gordon (and others) have since said he did. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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13/ Trump wants us to believe he doesn’t remember that meeting at the Trump International Hotel in D.C. He *also* wants us to believe that nothing important happened at the meeting once the press was ushered out. But he’s lying—which means he remembers it, and it was *important*. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

15/ Well, here’s the thing: the first guy Trump hired to his National Security Advisory Committee was Carter Page, and Page—a once-suspected Russian spy—was so unqualified we can reasonably say his selection for Trump’s committee was the best thing that had ever happened to him. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

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16/ Yet when you look at the pic atop this thread, you don’t see Carter Page. That’s right—Page *skipped out* on the first-ever meeting of a committee the elevation to which was the *literal highlight* of his entire professional career. Isn’t that odd? And where was Page? Hawaii. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

17/ Page’s Hawaii trip was for business—but not such important business it warranted missing the March 31, 2016 meeting of a committee he was the first man selected to. No—what happened is Trump set up the first meeting of his National Security Advisory Committee on short notice. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

20/ But Manafort was only hired as a “delegate counter” on March 27, 2016. He wasn’t hired to manage/direct *any portion* of the campaign’s policy agenda. Indeed, he wasn’t even supposed to have a purpose until the Republican National Convention in July—if Trump made it that far. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

21/ Yet within *96 hours* of Kremlin-agent/Ukraine-specialist Manafort being hired, Trump has: (1) Suddenly scheduled a national security meeting;

(2) Developed a full Ukraine policy;

(3) Decided to order his team to make a pro-Kremlin amendment to the RNC platform on Ukraine. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019

22/ So let me now drop the other shoe: when JD Gordon arranged the pro-Kremlin amendment to the RNC platform on Ukraine in July ’16—and after Trump, Manafort, and Gordon had *all* lied about the campaign’s role in that change—someone *did* take credit for that pro-Kremlin action. — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 5, 2019