‘COLLUSION DELUSION’

Former Trump Adviser Michael Caputo Writing New Book Titled ‘Putin Won’

The book is billed as “an inside narrative of the decades-long covert political war between Moscow and Washington” up to and including the Trump era.

Michael Caputo, a former adviser on the 2016 Trump campaign and a peripheral figure in the Trump-Russia investigations, has inked a deal to author a new book provocatively titled, Putin Won, The Daily Beast has learned.

The book doesn’t appear to primarily focus on profusely praising or declaring fealty to President Donald Trump, as has been the case with many non-fiction works by other Trump associates such as Jeanine Pirro, Sean Spicer, and Gina Loudon. 

Instead, the book is billed by its publisher—the Bombardier Books imprint of Post Hill Press—as “an inside narrative of the decades-long covert political war between Moscow and Washington” starting in 1994, and as a memoir spanning decades of Caputo’s career that includes his time in Russia, his political work in Washington, D.C., and his grilling by federal investigators during the Trump era.

The former Trump adviser worked on various campaigns and initiatives for prominent Republicans such as Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Jack Kemp, and has also served as a media and political consultant for Russian and Ukrainian interests. Since Trump’s inauguration, he has frequently appeared on TV news to defend the president and his agenda.

“Putin is the only winner in the Russia hoax because he’s managed to turn our nation against itself,” Caputo said in a brief statement. “As the only person dragged into the investigations who’s worked with the White House and the Kremlin, I’ve got a story to tell, and I’m delighted to work with Bombardier Books to tell it.”

Caputo himself became a minor character in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and was interviewed by Mueller’s team. As a result of the multiple Russia probes in which he was ensnared, Caputo says his family and his business suffered, with legal bills totaling in the hundreds of thousands, his company shedding roughly three-quarters of its clients, and half of his staffers getting laid off.

“Why did my family, my children, myself, my company, my employees, my clients, why did they all get trashed?” Caputo said earlier this year.

Shortly after the Mueller investigation concluded and the special counsel’s report was sent to the Justice Department, President Trump welcomed his one-time adviser to the Oval Office for an informal conversation. It was the first time the president and his 2016 aide had talked for two years, ever since Caputo had become a fixture of the Trump-Russia investigations.

According to Caputo, the president discussed exacting revenge on Democratic lawmakers who’d crossed him on Russia and obstruction matters, and assured Caputo that—with the Mueller probe in the rearview—he’d stay in touch. 

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Asawin SuebsaengSenior Political Reporter

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