New in SpyWeek: More Tulsi Tumult, Secret Trump biz talks with Russia, Havana Syndrome
And more: An IC whistleblower's bomb, Treasury's secret money op against Iran, Wyden's odd letter to CIA boss Ratcliffe, a GRU general whacked, a Benghazi plotter nabbed
Kyiv Intelligence Scoop: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that the U.S. and Russia had secretly discussed $12 billion worth of economic deals—some encroaching on Ukraine’s sovereignity—and suggested President Trump would want them in place before the midterm congressional elections. He said “intelligence sources showed him documents that laid out a framework for U.S.-Russian economic cooperation…,” the Washington Post reported. “We are not aware of all their bilateral economic or business agreements, but we are receiving some information on the matter,” Zelenskyy told journalists Friday. Trump’s lead negotiators in the U.S.-Russia talks are real estate operators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have been given multiple diplomatic roles in the administration. Trump’s hopes that economic inducements will persuade Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire, many observers say, are illusory. He won’t stop until Ukraine is his.
Tehran Takedown: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent boasted last week about what amounted to a U.S. covert op that crashed Iran’s currency and provoked nationwide economic protests. “What we can do at Treasury, and what we have done, is create a dollar shortage in the country,” Bessent said at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The op had a “grand culmination in December,” he added, “when one of the largest banks in Iran went under, there was a run in the bank, the central bank had to print money, the Iranian currency went into freefall, inflation exploded and hence we have seen the Iranian people out on the street.”
