THE TIGHTENING NOOSE (profanity/degeneracy alert):

Trump admired Vladimir Putin, writes Cohen, because he wrongly believed that the Russian president is " the richest man in the world by a multiple." Trump loved Putin, Cohen wrote, "because the Russian leader had the ability 'to take over an entire nation and run it like it was his personal company -- like the Trump Organization, in fact.

"Trump's sycophantic praise of the Russian leader during the 2016 campaign began as a way to suck up and ensure access to the oligarch's money after he lost the election," the Post reports. But Cohen says Trump also believed that Putin's hatred Hillary Clinton, which dated back to her support for the 2011 protest movement in Russia, "could strengthen Trump's hand in the United States."

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