Former President Donald Trump received a bleak warning last week from an unexpected quarter: Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.”
Bout is the man who was freed from a U.S. prison last year by President Joe Biden in a controversial trade for American basketball player Brittney Griner, who had been convicted in a Russian court of drug possession.
According to a video posted on Twitter by the BBC’s Francis Scarr, Bout said on Russian television that he had sent a telegram to Trump, advising him that his life was in danger and offering him asylum in Russia — not to become a Russian citizen, but to “lead the fight for the American people, the rebellion against globalists, and for the bright future of the planet.”
Bout wrote in the telegram that “the future of humanity and life is at stake” and implied that Trump is the man to save it.
The “merchant of death” Viktor Bout says he has sent a message to Donald Trump offering him political asylum in Russia
He warns that Trump’s life is in danger in the US and calls on the ex-president to lead an “uprising against the globalists” from abroad pic.twitter.com/5C7KJcWom3
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) April 7, 2023
Bout said the danger came, not from foreign enemies, but from the U.S. government, and that it was tied in with the fraud charges recently leveled against the 45th U.S. president last week by the Manhattan district attorney.
“The legal process which has now begun in New York won’t just end in Donald Trump being convicted and barred from the [2024] election. Most likely he will simply be eliminated there,” Bout said, according to the English subtitles on the Russian news video posted by Scarr.
“Therefore, I think it’s in the best interests of all of humanity and primarily all of the American people to invite Donald Trump here, to Russia, to give him security and protection here so that he leads this uprising against the globalists and, most importantly, does not allow the elimination of the American people.”
It’s an unusual argument coming from a man who spent 14 years in a U.S. federal penitentiary for helping to kill people — including Americans — as a result of some of his “prolific” arms deals, which were dramatized in a 2005 film called “Lord of War” starring Nicolas Cage, according to Newsweek.
It’s particularly surprising that Bout would show such concern and speak so glowingly of Trump, who called the prisoner exchange that freed him “a stupid and unpatriotic embarrassment for the USA!” according to The Hill.
Bout argued in his telegram that his offer of asylum would provide an avenue for Trump to “fight for the American people.”
The telegram, pictured in another Twitter post by Scarr, reads:
“I believe your life is in peril,” the telegram said, “because during your term in the White House you had tried to save the American people from the genocidal globalist cabal, to protect the family, and to prevent the global conflicts which now destabilize the world.
Here’s a copy of the telegram! pic.twitter.com/dehL7SZafK
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) April 7, 2023
“Now this evil swamp is destroying the last foundations of the American Republic, in fact turning it to full-blown anarcho-tyranny. The future of humanity and life is at stake.
“The Biden administration will not stop just by dragging you through the court/prison industrial complex. They would sooner end your life than let you stand in their way.
“You will be welcome in Russia. You will have a safe haven, and from here, you can lead the fight for the American people, the rebellion against globalists, and for the bright future of the planet.
“Sincerely Yours, Viktor Bout.”
Newsweek reported that it had reached out by email to the Trump presidential campaign for comment, but no response has been published since the report was published.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.