This week, far-right figures from around the world have gathered in Russia for an economic forum nicknamed “Putin’s Davos.” Among the attendees is Rodney Mims Cook Jr., the commissioner tasked with overseeing President Donald Trump’s highly contested White House ballroom project. While Cook has gotten much attention from Russian media as he’s shown off Trump’s ballroom, there seems to be some confusion within the U.S. government as to what he’s doing there, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying he is “unaware” of an American delegation to the event while Cook himself claims he was sent by Trump and urged to go by the State Department, which Rubio oversees.
“According to Russian media, Trump's ballroom commissioner, Rodney Mims Cook, told Russian press that Trump and the State Department permitted him to travel to Russia for the economic forum in St Petersburg,” reports Olga Lautman, senior Russian intelligence expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis. “He also said the [State Dept.] thought his travel to Russia was a good idea.”
Said Cook to Russian media, "The President and the State Department allowed me to come over to say hello and see what could come out of this in the long term. … The President's allowing me to come over could open up new avenues. This is purely an observation to see where this might lead.”
Cook’s assertion is interesting in the context of a statement from Rubio, who said he was “unaware” that a U.S. delegation was at the forum. Rubio oversees the State Department and works closely with Trump, raising questions about the daylight between his and Cook’s claims. According to Financial Times Moscow Bureau chief Max Seddon, Cook “is an ardent Russophile. He has been involved in restoring medieval Russian churches for decades. His own house in Georgia is designed in the Russian style. He says he is friends with many senior Russian elite figures. He seems absolutely thrilled to be there.”
Said government affairs expert Alex Goldenberg, Senior Fellow at the Rutgers Miller Center, “The Kremlin courts the people it assesses as useful for widening America’s divisions, the specific issue is incidental. They’ll stoke whatever fracture is available.” Interestingly enough, Goldenberg was speaking about Candace Owens, a far-right influencer and former Trump ally who is also appearing at the event. “Moscow extended the platform and that tells you how they see her, as someone whose reach can be turned into division or political capital. The Soviets had a term for Western sympathizers like Candace Owens. It translates roughly to useful idiot.”
“Maybe that’s why Trump’s ballroom commissioner is in St Petersburg,” suggested Lautman, pointing to recent news that funding for the president’s controversial ballroom had just been scrapped.
Cook and Owens aren’t the only figures from Trump’s orbit to attend. Also there is the Trump-supporting actor Steven Seagal, an ardent fan of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who spoke at the event of a Hollywood that has been taken over by “one mafia that is controlling all of the movies,” as well as the misogynist manosphere influencers Andrew and Christian Tate, who face numerous charges in Romania and the UK.
As these and other attendees gathered in St. Petersburg, the skies above were thick with smoke from a Ukrainian drone attack.
