An Open Letter to Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

Your Excellency,

We write to you today not with criticism, but with gratitude—and a call for clarity.

Earlier this week, you did what no other sitting head of state has dared to do in such stark terms. You looked history in the eye and told the truth plainly:

“The supreme leader of the world’s greatest superpower is, objectively, a Soviet, or Russian, asset.”

Those words did not echo through the halls of NATO—they detonated. For the first time since 1949, a founding member of the alliance has publicly warned that the United States—its linchpin, its cornerstone—is now helmed by a man who acts in alignment with the very adversary NATO was created to deter.

We are not writing to soften your words. We are writing to strengthen them.

You are not alone in this conclusion. In February 2025, Alnur Mussayev, the former head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee, posted a statement alleging that Donald J. Trump was recruited by the KGB in 1987 under the codename Krasnov.

Mussayev is no crank. He is the former head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee. He has survived abduction attempts, political persecution, and exile under constant threat. His warning may be unverified—but it has not been credibly refuted. And it demands attention, not dismissal.

You may not have read his post. You may not have heard his name. But your statement now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with his.

The West is waking up—but still pretending to sleep.

Trump praises Putin. Trump slashes aid to Ukraine. Trump floats peace plans that mirror Kremlin terms. Trump hosts Putin in Alaska while blaming Zelensky for a war Putin launched. These are not the actions of a neutral broker. These are the moves of a man playing for the other team. Your words made that reality impossible to ignore.

But now comes the harder question: What do we do when the empire’s keeper becomes the infiltrator?

The media will try to sand down your statement. Analysts will label it “rhetorical.” But you are not a columnist. You are the president of a sovereign NATO nation. Your words carry the weight of 75 years of transatlantic cooperation, trust, and shared sacrifice. We urge you: Do not let them be buried under diplomatic static.

The truth you told must be followed by action. Investigation. Interrogation. Evidence. Consequences.

The U.S. press still hides behind euphemisms. Our networks refuse to say what you said. The major outlets ignored Mussayev’s warning. They ignored the red flags. They are still performing CPR on the fiction that Trump is merely “chaotic,” or “unconventional,” or “transactional.”

But you didn’t play that game. You said the quiet part aloud. You gave voice to what European intelligence officials, NATO military planners, and thousands of global citizens have feared for years.

And so we write to you from Closer to the Edge—an independent newsroom that published Mussayev’s warning when no one else would. We did not mock him. We did not run it through the bureaucratic shredder of “needs more proof.” We took it seriously, because the consequences of ignoring it are fatal.

We urge you:

Continue. Say the names. Call on your allies. Demand an international commission. Ask NATO to prepare for the possibility that one of its own has turned.

You have already made history. Now help shape it.

---

While world leaders whisper and the press plays dead, Closer to the Edge publishes what others won’t—subscribe if you’re done waiting for permission to speak the truth.