Also it is just next-door to the Baltic states, so it makes sense to book a short trip to there (for whoever was bribing Thomas with trips back then)

That’s a possible motivation as well, but his unwillingness to say ever anything bad Putin tells me he’s holding him with some kompromat.

I mean, Trump has never passed the opportunity to badmouth anyone else, with the exception of his crime family. Why is he making this exception also for Putin, going out of his way to always be on his good side and lick his boots?

There’s got to be some pretty damaging information about him, that would be beyond his usual shady business dealings or just Russia plain helping his campaign - people already know these and it hasn’t made a dent in his electability amongst his MAGA base. It’s got to be something amazingly awful even for Trump’s standards to keep him in line like that.