TRUMP LAWYERS
describe Russia income.
WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday released a letter from two tax attorneys for President Donald Trump claiming that his only income from Russian sources in the past 10 years came from fees for hosting the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013, his sale of a Palm Beach mansion to a Russian businessman in 2008 and his company’s routine sales of condo units and rounds of golf to Russians.
The attorneys said their analysis came from a review of Trump’s tax returns for the past 10 years. However, they did not release the returns or provide any documents to support their claims.
The letter, from lawyers Sheri Dillon and William Nelson, also asserted that Trump holds no debt from Russian lenders and holds no equity
in Russian entities. They explained that because of the way Trump operates his businesses, his corporate income and debt would be disclosed on his personal tax returns.
Trump has come under increasing scrutiny over his possible ties to Russia — which he has denied.
According to the letter, income from the Miss Universe pageant made up a “substantial portion” of the $12.2 million in foreign income that Trump reported in 2013. His lawyers also noted that he sold a home in Palm Beach to a Russian buyer in 2008 for $95 million — $54 million more than he had purchased the home for in 2005. They also said Trump had earned an “immaterial” amount in sales of real estate and other products to Russians, transactions that would not be reflected on his tax returns.
With those exceptions, they said, Trump’s returns do not reflect “any income of any type from Russian sources.”
Critics have raised questions about whether Russians have funneled money through Trump or his projects into the United States. The letter is less clear about whether Trump has borrowed or received any money from Russian sources. It says his tax returns do not reflect any “debt” to Russian lenders, but, depending on the type of debt, it would not necessarily be listed on a tax return.
The letter also says that no Russian sources have “any equity investments” in organizations that Trump controls. That means that Russian sources were not legal investment partners on any project that the Trump Organization pursued. But borrowing money from Russian sources could mean a number of things and would not necessarily represent an “equity investment.”
On Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he thought Congress should investigate Trump’s business ties for possible Russian connections, including perhaps requesting Trump’s tax returns. Breaking with past precedent for U.S. presidents, Trump has refused to release his returns publicly.
Trump and his aides have been promising for several days that they would send a certified letter from Trump’s attorneys to Graham showing that the president has no business ties with Russia. “Certified” refers to the class of mail used to send the document but does not offer any outside assurance that the contents of the document are accurate.
“I just sent a letter to Lindsey Graham from one of the most prestigious law firms in the country — tremendous, highly rated law firm — that I have nothing to do with Russia,” Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt on Thursday.
On Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that Trump had “charged a leading law firm” to send a letter to Graham showing that “he has no connections to Russia.”
The letter released Friday is dated March 8 and addressed to Trump. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about why the letter was written in early March and why it was not released publicly for more than two months.