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Business and personal 45th & 47th President of the United States Tenure
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Donald Trump has pursued business deals in Russia since 1987, and has repeatedly traveled there to explore potential business opportunities. In 1996, Trump trademark applications were submitted for potential Russian real estate development deals. Trump, his children, and his partners have repeatedly visited Russia, connecting with real estate developers and Russian government officials to explore joint venture opportunities. Trump was never able to successfully conclude any real estate deals in Russia. However, individual Russians have invested heavily in Trump properties, and, following Trump's bankruptcies in the 1990s, he borrowed money from Russian sources. Both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have said that Russia was an important source of money for the Trump businesses.
Efforts to build a Trump building in Moscow continued into June 2016 while Trump was securing the Republican nomination for the presidential election.
In January 2017, BuzzFeed News reported the existence of the then-unverified Steele dossier (also called the Trump–Russia dossier), which alleges connections between Trump associates and Russia. Trump responded the next day, and again at a February news conference, that he has no financial connections to Russia. In response to ongoing questions, White House press secretary Sean Spicer reiterated in May that Trump has no business connections to Russia. Also in May, Trump's tax lawyers sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying Trump had not received any income from Russian sources over the past 10 years "with a few exceptions".
Trump's pre-Presidential business dealings with Russia were scrutinized by the special counsel.[1]
In July 2018, The Daily Beast reported on a search engine optimization project intended to minimize public awareness of Trump's connections to an associate who worked on these projects with him.[2]
- ^ Scannell, Kara; Brown, Pamela; Borger, Gloria; Sciutto, Jim (February 28, 2018). "Mueller team asks about Trump's Russian business dealings as he weighed a run for president". CNN. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
- ^ Markay, Lachlan; Jones, Dean Sterling (July 5, 2018). "Inside the Online Campaign to Whitewash the History of Donald Trump's Russian Business Associates". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on May 20, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2018.