The smoking gun: Don Trump Jr brags about the money that's been pouring in from Russia.

[pnwmom]

This was in 2008. And then in Feb. 2015, his brother Eric Trump says that Russian investment has been slowing because of the drop in oil prices.

So the Trumps haven't necessarily been investing money in Russia -- Russians have been pouring money into the Trump orgs.

And the Trump orgs need that Russian money to keep flowing.

http://www.eturbonews.com/5008/executive-talk-donald-trump-jr-bullish-russia-and-few-emerging-ma

"And in terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia. There's indeed a lot of money coming for new-builds and resale reflecting a trend in the Russian economy and, of course, the weak dollar versus the ruble," he said

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/18/eric-trump-oil-drop-slows-russian-nyc-investment.html

Feb. 2015

New York City real estate is hot, Eric Trump told CNBC on Wednesday, despite what he sees as somewhat slowing Russian investment due to the collapse in oil prices.

"There's a lot of foreign investment coming into the city. They feel very comfortable parking their money here," said the executive vice president of development and acquisitions for The Trump Organization. "Does that change with the oil prices and the lack of Russian funds coming in? I think we'll see a little bit of that."

THE BACKGROUND (Look how evasively Trump and Manafort answered these questions)

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-denies-he-has-any-ties-to-russia/

CBS4's Jim DeFede then asked Trump about whether Russian funds have flowed into his businesses and if Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to control him as a result.

"Is that the theory? I haven't heard that at all," Trump said. "I mean I haven't heard that. But I have nothing to do with Russia, nothing to do, I never met Putin, I have nothing to do with Russia whatsoever."

Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort also denied on Wednesday that the GOP presidential nominee has any financial ties to Russia.

In an interview on "CBS This Morning," Manafort was asked directly to confirm that Trump has no financial relationship with Russian oligarchs.

"That's what he said. That's what... that's obviously what our position is," Manafort said. But don't look for Trump to release his taxes to prove it.

[skylucy]

1. Whoa! Thanks pnwmom! This needs to be recommended!

Send it to the "journalists" at CNN and especially to MSNBC!

[tallahasseedem]

2. I thinks that's why he flipped shit the other day...

we are on to something here.

[marlakay]

3. They need to really push this

And be more tough on Trump.

Every day find another thing to talk about in the news bad about him because if they don't Trumps people will do so about her.

[MerryBlooms]

4. Bookmarked.

Crooked fucks from top to bottom.

Thanks for posting and further exposing this hot mess from hell.

[unitedwethrive]

5. Great digging!!

Keep this alive!

[Cha]

6. Big Stupd Mouth trumps.

[ericson00]

7. tweet this to both Democrats and Never Trumpers

[BooScout]

8. Take this one viral....

It's time to dump on Trump.

[63splitwindow]

9. GO! GO! GO!

[anamandujano]

10. The shysters at PBS gave Trump a pass and turned it into an anti Hilary message.

Even the so-called Democrat Mark Shields said that whenever emails are mentioned, it's trouble for Hillary.

They all suck.

[Person 2713]

28. Yes they do

[TonyPDX]

11. Thanks, Citizen's United!! n/t

[4lbs]

12. K & R !

Thank you for the compilation of information!

[Maru Kitteh]

13. OUTSTANDING post! Bookmarking.

[Andy823]

14. K&R nt

[world wide wally]

15. We have to tie his Russian connections to his taxes at every available opportunity

[pangaia]

16. THE SIBERIAN CANDIDATE.

[meow2u3]

22. The Siberian Candidate is right!

[calimary]

25. GREAT one!!!

The Siberian Candidate.

Needs to be said, read, and SPREAD!

[pangaia]

29. OK. I'll do an OP.. Without comment..see what happens..

READY??

GO!!

[Kingofalldems]

18. Kick this for all the Trumpies.

[meow2u3]

23. The Trumpanzees won't give a rat's patoot

That's the extent of their willful blindness. They're willing to back a loose cannon whose behavior borders on treason just because he has a (R) behind his name.

[George II]

19. This story isn't going away, it's going to blow up in their faces.

[FrenchieCat]

20. Drip, Drip, Drip.....

[Android3.14]

21. This is as interesting as politics can be

This is the reason I hang out on DU.

[calimary]

24. Uh YEAH.

From Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo (bold emphasis is mine):

Let's start with the basic facts. There is a lot of Russian money flowing into Trump's coffers and he is conspicuously solicitous of Russian foreign policy priorities.

I'll list off some facts.

1. All the other discussions of Trump's finances aside, his debt load has grown dramatically over the last year, from $350 million to $630 million. This is in just one year while his liquid assets have also decreased. Trump has been blackballed by all major US banks.

2. Post-bankruptcy Trump has been highly reliant on money from Russia, most of which has over the years become increasingly concentrated among oligarchs and sub-garchs close to Vladimir Putin. Here's a good overview from The Washington Post, with one morsel for illustration ...
Since the 1980s, Trump and his family members have made numerous trips to Moscow in search of business opportunities, and they have relied on Russian investors to buy their properties around the world.
“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” Trump’s son, Donald Jr., told a real estate conference in 2008, according to an account posted on the website of eTurboNews, a trade publication. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing

[Princess Turandot]

31. A significant increase in loans...that's interesting...

Hypothetically, if the loans came from 'a foreign source' and that same foreign source was also making direct investments/purchases in the company, it can lead quite nicely to a little laundry action - and I don't mean Maytag.

I lend you $100,000 for your widget biz in some kind of short term revolving credit arrangement.
My good friend invests $50,000 in your widget biz.
By strange coincidence, you have a payment coming due on my loan of $50,000. What good timing!
You send the payment to me in my foreign country, using my friend's money. The $50,000 is now safe at home in the motherland.
We do it all again next week!

Perfectly okay. Unless that $50,000 investment came from doing something naughty.

[LiberalFighter]

38. That part about being blackballed by major US banks I just saw recently.

It needs to be highlighted more.

[MichiganVote]

26. +1000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[turbinetree]

27. If the IRS says that they have finished there "audit" of this guy that likes to stiff

contractors, and downtown mom and pop businesses, then the American public can see how he does business, with Russians, the Chinese, or who and whatever.

There should be public records of these transactions going on in the New York

Then the public can see the "real herr drumpf"


Lets see your IRS returns there "dude"



Honk------------------for a political revolution

[MariaThinks]

30. Kick

[Hekate]

32. Benedict Donald: for all his talk of borders, he has no country to whom he owes allegiance...

Just multinational corporations.

His oath of office would not be worth the paper it is written on.

[Blue Owl]

33. Hey Sarah Palin...

Putin is rearing his head in your airspace

[stuffmatters]

34. Trump's such a bad credit risk to US banks, he can only get loans from Putin et alios

Anthony Weiner described the Trump dependence on Putin pretty clearly on Bill Maher's Convention after show last night.

[stuffmatters]

35. Trump also openly offers & sells US citizenships via $500,000 investments in Trump Org.

Our govt allows people to immigrate if they invest $500,000. Trump has aggressively gamed this statute to get the global wealthy
(he's especially targeted the Chinese) to invest that $500,000 in Trump Org in exchange for US citizenship.

[Squaredeal]

36. Liked how Donny bragged he had friends from Scranton...

...that he met in prep school in PA. Those coal miners didn't even know what a prep school is, or that he was putting them in their place.

[NastyRiffraff]

37. And then there's this...

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia.
6:50 PM - 26 Jul 2016
11,882 11,882 Retweets 37,283 37,283 likes

The evasiveness of this answer is pretty obvious. Nobody cares all that much if Trump has business in Russia, they care whether Russian money funds his business here—which might explain why he's so friendly to Russian interests. He has very carefully avoided answering that question. That's a bad sign since he would normally just lie about it. He must know that evidence of his reliance on Russian money is out there.

Trump's tax returns would tell us the answer, of course, but Trump has declined to release them, unlike every other presidential candidate of the past few decades. Maybe now we know why.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/07/does-russian-money-keep-donald-trump-afloat

I don't think this is going to go away.