Trump admits he received millions from Russia

Because of the fact that he obviously fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation, Donald Trump tried to claim he had no business dealings with Russia by having his lawyer issue a letter saying he had no income from Russia save for some "exceptions."

Turns out those "exceptions" were worth over $100 million dollars. From The New York Times:

President Trump’s lawyers say his income tax returns do not show income from Russian sources or debt owed to Russians, with the exception of $95 million paid by a Russian billionaire for a Trump-owned estate in Florida and $12.2 million in payments in connection with holding the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013.

The letter, of course, is infantile at best. Trump could simply release the tax returns and show everybody there's nothing to hide. But instead, he has a lawyer said he had no income from Russia except for more than $100 million dollars.

And by the way: The New York Times didn't buy this letter, and in a very classy way the article says eseentially that the letter is bullshit:

The lawyers noted that their statement covers only the period dating back a decade, after their firm, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, began representing Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization. It leaves other questions unanswered, including whether Mr. Trump or his firms received Russian income or loans from entities registered elsewhere or whether he derived income from Russian-linked partnerships that file their own returns.

“This is an artfully written letter, covering a limited time period,” said David Cay Johnston, an expert on taxes and a former New York Times reporter who has written extensively about Mr. Trump. “Much of what we need to know about Trump and Russian money — and that includes money from Kazakhstan, Turkey and other places where Russian oligarchs operate — involves transactions prior to 10 years ago.”

In short, the lawyer's letter doesn't disclose if Trump got Russian money from other countries in which Russians operate. And most of the Trump dealings with Russia are not from 10 years ago, but prior to that.

So Trump tried to pull fast one on the American public, but the press, once again, caught him in his bullshit.

This is the actual letter from Trump's lawyer:

NEW: @EamonJavers obtained a copy of the letter from Trump's lawyer. This is it. --> pic.twitter.com/0lvSyHanRj

— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) May 12, 2017