LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP TAXES: “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 statements are contained in a letter from two lawyers, Sheri A. Dillon and William F. Nelson, of the tax firm Morgan Lewis, to Mr. Trump, which the White House released on Friday. The president cited the letter in an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News as proof that there were no hidden financial ties between him and Russia.
In addition to the Florida estate and the beauty pageant, the lawyers said Mr. Trump received undisclosed payments over 10 years from Russians for hotel rooms, rounds of golf, or Trump-licensed products, like wine, ties or mattresses.
But they said those amount were ‘immaterial’ and would not have been identified as coming from Russian sources in the tax returns.”
-Mark Landler, “Trump Lawyers State He Had No Russian Income or Debt in Tax Returns, With Few Exceptions,” The New York Times online, May 12, 2017