Courtesy of Pam Martens
President Donald Trump Addresses a Joint Session of Congress, February 28, 2017
Last evening, Donald Trump was interviewed by NBC’s Lester Holt on the growing controversy surrounding Trump’s motivations in firing the Director of the FBI, James Comey. Excerpts from the interview have been widely carried on numerous media channels.
In one particularly noteworthy moment, Holt queried Trump on his money ties to Russia with Trump responding that he had just given Republican Senator Lindsey Graham a letter confirming that he has no investments in Russia. The exchange between Holt and Trump went as follows:
Holt: Can you tell us whether you, your family, your businesses, your surrogates have accepted any investments, any loans from Russian individuals or institutions?
Trump: In fact, I just sent a letter to Lindsey Graham from one of the most prestigious law firms in the country — a tremendous highly rated law firm — that I have nothing to do with Russia. I have no investments in Russia. None whatsoever.
I don’t have property in Russia. A lot of people thought I owned office buildings in Moscow. I don’t have property in Russia and I am ah, in very, I mean I’m in total compliance in every way. Now I have to tell you, I file documents, hundreds of pages worth of documents, with the Federal Elections Bureau, everybody’s seen them. I’ve built a great company. But I’m not involved with Russia. I have had dealings over the years where I sold a house to a very wealthy Russian many years ago. I had the Miss Universe Pageant which I owned for quite awhile. I had it in Moscow a long time ago. But other than that I have nothing to do with Russia.” [The Miss Universe Pageant took place in Moscow in 2013 — four years ago.]
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