Trump denies Russian income despite letter showing $100 million from Russian sources

The issue has flared again after Trump fired James Comey as FBI director, amid the agency's investigation of possible ties between Trump's campaign and Russian Federation. On Tuesday, Trump fired James Comey, the Federal Bureau of Investigation director who had been leading the agency's inquiry into Russian interference in the United States election. Those include as much as $12.2 million in income from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Russia, and the 2008 sale, for $95 million, of a Florida estate to a Russian billionaire.

"I had it in Moscow a long time ago, but other than that I have nothing to do with Russian Federation", he said, referring to the pageant.

"I have no investments in Russian Federation, none whatsoever", Trump said Thursday in an interview with NBC News.

Obviously, the letter proves nothing and may prompt more questions about Trump's Russian Federation ties.

It starts with Trump's luxury tower in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of Soho, where his partner in building that highrise was Bayrock LLC, whose primary investor was a Russian mining oligarch and another major investor was a convicted Russian mobster named Felix Sater.

Because the Trump Organization is a privately held company, the specific sources of income for its over 500 separate entities is impossible to determine.

Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said: "Trump's attempt to hide his Russian Federation connections is misleading and pathetic".

As for the firm's presence in Russian Federation, a firm spokesperson said that no lawyers from Morgan Lewis have handled any business dealings for Mr. Trump in Russian Federation. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has been Trump's tax counsel since 2005, the letter notes.

Trump's lawyers said they reviewed his tax returns for the past decade. Russian citizens? Wholly Russian-owned businesses? "Or suppose that things were run through Russian allies, including former Soviet countries".

In 2008, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. said at a real estate conference that Trump businesses "see a lot of money pouring in from Russian Federation". It offers no explanation for why they were writing Trump. "Instead of firing three high-level officials [Sally Yates, Preet Bharara and James Comey] who were digging into this and constantly calling the questions about his Russian connections fake news".