Does Russian Money Keep Donald Trump Afloat?

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The president speaks:

Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin might prefer Republican nominee Donald Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, because the business magnate has “repeatedly expressed admiration” for the Russian leader in the past.

“I am basing this on what Mr. Trump himself has said,” the president said. “And I think that — Trump’s gotten pretty favorable coverage — back in Russia.”

The president’s comments add considerable heft to mounting evidence that Russian hackers were behind the DNC hack. Obama said that the FBI is still investigating the origin of the hack, but he acknowledged that “experts have attributed this to the Russians.”

It’s one thing when a campaign manager or some campaign surrogates say that Vladimir Putin is working to help elect Trump. It’s quite another when the president says it. That automatically makes it news. And Trump himself is making things worse. Asked by Newsweek, “Do you, or any of your business units have outstanding loans with Russian banks or individuals?” his spox said “Mr. Trump does not have any business dealings in/with Russia.” Then Trump tweeted this:

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.

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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