title:  Trump Says He Doesn’t Have Any Investments In Russia — He Must’ve Forgot About This One
text: A new report from the New York Times reveals that Trump renewed trademarks in Russia, which contradicts this claim that he does not have any investments in Russia. Apparently, Trump owns a number of unused registered trademarks in Russia that are left over from a failed attempt to expand his hotel empire into the Russian Federation in 1996 and 2007. Trump has repeatedly sworn that he does not have any investments in Russia. On Twitter, he wrote back in January,  Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA   NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING! Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA   NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017Except, these trademarks are intellectual property owned by the Trump Organization. Which means that Trump can lie as much as he wants, the fact remains that he does have investments in Russia. The trademarks were renewed   get this   on November 8, 2016, election day. The day which I assume future generations may come to know as the official expiration date for our democracy. There are six trademarks that were renewed in total. The New York Times reports that: Despite their inactivity, the Trump Organization sought extensions for the trademarks from Rospatent, the Russian government agency in charge of intellectual property. In a series of approvals starting in April 2016 and ending in December, Rospatent granted new 10-year terms for the trademarks, the agency s records show. Under normal circumstances, renewing trademarks in Russia is generally a routine matter, and there is nothing to suggest from the few public records available that Mr. Trump was shown favoritism. Still, extensions are not guaranteed and can be subject to challenge   particularly if, as in this case, the trademarks went unused for years, according to interviews with a half-dozen lawyers specializing in intellectual property law. It seems hard to believe that the Trump Organization would bother going through with re-registering the trademarks if Trump or his spawn do not plan on conducting (more) business in Russia in the future. The Intercept has been running an effort to document every possible connection between Trump s more minor henchmen and Russia. So far, the results are staggering. It appears that there are major conflicts of interest with Russia at every level of the Trump administration. This just adds more fuel to an inferno that might end up burning the Trump administration down. As the investigation into Trump s connections with Russia continues, it becomes more evident every day that Trump and his cronies have a lot of reasons to keep Vladimir Putin happy. Even if that means the man who campaigned vehemently on supporting  America First  policies, is putting himself and his company s profits, ahead of the nation he is supposed to be leading.Featured image via Wikimedia Commons