title:  Lawyers Trump Used To ‘Prove’ He Has No Russia Connection Won ‘Russia Law Firm Of The Year’ In 2016
text: It was the tweet that blew up the internet:BREAKING: Trump lawyer: Tax returns from past 10 years show no "income of any type from Russian sources," with few exceptions.  The Associated Press (@AP) May 12, 2017The headscratching claim by Trump s lawyers was that he had  no income of any type  from Russia  with few exceptions.The exceptions cited don t raise many eyebrows. What is noticeably absent is any mention of the Russia megadonors Eric Trump recently bragged helped finance Trump s golf resort, leading one to assume that there are things being intentionally left out of this report. (Eric Trump now denies making this admission, unfortunately Eric has been known to lie before.)The follow up story published by the Associated Press was even more bizarre (emphasis added).President Donald Trump s lawyers say a review of his last 10 years of tax returns do not reflect  any income of any type from Russian sources,  with some exceptions.The lawyers did not release copies of Trump s tax returns so The Associated Press cannot independently verify their conclusions.So Trump s lawyers  reviewed  Trump s tax returns and   surprise   found that he is completely innocent of any wrongdoing. But they won t let reporters independently verify those findings. So we just have to take their word for it If that s the case, then the law firm doing the investigation better have an absolutely impeccable record. Instead, Trump got one that has even more connections than he (allegedly!) does.The lawyers Trump turned to work for a firm called Morgan Lewis. It does a lot of business in Russia. It does so much business in Russia, in fact, that it actually nabbed a prestigious award for being  Russia Law Firm of the Year  in 2016.The law firm that sent the letter RE: Trump's biz interests in Russia was recognized as "Russia Law Firm of the Year" in 2016: pic.twitter.com/t7yBFpl1Hn  Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) May 12, 2017Others argue the law firm is merely a victim of its own success. It s a global company, of course it would be in Russia.Trump letter is dumb for other reasons, but not this. Morgan Lewis & Bockius is one of the biggest & most well-known lawfirms in the world. https://t.co/gBeg7Ms0EP  Jeff B/DDHQ (@EsotericCD) May 12, 2017However, this needn t be a massive conspiracy. Something worth thinking about: This group   which has a vested interest in not upsetting Trump and Putin   wants us to take their word at facevalue when they say that Trump is completely innocent. The very fact that they have business relationships and clients in Russia means they would feel pressured to tread lightly. Russia, a country run not only by Putin but a collective of oligarchs, can destroy your business if they feel antagonized by what you re doing.Making matters even more shady, Trump s lawyers claim they just released these findings at the behest of a congressional request. But the letter they sent is two months old. If it were that old, it may explain why Trump s lawyers didn t bother to mention Trump s Russian golf course investors. They didn t think it would come out. News of that relationship only leaked in the past few weeks.But there s an easy way to clear all this up: Trump could always release his tax returns to the public.Featured image via AFP-OUT