May 12, 2017

Trump hired the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius to send a letter to Lindsey Graham about his finances which stated that that "Trump's last 10 years of tax returns do not reveal "any income of any type from Russian sources" with some exceptions.

The phrase "some exceptions" has caused quite a stir. The lawyers have offered no documents, including Trump's tax returns as proof of their findings.

Experts on white-collar financial crime like Jack Blum, have already said, "There’s no substance to it. The letter is just another puff of smoke. It has no meaning at all. It’s just another way to not answer the question."

But there's another part to this equation that is just as troubling. As the Washington Post reports, "Her law firm was honored by Chambers & Partners’ 2016 Chambers Europe guide as Russia Law Firm of the Year.

Fox News' Shepard Smith and his guest, Geri Willis couldn't contain their amusement and kept breaking out in laughter as they discussed the story.

After outlining the letter's contents, Smith said, "President Trump has not released the tax returns so Fox News cannot confirm any of this."

"Meantime, the law firm which wrote the letter for the president has extensive ties to Russia and according to a press release on its own web site, the law firm won a 'Russia law firm of the year award' in 2016., " he said.

As Shep continued, "The Fox Business Network's Geri..." He broke out laughing.

He began again, "The Fox Business Network's Geri Willis is here. That's almost funny."

Willis, smiling replied, "It's almost funny."

Willis explained that Trump is the client, they report to him so make of that letter what you will.

She continued, "If you read between the lines here, understand that major companies in Russia use subsidiaries in other places like Cypress, like the British Virgin Islands. So, at the end of the day, maybe there's something else out there that we're not seeing."

In other words, this is another bogus attempt to camouflage any Trump ties to the Russians, but this attempt was more comical than any that came before it.

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