Donald Trump’s company was pursuing a deal to build a huge Trump Tower in Moscow at the time he was campaigning to be the U.S. president, the Washington Post reported Sunday. The revelation is likely to bring Trump’s repeated denials of links to Russia under even greater scrutiny.The Post’s report, which cited people familiar with the proposed deal and records viewed by Trump Organization attorneys, revealed for the first time that:
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- The Trump Organization and investors signed a letter of intent to pursue a massive residential development in Moscow. Under a licensing agreement, the proposed project would bear Trump’s name.
- A Russian-born real estate developer, Felix Sater, urged Trump to come to Moscow to promote the project and claimed he could get Russian President Vladimir Putin to say “great things” about Trump. Sater has served time in jail for attacking a man in a bar with a margarita glass and was later convicted for his involvement in a stock scam.
- Discussions about the development began in earnest in September 2015. But the project was abandoned in January 2016 due to a lack of land and permits, before the question of Trump’s business ties to Russia became a big issue on the campaign trail.