There you go again with guilt by association. Dropping the "well, he must be a crook because he sold apartments to crooks." argument.
Well, if you do business with mobsters, you get their stink on you...I've seen it here in Chicago plenty.
But did you actually read the article? Trump Towers is one of the very few buildings that will sell to anonymous buyers or shell corporations. Money laundering using real estate is a big problem, something the Feds are cracking down on
U.S. Will Track Secret Buyers of Luxury Real EstateConcerned about illicit money flowing into luxury real estate, the Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would begin identifying and tracking secret buyers of high-end properties.
The initiative will start in two of the nation’s major destinations for global wealth: Manhattan and Miami-Dade County. It will shine a light on the darkest corner of the real estate market: all-cash purchases made by shell companies that often shield purchasers’ identities.
It is the first time the federal government has required real estate companies to disclose names behind cash transactions, and it is likely to send shudders through the real estate industry, which has benefited enormously in recent years from a building boom increasingly dependent on wealthy, secretive buyers.
The initiative is part of a broader federal effort to increase the focus on money laundering in real estate. Treasury and federal law enforcement officials said they were putting greater resources into investigating luxury real estate sales that involve shell companies like limited liability companies, often known as L.L.C.s; partnerships; and other entities.
So, you honestly think Trump didn't know what was going on in his own building? Heck, when David Bogatin bought his five luxury condos, Trump himself came to the closing...you don't think they became best bud and told Bogatin to have his friends by condos as well?
I guess I should have included this paragraph for your reading displeasure:
But even without an investigation by Congress or a special prosecutor, there is much we already know about the president’s debt to Russia. A review of the public record reveals a clear and disturbing pattern: Trump owes much of his business success, and by extension his presidency, to a flow of highly suspicious money from Russia. Over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, and even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money. Some ran a worldwide high-stakes gambling ring out of Trump Tower—in a unit directly below one owned by Trump. Others provided Trump with lucrative branding deals that required no investment on his part. Taken together, the flow of money from Russia provided Trump with a crucial infusion of financing that helped rescue his empire from ruin, burnish his image, and launch his career in television and politics. “They saved his bacon,” says Kenneth McCallion, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration who investigated ties between organized crime and Trump’s developments in the 1980s.
It’s entirely possible that Trump was never more than a convenient patsy for Russian oligarchs and mobsters, with his casinos and condos providing easy pass-throughs for their illicit riches. At the very least, with his constant need for new infusions of cash and his well-documented troubles with creditors, Trump made an easy “mark” for anyone looking to launder money. But whatever his knowledge about the source of his wealth, the public record makes clear that Trump built his business empire in no small part with a lot of dirty money from a lot of dirty Russians—including the dirtiest and most feared of them all.
So, that begs the question why won't Trump release his tax records? In the past he said he would if you ran for the Presidency, he expected Mitt Romney to release his when Mitt ran...but Trump claims he's under audit (I say claim because of course we have no proof his is, just his word for it–and we all know what Trump's word is worth).
It's clear from what few financials he had to file he does still owe a lot of money.
A Guide to Donald Trump’s Huge Debts—and the Conflicts They PresentAll of Trump’s top properties—including Trump Tower, the Trump National Doral golf course, and his brand new luxury hotel in Washington, DC—are heavily mortgaged. That means Trump maintains critical financial relationships with his creditors. These interactions pose a significant set of potential conflicts because his creditors are large financial institutions (domestic and foreign) with their own interests and policy needs. Each one could be greatly affected by presidential decisions, and Trump certainly has a financial interest in their well-being.
Below is a list of all the financial players that Trump owes money to and how much Trump directly has borrowed from each one. This roster is based on publicly available loan documents. According to his own public disclosure, Trump, as of May, was on the hook for 16 loans worth at least $713 million. This list does not include an estimated $2 billion in debt amassed by real estate partnerships that include Trump. One of those loans is a $950 million deal that was cobbled together by Goldman Sachs and the state-owned Bank of China—an arrangement that ethics experts believe violates the Constitution’s emolument clause, which prohibits foreign governments from providing financial benefits to federal officials.
What impact does that have on Trump's judgement? (and I say "judgement" in loose terms since I honestly don't think Trump has much in the way of judgement).
Read the article and remember when you are reading it, the article is referring to the President of the United States of America and the Leader of the Free World (although I think he's handing that mantle to Angela Merkel cause at least she doesn't have the stink of Russian Mobsters on her).
And remember, tell yourself, it's not fake news just because it makes Trump look bad...it's only fake news when the new isn't true. Pretty sure the article and Trump's association with Russian mobsters is true...so it's not fake, just uncomfortable...if you are a
Trumpster Minion™