Trump collected US$100 million in Russian income since 2008, according to his tax counsels

US President Donald Trump collected at least US$100 million from Russian people or organisations between 2008 and this March, according to a personal letter from his tax counsels that he released on Friday in response to a senator’s unofficial query.

The amount could be higher. The letter notes that money from sales of condominiums or other products would “not have been separately identified as ‘Russian’ in your books.” The letter goes on to state that regarding such income, “the amounts are immaterial”.

Also Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s office confirmed that he “will come to brief the full Senate next week”, according to Matt House, a spokesman for Senator Chuck Schumer, who made the request this week. “The time and date are still being worked out.”

Trump released the letter, saying it had been sent to Senator Lindsey Graham, who had asked former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in a recent Senate hearing if he had ever seen “a situation where a Trump business interest in Russia caused him concern.” Clapper’s answer appeared to be less than a wholesale no – he said he’d seen nothing to concern him in the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election but that he couldn’t answer beyond that because it could interfere with an investigation.

That answer left Graham raising the matter in interviews after the hearing. But, his staff confirmed, he had not yet made an official request for an explanation from Trump.