Eric Trump allegedly admitted Russians funded Trump golf courses

President Donald Trump's son Eric Trump reportedly told a golf writer in 2014 that Trump golf courses were being funded by Russians. Writer James Dodson described a meeting he had with the president in 2014 at the Trump National Golf Club Charlotte during an interview with Boston's WBUR on Friday (5 May).

Dodson said he met with Trump and was invited to play golf at the North Carolina golf club after the businessman's public relations representative contacted him several times. The two were joined by Trump's son Eric, who provided some interesting information.

The writer alleged that when he arrived at the club, Trump "was strutting up and down, talking to his new members about how they were part of the greatest club in North Carolina". When Dodson asked him how he was paying for the new golf courses, Donald "just sort of tossed off that he had access to $100m."

Dodson then turned his attention to Eric and asked him who exactly was funding the golf club. "I said, 'Eric, who's funding? I know no banks—because of the recession, the Great Recession—have touched a golf course. You know, no one's funding any kind of golf construction. It's dead in the water the last four or five years,'" Dodson said.

Eric reportedly replied, "Well, we don't rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia." When asked to elaborate, Eric was alleged to have said, "Oh, yeah. We've got some guys that really, really love golf, and they're really invested in our programmes. We just go there all the time."

According to the New York Post, Eric has denied Dodson's report that Russia funded his father's golf courses. "We own our courses free and clear," Eric said, calling the report "categorically untrue" and "complete garbage".

He added: "We have zero ties to Russian investors."

The president has been besieged by claims that he and members of his administration have connections to the Russian government. Shortly after his inauguration, the president was forced to fire his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after Flynn's communications to Russian officials became public.