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Russia renewed 6 Trump trademarks while interfering in the 2016 election — 4 were approved on Election Day

Trump has repeatedly denied having any business dealings in Russia. But trademarks can wield significant value.

Russian President Vladimir Putin.
  • A
  • The trademarks were approved for renewal while Russia was actively meddling in the US election
  • Trump has repeatedly said he has no more business dealings with Russia, but intellectual property law experts told The Times that unused trademarks can hold significant value
  • The report comes as the Trump campaign is under multiple active investigations for possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 election

Last year, the Russian government approved the renewals of six trademarks for President Donald Trump that were about to expire, according to a New York Times investigation on Sunday.

Four of those renewals were officially registered by Russia on Election Day.

The Times found that the Kremlin approved applications for the trademarks' renewal beginning in April 2016 and ending in December of that year, according to records maintained by Rospatent, Russia's government agency which oversees intellectual property.

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The trademarks were originally obtained between 1996 and 2007, but they had gone unused. Each of the trademarks was granted a 10-year extension in 2016, the investigation found.

Trump has repeatedly said that he has no remaining business deals in or involving Russia.

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The Times noted that nothing in the records maintained by Rospatent indicates Trump was shown particular favor when trademarks bearing his name were approved for renewal. However, intellectual property law experts said that renewals are not guaranteed and can be difficult to obtain when trademarks have gone unused for a long period of time, like Trump's were.

While it was renewing Trump's trademarks in 2016, the Russian government was also engaged in an active hacking campaign to undermine the election. The US intelligence community concluded with high confidence that Russian operatives specifically targeted the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign in an effort to subvert Clinton's candidacy and propel then-candidate Trump to victory. Intelligence agencies also confirmed that Russian hackers designed an elaborate online fake news and disinformation campaign focused on disseminating false information about Clinton in order to swing votes toward Trump.

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In addition to investigating Russia's role in meddling in the 2016 election, Congress and the FBI are also looking into any potential collusion between Trump associates and the Kremlin to hand Trump the presidency.

The Russia probes picked up steam after Trump abruptly fired former FBI director James Comey — who was spearheading the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia — in early May. A slew of media reports published after the fact raised questions about Trump's motivations in firing Comey, and legal experts touched on the possibility that Trump may have waded into impeachment territory if he removed Comey specifically because of the Russia investigation.

Last week, The Washington Post reported that FBI special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Trump for obstruction of justice. In an apparent response to the report, Trump tweeted on Friday, "

"Then why did he say he was [under investigation]?" Todd asked. "I mean, was this just mis-tweeted? Are we not to take him at his word?"

Sekulow insisted that Todd was "reading more to the tweet than what's there."

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