Eric Trump reportedly bragged about access to $100 Million in Russian Money. "We don't rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia."
Executive summary
Eric Trump was reported by golf writer James Dodson to have told him in 2014 that “we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia,” a claim first widely published in 2017 and reiterated by multiple outlets [1] [2] [3]. Eric Trump has repeatedly denied the account, calling it “completely fabricated,” while journalists and outlets that carried Dodson’s recollection cite firsthand quotes from Dodson and contemporaneous interviews [1] [2] [4].
1. What was reported and where the quote comes from
The line about Russian funding originates with James Dodson, a golf writer who told WBUR that during a 2014 visit to a Trump golf course he asked Donald Trump how projects were financed and was told Trump “had access to $100 million,” after which Dodson said Eric Trump told him the organization didn’t rely on American banks and “we have all the funding we need out of Russia” [1] [2]; that account was picked up by major outlets including Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Hill, Business Insider and AP [2] [5] [3] [6] [4].
2. How Eric Trump and the Trump organization responded
Eric Trump publicly denied Dodson’s account almost immediately after it circulated, tweeting the story was “completely fabricated” and asserting that the Trump Organization “own[s] our courses free and clear” and has “zero ties to Russian investors,” a denial repeatedly reported by outlets covering the exchange [2] [7] [4].
3. Context and corroborating reporting about Russian money and Trump businesses
Independent reporting and prior public comments by family members provide context that Russians have been significant buyers and financiers in Trump-related transactions: Donald Trump Jr. has said in 2008 that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” and later investigations found Russian-linked purchasers and investors involved in multiple Trump properties, which journalists and analysts have used to situate Dodson’s claim within a broader pattern [8] [6] [9].
4. Limits of the available evidence and why the quote matters
The factual record about the exact words, timing and meaning of the Dodson–Eric Trump exchange rests principally on Dodson’s recollection as reported on public radio and quoted in press accounts, while Eric Trump’s denial constitutes the counter-evidence; no contemporaneous audio or documentary proof of the phrase has been published in the cited reporting, so the exchange remains an uncorroborated but widely reported eyewitness claim [1] [4] [2].
5. Interpretations, competing agendas, and why different audiences took the claim seriously
Critics pointed to Dodson’s account as consistent with longer-standing concerns about Russian capital flowing into Trump projects and argued it underscored possible financial entanglements with Moscow that merited scrutiny during investigations of 2016 election interference, while defenders emphasized the lack of corroborating evidence and Eric Trump’s categorical denial, framing media reports as sensational or inaccurate—positions amplified by outlets with differing editorial slants [6] [3] [2].
6. Bottom line for readers following the money
Reporting across multiple mainstream outlets documents that James Dodson said Eric Trump made the “funding… out of Russia” remark and that Eric Trump has denied saying it, and broader investigative work has shown Russian-affiliated purchasers and lenders have played roles in some Trump-era real estate deals—yet the specific Dodson quote remains a disputed, single-source recollection in the public record cited here [1] [4] [9] [6].