President Trump is the proud owner of the domain name TrumpRussia.com

(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 23 February 2017

President Trump is the proud owner of 3,643 website domain names. Some, like TrumpEmpire.com, TrumpBuilding.com, and TrumpOrganization.com, make sense for a former real estate mogul to purchase. Others, like TrumpFraud.org, TrumpScam.com, TrumpNetworkPonziScheme.com, I'mBeingSuedByTheDonald.com, and DonaldTrumpSucks.com, are purchases perhaps intended to avoid potentially damaging content being published under embarrassing URLs. But then there are some Trump domain purchases that defy explanation, like TrumpArmy.com and TrumpRussia.com.

Visiting those websites doesn't provide any answers either. Like most of Trump's registered domains, all that pops up is a GoDaddy template, indicating the domain name is purchased and paid for, but inactive. In the past, Trump has purchased domain names shortly before they became relevant, like when he purchased VoteAgainstTrump.com in 2012, when he was contemplating a presidential run. Shortly before announcing his presidential campaign in June 2015, he bought the domains MakeAmericaGreatAgain.vote and MakeAmericaGreatAgain.us.

Trump Organization spokeswoman Amanda Miller told CNN that Trump's purchases are a way to protect "corporate identity" and "intellectual property," and noted "the use of 'negative' domain names is a serious issue facing all large companies around the world." She did not, however, shed light on why Trump registered the domain TrumpRussia.com despite his repeated claims he owns "nothing in Russia," or why he may have purchased a domain referring to his "Army" long before he became America's commander-in-chief.