It's one or the other, Mr President.
September 28th 2020.
The NYT report on Trump's tax strategy doesn't make pleasant reading, and has been covered and commented upon by people much better informed and qualified to do so than me. However there was one thing about Trump's reaction that appears to have slipped through the net.
On Sunday, Trump dismissed the report by stating simply that it was 'fake'; “It's totally fake news – made up – fake. You could have asked me the same questions four years ago I had to litigate this and talk about it, er, totally fake news.”
“Fake story after fake story – I've never seen anything like it”.
However today, he posted a series of somewhat more considered tweets saying that the information was obtained illegally.
These are two opposing positions. Either the article was falsified, or it was based on information obtained, illegally or otherwise. It cannot be both. The NYT will not reveal the source, saying they are protecting it or them.
Trump said "Actually I paid tax. And you'll see that as soon as my tax returns - it's under audit, they've been under audit for a long time. The IRS [Internal Revenue Service] does not treat me well… they treat me very badly,"
However I'm sure I'm not the only person who remembers when Hillary Clinton attacked him for how little tax he paid, and Trump famously replied that 'that makes me smart”. This actually played well with the hardcore of his base who want to make America great again, but seem somewhat more reluctant if they have to contribute to such a renaissance.
In the news conference given by Trump today, he says that all will be released and that there are 180 pages of filings for his companies, who are all doing very well. This runs contrary to the NYT article, which says that Trumps companies are in fact posting huge losses and relying on some $300M debt. Indeed, it alleges that he has used these losses to avoid paying tax. "That equation is a key element of the alchemy of Mr Trump's finances: using the proceeds of his celebrity to purchase and prop up risky businesses, then wielding their losses to avoid taxes," it says.
Trump maintains that he can't release his returns because he is under audit . The BBC have checked this, and found that there is is no legal reason why he cannot release his returns while an audit is taking place and before he was elected, he said "If I decide to run for office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely."
His two courses in Scotland and one in Ireland have posted losses of $63.6M, and the 'Trump National' in Florida has lost $162.3M since he bought it in 2012, according to the NYT.
The first debate is in Cleveland tomorrow so with golf in mind, it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.