The President’s Taxes

Sep 29, 2020

Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, both investigative reporters for The New York Times, uncover startling revelations about Donald Trump's tax history. They discuss two decades of documents revealing Trump’s significant financial losses, including a staggering $1.2 billion over ten years. The duo highlights the implications of a decade-long IRS audit and questions the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund. As they navigate through Trump's financial turmoil, they raise urgent concerns about transparency and how his debts could impact national leadership.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Unprecedented Tax Data

New tax data reveals 20 years of Trump's income tax information, including White House years.
This data covers 500 business entities and 5,000 business tax returns, offering unprecedented insight.

INSIGHT

Apprentice Windfall

After 1995, Trump's businesses struggled, but "The Apprentice" provided a financial lifeline.
This windfall from the show and endorsements totaled $427 million.

INSIGHT

Business Involvement and Losses

Trump's involvement in business decisions often correlated with financial struggles.
His golf course investments, for example, drained his "Apprentice" earnings.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, investigative reporters for The Times, have pored over two decades and thousands of pages of documents on Donald J. Trump’s tax information, up to and including his time in the White House.

What they found was an existential threat to the image he has constructed about his wealth and lifestyle. The tax documents consistently appeared to call into question the business acumen he has cited in his presidential campaign and throughout his public life.

The records suggest that whenever Mr. Trump was closely involved in the creation and running of a business, it was more likely to fail. They show no payments of federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years that The Times examined, and reveal a decade-long audit by the Internal Revenue Service that questions the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund. They also point to a reckoning on the horizon: The president appears to be personally on the hook for loans totaling $421 million, most of which is coming due within four years.

We speak to Russ and Susanne about their findings and chart President Trump’s financial situation.

Guest: Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, investigative reporters for The New York Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

Long-concealed records on Mr. Trump’s tax information reveal struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due.
Here are some of the key findings from the previously hidden tax information.
While the president’s Republican allies have mostly remained silent on the situation, Democrats have pounced.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.