Shortly following early October’s information leak about Donald Trump’s tax returns, many people have wondered if there would be any more information to follow. The New York Times reporter Susanne Craig received an anonymous document that contained three pages of information about Trump’s financial situation from 1995, which allegedly show a net operating loss of almost $920 million and could have allowed him to avoid paying taxes for 18 years.
On a CNN interview with Brian Stelter, Craig claimed they still had a lot more reporting to do on the matter, hinting that there might be more documents or more information to come, although she gave no comment when asked directly on the matter. However, these documents could be just the tip of the iceberg regarding Trump’s financial standing.
The $920 million operating loss from his businesses in 1995 could have legally allowed Trump to forgo paying taxes for two years prior to the filing and up to 15 years afterwards. Trump exploited a tricky real estate tax law by claiming the sub-billion dollar loss, but he still could have made money off of his loss by gaming the system. What he did exactly with his income and his taxes is still a mystery, however, because the documents that Craig received were not official tax returns, which she claims are much harder to verify.
On CNN’s Reliable Sources, Craig responded to Fox News allegations that the Times had engaged in shoddy journalism. Craig admitted that, after they received the documents from their anonymous source, they had to do a lot of “good old-fashioned reporting” to find out if the information was credible, which Craig claims is accurate.
Craig and the Times team identified the signatures on the document as belonging to Donald Trump and his accountant Jack Mitnick, who personally revealed to the Timesthat the documents were in fact legitimate. Craig went on the defend their decision to publish the article because she believed it was an important issue given that Trump is running for president, regardless of whether he has or has not paid taxes in the past. With Trumo’s reluctance to release his tax returns, many people have been wondering why he has been so eager to break this almost 40-year tradition of presidents disclosing their income to the public.
It is very likely that the Times has some more information to come and is investigating some further leads into the story, but unless Trump responds with something credible many of his supporters may start to wane. The Trump campaign responded to the allegations by saying that he did pay other kinds of taxes during this time period.