Trump team defiant over tax claim
Print Edition
EVER defiant, Donald Trump and his Republican allies largely embraced a report that said the New York businessman may not have paid federal income taxes for nearly two decades after he and his firms lost nearly US$916 million in a single year.
The unexpected weekend revelation punctuated a week of missteps and aggressive personal attacks from the Republican presidential contender, with early voting already under way in some states and Election Day quickly approaching.
If there was a bright spot to the explosive story about his taxes in the New York Times, Trump backers said, it was that it may shift the national conversation away from his weeklong feud with a former beauty queen he called “Miss Piggy” as he shamed her for gaining weight, and his unfounded suggestion Hillary Clinton may have cheated on her husband.
“He’s not been on message,” said Barry Bennett, a former Trump adviser. “A week was wasted where he could have been talking about the heroin epidemic and jobs and ISIS. All the money in the world can’t get that time back.”
On Monday, the challenges mounted. Several former cast and crew members of Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice” described for the first time Trump’s treatment of women on the set. The show insiders said that Trump rated female contestants by the size of their breasts and talked about which ones he’d like to have sex with.
The campaign issued a broad denial, calling the claims “totally false.”
Trump’s woes have snowballed after his rough performance in last week’s debate. His campaign is hoping to try to regain its footing at the next face-off with Clinton on Sunday.
Trump is deciding whether to use the debate stage to attack Clinton’s role in the infidelities of her husband, former president Bill Clinton. That’s according to a person with knowledge of Trump’s thinking.
Publicly, however, Trump’s team was aggressively defiant.
Former Representative Jack Kingston, a Trump supporter, said on Monday he was confident Trump paid his taxes as required by law. He noted the story said Trump’s loss in 1995 was big enough that he could have legally avoided paying taxes for as many as 18 years, but campaign has not disclosed Trump’s actual tax bills.
Kingston accused the New York Times of carrying a “very partisan” agenda.
“There’s no allegation — even form the New York Times — that he’s not complying with the tax laws,” Kingston said.
On Sunday, neither New Jersey Governor Chris Christie nor former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, also top Trump supporters, disputed the report.
On “Fox News Sunday,” Christie declared it “a very, very good story for Donald Trump.” Giuliani called him “a genius at how to take advantage of legal remedies that can help your company survive and grow” on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Don’t you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the US than a woman? And the only thing she’s ever produced is a lot of work for the FBI checking out her emails,” Giuliani said.
Trump has refused to release his tax returns, breaking with four decades of presidential campaign tradition.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
