July 2016, two days before “Russia, if you're listening...”:
DONALD TRUMP: Let me give you a little lesson on tax returns. First of all, you don't learn very much from a tax return. I put in to the federal elections group 100 and some-odd pages of my financials. It showed, as you know, that I'm much wealthier than anybody even understood, okay? Tremendous cash, tremendous assets, tremendous all that stuff. Okay, that's it. I'm going through a routine audit. Just a routine audit, and I've had it for I think 14 years, 13 years-- CHUCK TODD: Why? DONALD TRUMP: Every year they audit me. It's routine government. I would never give my tax returns until the audit's finished. But remember this: Mitt Romney, four years ago, was under tremendous pressure to give his tax returns. And he held it and held it and held it, and he fought it, and he, you know, he didn't do too well, okay? But he didn't do anything wrong on his taxes. When he gave his tax returns, people forget, not now. He gave them in September, before the election-- CHUCK TODD: So you still might release them-- DONALD TRUMP: No, wait a minute, wait a minute. When he did, and his tax returns are a tiny peanut compared to mine, they went through his tax returns. And they found one little sentence, another little-- there was nothing wrong. And they made him look bad. In fact I think he lost his election because of that. CHUCK TODD: Because of the tax returns? DONALD TRUMP: I think he lost. And I'll tell you why: He didn't do anything wrong. Mitt Romney did nothing wrong. But they would take out of, his weren't too big. Have you ever seen mine with the picture, they're like this high? CHUCK TODD: I have seen that picture, yes. DONALD TRUMP: Okay, so they took his tax return and they found a couple of little things. Nothing wrong, just standard. And they made him look very bad, very unfair. https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-july-24-2016-n615706
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Date: 2020-09-28 01:12 am (UTC)DONALD TRUMP:
Let me give you a little lesson on tax returns. First of all, you don't learn very much from a tax return. I put in to the federal elections group 100 and some-odd pages of my financials. It showed, as you know, that I'm much wealthier than anybody even understood, okay? Tremendous cash, tremendous assets, tremendous all that stuff. Okay, that's it. I'm going through a routine audit. Just a routine audit, and I've had it for I think 14 years, 13 years--
CHUCK TODD:
Why?
DONALD TRUMP:
Every year they audit me. It's routine government. I would never give my tax returns until the audit's finished. But remember this: Mitt Romney, four years ago, was under tremendous pressure to give his tax returns. And he held it and held it and held it, and he fought it, and he, you know, he didn't do too well, okay? But he didn't do anything wrong on his taxes. When he gave his tax returns, people forget, not now. He gave them in September, before the election--
CHUCK TODD:
So you still might release them--
DONALD TRUMP:
No, wait a minute, wait a minute. When he did, and his tax returns are a tiny peanut compared to mine, they went through his tax returns. And they found one little sentence, another little-- there was nothing wrong. And they made him look bad. In fact I think he lost his election because of that.
CHUCK TODD:
Because of the tax returns?
DONALD TRUMP:
I think he lost. And I'll tell you why: He didn't do anything wrong. Mitt Romney did nothing wrong. But they would take out of, his weren't too big. Have you ever seen mine with the picture, they're like this high?
CHUCK TODD:
I have seen that picture, yes.
DONALD TRUMP:
Okay, so they took his tax return and they found a couple of little things. Nothing wrong, just standard. And they made him look very bad, very unfair.
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-july-24-2016-n615706
One has to admit: as a con artist, he is not without talents. Washington Post tells a story of how, in 1990s, he tried to use his father’s dementia to cheat his siblings out of $1 billion inheritance https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/donald-trump-father-will/