The New York Times is fully engaged in the next witch hunt, seeking to expose President Trump’s financial records

President Trump has long maintained that the hunt for his tax returns is nothing but a partisan smear campaign, and the Times just proved him right.

The New York Times is fully engaged in the next witch hunt, seeking to expose President Trump’s financial records

The fake news media are obsessed with President Trump’s taxes. Unfortunately, they either have no idea what they’re talking about or they’re intentionally distorting the facts to suit their partisan agenda … perhaps both.

Most recently, The New York Times published a report about decades-old tax returns, claiming to have reviewed years of financial records that were not previously public, and — yes, you guessed it — was as thinly sourced as a kid’s paper mache craft project.

“Newly obtained tax information reveals that from 1985 to 1994, Donald J. Trump’s businesses were in far bleaker condition than was previously known,” the Times wrote, stating that they “continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.”

The report — which the President has called “highly inaccurate” — also claimed that Trump “lost so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years,” implying that the success of his business empire was vastly exaggerated.

Predictably, Democrats pounced on the report, seeking to portray President Trump as a lousy dealmaker and demanding that he release his tax returns.

“Reporting from @nytimes underscores the importance of the Administration giving the Congress access to @realDonaldTrump’s tax returns,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted.

That statement is both ridiculous and pernicious. Is Pelosi suggesting that it’s a crime for a businessman to incur losses? It’s difficult to imagine what else she may have meant, since even the Times article itself concedes that the leaked tax documents don’t answer any of the questions that have been raised by House Democrats, or even fundamentally change the narrative about Trump’s business career.

Donald Trump’s losses likely came from depreciation and credits, which are completely legal and reveal nothing about either the long-term value of his investments or the financial stability of his businesses. This was common practice in the real estate industry at the time, and every successful developer understood how to navigate these tax laws.

“Real estate developers in the 1980’s & 1990’s, more than 30 years ago, were entitled to massive write offs and depreciation which would, if one was actively building, show losses and tax losses in almost all cases,” the President tweeted in response to the report, explaining that “You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes…almost all real estate developers did – and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport.”

Notably, while the past financial documents show losses associated with the expensing of real estate, Mr. Trump’s entities also paid significant payroll taxes, property taxes, sales tax, and other related business taxes while bringing back buildings that sat vacant for decades.

By restoring these lifeless buildings, President Trump rejuvenated entire communities and created jobs for thousands of workers in the process. Predictably, this undertaking created losses — revitalized properties take time to renovate and make profitable, after all. Donald Trump, however, was willing to take the risk, hoping that his investment would ultimately pay off.

Naturally, the Times presented its findings with minimal context, even admitting that the publication “did not obtain the president’s actual tax returns,” but rather “received the information contained in the returns from someone who had legal access to it.”

This is yet another “blockbuster” exclusive news story from the Fake News media based solely on anonymous sources and information that can’t be independently verified, which teams of reporters and editors deemed credible simply because it fit their anti-Trump narrative.

This is journalistic malfeasance at its lowest — and it demonstrates exactly why the President is justified in refusing to release his tax returns today. At best, The New York Times report is an out-of-context glimpse into the world of real estate in the 1980s — at worst, it’s a deliberate effort to portray mundane financial details as “bombshell” revelations in order to help Democrats advance their case for digging through the President’s personal financial history in search of opposition research for the 2020 presidential campaign.

The media are clearly incapable of properly explaining the context of Donald Trump’s financial documents, and the Times article confirms that releasing that information would only give his political opponents an opportunity to mislead the American people and distract attention from the real issues facing our country.

President Trump has long maintained that the hunt for his tax returns is nothing but a partisan smear campaign, and the Times just proved him right.

Julio Gonzalez founded Engineered Tax Services

Julio Gonzalez