White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany is predicting a report released by the New York Times on President Donald Trump’s tax returns will not affect his campaign ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
The host of Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sandra Smith, noted the issue of Trump’s taxes could come up during his debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
She asked McEnany if it will change things for Trump’s campaign.
“No, because we’ve seen these smears from The New York Times before. They dropped a similar piece days before the debate in 2016. The president has paid tens of millions of dollars in taxes in the decade leading up to him declaring his candidacy and millions after,” McEnany said.
She added, “He is the only – the only president to have donated his salary, $1.4 million, that amount to the American people, back to the American Treasury. He works for free, his money goes to the U.S. Treasury. The real questions are really, though, for Hunter Biden. We’ve seen that Senate report, who got $3.5 million from the Moscow mayor’s wife. President Trump pays the U.S. Treasury. Russia pays Hunter Biden.
Check out her comments below:
LISTEN: @PressSec discusses whether the NYT report on President Trump's taxes will impact his campaign strategy & re-election chances #nine2noon pic.twitter.com/ekpv069Tl8
— America's Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) September 29, 2020
Smith mentioned the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, is launching an investigation into the leaking of the president’s tax information.
She asked McEnany if Trump is involved with pressing for the investigation.
“No, the president hasn’t pressed for that. But, look, that is a fair investigation to have. We’ve seen the politicization of taxes before. We’ve seen the IRS targeting Tea Party groups and it’s an unacceptable proposition for that to happen,” McEnany said.
She continued, “Also unacceptable for these documents of the president to leak illegally to The New York Times, who then publishes the information. So, it’s an important investigation.”
According to the New York Times report, Trump allegedly only paid $750 in income tax in 2016 and 2017, and failed to pay income tax for 10 out of the past 15 years.
