House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is calling the report alleging President Donald Trump is facing over $400 million in loans and other debts a “national security” issue.
Reacting to the tax story from The New York Times, Pelosi said during Monday’s MSNBC interview on the president’s apparent debt is, “For me, this is a national security question.”
She later added, “We take an oath to protect and defend. This president is the commander-in-chief. He has exposure to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, to whom? The public has the right to know.”
Pelosi warned, “The fact is over $400 million in leverage that somebody has over the president of the United States.”
The Times published a report on Sunday, where it stated that it obtained over two decades of Trump’s tax information. The publication reports, “This time around, he is personally responsible for loans and other debts totaling $421 million, with most of it coming due within four years.”
Watch Pelosi’s interview below:
Additionally, the Times report alleges that Trump has not paid income tax for 10 out of the past 15 years. It also states that he paid $750 in federal income tax in 2016 as well as in 2017.
The Times reports, “The tax returns that Mr. Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public. His reports to the I.R.S. portray a businessman who takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year yet racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes.”
Trump hit back at the Times during Sunday’s press conference, where he said, “That is fake news. It’s totally fake news. Made up, fake.”
He also posted to Twitter on Monday, “I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation [and] tax credits. I am extremely under leveraged – I have very little debt compared to the value of assets.”
