00:00:09.000Today on the Charlie Kirk Show, we dive into President Trump's taxes, why this story is being done when it is done, and why the activist media is doing everything they possibly can to destroy this president.
00:00:22.000We have the facts around this story, the facts around his tax returns, and how this applies to the upcoming debate.
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00:01:28.000Every single activist media publication in the country was quick to rewrite this story, find different angles and takes on how they think that this, quote, bombshell will destroy President Donald Trump.
00:01:44.000It is no coincidence that this comes less than 48 hours before the first presidential debate.
00:01:50.000And it's no coincidence that this comes as President Trump is leading a new polling that shows President Trump up four points in Florida, one point in Arizona, and statistically tied in Pennsylvania and other Midwestern states.
00:02:03.000So the New York Times claimed and still claims to have, quote, obtained Donald Trump's tax information extending over more than two decades.
00:02:14.000The headline is, quote, long concealed records show Trump's chronic losses and years of tax avoidance.
00:02:22.000Brian Stelter from CNN, who never misses an opportunity to be wrong, says, quote, this is among the most important stories of the last five years.
00:02:32.000But even the writers at the New York Times, they admitted that findings are really just run-of-the-mill business dealings.
00:02:39.000They say, quote, struggling properties, vast write-offs, and an audit battle, end quote.
00:02:44.000And the quote, filings will leave many questions unanswered, many questioners unfulfilled.
00:02:52.000So first, let's just go through the facts here.
00:02:57.000So the authors of this article made their best attempt to try and rival Homer's Iliad.
00:03:05.000It shows the egos of these authors and of the New York Times.
00:03:11.000It also reveals that the New York Times is colluding directly with the Democrat Party.
00:03:18.000The Biden campaign, hours after this article came out, they already had t-shirts and buttons trying to attack Donald Trump for his taxes.
00:03:27.000And as if you needed more proof that the New York Times is nothing more than a propaganda wing of the Democrat Party, this is the same New York Times that in every single way possible avoided reporting on the Hunter Biden story last week where Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire from the wife of a Moscow mayor, best friends with Putin, for according to the Senate report, it was related to Eastern European sex trafficking.
00:03:55.000So I put on Twitter, quote, only a dishonest media would care more about President Trump allegedly paying $750 in taxes than Hunter Biden taking $350, $3.5 million from the Russians.
00:04:12.000Now, during a press briefing on Sunday, President Trump said the claims were, quote, totally made up and said, quote, everything was wrong.
00:04:21.000I've paid a lot and I've paid a lot of state income taxes too.
00:04:24.000Alan Gartner from the Trump organization said, quote, President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015.
00:04:38.000The New York Times story is riddled with gross inaccuracies.
00:04:42.000Continued by saying, quote, over the past decade, the president has paid tens of millions of dollars.
00:04:47.000And he continues by saying paid $10 million to the federal government.
00:04:50.000The paper refuses to show the documents to protect their sources.
00:04:54.000In fact, they've been challenged on this, and the New York Times has yet to show any of their sources or corroborating details.
00:05:01.000President Trump once again said that he would be proud to show his returns when they are not, quote, under audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
00:05:10.000He said, quote, it'll all be revealed.
00:05:14.000Remember when Rachel Maddow thought she had received President Trump's tax returns back in 2017, she teased it on air and later had to admit it actually showed that President Trump paid a pretty high tax rate.
00:05:28.000Now, mind you, the New York Times did not disclose any of these documents throughout their piece.
00:05:34.000We are fully trusting the New York Times that what they say here is true.
00:05:39.000That's a very dangerous presupposition.
00:05:42.000The Washington Times led with, quote, Democrats are unlikely to block Barret.
00:05:49.000None of the conservative media seems to be taking the bait at all whatsoever.
00:05:53.000I mean, none of the Daily Caller, Breitbart, or Fox News, for good reason, is indulging whatsoever in this attempt to destroy President Donald Trump.
00:06:04.000So I have a couple of questions about this entire tax issue with President Trump.
00:06:11.000First of all, I want to know who leaked these.
00:06:15.000I want to know who gave these tax returns to the New York Times.
00:06:20.000I put on Twitter, and it has gone absolutely viral with over 38,000 retweets, who leaked Trump's tax returns.
00:06:29.000Did you know, according to 26 U.S. Code 7213, it makes it illegal to disclose unauthorized information, including tax returns?
00:06:38.000If true, there should be felony charges leveled.
00:06:42.000Now, the Democrats are going out of their way, including Brian Stelter.
00:06:46.000New York Times said that the person who gave over these tax returns had legal access to the information.
00:06:53.000So I read this in the New York Times, and to an untrained eye, to someone who doesn't deal with the activist media on a daily basis, such as I do every single day, I said, I read it.
00:07:47.000They believe that in these tax returns, they will be able to destroy Donald Trump and with it, this incredible people-centered movement around stronger families, higher wages, ending the endless wars, securing our borders, giving voice to the voiceless.
00:08:04.000The ruling class has been waiting for their opportunity to try to get their hands on these tax filings for quite some time.
00:08:12.000Now, since we're already in a period of early voting, I have been saying for the last couple of weeks, be ready for the Democrats' march of activist stories, such as the Atlantic piece and now, of course, the tax returns piece.
00:08:27.000Even though there are no corroborating witnesses, there's no documentation for these stories, they continue to publish them and they continue to push them.
00:08:36.000So, the New York Times probably illegally obtained these.
00:08:40.000And is it also illegal to report on them?
00:09:33.000President Donald Trump's already president.
00:09:35.000We know that he could negotiate Middle East peace.
00:09:38.000We know that he's been harder on Russia, more so than any other president in the modern era, including President Obama, where he armed the Ukrainian rebels, he sanctioned Russia, he put on more economic pressure on the Russian Federation.
00:09:52.000He expelled Russian diplomats from our country.
00:09:55.000We know what President Trump stands on immigration, on taxes, tax reform.
00:09:59.000What does this revelation about President Trump having massive businesses across the country, some of which have depreciating losses that allow you to not have to pay federal income taxes?
00:10:13.000What sort of applicable truth is here?
00:10:16.000I am failing to see that because there is none.
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00:11:49.000They thought there would be more to this story.
00:11:51.000So let me tell you some good news out of all this.
00:11:55.000The good news is that this is probably, not definitely, but probably the last biggest attack the Democrats have had waiting on the president.
00:12:08.000Now, there could still be something more.
00:12:11.000There's a reason why the New York Times waited till the day before the debate to release this information.
00:12:16.000There's a reason because early voting is already happening and it's not just trying to lead up to election day.
00:12:21.000It's now election month in our country.
00:12:27.000The reason is that the activist media has taken a position that they have a moral obligation to try to destroy the president and all the great work that he has done for our country.
00:12:39.000So we've gone through the Jeffrey Goldberg piece, which was a total and complete lie.
00:12:44.000And now we have the taxes with President Donald Trump, which looking into this, President Donald Trump did what any business person in his position would have done.
00:12:53.000By the way, he paid millions in property tax, millions in payroll tax.
00:13:43.000I think he had a really good point of commentary here.
00:13:46.000He said, quote, let's start with the obvious.
00:13:48.000While the reporters and newspaper are held harmless by the First Amendment to the Constitution, whoever leaks these tax returns is likely guilty of multiple felonies.
00:13:57.000The president has the same right to privacy in his tax returns that you or I have.
00:14:14.000He continues by saying, I'm all for voluntarily disclosure of presidents and candidates for tax returns.
00:14:20.000But as an enrolled agent, I can't emphasize enough what a violation of trust and this leak is.
00:14:25.000He continues by saying, as to the information, I think the reporters are guilty of some of the, quote, truthful hyperbole, end quote, that Trump accuses himself of.
00:14:34.000They report normal, albeit large tax deductions as extraordinary.
00:14:39.000Consulting fees, legal fees, bad debt deductions, depreciation, charitable contributions, capital losses, passive loss deductions are all part of parcel of what tax returns look like for high-income folks.
00:14:52.000There's nothing unusual about finding them.
00:14:54.000What is unusual about President Trump's tax returns are the size and velocity of these items.
00:14:58.000This man who had gushers of income and gushers of legitimate expenses, well placed to offset over time.
00:15:05.000Here's what the story could have done a better job explaining, is the distinction between tax evasion, which is illegal, and tax avoidance, reducing taxes via legal planning.
00:15:14.000I said that before even reading this to you.
00:15:17.000As an example of small-time tax avoidance, imagine you have some appreciated Coca-Cola stock.
00:15:23.000Rather than sell the shares and pay the capital gains tax, you donate them to your favorite charity and deduct the values of charitable write-off.
00:15:29.000The tax code is full of these legal, legitimate tax planning opportunities.
00:15:33.000In order to use them, you usually have to risk significant capital, be willing to endure losses of income, and generally be in the business of doing business.
00:15:41.000If you want the certainty of a nice warm W-2 and a home mortgage and a 401k plan, you're not in business.
00:15:47.000You work for those who put themselves out there and take risks.
00:16:37.000It was widely conjectured that his business has suffered losses post-2008 financial crisis.
00:16:42.000And we know what kind of president he is.
00:16:43.000He's a president that keeps his promises, that fights for forgotten America, that gives a voice to the voiceless, that is unapologetically American.
00:16:55.000And so tell me why his tax returns are such a pressing issue right now.
00:17:01.000And people say, well, we need to know the source of the income.
00:17:04.000You already see right here, you already see the depreciation and losses, and you're not going to get anymore unless you have another illegal leak, which they very well might.
00:17:11.000By the way, the president's been spied on by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pfizer Court.
00:17:17.000Now he's had his personal private tax information leaked to the entire public and population.
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00:18:22.000They are going after the president because he paid very little to nothing in federal income taxes.
00:18:26.000But it's hard being a job creator in our country.
00:18:40.000He revitalized the New York skyline, built buildings from Las Vegas to California to the third largest building in Chicago, employing tens of thousands of blue-collar workers.
00:18:50.000To take that kind of risk, it takes massive amounts of capital overlays and incredible dedication.
00:18:58.000And because of that, you're going to lose sometimes.
00:19:00.000President Trump being very diversified in real estate holdings, when the 2008 financial crisis hit, specifically towards housing, President Donald Trump probably had a lot of losses because of that.
00:19:14.000And because of that, he decided to pursue the correct way through many different accounting measures to have write-offs.
00:19:22.000Why are Democrats so upset that President Donald Trump paid $750 in taxes?
00:19:27.000President Trump, through a tax preparer, was obviously following the tax laws that Barack Obama passed because the Democrats view the government like a church.
00:20:12.000They're able to take another couple billion dollars.
00:20:15.000If you say, I think my money is best spent with the Internal Revenue Service, they will take your money.
00:20:21.000But Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett and the ruling class in this country and the wealthiest Americans, despite having the opportunity to do so, they don't voluntarily contribute more money to government.
00:20:36.000They seek losses to try to maximize the amount of capital that they can keep and not give to the government.
00:20:44.000And so for any liberal out there with a substantial or significant net worth, the question should be asked of them, why don't you write a bigger check to the IRS?
00:20:53.000President Trump has a good answer to that because he thinks more people should keep more of their money.
00:20:56.000It's President Trump's belief that taxation actually is a chokehold on value creation in our country.
00:21:02.000And so for George Soros out there, who gave $18 billion to the Open Society Foundation so our kids can hate America to train up activists to burn our cities and support district attorney races across the country, why wouldn't George Soros give $18 billion to the federal government?
00:21:18.000Because George Soros believes that private industry and charity is actually a much more efficient means to destroying the country than the government.
00:21:27.000Donald Trump sought deductions and he was right to do that.
00:21:33.000There's nothing nefarious in any of these documents at all, whatsoever.
00:21:38.000We also know that he donates his $400,000 salary as president.
00:21:42.000We know that he has personal wealth from television deals, book deals, and unlimited sources of income.
00:21:51.000The president is being unfairly attacked for the same pattern of behavior that the Democrat ruling class has engaged in.
00:21:59.000And for any Democrat out there that says, I've paid more in taxes than Donald Trump, first of all, you haven't.
00:22:06.000President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in payroll taxes, employing blue-collar workers all across the country, not to mention property taxes.
00:22:14.000But most importantly, President Donald Trump created value for this country.
00:22:24.000Look, there's a serious problem out there.
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00:23:22.000And so this is the media's big moment.
00:23:27.000The activist media has been looking for an opening to try to destroy this president financially his entire political career since he went down the golden escalator.
00:23:36.000But by doing so, they actually, I think, have vindicated the president against all of these attacks.
00:23:45.000You see, the entire underlying premise of Trump's tax controversy, which it isn't, is that the tax avoidance is wrong, that it's somehow amoral, but it's not.
00:23:58.000And we as conservatives must reject the premise.
00:24:00.000In fact, anytime that this tax issue gets brought up, you should say, time out.
00:24:43.000The New York Times just made an in-kind contribution to the Donald J. Trump for president campaign.
00:24:51.000The New York Times actually helped Trump by exposing another aspect of the Russian collusion myth, which is that he did not have an unreported connection to Russia.
00:25:01.000As the Times reporter Michael Tracy pointed out, quote, Mr. Trump owns hundreds of millions of dollars in valuable assets, but the reporters do not reveal his true wealth, nor do they reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.
00:25:17.000The only Russian angle the Times is able to find is that it analyzed out of all the records, 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, where Trump is a co-owner of the pageant, made $2.3 million from the event.
00:25:32.000So our president was brought through an entire special investigation through Bob Mueller.
00:25:37.000He saw many of his friends go to prison, millions of dollars of legal fees, and probably gave the Democrats the house back in 2018.
00:25:47.000And out of all that, we now realize the president got $2.3 million just because he co-owned a pageant in Russia.
00:25:57.000So thank you, New York Times, for vindicating this president under these false accusations.
00:26:05.000But this is a sign of hope for those of us that are conservatives.
00:26:10.000If you understand the activist media, they work in harmony with the Democrat Party and the Joe Biden campaign.
00:26:17.000As Joe Biden is slipping in the polls, and as I mentioned previously, I was just in Illinois, still am, but I was just yesterday in St. Charles, Illinois.
00:26:28.0005,000 Trump supporters came to an event.
00:26:30.000I have never seen enthusiasm like this in my eight and a half years of doing this.
00:26:36.000And I was on a front seat for President Trump's campaign in 2016.
00:26:42.000There is so much pent-up frustration under these stay-at-home orders, mask mandates, business shutdowns, misapplication of justice.
00:26:53.000I think the Democrats are giving all they have right now to try to slow down the Trump momentum.
00:26:59.000What we are seeing happen in real time is, as Ernest Hemingway said, things happen gradually, then suddenly.
00:27:04.000We are now entering the suddenly phase.
00:27:07.000Joe Biden is trending very poorly in turnout, absentee ballot requests and collection, volunteers, grassroots support, ground game.
00:27:15.000President Trump has heavily invested in all of that.
00:27:17.000And we at Students for Trump Turning Point Action are knocking on tens of thousands of doors every single weekend.
00:27:41.000Now, I'm not going to take a victory lap yet.
00:27:44.000I will be ready for the next attack against our president, and I'm sure we will see more unsubstantiated attacks in the weeks to come.
00:27:55.000But Trump's taxes were a pathological obsession of the Democrat base.
00:27:59.000They sued, they held hearings, they subpoenaed, and now they have them.
00:28:04.000They spent millions of dollars trying to get them.
00:28:06.000This is the last time I planned to ever talk about Donald Trump's taxes.
00:28:12.000We have very pressing issues in our country, and the activist media is intentionally trying to throw a socialist smoke screen to try to distract us from the real issues.
00:28:23.000One out of four young people in this country have contemplated suicide, according to the Center for Disease Control, in the last 90 days.
00:28:31.000We have an opioid crisis in our country.
00:28:33.000We still have millions of people out of work.
00:28:38.000Social media tech elites have gone unchecked.
00:28:42.000I think it is completely immaterial and irrelevant what the president did with his tax returns multiple years ago, as we already have a record of him governing as president of the United States.
00:28:54.000The pathological obsession that the Democrats have towards President Donald Trump when it comes to his taxes show that they cannot criticize him on policy, shows that the attacks going after his incredible agenda to reignite and revitalize American workers has fallen flat.
00:29:12.000And so here's my advice for you out there.
00:29:29.000I can name 10 stories in the last week that are more important than this one.
00:29:35.000I guess you could say it's the biggest story of the last 10 years, just him running for president.
00:29:40.000Never before has someone consumed the news cycle, monopolized the conversation as much as President Donald Trump.
00:29:48.000When it comes to these taxes, this is the ultimate swing and miss from an activist press that has been doing everything they possibly can to debase and delegitimize this president.
00:30:03.000And for the mainstream activist press that thought that they can then pursue criminal indictments post-presidency for President Trump, if the New York Times would have saw any of that in these leaked documents, they would have published it.
00:30:18.000So I'm happy to report, everybody, I am now finished.
00:30:22.000I am finished ever talking about President Donald Trump's taxes.
00:30:26.000I will never do it again, and you should neither.
00:30:29.000We have real problems in this country.
00:30:33.000We've got to protect workers and make our country great again.
00:30:39.000Thank you guys so much for listening today.
00:30:40.000Please email us your questions, freedom at charliekirk.com, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:30:44.000Please consider supporting us at charliekirk.com slash support, charliekirk.com slash support.
00:30:50.000If you want to get involved with TurningPoint USA, go to tpusa.com, tpusa.com, the nation's largest student organization fighting for America.