Megyn Kelly on Monday pressed Donald Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn to answer for the workers who were “completely screwed” and “hung out to dry” by the real estate mogul in 1995—the year he declared $915 million in losses on tax returns recently uncovered by The New York Times.
Noting that Trump broke no laws by potentially avoiding paying federal income taxes for 18 years by declaring this astronomical loss, the Fox News host said the people dependent on Trump’s business suffered while he benefited.
“What about all of the contractors and stockholders who got completely screwed the year that he lost all of that money?” Kelly asked. “He took advantage of it for years thereafter by not paying taxes, but they were hung out to dry.”
Epshteyn replied that it was “an accepted practice” and noted that General Motors took a loss of $16 billion in 2009.
“But GM is not running for president as a brilliant businessman,” Kelly shot back, noting that Hillary Clinton has used the tax returns as evidence that Trump made a “business model” of corporate excess and “puts his own interests ahead of the country.”
Ephsteyn replied that Trump “made a fortune twice.”
“Did he give it back to the people who got screwed?” Kelly asked.
“He’s made billions of dollars since,” Epshteyn said, arguing that Trump has employed “tens of thousands of people” through his companies.
Kelly twice told Epshteyn that the media wouldn’t have to play guessing games about Trump’s business history if the Republican nominee would just make his tax returns public.
“We would like to just know,” she said. “If he would release the returns, we would just know.”
h/t Mediaite
