A clip of Chris Wallace pushing then-President Donald Trump on his federal tax payments during the first presidential debate in 2020 has gone viral after House Democrats released Trump’s tax returns, documents which appeared to vindicate Wallace and call Trump’s response into question.
Trump’s tax documents, released by the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday, showed Trump paid $0 in federal income taxes in 2020, in which he claimed a $5.47 million refund, after paying $133,445 in 2019; $999,446 in 2018; $750 in both 2017 and 2016; and $641,931 in 2015.
During the September 2020 debate, Wallace asked Trump directly, “I know that you pay a lot of other taxes, but I’m asking you the specific question. Is it true that you paid $750 in federal income taxes each of those two years?”
“I paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax. And let me just tell you, there was a story in one of the papers that I paid $38 million one year. I paid $27 million one year,” Trump replied.
“Show us your tax returns,” interjected Joe Biden.
“You’ll see it as soon as it’s finished. You’ll see it. You know, if you want to do, go to the Board of Elections. There’s a 118-page or so report that says everything I have, every bank I have, I’m totally under-leveraged because the assets are extremely good. And we have a very we have a I built,” Trump continued as Wallace jumped in.
“I’m asking you a question. Will you tell us how much you paid in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017?” Wallace asked after the two spoke over each other.
“Millions of dollars,” Trump replied.
“You paid millions of dollars? So, not 750?” shot back Wallace as Trump repeated “millions of dollars.”
“And you will get to see it,” Trump declared as Biden asked, “When?”
The clip was shared on Friday morning by the Twitter account Acyn and by Friday evening had already racked up over 1 million views.
Axios also reported on Trump’s taxes on Friday, noting that Trump’s primary holding company, known as DJT Holdings LLC, reported losses of some $34 million in 2015 and some $64.5 million in 2016. Javier Davis noted that “The complicated U.S. Tax Code allows companies to carry losses for years on end — just one area that critics say is ripe for reform.” While this tactic would allow Trump to pay little or nothing in taxes for those two years, it does not explain his claim that he paid millions in taxes for those years.
Watch the clip above
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