Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, said Monday he hopes Mr. Trump sues The New York Times “into oblivion” for publishing a story over the weekend showing Mr. Trump reported a nearly $1 billion loss on a 1995 tax return.
“It’s a crime to release someone’s taxes and publish them without their permission,” Mr. Lewandowski said on CNN’s “New Day.”
“There is no national security interest in Donald Trump’s tax returns. That’s a fact,” Mr. Lewandowski said. “And The New York Times should be held accountable. I hope he sues them into oblivion for doing this, because … if it comes out that these aren’t accurate, where is the recourse?”
Mr. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 returns, which could have allowed him to legally avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years, the paper reported over the weekend.
The Trump campaign issued a statement on Saturday that didn’t explicitly confirm or deny the report, but said the return was “illegally obtained.”
“Mr. Trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,” the statement said.
“That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions,” the campaign said.
The paper said the documents were mailed to a reporter, and that the paper then vetted them with the person who prepared Mr. Trump’s taxes that year.
Making the rounds on the Sunday news shows, prominent Trump supporters such as former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said the report demonstrates Mr. Trump’s business acumen.
“This is actually a very, very good story for Donald Trump,” Mr. Christie said on “Fox News Sunday.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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