Rudy Giuliani says Trump's taxes prove 'he's a genius'
Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani on Sunday vehemently defended his candidate after Saturday's revelation from The New York Times that Donald Trump may have avoided paying personal income tax for as long as 18 years following a $916 million loss reported on his tax returns in 1995. Speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN, Giuliani emphasized the fact — also noted in the Times report — that there is nothing illegal about Trump's actions.
"Most Americans take advantage of every deduction and every legal opportunity there is to save some taxes," Giuliani argued, "so that they don't have to pay as much as they are paying to the government," and Trump only did the same thing on a larger scale. Tapper pushed back by noting Trump has tweeted a complaint that "half of Americans don't pay income tax despite crippling government debt," pointing out that Trump is in that half if the Times report is correct.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 fairly vain cartoons about Vanity Fair’s interviews with Susie WilesCartoon Artists take on demolition derby, alcoholic personality, and more
-
Joanna Trollope: novelist who had a No. 1 bestseller with The Rector’s WifeIn the Spotlight Trollope found fame with intelligent novels about the dramas and dilemmas of modern women
-
Codeword: December 20, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
TikTok secures deal to remain in USSpeed Read ByteDance will form a US version of the popular video-sharing platform
-
Unemployment rate ticks up amid fall job lossesSpeed Read Data released by the Commerce Department indicates ‘one of the weakest American labor markets in years’
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
