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.
Subscribe to 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 inexcusably hilarious cartoons about Ghislaine Maxwell angling for a pardonCartoons Artists take on the circle of life, Ghislaine's Island, and more
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dadIn the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Sudoku medium: August 2, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
