Trump says he 'probably' owes money to a foreign bank. He definitely does.

published 16 October 2020

President Trump insists his hundreds of millions of dollars of debt isn't a big deal.

Trump's tax returns obtained by The New York Times reveal he owes $421 million in debt, something he didn't deny to NBC News' Savannah Guthrie during his Thursday town hall. Instead, he tried to play the massive sum off as a "peanut" in comparison with his net worth, insisting it was a natural piece of running a real estate business to "mortgages" in his name.

But when Guthrie asked Trump just who he owed that money to, he wouldn't say. "No, I don't owe Russia money," Trump claimed, but didn't explain further.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

It's been widely reported — and actually disclosed by Trump — that Trump owes millions of dollars to the German-run Deutsche Bank, which reportedly extended him loans despite knowing he inflated his net worth. Kathryn Krawczyk

Explore More

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter