During an interview with two former conservative Pennsylvania politicians, Rick Santorum and Charlie Dent, “New Day” anchor Alisyn Camerota tackled the recent controversy involving President Trump.
Camerota asked former Rep. Dent first, who endorses liberal Biden, but she appeared shocked and surprised when Santorum suggested that the New York Times’ article on President Trump’s tax returns is a lie.
According to NY Times, the president did not pay his federal income taxes for the last 15 years, and only paid $750 federal income taxes for both 2016 and 2017.
The Times said it reviewed tax returns relating to President Trump and companies owned by the Trump Organization going back to the 1990s, as well as his personal returns for 2016 and 2017.
In an annual financial disclosure that he is required to make as president, President Trump said he made at least $434.9m in 2018. The newspaper disputes this, alleging that his tax returns show the president had instead gone into the red, with $47.4m in losses.
The Trump Organization joined the president in denying the allegations in the report. The company’s chief legal officer told the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate”.
During the exhange, Santorum denied the allegations, saying that “if Trump is losing money, he shouldn’t be paying taxes.”
“You can’t complain that he’s not paying any taxes and then criticize for him … if he’s losing money, he’s not going to be paying taxes,” he added.
He continued accusing NY Times, “And by the way, The New York Times refuses to share the information with Trump. They’re refusing to show that they in fact have those documents. The Trump campaign …” and then Camerota interrupted.
“So are you … are you doubting whether The New York Times is really reporting on this? Is that what you’re saying?” she asked, looking stunned.
The former senator responded with, “sure you want to go there with the NY Times,” to which the host again asked if he doubts they have the information.
“How many Russian stories turned out to be not only true, but the reverse of what we’re now finding out about was going on in the FBI?” Santorum shot back.
Just as the discussion is getting better, the network had a technical error as rogue music began playing in the headphones of Camerota and the panelists, after which the dialogue ended.
