The New York Times destroyed Trump's origin story - and the White House didn't deny it
- President Donald Trump's White House has responded to a bombshell New York Times report that reviewed over 100,000 documents to conclude that Trump's father, Fred, gave him hundreds of millions of dollars in today's money.
- Previously, Trump has portrayed himself as a self-made billionaire with a knack for the real estate market who only received a "small loan" of $1 million from his father to start off.
- The Times' story completely attacks that notion, and the White House's response makes little attempt to defend it.
President Donald Trump's White House has responded to a bombshell New York Times report that reviewed over 100,000 documents to conclude that Trump's father, Fred, transferred to him hundreds of millions of dollars and skirted tax payments.
But the White House's response weirdly omits to specifically counter the total destruction of Trump's origin story.
On the campaign trail in 2015, Trump portrayed himself as a self-made billionaire with a knack for the real estate market.
"It has not been easy for me. I started off in Brooklyn. My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars. I came into Manhattan, and I had to pay him back, and I had to pay him back with interest. But I came into Manhattan and I started buying properties, and I did great," said Trump.
The New York Times, however, reported on a "trove of confidential tax returns and financial records" showing that Trump received at least $413 million in today's dollars from when he was a child through the present day.
From the Times:
But the White House, instead of outright denying the hundreds of millions Trump got from his father, seemed to confirm the transactions that enriched Trump.
Though the White House called the article a "misleading attack against the Trump family by the failing New York Times," it took the existence of the transactions reported by the paper for granted. "Many decades ago the IRS reviewed and signed off on these transactions," the White House statement reads.
While it remains unclear which transactions described in the 14,000-word article the White House is talking about here, the statement only addresses the family's financial history in this one brief sentence.
Robert Trump, the president's brother, told the New York Times that: "All appropriate gift and estate tax returns were filed, and the required taxes were paid. Our father's estate was closed in 2001 by both the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State tax authorities, and our mother's estate was closed in 2004."
But the settling of the Trump's parents' estates didn't happen "many decades ago."
The rest of the statement slams the Times and the media at large for not casting Trump's accomplishments in office in a positive light. The White House dedicates fully three quarters of its statement to trashing the Times, but it appears to imply that the documents reviewed by the Times reflect reality.
In conclusion, Trump has exaggerated of his personal wealth or success on the campaign trail.
Here's the White House's full statement: