Trump Responds to NYT Tax Allegations

At a rally in Colorado Monday, Donald Trump responded to the New York Times story alleging that he took advantage of the tax code to possibly avoid paying taxes for as many as 18 years. While not confirming or denying the veracity of the leaked tax returns—he called them "alleged tax returns" in the speech—Trump argued that using accounting tricks within existing tax law was in fact a "brilliant" strategy that helped prevent his company from going bankrupt. The candidate then launched off that point to say that the tax code was unfairly advantageous to big businesses and the super-rich such as himself. He assured his audience: "I'm working for you now, I'm not working for Trump." Mediaite has video of the speech.

The Clinton campaign, for its part, wasted no time in getting out the lead over the leaked returns. In an official statement released on Twitter, the campaign hammered home its message. The statement claimed the returns revealed the "colossal nature of Donald Trump’s past business failures," and alleged that Trump "stiffed small businesses, laid off workers, and walked away from hardworking communities" all while paying nothing in tax. Clinton herself asked, "What kind of a genius loses a billion dollars in a single year?" notes the Daily Beast. (More Donald Trump stories.)