When asked about the blockbuster New York Times reporting on his father's taxes, self-dealing, and funneling millions from special interests and foreigners into his properties, Eric Trump deflected by ranting and raving about how much money his father has supposedly lost running for president and attacked Joe Biden for living in a mansion.
October 11, 2020

When asked about the blockbuster New York Times reporting on his father's taxes, self-dealing, and funneling millions from special interests and foreigners into his properties, Eric Trump deflected by ranting and raving about how much money his father has supposedly lost running for president and attacked Joe Biden for living in a mansion.

Trump made an appearance on ABC's This Week, and was asked by host Jonathan Karl about the investigation, which found that "200 companies, special interest groups and foreign governments patronized Mr. Trump's properties while reaping benefits from him and his administration."

After Karl went through some of the specifics in the article from members of Mar-a-Lago being offered ambassadorships, to companies being granted federal contracts worth billions, Karl asked Trump if he wanted a chance to respond to their reporting.

E. TRUMP: My response to that is we’ve lost a fortune. My father has lost a fortune running for president.

He doesn't care. He doesn’t care. He wanted to do what was right.

The last thing I can tell you Donald Trump needs in the world is this job. He wakes up in the morning and he has to fight you and he has to fight the entire media, and he has to fight the Democrats and he gets punched in the head every single day, and he wakes up and he fights for this country and he fights against the lunacy of the radical left.

After more deflection by Trump, Karl again tried to get him to respond to the substance of the reporting, only to have Trump repeat the line about how much money he's lost, and then proceed to attack Joe Biden for living in a mansion, as though there's something nefarious going on with Biden's real estate investments.

E. TRUMP: You compare that to Joe Biden --

KARL: But back - -but back to this story. How is it appropriate --

E. TRUMP: Let me finish.

KARL: OK. But answer the question, please. Please.

E. TRUMP: Go Google Biden's house right now, and tell me if you think that a person who’s been in government for 47 years, 47 years, can afford that mansion on the water in Wilmington, Delaware. They tell you they can't.

Karl again attempted to get Trump to respond to the specifics in the NYT report, only to have Trump deflect this time by attacking the paper and calling it "fake news," and pretending there's nothing new in the reporting that wasn't already revealed in Trump's financial disclosures.

E. TRUMP: We have tens -- we're a hospitality company. We’ve got tens of millions of people staying at our properties every single year.

"The New York Times" is absolute fake news. All they want to do is take down my father.

And you know what's really interesting about "The New York Times" -- I’m glad you mentioned them. Every single day, every single day, starting literally the morning of the debate, they've dropped some story that they've been sitting on for literally the last six months or year or two years. They’re to influence the election. It's horrible.

I mean, you know, the media is gone in this country. The media is gone in this country. I mean, when I hear the tone of this conversation, it’s -- I mean, the media has become the activist arm for the Democratic Party. Nothing is fair.

KARL: Eric, Eric, we’re asking -- we're asking legitimate questions.

One last one, "The New York Times" report also said that the president owes some $400 million. Don't the American people have a right to know who he is indebted to? Who the president of the United States owes money to? Can you clarify that for us?

E. TRUMP: Jon, in his financial disclosures. You know exactly who the money is owed to. That's another Democratic talking point that you just -- you know exactly who the money is owed to. My father --

KARL: I don't --

E. TRUMP: -- is worth of billions of dollars. And on a proportion of his net worth, my father has very, very, very low leverage. In fact, "The New York Times", if you want to bring them into this --

KARL: Yes.

E. TRUMP: They came out and said that the other day. if you own -- if you own buildings, if you own real estate, you -- you carry some debt. That's -- that's what developers do. That's what business owners do, they carry some debt. Now, as a proportion of his net worth, it's incredibly low. We have a phenomenal company. But there's -- there's nothing new about that.

KARL: OK.

E. TRUMP: And, by the way, it's the same debt that he got elected on. And it's all fully disclosed in his financial disclosure forms with the United States government that you have access to.

KARL: All right, Eric -- Eric -- Eric, thank you for joining us. I appreciate your time on this Sunday morning.

Thank you.

E. TRUMP: Thank you.

If there was really "nothing new" there, Trump wouldn't be calling it a hit job on his father.

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