With just over one month left until Americans decide whether we get to experience four more raucous years of Donald Trump, The New York Times released what has been presented by the mainstream media as a “bombshell” report on the real estate mogul’s tax documents — documents Trump says are “illegally obtained” (which the Times denies) and his lawyers say are incomplete, inaccurate and misleading. The Times’ conveniently-timed report, which runs some 10,000 words, has inspired a flood of media coverage citing the supposedly “damning” revelations contained within.
But if you look closer at those 10,000 words, something is conspicuously missing. Any direct, evidence-based claim of actual illegal action on Trump’s part. In fact, the word “illegal” only appears a single time in all those words, and not in direct reference to Trump’s taxes. All the passages that suggest that Trump might have done anything that isn’t allowed under tax law do, at best, only that: suggest that Trump might have bent the rules, maybe. Below is a look at some key passages related to the suggestion of possible illegality in the report.
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