Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump a “billion-dollar loser” on Sunday after a New York Times report published this weekend exposed huge losses by the real estate mogul in the mid-1990s.
The Nevada Democrat, who has taken to the Senate floor to lob verbal grenades at Trump throughout the 2016 campaign, started off his statement with “As I was saying.”
“Trump is a billion-dollar loser who won’t release his taxes because they’ll expose him as a spoiled, rich brat who lost the millions he inherited from his father,” Reid said in the statement. “Despite losing a billion dollars, Trump wants to reward himself with more tax breaks on inherited wealth while stiffing middle-class families who earn their paychecks with hard work. Trump is over-leveraged and deeply indebted to someone, but until he releases his taxes we won’t know who.”
The Times reported Trump lost about $916 million in 1995, an operational loss that would allow him to not pay federal income tax for up to 18 years. It’s not clear if Trump actually paid any federal income tax in the ensuing years and the Times report does not allege any legal wrongdoing by Trump.
Backers of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the report raises more questions about Trump’s financial situation that need to be answered through him releasing his tax returns.
“The implications for America’s security are severe,” Reid said. “The American people deserve to know who has leverage over this man who wants to be president.”
He used the statement to push a piece of legislation in the Senate that would require candidates from major parties to provide their last three years of tax returns to the Federal Election Commission following their nomination. If the nominees didn’t provide the returns within 30 days of being nominated, the Department of Treasury would release them, according to the bill.
“In the name of the public interest, the Senate should immediately pass the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, which would force all presidential candidates to release their tax returns. If all senators agreed to pass this act for the good of the country, we could pass it in a matter of minutes,” Reid said.
He added, “Let’s step back and take stock: Senate Republicans have put party so far ahead of country, they’ve endorsed a racist, incompetent failure who managed to lose a billion dollars in a boom year. Now they are helping Trump hide his tax returns and preventing the American people from knowing what individuals, businesses or foreign interests could have leverage over Trump.”
The Senate is not scheduled to meet again until after the election.
