The Fox & Friends co-hosts were appalled by the "disturbing" leaks of President Donald Trump's tax documents to The New York Times, but hailed him as a "bold businessman" for reportedly losing more than $1 billion between 1985 and 1994.
Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade along with guest and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich lavished praise on Trump's business record despite the Monday report in The New York Times showing the real estate businessman was in "deep financial distress" for much of his career. But instead of discussing how the self-proclaimed "Art of the Deal" master lost more than $1 billion, co-host Ainsley Earhardt called the leaking of the tax documents "disturbing." And Gingrich, who appeared on Fox News on Tuesday, labeled The New York Times and its owners the "mortal enemy of President Trump."
"These tax records, according to The New York Times, were given to them by somebody who had legal access to them," Steve Doocy said, prompting Earhardt to chime in, "that's disturbing." Doocy then continued, "Well, we don't know if that's one of his attorneys or one of his tax guys or if it's somebody in the federal government."
"Michael Cohen, maybe?" Kilmeade interjected, floating the name of Trump's former personal attorney who is set to spend three years in federal prison for tax evasion and campaign finance violations.
Earhardt wrote off the entire report, saying it won't change how people vote in 2020 because "he's already our president," before adding, "I am disturbed by the fact that this was leaked. Who leaked this?" But she gushed over Trump owning a plane "as big as a Delta jet -- we can't even fathom that kind of money."
Kilmeade called the report just another stop "in the endless quest for The New York Times and The Washington Post to get the president's tax returns. Along with every Democrat on the planet." The Fox News Channel morning crew then praised Trump for explaining how the real estate business works on Twitter Wednesday morning:
"Real estate developers in the 1980's & 1990's, more than 30 years ago, were entitled to massive write offs and depreciation which would, if one was actively building, show losses and tax losses in almost all cases. Much was non monetary. Sometimes considered "tax shelter," Trump tweeted Wednesday morning in response to the Times report.
"[Y]ou would get it by building, or even buying. You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes....almost all real estate developers did - and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport. Additionally, the very old information put out is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!" he added.
An annoyed Earhardt exclaimed, "He knows how to do this, he knows the laws!" Doocy added, "There's nothing in the story to suggest that Donald Trump did anything wrong."
In perhaps the most vehement defense of Trump, Gingrich attacked The New York Times directly, labeling the newspaper the "mortal enemy" of Donald Trump. He even attacked the Sulzberger family owners as "really rich" and called for an investigation into the family's finances and for the release of their own tax returns. Kilmeade called on Trump to investigate Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings' and Maxine Waters' financial information.
"He didn't lose a billion dollars," Gingrich said, rejecting the Times story altogether. "He had a billion dollars of losses inside a bunch of companies that were making a heck of a lot more than a billion dollars....Every American should ask themselves, how sick do you get when The New York Times and The Washington Post go out of their way day after day after day to find an excuse to attack the president of the United States."
Kilmeade ultimately cornered himself into a sprawling defense of Trump, even dismissing the tax findings saying, Trump only "lost a lot of money over the course of 10 years, if you consider a billion dollars a lot of money...it's called empire building and some didn't go well like the Taj Mahal and [Eastern] airlines."
"For me, I can't imagine having that much money, spending that much money, and being in debt. But for him, it makes sense," Kilmeade said, gushing over the president's bloated personal finances.
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Benjamin Fearnow is a reporter based out of Newsweek's New York City offices. He was previously at CBS and Mediaite ... Read more
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