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Trump Tax Bombshell Reveals How the System Is Rigged: A Closer Look - YouTube
Channel: Late Night with Seth Meyers
[2]
-One of the greatest tax cheats
in American history,
[3]
a criminally negligent sociopath
who lost the popular vote
[6]
and is overseeing
the preventable deaths
[8]
of hundreds of thousands
of Americans
[9]
is on the verge
of putting a third justice
[12]
on the Supreme Court,
[13]
and Republicans
are full steam ahead.
[15]
This has been "A Closer Look."
[16]
Oh! Wait. I'm sorry.
[18]
I meant, it's time
for "A Closer Look.".
[20]
鈾櫔
[24]
Every day, every single day,
Donald Trump,
[26]
one of the most irritating,
unlikable,
[28]
off-putting individuals
in American history
[30]
invades our national
consciousness
[32]
by commandeering the spotlight,
saying something psychotic,
[35]
and forcing us all
to think about him.
[37]
On top of everything else that
sucks about the Trump era,
[40]
it's exhausting. When my head
hits the pillow at night,
[42]
I think in his voice,
[44]
[ As Trump ]
Did I leave the oven on?
[45]
I should go check.
[46]
Of course, if it's on,
that's not my fault.
[48]
Seriously, I have a 4-year-old
and a 2-year-old,
[51]
and even they don't demand
my attention this much.
[54]
Because even
on their worst days,
[56]
kids don't [bleep] themselves
every five minutes.
[59]
Again? I just changed you.
[61]
For example, Trump has learned
he can distract
[64]
from the news of the day
and force the media to cover
[66]
whatever crazy nonsense
he feels like saying
[68]
by pretending to hold a news
conference at the White House
[71]
that almost always ends up
turning into
[73]
a campaign rally/therapy
session,
[75]
and apparently, I'm not the only
one who feels this way,
[77]
because as Fox News tuned into
Trump's latest gripe session
[81]
last night at the White House,
a hot mic caught someone
[84]
expression their frustration
live on air.
[86]
-I guess we have
the president here.
[88]
-Oh [bleep]
[89]
-I hear you, disembodied voice.
I hear you.
[92]
Wait, was that...the voice
of the White House?
[96]
Has the White House resisted
using its magical power
[99]
of speech for centuries,
only to finally cave
[101]
at a Trump press conference to
utter an exhausted "Oh [bleep]"?
[105]
Like, are we just gonna start
hearing the internal monologue
[108]
of the building itself now?
[110]
-I guess we have the president
here.
[112]
-Oh, here we go again
with this [bleep] guy.
[116]
And stop getting ketchup
on my curtains.
[119]
They're not napkins.
-[ Laughs ]
[122]
Trump used the occasion to spew
his usual BS
[124]
from his deranged claim
that Joe Biden
[126]
is on performance-enhancing
drugs to the lie
[128]
that mail balloting
leads to fraud.
[130]
But even Trump with his vast
powers of distraction
[133]
could not pull focus away from
Sunday night's bombshell story.
[136]
"The New York Times" reported
about Trump's
[138]
serial tax cheating
and business losses,
[140]
and this story
didn't go back decades
[142]
to dig up some embarrassing
details
[143]
about Trump's early years
in real estate.
[146]
This was about how much
he paid in taxes
[148]
as a candidate
and then as president.
[151]
-President Trump paid just $750
[154]
in federal income taxes
in both 2016 and 2017.
[158]
That's according to a report
by "The New York Times,"
[160]
which says it obtained more than
two decades of tax return data
[164]
for the president
and his companies.
[165]
According to "The Times,"
Mr. Trump paid no income taxes
[169]
at all in 10 of the previous
15 years,
[172]
largely because
he reported losing
[174]
much more money than he made.
[176]
-That's such a great picture
of him
[177]
in that "New York Times" story.
[178]
It's like they asked him
to pose for it.
[180]
"Yeah, we just want to get you
through the window of your car.
[182]
I don't know, just look like
someone that doesn't pay taxes."
[184]
Also, $750?!
[186]
I paid more than that
in Blockbuster late fees.
[189]
I'm serious, in 1993, I took out
a copy of "The Prince of Tides,"
[192]
then I loaned it
to my stoner friend
[193]
who sold it in a yard sale,
and when Blockbuster shut down,
[196]
I owed 'em 750 bucks.
[198]
So I hope you enjoyed
Nolte and Babs, Scooch.
[202]
I hope you enjoyed 'em.
[203]
Seriously, I'm having trouble
wrapping my head around
[206]
just how corrupt this is.
[207]
A man who claims to be one
of the most successful
[209]
business moguls in America who
claims he's worth $10 billion,
[212]
who's cast himself
as a patriotic hero
[215]
of the working class
paid $750 in taxes
[218]
to the federal government
[219]
while he was president
of the United States.
[222]
Jesus, dude, we are paying
your room and board.
[225]
You can't even make it
an even grand?
[227]
On top of everything else,
it's so brazen.
[229]
I'm shocked we don't have
surveillance video of Trump
[231]
sneaking out of Fort Knox
with gold bars
[234]
stuffed in his pockets.
[235]
Maybe that's why his coat's
always so bulky.
[237]
Just stole a bunch of coins
from the US Mint.
[239]
"Mr. President,
just before takeoff,
[241]
we're gonna need
everybody's weight."
[242]
[ As Trump ] Well, let's see.
I'm like a buck-80,
[244]
but Melania,
she's like an even 1,200.
[247]
[ As Melania ] Donald!
[ As Trump ] Be cool, Melania.
[249]
My coat's full of loot.
[250]
Just be cool for once, Melania.
[253]
[ Normal voice ]
In fact, that basically
[254]
is what Trump's been doing.
[255]
He's been bilking donors
and taxpayers
[257]
for millions of dollars
at his private clubs
[259]
and golf courses while lobbyists
and foreign officials
[261]
pour money into his hotels
to curry favor with him,
[264]
and now we know why --
The dude's broke!
[266]
"The Times" reports
President Trump's
[267]
core businesses,
from his golf courses
[269]
to his Washington, D.C., hotel,
[271]
had been losing millions
of dollars year after year.
[275]
Also dangling over
the president's head,
[277]
a decade-long audit by the IRS
over the legitimacy
[280]
of a nearly $73 million tax
refund that Trump received.
[284]
An adverse ruling in that case
could cost Mr. Trump
[287]
more than $100 million,
and he's personally responsible
[290]
for loans and other debts
totaling $421 million,
[295]
most of it coming due
within four years.
[297]
-So now we know
why Trump's so desperate
[299]
to stay in the White House.
[301]
He needs the free housing.
He need a place to crash.
[304]
He's your deadbeat friend
who refuses to get a job
[307]
because he's still working on
his idea for an app
[309]
that tells you which
Chipotle locations
[310]
have the hottest cashiers.
[312]
"I just need to crash with you
[313]
until I get Chipot-bae
off the ground.
[315]
And then, it's just soaring
to the skies."
[318]
Trump's the Dupree
of the White House.
[320]
Oh, that's another one I forgot
to return to Blockbuster.
[322]
I hope you enjoyed the laid-back
antics of Owen Wilson, Scooch.
[326]
I hope you did.
[328]
So, Trump paid virtually nothing
in taxes in 2016 and 2017.
[333]
It's one thing to do this
[334]
while you're just a New York
real-estate grifter,
[336]
but it's especially brazen
to do it
[338]
while you're a sitting
president.
[340]
That means
he was in the Oval Office
[342]
on the phone with his accountant
saying, what,
[344]
[ As Trump ]
890 bucks seems like a lot.
[346]
Could we get it down to $750?
[348]
It was $750 last year.
[349]
I feel like that was
more than fair.
[350]
[ Normal voice ] But because
of his business entaglements
[352]
across the world,
which by the way,
[353]
are almost certainly
unconstitutional,
[355]
he did pay a lot more
to foreign governments.
[357]
In 2017, the president's $750
contribution to the operations
[361]
of the US government was dwarfed
by the $15,598
[365]
he or his companies
paid in Panama,
[366]
the $145,400 in India,
[369]
and the $156,824
in the Philippines.
[373]
Amazing, the president
of the United States
[375]
paid more in taxes to Panama
[377]
than he did
to the United States.
[378]
Maybe that's why Trump
keeps asking other countries
[381]
to help in the election.
He thinks they owe him.
[382]
[ As Trump ] Hello, Philippines,
[383]
do you have any dirt
on Joe Biden?
[385]
If you do, I will pay my taxes
in full again this year.
[388]
And by the way,
this report is not isolated.
[390]
We already know Trump
is a prolific tax cheat
[392]
who's swindled the American
people for decades.
[395]
"The Times" previously reported
that Trump lost $1 billion
[398]
in over a decade
in the '80s and '90s
[400]
and avoided paying income taxes
for 8 of those 10 years.
[403]
And in congressional testimony,
his ex-fixer Michael Cohen
[406]
told Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
[408]
that Trump may well have
committed tax fraud
[411]
by lying about the value
of his assets to save money.
[414]
-To your knowledge, was the
president interested in reducing
[416]
his local real-estate bills,
tax bills?
[419]
-Yes.
[420]
-And how did he do that?
[421]
-What you do is you deflate
the value of the asset
[424]
and then you put in a request
to the tax department
[429]
for a deduction.
[431]
-Of course, with Trump it
was probably hard to tell
[432]
that he was deflating
the value of his assets
[434]
since everything he owns
eventually turns
[436]
to [bleep] anyway.
[437]
He says his casino's worth $0,
[438]
but I guess that makes sense,
[440]
the slot machine only
has two reels.
[442]
Now, what Cohen alleged
there is illegal.
[445]
And we know Trump is already
under investigation by both
[447]
the Manhattan D.A. and the New
York State Attorney General.
[449]
With the D.A.'s office
even suggesting Trump
[451]
could be indicted for tax fraud.
[453]
But to my mind, what's legal is
just as much of a scandal here.
[458]
Trump took advantage of
a labyrinth tax system
[461]
designed to protect his wealth
[462]
and shield him from
consequences.
[464]
In fact, he and his allies
have long argued
[466]
they'd rather be ashamed
of this behavior.
[469]
He should be proud of it.
[470]
-The reality is, this
is part of our tax code.
[473]
The man's a genius, he knows
how to operate the tax code.
[476]
-There's no one who's shown more
genius in their way to maneuver
[480]
around the tax code
[481]
as he rightfully used
the laws to do that.
[484]
-As a businessman and
real-estate developer,
[487]
I have legally used the tax laws
to my benefit.
[490]
I have brilliantly -- I have
brilliantly used those laws.
[495]
-Maybe he doesn't want
the American people,
[498]
all of you watching tonight,
to know that
[500]
he's paid nothing
in federal taxes
[503]
because the only years
that anybody's ever seen
[506]
were a couple of years when he
had to turn them over
[509]
to state authorities when he was
trying to get a casino license
[512]
and they showed he didn't
pay any federal income tax.
[515]
So, if he's paid --
-That makes me smart.
[517]
-No one who's actually smart
ever says,
[519]
"That makes me smart."
[520]
When Einstein unveiled his
theory of relativity,
[522]
he didn't lean into
the mic and say,
[523]
"Get ready, guys,
it's genius o'clock."
[525]
More importantly, it
doesn't make you smart,
[526]
it makes you powerful.
[528]
There are plenty of smart people
who pay their taxes in full
[531]
every year, because they don't
have the armies of accountants
[534]
and vampire lawyers that
rich people like Trump
[536]
or companies like Amazon have.
[537]
Regular Americans can't
get away with this stuff
[540]
because the law or the IRS would
come down hard on them.
[544]
A ProPublica investigation
found that the five counties
[546]
with the highest audit rates
[548]
are all predominantly
African American,
[550]
rural counties in
the Deep South.
[552]
Meanwhile, the Trumps
and Amazons of the world
[554]
skate by without any consequence
and that's because the system
[557]
is rigged to protect them.
[558]
if the IRS found out you did
what Trump is accused of,
[561]
your response would be...
[564]
That's the big takeaway here.
Trump is not unique.
[566]
He's the product and enabler
of a corrupt system
[569]
that shields the wealthiest and
most powerful in our society
[572]
while crushing everyone else.
[573]
91 companies paid no federal
taxes in 2018.
[576]
Companies like Amazon,
Chevron, or Starbucks.
[579]
Meanwhile, tens of millions of
Americans are out of work,
[581]
facing eviction, struggling
to afford health care,
[583]
and waiting in line
at food banks.
[585]
Trump and his allies don't just
benefit from that system,
[587]
they're trying to preserve it,
which is why they're so
[589]
deeply invested in making
sure he stays in power
[591]
any way they can.
Remember, the 2017 tax law
[594]
that wrote in so many obscure
tax loopholes to benefit
[598]
the wealthy, they were literally
scrawling in the margins of the
[601]
bill at the last minute.
[603]
-It's the night we're gonna
be voting on the tax bill.
[607]
I just got the tax bill
25 minutes ago.
[610]
This is the tax bill.
[611]
See how thick it is.
[613]
[ Thuds ]
[616]
This is what it looks like.
[617]
Oh, no, let's look at the bill.
[619]
This is what it really
looks like.
[621]
I want you to take a
look at this, folks.
[623]
This is your government at work.
[625]
Here's the bill as it's written.
[628]
Here's the modifications
that are in it.
[630]
I can read one word, it's called
"Add this language."
[634]
Can you tell me what
that word is?
[638]
If you can, you got
better eyes than me.
[641]
-They scribbled tax loopholes
in the margins
[643]
like a high school senior
signing a year book.
[645]
"K.I.T. C U next year!!!"
[647]
Trump and the people
like him were protected
[648]
and enriched
by a rigged system.
[650]
Then they got in office
and rigged it even more
[652]
and now they're desperate
to preserve that system,
[654]
which is why they're pulling
out all the stops
[655]
to raise to get a 6-3
conservative super majority
[658]
on the Supreme Court
[659]
after people have already
started voting.
[661]
Trump's nominee, Amy Coney
Barrett, has a history of ruling
[664]
against workers and consumers
and for big business.
[667]
Which is why right wing
billionaire Charles Koch
[669]
has already launched a campaign
[670]
to get her confirmed on
Saturday.
[672]
Trump officially announced
his nomination of Barrett.
[674]
Although, I have to say, he
didn't sound quite as excited
[677]
as you'd expect.
[679]
-Now we gather in
the rose garden
[681]
to continue our never-ending
task of ensuring equal justice
[686]
and preserving the impartial
rule of law.
[690]
The entire Notre Dame law
facility and faculty,
[695]
everybody -- everybody
at that school also,
[699]
we got so many letters
also wrote,
[701]
letters of support of Amy's
nomination to the 7th Circuit.
[706]
-Classic facility
and the faculty.
[709]
Buddy, you call Biden
low energy?
[711]
You sound like a transistor
radio that's low on batteries.
[714]
I'm surprised he didn't have
to slap himself in the face
[717]
like a long-haul trucker
trying to stay awake.
[719]
[ As Trump ] Only 12 hours till
Phoenix. You can make it!
[722]
[ Normal voice ] The reality
is Trump is bored
[723]
because he couldn't care less
about the Supreme Court
[725]
or the Constitution
or whatever else
[727]
Stephen Miller wrote for him
to say on Saturday.
[729]
I guarantee you he flipped
through that speech
[730]
five minutes before he gave it
the way you flip through
[732]
a "Golf Digest" at
a dentist office.
[734]
This was the bargain Trump
made with conservatives
[737]
in the institutional
Republican Party.
[739]
They'd put up with his racism
and his corruption
[741]
and his incompetence
and his abuses of power
[743]
as long as he gave
them the tax cuts
[745]
and the conservative Supreme
Court majority
[747]
they've long wanted.
Over 200,000 Americans are dead
[749]
from an out of control pandemic.
[751]
And the president has just been
exposed as one of the greatest
[753]
tax cheats in American history.
[755]
And the strongest condemnation
Republicans can muster is...
[760]
This has been "A Closer Look."
[761]
鈾櫔
[765]
God's Love We Deliver
cooks and brings
[767]
over 2 million meals a year
to men, women, and children
[770]
living with HIV/AIDS, cancer,
[772]
and other serious illnesses,
and they need your help.
[774]
If you're watching this online,
you can hit the "donate" button.
[776]
Stay safe, wash your hands,
[778]
wear a mask.
We love you.
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