Speaking at a press conference in New York, President-elect Donald Trump stated that the American people don’t care whether or not he releases his tax returns.
Shortly after President-elect Trump announced that he will be handing over complete control of his companies to his sons, one journalist asked whether or not he will be releasing his tax returns. “Does Russia have any leverage over you, financial or otherwise, and, if not, will you release your tax returns to prove it?” the reporter asked.
“I had no dealings with Russia, I have no deals in Russia,” said President-elect Trump, “I have no deals that could happen in Russia because we’ve stayed away and I have no loans with Russia. As a real estate developer, I have very, very little debt.”
“I have no loans with Russia and I thought that was important, I certified that, so I have no deals, I have no loans, I have no deals. We could make deals in Russia very easily if I wanted to, I just don’t want to because I think that would be a conflict of interest. So I have no loans, no deals, and no current pending deals with Russia.”
The reporter further pressed Trump as to whether or not he would release his tax returns. The President-elect replied, “Well, I’m not releasing tax returns because you know they’re under audit,” to which the reporter retorted that the last six presidents have released their tax returns.
“You know the only ones that care about my tax returns are the reporters,” said Trump gesturing to the room. “You don’t think the American public is concerned about them?” asked the reporter. “No I don’t think they’re concerned, I won,” replied the President-elect.
“I don’t think they care at all, I don’t think they care, I think you care,” said Trump to cheers from the crowd. “First of all, you learn very little from a tax return. What you should do is go down to the federal elections and take a look at the numbers and actually people have learned a lot about my company and now they realized my company is much bigger, much more powerful than they ever thought. We’re in many many countries and I’m very proud of it.”
Watch the full exchange from the livestream below.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart Tech covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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