Trump’s ‘biggest fear’ is ‘massive’ IRS bills and potential tax fraud charges, says Michael Cohen
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime former personal attorney, has a theory. He believes the president is terrified of receiving a large bill from the Internal Revenue Service.
“His biggest fear is … he will end up with a massive tax bill, fraud penalties, fines, and possibly even tax fraud,” Cohen said in an interview with Yahoo News on Monday, the morning after the New York Times published a report detailing how Trump, a self-described billionaire, paid zero dollars in income taxes for more than 10 years.
The article, which was based on tax return data obtained by the Times, also revealed Trump paid only $750 in income taxes both in 2016, as he ran for office, and in 2017, after he became president. According to the newspaper, the documents showed Trump used losses at his various businesses and expenses, including personal haircare, to justify taking massive tax deductions.
Trump’s taxes have long been the subject of intense speculation since he is the first president since Richard Nixon to be elected without making some of his tax returns public.
Cohen, who was also an executive at the Trump Organization, the president’s eponymous real estate company, attributed that reluctance to share the data to a fear of legal consequences. [Continue reading…]