Fox News host Melissa Francis came up with a baseless conspiracy theory to dismiss a New York Times bombshell about Donald Trump's tax fraud as a plot to get his tax returns. It had the added benefit of not having to actually refute the facts reported.
As we previously reported, the Times report is breathtakingly damning in its depth, scope and detail. It alleges that Trump “received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.” It was the result of a year-long investigation. The report is so detailed, extensive and well-documented that the paper was eight pages longer than usual and The Times had to hire extra workers to publish it.
Trump attacked the Times report without denying any of the facts. He complained, “The Failing New York Times ... used the concept of ‘time value of money’ in doing a very old, boring and often told hit piece on me.”
Funny, that was Fox News’ take, too, though with more pernicious attacks on The Times. In his post today, NewsHounds’ Brian noted that Republican Matt Bevin argued both that the story is a yawner – because Americans don’t care that the commander in chief is a tax fraudster – and that it was an anti-American hit job that left a “black eye on America.” Media Matters reported similar “it’s a nothingburger but The Times is a villain for doing it” spin on Fox & Friends. However, cohost Brian Kilmeade went the extra mile of falsely claiming that the report proved “there’s no financial benefit for Donald Trump running for president.”
But my award for most creative spin (so far) goes to Francis. On Outnumbered today, she argued that the entire endeavor was a ruse by The Times to get hold of Trump’s personal tax returns.
FRANCIS: What’s interesting to me is, I read the article—I went, how in the world would they know this information? Who would have this information?
[…]
Well, you had to have stolen the files, or you had to be someone who was working on it. And that’s when I immediately came to the idea that, if [Trump] screams or has a lawsuit, they’re going to say “Well, exculpatory evidence. You’ve got to hand over your tax returns.” And I give a big hat tip to The New York Times, because I think that’s the exact trick that they’re trying to play with this article - by putting out there what they’re hearing as hearsay from people who’ve supposedly worked with him. And the only way he can challenge it is to turn over his tax documents, which is what they want. But no one cares.
It’s bad enough that such baseless speculation should pass as legit news analysis. But it’s even more disturbing that Francis found that the only interesting takeaway among the reams of evidence that Trump is a crook.
Watch Francis shrug off Trump’s financial crimes below, from the October 3, 2018 Outnumbered, via Media Matters.