President Trump says the tax bill will 'cost me a fortune.' That's false. Back in September, Trump claimed he would not benefit from the tax plan, twice in offhand remarks with...
| |  | | Democracy Dies in Darkness | | | | | | | | | | The truth behind the rhetoric | | | | | | President Trump says the tax bill will 'cost me a fortune.' That's false. Back in September, Trump claimed he would not benefit from the tax plan, twice in offhand remarks with reporters and once in a speech. This week, Trump doubled down — saying, "This thing is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me. This is not good for me. . . . I think my accountants are going crazy right now." If anyone believes this line, we have a bridge in Brooklyn available for them. We can't completely breakdown the numbers — Trump is the first president in four decades who has refused to release his tax returns — but a portion of his 2005 tax return was leaked, and the White House confirmed the bottom-line numbers were correct. So, that's what we used for our analysis. Trump would have saved as much as $42 million on his 2005 taxes under the House bill and $35.1 million under the Senate bill. A big part of the savings is from elimination of the alternative minimum tax, and of course we do not know how often he was subject to it or how much was due to net operating losses that could be limited under the legislation. The information we do have — the partial 2005 return — clearly shows the president would not lose a fortune. He is making claims without providing proof. He earns Four Pinocchios. |  | | Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this e-mail was forwarded to you, sign up here for the weekly newsletter. Hear something fact-checkable? Send it here, we'll check it out. | | | How politicians react to charges of sexual misconduct can appear to depend on who is accused Leaders of both parties have voiced outrage about the ongoing allegations of sexual misconduct by members of Congress that have emerged over the past few weeks. But this is not the first time similar allegations have surfaced and how politicians react to such charges often appears to reflect who is being accused. Democrats are quick to jump on allegations about Republicans — and vice versa. But the bets start to get hedged when someone in the same party falls under scrutiny. Regular readers will remember that the Fact Checker has previously chronicled then-candidate Donald Trump's flip-flop on whether or not women alleging sexual assault should be believed. The exchange between House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" on Nov. 26 caught our attention for similar reasons. We took a close look at how Trump and Pelosi have reacted when members of their own party and of the opposing party are accused of sexual misconduct. In almost every instance, they were much quicker to fault the actions of someone in the opposite party. |  | | | Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. –Meg Kelly | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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