[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 13179-13180]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              DONALD TRUMP

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I learned a long time ago here in the Senate 
that the rules of the Senate do not allow pictures, graphs, and things 
of that nature to go in the Congressional Record, and that is really 
too bad. I wish I had the time this morning--I read the paper this 
morning--to blow up this cartoon by the syndicated cartoonist of the 
Washington Post, Tom Toles. I have talked to him a couple of times over 
the past many decades because he is really good, and today's cartoon is 
about as good as it gets.
  This is a picture that Tom Toles sketched of Donald Trump. I would 
like

[[Page 13180]]

everyone to take a look at it. I wish I could put it in the Record. It 
is a cartoon of Donald Trump, and he is saying: ``Maybe we need to 
start `profiling' huckster haircuts, beady eyes, blowhard lips, 
unhealthy orange glow, obvious self-dealing''--and he has money pouring 
out of his pockets--``overweight, underhanded, ever-shifting 
positions.'' And, as Toles always has in every cartoon, there is a 
little person down in the bottom generally making some snide remark 
about the cartoon, and what that little person says today is that there 
is a ``body of evidence''--the body of Donald Trump, and he is the one 
who should be profiled, not the people he wants to have profiled.
  A little more about Donald Trump--Mitt Romney and I agree on one 
thing, and that is one thing for sure. There are other things we would 
agree on, but let's talk about one thing that Mitt Romney and I agree 
on, and that is that Donald Trump should release his tax returns. But 
Trump will not release his tax returns. He refuses to release his 
returns, and he comes up with one excuse after another to not release 
his tax returns. It is a little odd because the Donald Trump we are 
talking about is not known for cautionary restraint; he is the most 
unhinged and reckless Presidential candidate ever.
  Let's consider just a little bit of his track record. We have seen 
Trump refer to women in the most crude and derogatory manner. We have 
seen Trump call immigrants murderers and rapists. We have seen Trump 
fearmonger against Muslim Americans, even the parents of one of our 
proud soldiers who lost his life fighting for our country. We have seen 
Trump mock someone with a disability on more than one occasion. We have 
seen Trump impugn a Federal judge. Why? Because his parents were 
Hispanic. We have seen Trump continue to question President Obama's 
country of origin. We have seen Trump casually raise the specter of an 
assassination against Hillary Clinton on more than one occasion. This 
is the Donald Trump we know. Donald Trump will do and say anything 
regardless of the consequences.
  Why does Trump refuse to produce his tax returns? Why is this the one 
time in his life that he exercises caution? Why does he maintain 
absolute silence on his taxes? The answer is very simple--because 
Trump's tax returns would further destroy his Presidential candidacy. 
Production of his tax returns would again prove that he is a fraud. If 
the American people had access to Donald Trump's tax returns, they 
would show he is not the billionaire he claims to be. Trump wants us to 
believe that in spite of all of his bankruptcies and litigations that 
have been going on for decades, he is the incredibly wealthy, 
successful businessman that he portrays himself to be. But he is not, 
and his tax returns will prove he is far from a wealthy Trump.
  Donald Trump's tax returns will also prove that he avoids paying his 
fair share of taxes. On the rare occasion that Donald Trump's tax 
returns have been made public--that was on one occasion some time ago--
they showed that he paid nothing in income taxes. As the Washington 
Post reported earlier this year:

       The last time information from Donald Trump's income-tax 
     returns was made public, the bottom line was striking: He 
     paid the federal government $0 in income taxes.

  Donald Trump is afraid that if his supporters discover that he has 
avoided paying taxes, they will see him for what he is--someone the IRS 
should charge with a crime and investigate, or at least do something. 
He deserves all the scrutiny he can get because he doesn't want us to 
see what he has in his so-called income.
  Perhaps the most damning evidence of Trump's tax records would be 
that he lives off the American taxpayer. Donald Trump is a freeloader. 
Even though Trump refuses to pay his share of taxes, he is content to 
use other taxpayers' hard-earned money.
  Yesterday we learned that his charity--they don't put money in it. He 
gets other charities to donate to his charity, and then he goes out and 
tries to be a big shot by donating other people's money. Even though 
Trump refuses to pay his share of taxes, he is content to use other 
taxpayers' hard-earned money.
  One news outlet has reported that over the last three decades Donald 
Trump has received $885 million in tax breaks. Let's put that in 
perspective. In 2014, the entire State of Ohio received $686 million in 
Federal funding to provide benefits for needy families. That money 
helped almost 120,000 people in Ohio. Trump received $885 million, and 
the entire State of Ohio received only $686 million. There is no 
question about it: Donald Trump is a welfare king, but the welfare king 
doesn't want voters to see that he doesn't pay taxes even as he uses a 
billion of taxpayer dollars to keep his bankrupt companies afloat. 
Trump doesn't want Americans to see that he claims middle-class tax 
credits.
  This is a report in the New York Daily News:

       The flame-throwing Republican contender for the White House 
     appears to be the only New York City billionaire who snagged 
     a tax break aimed at middle class homeowners, raising even 
     more questions about his alleged billions.

  Continuing to quote:

       An analysis of property records for 38 Big Apple 
     billionaires on the `Forbes 400' list conducted by Crain's 
     New York Business found Trump was the only one to receive the 
     STAR tax credit. That credit . . . gives those entitled to 
     around $300 off their tax bill.

  So is he a billionaire? I doubt it.
  Donald Trump, this self-purported billionaire, has been falsely 
claiming a $300 tax break for years. He has done it for a number of 
years. Like a sponge, Donald Trump soaks up all the taxpayer money he 
can find while at the same time not paying his fair share of taxes.
  Remember, the same Donald Trump, who once said:

       The problem we have right now, we have a society that sits 
     back and says we're not going to do anything. And eventually 
     the 50 percent cannot carry, and it's unfair to them, but 
     cannot carry the other 50 percent.

  I think Donald Trump is confused about who is carrying whom. He is 
the one relaxing, playing golf at his golf courses, many of which are 
largely paid for by taxpayer dollars, and depending at the same time on 
the American taxpayer to bankroll his company and his golf game, but 
Trump doesn't seem to care. In fact, he brags about how he uses other 
people's hard-earned money.
  Here is what he said yesterday:

       It's called OPM: Other people's money. There's nothing 
     wrong with doing things with other people's money. That's 
     what I do.

  How could Speaker Ryan, Senator McConnell, and other congressional 
Republicans endorse this man for President or endorse him for anything? 
How can they continue to support Donald Trump as he shuns transparency 
and refuses to release the most basic information about his taxes and 
income?
  Hillary Clinton has posted all of her tax records for the last four 
decades for the world to see. Donald Trump shows us nothing. He is 
afraid to.
  Mr. Trump, prove to every American that you are the wealthy, 
successful man you claim to be.
  Mr. Trump, prove to every American that you have paid your fair share 
of taxes.
  Mr. Trump, prove to every American that you are not mooching off the 
American taxpayer.
  Mr. Trump, release your tax returns. Prove me wrong. Prove Mitt 
Romney wrong.
  I dare you to come clean and show us your tax records.
  But he won't.
  Mr. President, I see my good friend, the Senator from Illinois, the 
assistant Democratic leader, on the floor.
  I now ask the Chair to announce the business of the day.

                          ____________________