![The New York Times building [Getty Images/Mike Coppola]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-544024026-e1474752654729.jpg "The New York Times building [Getty Images/Mike Coppola]")
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is accusing the New York Times of participating in illegal behavior after the newspaper published some of his tax records on Saturday night.
“The only news here is that the more than 20-year-old alleged tax document was illegally obtained, a further demonstration that the New York Times, like establishment media in general, is an extension of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic Party and their global special interests,” the campaign said in a statement.
On Saturday evening, the New York Times — which recently endorsed Hillary Clinton for president — published three pages of Trump’s 1995 income tax documents.
“The pages were mailed last month to Susanne Craig, a reporter at The Times who has written about Mr. Trump’s finances,” the paper explained in the story. “The documents were the first page of a New York State resident income tax return, the first page of a New Jersey nonresident tax return and the first page of a Connecticut nonresident tax return.”
The newspaper wrote in its story that Marc E. Kasowitz threatened “prompt initiation of appropriate legal action” against the Times if they published the records because Trump did not give permission for the records to be disclosed.
The takeaway from the Times’ story is that Trump “declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.”
The campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton — which has been pushing Trump to release his tax returns — celebrated the news story.
“There it is,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said. “This bombshell report reveals the colossal nature of Donald Trump’s past business failures and just how long he may have avoided paying any federal income taxes whatsoever.”
Trump’s campaign said in a statement that the candidate is “a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required.”
“That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions,” the campaign said. “Mr. Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for president and he is the only one that knows how to fix it.”