Two separate investigations into President Donald Trump’s tax history have expanded their scope to include the president’s past tax write-offs, the New York Times reported Friday.
Trump’s taxes are the subject of both a criminal and a civil investigation in New York. Officials in both cases have subpoenaed documents from the Trump family organization related to the write-offs, according to NYT. The investigation is targeting a $747,622 payment to an unnamed consultant that Trump wrote off in 2017. Evidence uncovered by the Times suggest that consultant was in fact his daughter, Ivanka Trump. (RELATED: Trump Paid $750 In Federal Income Taxes In 2016 And 2017 And None In 10 Of The Last 15 Years, The New York Times Reports)
“On a 2017 disclosure [Ivanka] filed when joining the White House as a presidential adviser, she reported receiving payments from a consulting company she co-owned, totaling $747,622, that exactly matched consulting fees claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, British Columbia,” the Times wrote.
The payments would be legally dubious if the reports are accurate, with the Trump Organization treating Ivanka both as a company executive and as a consultant.
While Trump is currently exempt from participating in criminal proceedings while he is president, that privilege will end when he leaves office.
Ivanka responded to the investigations on Twitter.
This is harassment pure and simple. This ‘inquiry’ by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there’s nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless.https://t.co/4dQoDzQlRX
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 20, 2020
“This is harassment pure and simple,” she said. “This ‘inquiry’ by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there’s nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless.”