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Clinton Camp Pounces on New York Times Report on Trump Tax Returns

The Clinton campaign called the report that appeared to show Trump declared a $916 million loss in 1995 a "bombshell" and said "the gig is up."
Image: Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Campaigns In Florida
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign rally at the Sunrise Theatre on September 30, 2016 in Coral Springs, Florida.Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Hillary Clinton’s campaign pounced on a New York Times report Saturday that published tax documents that appeared to show Donald Trump posting a nearly $916 million loss in 1995.

Tax experts hired by the newspaper said the deduction could have allowed Trump to legally avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years under tax rules, the Times reported.

Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon on Twitter called the report a "bombshell," tweeting: "Trump's returns show just how lousy a businessman he is AND how long he may have avoided paying any taxes."

Related: Trump's Long History of Tweet-Shaming on Taxes

Nothing in the report suggests Trump took advantage of the rules to pay no federal income tax. The Trump campaign in a statement Saturday night did not dispute any facts reported by the Times.

Clinton’s campaign said the report "reveals the colossal nature of Donald Trump's past business failures” and declared "the gig is up."

"In one year, Donald Trump lost nearly a billion dollars. A billion. He stiffed small businesses, laid off workers, and walked away from hardworking communities,” the campaign said in the statement. “And how did it work out for him? He apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades — while tens of millions of working families paid theirs."

After the Times published its report online Saturday night, the Twitter hashtag “#LastTimeTrumpPaidTaxes shot to the top of trending topics. Some posted GIFs and images of Blockbuster video rental store membership cards and bulky mobile phones, and references to the "world wide web" in throwbacks to the 1990s.

Related: Trump May Have Had the Worst Week in Presidential Campaign History

The Trump campaign in a statement Saturday night asserted the documents the newspaper published were "illegally obtained."

The campaign also said Trump has a fiduciary responsibility to his businesses and others to pay no more taxes than legally required, and 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."