Jack Mitnic, Donald Trump's former accountant, told CNN that Trump had "virtually zero" involvement and showed no knowledge of being a tax genius "when I dealt with him."
After the NY Times broke a story about Trump's tax returns from 1995, his surrogates like Rudy Giuliani have been claiming that Trump is a "tax genius" who knows how to overhaul the tax codes.
Mitnic answered the questions from CNN's At This Hour co-hosts Berman and Bolduan very carefully.
He kept his answers short, confirming that Trump didn't break any laws by claiming almost a billion dollars in losses. It's possible that Trump didn't pay federal taxes for many years as a result.
Berman followed up: "So Donald Trump said he did it brilliantly, handled the tax code brilliantly. He was called by Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie, alternatively, 'smart' and 'a genius.' Was that your experience in working with him, with his knowledge of the tax code? Was he brilliant in the way he worked the tax code, 'smart' and 'a genius'?"
Jack Mitnic replied, "No, those returns were entirely created by us."
Bolduan asked, "So what level of involvement did he have?"
"Virtually, zero."
Berman continued, "So the idea he says that he knows how to work the tax code, did you see any -- did you see any example or have any reason to believe that he does know how to work or game the tax code as much as he says he does?"
"Not when I dealt with him."
I wrote when the NY Times story broke, that Trump hires accountants to deal with his tax returns and the idea that he was heavily involved was nonsense.
Trump's former accountant, who worked for him during the years cited in the NY Times story, just shot down another lie coming from the Trump campaign and its surrogates.
Trump can barely speak in coherent sentences, let alone know all the complicated machinations of the U.S. tax codes.
But no one in the Republican Party who is still voting for Trump even cares. All they want him to know is what he does know: how to sign the bill that cuts taxes for billionaires like himself. That's the essence of party support for Trump, and it's sure to be a top Republican Congress priority come January.
