Clinton Slams Trump Over Tax Returns at the Debate

Hannah Smothers
Updated

From Cosmopolitan

After Donald Trump went on a brief diatribe during the First Presidential Debate about the declining state of airports in the United States, Hillary Clinton challenged him by asking if the things in this country Trump says are so bad might be better if Trump could provide proof that he paid federal income tax.

The whole thing started after Clinton pressured Trump to release his tax returns - something Trump has been criticized for previously - and listed several hypotheses about why he might be so withholding, wondering if maybe Trump isn't as rich or charitable as he says he is. "Or maybe he doesn’t know the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he’s paid nothing in federal taxes," Clinton said. "If he’s paid zero, that means zero for troops, zero for Vets, zero for schools or health."

Trump then defended his decision not to release the returns, saying he will do so when Clinton releases her deleted emails, and went on to criticize the state of the country's airport system.

"Our country's a mess," Trump said. "Our airports are like from a third world country. You land at LaGuardia, you land at Kennedy, you land at LAX, you land at Newark, and you come in from Dubai and Qatar and you come in from China and you see these incredible airports, and you land, we become a third world country."

Trump then went on to list other things that are "a mess" in this country, listing things like hospitals, bridges, and roads, and criticizing politicians for the U.S. debt and for squandering federal income taxes. Clinton then challenged Trump by wondering if all these things Trump listed are a mess because he hasn't shown proof that he's paying federal income taxes. “And maybe because you haven’t paid any federal income tax for a number of years," she said.

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