thank you, anderson. welcome to primetime. breaking news, the best answer yet to why the president is hiding his taxes. when you see the years and the tears from investors and maybe even a potential scam, it's hard to see how our president can brag about his business arkcume. we have a reporter that broke the story and one of the oversight hawks in the house that's been fighting for one of the most recent taxes. where will democrats take the battle next and senator mitch mcconnell struck again. the master of disaster when it

comes to trying to shut the door on democrats now says the probe is case closed. before we even hear from mueller? democratic leader schumer accuses him of aiding and abetting the russians. we'll debate. it's another big night. what do you say? let's get after it. >> all right. so the president has given a new meaning to being a 1%er. his losses accounted for 1% of all losses in the country for one year according to newly obtained data from the new york times. that year, 1991. as you see behind me, year after year the president appears to have lost more money than any other individual taxpayer in america. a lot of corporations, they file and pay directly. he was a pass through organization. it's privately held so he's in a different bucket but it's still a ton of losses. these should all be red.

a decade in the red. why are they blue? deals he bragged about were disasters and a new allegation that the president may have been front running stocks in curious fashion to make up some of that loss. a very different narrative to us when he was running for election. >> i feltbuilt a tremendous business. i filed my papers with the federal election. they couldn't believe it. there were so many of these guys back there. some of the greatest assets in the world. very little debt. tremendous cash flow. >> you can't believe what he says. the records show over $1 billion in business losses. so bad our president paid no federal income tax for 8 of the 10 years we now know about from 1985 to 1994 let's bring in one of the reporters that broke the

story. both of you welcome to primetime. thank you. man of the hour, appreciation. boy, i have to tell you, as a journalist, the scrubbing and cross referencing you did on this data. david knows this very well, boy did you do a hell of a job on this. any kudos you get is deserved. on reporting alone. good for you. what do you want people to take from this? >> it forces us to reimagine what we think of donald trump, president trump. assertions he made. why his ideas matter. the value of what he built and maybe perhaps his integrity in some of these issues as well.

he's trying things and they're not working and then he gets bailed out with this brief flirtation of moving the stock market around a little bit and then tries casinos and none of it works out and he builds this record of failure over a decade. >> there's so much in there. i don't know where to start to be honest. this is so overwhelming. i read through the piece twice to try to get it. when you look at it. having seen the 2005 tax return how do they go together with you? >> this is consistent with what i have been reporting on donald for years. it's all a fraud. they have pulled back the curtain and revealed that he's a con artist. people love pets.

david, what do you see? >> well, you know, donald has always claimed that he has these tremendous business deals. what this shows is its nonsense. it's just made up. he creates his own reality and this shows that his claim of being the modern mitas that everything he touches turns to gold, no, what he does say is true is he had a lot of cash flow. when he created his only publicly traded company, the investors were wiped out. the bond holders only collected pennies on the dollar but he got $82 million out of it. that's what he does. he reaches in like a vulture. he sucks something dry and leaves the vendors unpaid, sometimes the workers unpaid. ruins other people's businesses and yet is held out in the press as this great business genius. >> that's one of the headlines. it's so dense. people have to read it. we'll be processing this for days and probably beyond as more taxes come out.

he claimed a billion dollars in losses but most of the assets he didn't own. the equity and investors of different types of notes and paper and borrowing was substantial. he got to declare the losses even though he didn't own the entire underlying asset? >> that's one of the great magical things in the tax code and david is an expert on this stuff. if you design a business that fails, you build too much cost into it and can't support those costs, you can use those losses to write off any other types of income you might get, like from selling stocks. >> you get all the losses. you don't have to share the losses the way you share the ownership? >> that's right. in this case it's even a little more magical because a lot of these losses are other people's money. this is bond holders money and banks money that he just didn't pay back and then did another sort of magical thing when

usually the tax man would come and say if you have cancellation of debt, that's income for you and you're going to have to now pay income taxes on that money. he came up with another scheme to convert it into equity in ways that were pushing the boundaries and avoid the tax man at that point as well. >> i'm a puppy compared to you guys. when i was at abc news, me, tim o'brien at the new york times, now he's at bloomberg of course. we did an investigation of trump's empire. we got to the point where because it's all private and he wouldn't give us taxes and we could only show different aspects of debt that he had to agree on his network.

he insisted that the hudson yards alone put his network at $5 billion at the time. we had no way to corroborate it. but is there any chance that he was worth anything near $1 billion during the 2000s? >> no. one day i asked what is your network and he said $3 billion and i said i don't believe you. he was like what? you know? and i said donald, you can't pay your bills. i'm just a reporter and i can pay all of my bills as they come due. if you're really worth $3 billion you'd find a way to pay your bills. he just makes it up, chris. he just makes it up. >> now here's a little bit of food for thought here and i want to get into what we learned. what do you say about the initial push back? i don't care. he still has a lot of money.

he has a lot more money than i'll ever have. i don't care how you pick it apart. all those rich guys find a way to use the tax code like he did. what's your take on that? >> that just doesn't match. he was at the outer spectrum year after year. either the top number or second from the bottom. really a poor performance and that's remarkable. he barely escaped through and he was still really not doing very well when the apprentice went on the air in 2004 and created a whole new era where he didn't have to try to build things. he didn't have to try to build businesses he could support. he could just rent the use of

his name and that's an incredibly easy thing to do. >> the hype ended up paying off for him. >> what was the name of the guy that gave him that break and that tv show? my boss, jeff zucker. that's who it was. this takes a break. this warrants a second block if you guys will stay. they raised questions about what the president was doing to make up for the losses. now the president never talks about dealing in stocks. he always shuns that. it's dirty business. not real business. and a certain number of income that just doesn't make sense. both of these could have much deeper implications than just an attack on his ego. next.

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welcome to our lounge. enjoy your stay. thanks very much. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ find calm in over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide. it's another way we've got your back. the business platinum card from american express. don't do business without it. back with the breaking news and one of the people that brought it to us from the new york times. they've gotten president trump's tax records for a decade. the 80s into the 90s. they show a lot of reasons this president doesn't want to show

you his taxes from now or then or whatever. the times reporter worked with susan craig, is it right? >> yes. >> and investigative journalist david k. johnson also had some of trump's 2005 taxes sent to him. he's been reported on this for many years vindicated in part by the reporting from the new york times today. so two things. one, i am not familiar with the president as a stock investor or a front runner of stocks. you put it in the piece. how sure are you of it and what does it say to you? >> i don't think it's news to the people that covered president trump in the 1980s. there was a brief period where he seems to have learned that he could just talk about buying a company. he would buy a significant investment in a company with a loan from a broker and make a public comment or leak a public comment that he might take it

over. the stock would rise and he would sell and that lasted a couple of years before investors realized he wasn't following through. those were documented at the time by casino regulators in new jersey very concerned about his finances because they were worried his casinos were going to go under. >> what are you allowed to do and not allowed to do when you front run a stock? >> the fundamental rule is that any material fact that would make someone decide to buy, sell, or void or hold a stock has to be disclosed but trump was part of a whole generation of people doing what was called not blackmailing companies but greenmailing them and he got two of his competitors to buy the stock he bought with borrowed money back at a premium to make them go away. >> how about the idea of saying i bought this position because i'm going to buy all of it. then he sells it on the sneak

and makes a profit and doesn't tell anybody that part of the story. is that just about bad ethics. >> we make very little effort in this country to enforce those laws on a criminal level. >> even there he wound up getting bit in the behind. didn't he wind upholding something too long and the market caught up with him and he took a loss. >> ultimately that ran his course. the market was sort of on to the fact that he was never really following through this with. he lost $34 million on that and his father actually that started following it and into some of these trades as we documented in october also lost a little bit of money on that as well. and then there was no point anymore. the game was over. >> the income that you cite in that one year, you're puzzled by

it. why is it so vexing for you, that one number? >> it's $52 million. you would have to have about $375 million invested to get that kind of return in one year and the casino commission as i mentioned before and other auditors were up in his affairs at that point in time and during that era they said he had between 2 million and $100 million total in liquid investments and cash he could use at any point in time. but you can't get $50 million in interest even from $100 million in one year. it's really a striking mystery. >> where does that go for you? >> i don't know. i talk to former auditors and investigators. >> did it have anything to do with his dad? in the earlier reporting the idea of a self-made man that the president sold is really just that he made that story up by himself but it was his father's money that was not just starting

him but boosting him alone. his falls from grace from time to time. is there anything there? >> you're thinking like we were. the first thing we did was check the banking records and the general ledgers that we have from his father's businesses during those years and there was no sign of it. there was money changing hands that we documented but this doesn't show up anywhere in there at all. >> this is going to be digested for days. let me put in my ask early. i'm going to need you to come back as we start getting through this, we need to understand it in context, please come back. but congratulations to you. in this business the assumption is you would be jealous that somebody else did it. not me. i'm proud. read this piece today. you can't have journalism done better than this. i don't care who it's about or what it's about. just look at the methodology they take you through in the piece. it's why people get into journalism. russ, thank you very much. david kay you are always value added. thank you very much.

>> thank you. >> for days people are going to be processing this story. for days. i'm not saying it's the end of the president. don't be so extreme about everything it's just what this president says about who he is now coming up we have a key democrat on the powerful ways and means committee. they're looking for the taxes in recent history. what does this reporting mean to him? what does this situation mean in terms of the what the democrats need to do? also another situation that must be exposed. senator mitch mcconnell declares the russia probe closed today. this is the latest in a string of efforts to stifle democracy. we'll show you what he has done before and what he's trying to do now. next. fidelity is redefining value.

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this new york times reporting about trump's taxes from the 80s and 90s is huge. we can't lose sight of things that happen right under our nose that really matter. for example, it's the final indication that it is all hands on deck to clear this president from any wrong doing. listen to this. >> the special counsel's finding is clear, case closed. case closed. >> must be nice if you say it twice. senator mitch mcconnell with his signature naked play for advantage. he knows by definition mueller didn't close the case on obstruction. and he didn't even mention it. he would certainly say differently, mr. mueller, and certainly mr. mcconnell if you switched the r to a d next to this president's name. if you did that, then senator

mcconnell would say things like this. the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be a one term president. do you remember that? all out opposition. >> some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> naked play of advantage. >> the same play that now wants us to move on. the same one that refused a vote on this potus nominee and was proud of it. vowed to punish democrats for using the nuclear option, remember? >> you'll regret this and you may regret it a lot sooner than you think. >> and you know what, they were wrong and he was right and he's kept that vow by making the job of naming judges more contentious than ever. yet he sees no problem

indignantly calling on democrats to be quite and get back to work. >> there are serious issues the american people need us to tackle. there's more progress for middle class families. we need to deliver. >> he spoke for more than 17 minutes on this. we all watched it. he never once mentioned the 10 credible episodes of obstruction of justice contained in the mueller report. case closed? in other words he ignored the entire second volume of the report. instead offering a version of events where democrats are playing into the hands of putin. absolutely zero shame in his game. know that. ignoring the monumental embarrassment of what this president said. >> i have president putin. he just said it's not russia. i'll say this, i don't see any reason why it would be.

>> remember the white house said he said wouldn't. please and actually admitting laughing our president did with the foreign foe about the probe into putin's diabolical deeds this past week. we discussed and he actually sort of smiled. >> mcconnell ignores it all and of course mr. putin smiles. and potus isn't the only big time goper to ignore interference. listen to this. >> there's been little interest on the steps. this administration to make russia pay for its interference and this administration has taken the problem head on. >> really? not only has the administration blocked bipartisan efforts in the senate to guard our elections but this idea is especially ironic. for all that the president says

about then president obama not acting fast enough on interference back in 2016, pure criticism by the way, but what he leaves out is that one reason the administration dragged it's feet is senator mitch mcconnell. when he wanted to have the move be from both sides so it wouldn't look partisan it refused action. a congressman not only taking on republicans, he's taking on his own party to step it up. what's his plan? what do you think matters? what should matter to you? next. low battery sound. do you want a charge? yeah battery charging.

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new reporting from the new york times is at least one indication why the president is a hard no. at the same time, house ways and means chairman richard neil has a job to do and is waiting to do oversite which includes the taxes. a member of this committee wants

to get tough with the president. he is the democrat here to make his case. welcome to the show, sir. >> thank you, chris. >> first, the new york times, what's your take away? >> it's shocking. the president has demonstrated that he's a loser and not just any loser, he's the biggest loser as far as individual taxpayers in that period of anybody in america. knocking out the competition in some years almost 2-1. it does raise the question, how does someone that's such a big loser get bailed out by a foreign bank? what money was floating in from abroad to keep him afloat? there were many questions out there. these were older tax returns. it certainly demonstrates another reason why we need the most recent returns. it became a big hit and he got tons of cash flow that i'm sure helped him at some point.

we'll know that story. especially if you guys do your job. >> indeed. >> why do you think you'll win in court? the fight is simple. the statute is clear but never been used this way so it's unte untested. they'll say it's not real oversight. >> we do need to know how this operated. we have the history of president richard nixon that was praised by the internal revenue service and it turned out he owed a significant amount of money. this statute as you know almost 100 years old could not be clearer. shall means shall. you don't need a stack of lawyers to advise about these

things. this statute is clear. he could either seek to enforce the statute or we have the possibility of holding the secretary of irs commissioner in contempt. >> you're one of the few democrats that's not just saying it's wrong for the republicans or the white house to stimey or oversite. you're on the democrats as well. you believe they're playing to passive. what do you want to see? >> we're informed by the president's new policy of obstruction today, obstruction yesterday, obstruction forever. he doesn't want anyone to talk. he doesn't want any documents produced. he creates a void with secrecy that he fills with more and more lies and so i want us to recognize that we're under new conditions. we need to be forceful. we need to use every tool. he seems to be almost begging for impeachment.

i don't think it's time to go there at this point but i do think it's important to use all of our powers, one of which is the inherent power of contempt. >> oh, yeah. inherent contempt which is what? >> what it means is the congress can issue or support the subpoena through arrest or fines. and we need to be prepared to do both. >> you don't want to throw the ag in cuffs, right? that would cause division that we would have a hard time bearing in this current climate. >> all i want is the attorney general to realize he has a responsibility to the public and not just as a attorney attornpe of mr. trump and comply with the

law. it's our responsibility to hold them accountable. i don't want to throw him in jail but i'm ready to do so. >> i hear you on that. i'm of two minds of this. originally i was like i don't see the percentage for you guys. but i now understand there's a difference. it's how people feel on this. the idea of how much is too much. you're pushing too much on investigating the president, right? amount versus too little. $53.44 if you want to look at it that way. i layed those stats out a little deceptively. are you worried that it's going to be too much? >> this is part of president trump's overall strategy by denying, by building a huge stone wall by denying anything,

any reaching out we do to get the truth is viewed as an overreach and it's promoted by him as an overreach. >> well, that's what pelosi said. she believes the president is goading you guys, taunting you to impeach him. do you believe that? >> i think he is. we see it by all of his supporters and enablers. that doesn't mean we shouldn't consider doing that if there's no other alternatives but i think this power of contempt that would involve our contracting with the jail, perhaps adding some security personnel to do an arrest, not because we want to arrest or jail someone but because we realize we have to show we're serious about this. we're not going to go on through the courts and let them run out the clock. you know as a lawyer yourself, i served for a time as a texas supreme court justice. >> yes, sir.

>> the appellate process can go on and on and on and on with briefing schedules and rehearings. we can't let this administration run out the clock on the truth. the american people need to know that and also from my background as a judge, i'm very concerned not just about this president but about precedent. the precedent for another power hungry president that would reach out and grar -- grab for more. president trump when he makes these maneuvers and offers his biogted statements he's encouraged to grab for a little more and i'm concerned about the erosion of our democracy by his conduct. >> it's interesting that you see the timidity of your own side in this. let me ask you about a look into our future. >> investigating the investigators. we both know that ig reports, inspector general reports rarely

come back showing nothing of any suspicion on what they have been looking at. there may be no referrals for criminal prosecution or follow up but the idea that they'll have nothing to work on about the surveillance process that took place during that 2016, i think you'd agree with me is certainly understanding the process as a former judge on the state level. there's a good chance they'll have something. now christopher ray today, do we have sound of it now? so christopher ray today said in a senate hearing he has no proof that there was spying done. what does that mean to you in terms of what we need to look at going forward? >> well, it means that bob barr used the term spying because it's a loaded term for what appeared to be a court approved investigation that was underway and did not involve spying and -- >> do you believe it was only based on the dossier information that was bought by clinton from

the russians? fruit of the poisonous tree? >> no, i don't. but i believe we should see the inspector general's report before making a final decision and i don't think there's justification for launching a big, new distracting investigation when we have the facts right now and the president trying to stop bob mueller from coming here to explain them. >> do you think he can do that? >> well, i think he can. i don't think he'll be partisan in anyway. i think anything they do needs to be centered on the law and responsibilities. >> understood but do you think the president will block him? he's working for bill barr. bill barr could say no. >> he could and he would be reversing himself. >> he said he had no objection. that's entirely possible but i

don't think that mr. mueller will be forever a justice department employee and i hope when he completes his responsibilities, which should be soon, if he's blocked by the president and his hand picked lawyer, mr. barr, that mr. mueller will be able to testify before our committees. >> con kbresz man, thank you for weighing in on these matters of great importance in a time sensitive way. the world is warming. the trump administration. they see green. less ice, more money. you have to hear it to believe it, next.

morning. what are you doing? isn't it obvious? nah. we're delivering live market coverage and offering expert analysis completely free. we're helping you make sense of the markets without cable or a subscription from anywhere you are. i get that. but what are you doing here? nice pajamas. really? i say pajamas. pajamas, pajamas, whichever. good. yahoo finance live. stream free anywhere. welcome to the show. let's make finance make sense. ♪ welcome to the show. ♪

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now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way-- at carvana. >> we know the science. the warnings are clear from scientists. there are dier consequences because of human caused climate change. on monday, our secretary of state mike pompeo seemed to highlight the upside of this tremendous down side. >> they're opening new passage ways and new opportunities for

trade. >> the good news is he seems like he was reading those words. maybe he didn't write them and this is just an administration message being put out and he didn't say them. here's the reality. the arctic is melting. we know that. the secretary of state apparently knows it too. but not once did he use the word climate change? why stay mum on what is obvious? especially when you have acknowledged it before all be it reluctantly. listen. >> i also believe the climate is changing. that there's a warming taking place. i'm happy to concede that there is likely a human component to that. >> concede? let's bring in d.lemon. why do you have to concede? it's like conceding that two plus two is four. why? >> it makes a point of what we

have been discussing. the breaking news in the new york times is this administration and some people will do anything to create a narrative about what they want. they say it's fake because it doesn't behoove them. because they want to make excuses for things. ultimately because they want to be in power and prove themselves right even though it's not. let me just give you the facts. here's what is concerning to me. climate change and pollution are the main drivers of species loss and are threatening amphibians and a third of marine mammals with extinction. that's a report monday by major scientists throughout the world. it comes a few months after the u.n. did a similar report that showed similar reports.

i went to catholic school and they taught me about religion and they also taught me about science and >> absolutely. you know what i believe in? "the lorax." did you ever read that book? they start taking the trees from all the sneeds. what happened? it was a dark and dismal place before it started to regenerate. ice melts. it's an opportunity. but the melting ice creates more warm temperatures, more melting. it's cyclical. and something has to be done to stop it, and you know what? you can find opportunity in that, too. there is opportunity in the changes that are necessary. that's the tragedy of hearing this backward thinking from someone who we really know is intelligent. i don't know why the secretary of state is on that message, but he's a smarter one.

>> you were reading "the lorax." i was wearing sara silverstein. >> "the giving tree"? >> "the giving tree." i was also"moby dick." remember all the consternation about a couple years ago happening around shootings and killings of unarmed black folks in this country? it's still going on, but there was more talk about it. this president was in an office. the news wasn't consumed by politics. sandra bland, remember her, she died in waller county in texas? there is new cell phone video from her perspective. it shows a different perspective on what happened and we'll break that down, coming up. and we'll tell you about the taxes as well, don't forget about that. >> you look like an accountant

tonight. i like the glasses. would you have that guy do your taxes? no way. nl unless you're trump. how trump can settle the storm over his taxes. maybe the president will see this story from the "new york times" as an opportunity. next. the way you triumph over adversity. and live your lives. that's why we redesigned humira. we wanted to make the experience better for you. now there's less pain immediately following injection. we've reduced the size of the needle and removed the citrate buffers. and it has the same effectiveness you know and trust. humira citrate-free is here. a little change can make a big difference. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions,

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even if you get over that hurdle, it turns out 29 states are working on presidential candidates on the ballots in their states to show their tax returns. i haven't heard of an unalleged audit session yeexception yet, not likely. it's only possible if you empower the release of your taxes. the "new york times" story raises legit questions about stock manipulation, lies about your income, lies about your wealth, curious income reporting on interest. none of that is good for your brand or your credibility. some of it would have been softened if you were explaining what people would find. now, i get the reason you don't want to release the taxes. it's because you know what they do and do not show and you don't like the story, i get it. i get it better than most. first, i investigated your net worth with a talented team at abc news. remember back in 2005, remember

you were on the phone with chris vlasto, remember he kept yelling at us, the investigative guru over there? you insisted you were worth billions but you wouldn't give us real proof and we could only find proof of debt? remember your lawyer that sounded a lot like you damning you back to the womb for getting your worth wrong? it was right then, even more right now. the second reason is you and i share more common history. we were both given huge breaks by jeff zooker, chairman of warner media news and sports and president of cnn worldwide. looking at the reporting of your taxes from the '80s and '90s and the snapshots we got from the early 2000s, my guess is zooker giving you that reality show in 2004, that changed your reality. you went from being 1% of all losses reported for individual taxpayers to the tv star who was

depicted as the ultimate top 1 percent-er. i'm sure you don't like this narrative, but the only way is to show your returns. the truth will come out on your own terms. there's something to respect in that. at the end of the day, isn't that why you inflated your assets? but if you man up and say this has gone too far and it's not fair, here is the information, here are the taxes. and along with it, push for a law that makes it a federal requirement for all to show taxes in a run for the white house, and then a wrath of tax fixes to close the gaping hole that you exploited in grotesque fashion. now, that would take up some headlines and get you at least a pinch of respect for some of those that are now looking on and seeing someone who is clearly not who you told us you were. that's my argument for tonight. thank you for watching.

we have big breaking news. let's get to "cnn tonight" with d. lemon right now. >> someone is going to be mad at you. you just dropped a truth bomb. >> truth bomb. >> he's not going to like the jeff part, even though we know it's true. jeff made him and helped him and now he hates jeff. so he should be -- >> i don't know that the president hates anybody. >> oh, really? for real, for real? he should be in a debt -- he owes a debt of gratitude to him. >> i think there is a case where that could be made, but i don't know if there is real animus. you never know what goes through the heart of a man. is that your signed copy? >> it is signed but it's not to me. it's to a member of my staff. i think you bring up very interesting points. i think this shows what -- how the wool was pulled over america's eyes. and, listen, that's not the reason that democrats want his taxes, and that's not the reason americans should want the