Thread by @WestWingReport

Mini-Thread
Many folks seem to be focusing on some of the more embarrassing aspects of the Times tax story - like how much he wrote off on hair styling, etc. The president's creditors are the principal issue here. A personal story may help put this in context:

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Many years ago, in a prior life, I went to work for the U.S. government—at the American Embassy in Moscow. During a background check, among the many things that were investigated were my personal finances

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You cannot have people with serious financial problems working in sensitive government jobs for the simple reason that such problems expose them to possible compromise by others

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Surely a man in a sensitive job, as Trump is, who is up to his neck in debt, as Trump is, and who oddly seems to cozy up to men like (just spitballing here) Vladimir Putin, as Trump does, could never be compromised or considered any sort of security risk, right?

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Thus the one item in the Times' report that sticks out is the fact that Trump is personally on hook for “loans and other debts totaling $421 million, with most of it coming due within four years." Who are his creditors? What will Trump do to stave them off in coming years?

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How could he be compromised? Such questions take on further relevance given Eric Trump's 2014 admission that "Well, we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia." ###