>>> Six years of former
president trump's tax returns
are now available for public
scrutiny.
He fought for years to keep them
secret.
But on Friday a house committee
released them.
And it raised a lot of questions
about his finances, like why did
he pay little or no income tax
in some years.
Take a look.
In 2016 and 2017, trump paid
only $750.
The final year of his
presidency, 2020, he did not pay
a dime in federal income tax.
Trump offsetting his income by
billions of dollars claiming
business failures.
Trump maintained foreign bank
accounts while serving in the
white house, including in China.
Joining me now is trump
biography issues Michael
Dantonio, author of "The truth
about trump."
We know he famously fought hard.
Now that they are out, what does
he do?
>> Well, it seems to me that
he's got both an image problem
and maybe a legal issue.
Although others can speak to the
legal problems better than I
might.
Politically he has two sub
issues here.
One return suggests he is not
the great businessman that he
claims to be.
And certainly all of these
losses would cause many of us to
think so.
On the other hand, he might
argue that these are paper
losses and they're not really
a
sign that he wasn't doing well
or that his personal weight was
suffering.
That leads to the other
political issue he has, that
being that someone who lives so
lavishly and who claims to be
worth up to 10 or 11 billion in
net worth should be paying some
sort of tax for the system to be
fair or were he to be a good
citizen.
Because paying our taxsis
participate of participating in
our society, actually you might
say it funds the defense of
democracy, both internationally
and at home.
So he's got big political issues
here.
And I think it only further
erodes an already wounded
campaign position he has.
>> He has argued that it is
inherently unfair and that he
took advantage of the laws as
written because he is smart.
Your take on that?
>> Reporter: Well, I think he's
got dozens and dozens of people
around him who are smart when it
comes to taxes.
This is another case, just as
with his claims to knowing more
about the law than most lawyers,
where he's just making stuff up.
He doesn't exhibit intelligence
himself when it comes to tax
policy.
He only knows enough to hire
people who know all the tricks.
So none of these methods are
new.
What's I think remarkable is
that he uses every single one of
them.
And I've noted this before in
other arenas of his life, and
that is that he will grab, as
aggressively $1,000 as he will a
million dollars.
We have all heard of stories of
people that he's decided not to
pay small contractors or people
that he's interrupted
transactions with just to make
new demands.
So, sure, he's hired a bunch of
smart people.
But if you were truly smart he
would have paid some taxes
knowing that eventually all of
this would come out.
And for him to imagine that it
wouldn't come out I think was
really foolish.
>> It did take a very long time
to come out.
What do you make of the fact
that his charitable
contributions in 2020 were zero?
>> Well, isn't that remarkable?
He, in the past, used parts of
his organization to appear to
make charitable donations.
Although it was often for his
benefit.
And in one case that's noted in
these audit -- or in these
papers that have been released,
he claims a far greater value of
the donation of land that he
made many years ago in order to
reap the tax benefits of this
excess valuation.
And the committee has identified
this as a serious problem.
And it's part of why the state
of New York went after his
businesses.
So I would imagine, too, that
the people overseeing the
operation of his business now
that it's been convicted are
going to look at the tax
records, look at the practices
that maybe the remaining
executives would like to repeat
and just allow them.
>> I also want to ask you about
revelations that came out of new
transcripts from the January 6th
committee.
This was in testimony from
former press secretary Stephanie
Grisham.
Quote, I heard more on the
military aid or secret service
side and a couple just people
that he was sitting in the
dining room and just watching it
all unfold.
And a couple of his comments,
some of his comments were that
these people looked very trashy.
But also looked at what -- what
fighters they were.
>> Reporter: That day, January
6th, was in some way a
culmination of all the dreams
that Donald Trump has ever had.
When he was a very young fellow,
he went to a military academy
where they did pretend
soldiering.
And I think that was something
that instilled in him this idea
of being a leader of a violent
organization.
Later he would say that the
movie "Patton" about a general
who abused his troops was one of
his favorite movies and that
Patton represented the kind of
leader that he hoped to be.
So now we have on January 6th
him watching what is essentially
a mob with both some revulsion
because he's actually someone
who looks down on ordinary
Americans.
But I think also some real
pleasure.
Because he's activated people to
risk their lives and to risk
almost I guess in one case take