Welcome to McClatchy’s Voter Survival Guide, an interactive presentation of daily events from one of the strangest presidential campaigns in modern history.
Donald Trump has yet to release his tax returns, but after declaring nearly $1 billion in losses in 1995 it is possible the Republican nominee for president has not paid income taxes for 18 years.
The campaign responded to a New York Times story in a statement where they did not challenge or confirm the $916 million in losses that Trump declared.
“Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes,” a campaign statement said.
The tax news came a day after Trump’s early morning Twitter rant about a former Miss Universe continued a negative news cycle for the Republican nominee since Monday’s debate.
Trump shamed Alicia Machado for a sex tape that doesn’t appear to exist. The Clinton campaign obtained information on Machado’s interactions with Trump from an opposition research firm that may have violated campaign finance laws.
The Commission on Presidential Debates said that Trump’s audio was impacted during Monday’s debate.
“Regarding the first debate, there were issues regarding Donald Trump's audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall,” the commission said in a statement.
A videotaped deposition of Trump was released on Friday over a dispute involving a restaurant owner who backed out of Trump’s new Washington hotel after Trump’s comments about Mexicans.
The polls open nationally in 35 days. Let’s get started.
The tax saga continues
In the early 1990s, Trump went through a financially turbulent time where multiple investments went belly up and casinos he owned struggled to survive.
In response, Trump declared a massive loss on his 1995 income tax, which tax experts told the Times that he could have used the loss to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income over the coming decades.
“Mr. Trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,” a statement from the Trump campaign said. “Mr. Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for President and he is the only one that knows how to fix it.”
Mr. Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for President and he is the only one that knows how to fix it.
Trump campaign on $916 million in losses declared by Trump in 1995
Clinton was quick to respond on Saturday night.
Trump "apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades—while tens of millions of working families paid theirs." pic.twitter.com/g62jB9fKr5
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 2, 2016
Trump supporter and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said the Republican nominee was “a genius” for declaring the huge loss.
Trump’s (latest) Twitter tirade
A string of Trump Tweets beginning at 3am dominated the news on Friday.
Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
No record of the sex tape exists and Machado was quick to respond on social media.
"I will not be bullied or silenced. I'm standing with women and the Latino community everywhere." pic.twitter.com/oz9vSNlqVr
— Alicia Machado (@machadooficial) September 30, 2016
Hillary Clinton campaigned in Florida on Friday, and used Trump’s Tweets as a campaign rallying point.
“Who gets up at 3 o’clock in the morning, to engage in a Twitter attack against a former Miss Universe?” Clinton said. “He hurled as many insults as he could – really, why does he do things like that?”
Yet women who support Trump don’t mind. They say his statements don’t mean much or were from before he was running for president.
“That’s him. He’s not PC and neither am I,” said Mary Buckley, 60, who wore a button with Clinton’s picture and the words “Life’s a Bitch – Don’t Vote for One” on her purse during a Mike Pence rally in York, Pa.
“I might not personally agree with the things he says,” Buckley said. “But he loves this country and he can improve this economy and keep us safe.”
That’s him. He’s not PC and neither am I.
Mary Buckley, a Trump supporter, on his latest comments about women
There was a mic issue during Monday’s debate
Trump complained earlier this week that his microphone was messed up, and the Commission on Presidential Debates admitted Friday that there was an issue with his audio.
The Republican nominee appeared to sniffle repeatedly during Monday’s debate.
"And they also had, gave me a defective mic. Did you notice that? My mic was defective within the room," Trump said on Monday.
A sealed deposition is released
Trump’s new Pennsylvania Avenue hotel opened recently, and he loves to plug it on the campaign.
But during its completion one of the vendors quit after Trump’s statements about Mexicans last summer, and Trump did not like that.
Video was released on Friday of Trump’s deposition on the matter in June. The full transcript can be viewed here.
Links of note
What the FBI files reveal about Hillary Clinton’s email server (Politico)
New post-debate polls put Clinton up in swing states (McClatchy)
Pence and Kaine are ‘modern’ vice presidential candidates (McClatchy)
Are newspapers endorsing Trump by endorsing anyone but him? (McClatchy)
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Alex Daugherty: 202-383-6049, @alextdaugherty
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