Trump’s morning meltdown includes reminders he pays his taxes and false claims about presidential salary - The Independent
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President Donald Trump sought to cast Democrats as the party of corruption early Thursday, boasting in a series of Truth Social posts that he pays his taxes and refuses a White House salary.
His comments came less than two weeks after midterm voters signaled that concerns about corruption played a crucial role in their choices at the ballot box.
The Trump administration has faced persistent corruption allegations, including claims that he is profiting from the presidency. His cryptocurrency ventures, use of the pardon power and acceptance of foreign gifts have all drawn scrutiny as his personal wealth has ballooned.
The Democratic Party, the president wrote at 5:50 am, is “doing everything in their power to get away from MASSIVE BLUE STATE CORRUPTION by saying, over and over again, that the Trump Administration is corrupt.” He added: “THE DEMOCRATS ARE CORRUPT AND EVIL, and I am the exact opposite!”
“I, perhaps foolishly because the Fake News refuses to write about it, including in my First Term, don’t even take a Salary, worth Millions of Dollars,” he wrote. “I am the only President to have done so!”
While Trump has said he donates his salary, it does not reach into the six figures. By federal law, the president earns a base salary of $400,000. Past presidents have also given away their earnings, including Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy.
Forty minutes later, Trump returned to Truth Social to defend himself against corruption allegations, this time by highlighting his tax record.
“Does anybody remember, in my First Term, the relentless effort by the anti-American Dumocrats to get my personal Tax Returns, something that has always been off limits for anyone other than Donald J. Trump,” he wrote. “Shockingly, they won this unprecedented right in the U.S. Supreme Court, and hired the best and toughest accountants in the Country to ‘get Trump.’”
“After one year of intense work, these brilliant Democrat inspired accountants FOUND NOTHING except that I paid my taxes and did everything right,” he added.
Trump was the only major party presidential candidate since the Watergate era to refuse to make his tax returns public on the campaign trail, although he frequently claimed he could not do so because they were under audit.
Some of his returns were later leaked to the press and obtained by Democrats in Congress.
