Fox News barely covered House reports detailing problems with Donald Trump’s tax returns – By Zachary Pleat (Media Matters) / Dec 21, 2022
Fox is hiding yet another Trump scandal from its audience
Fox News has virtually ignored historic reports from the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee and the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation summarizing several years of former President Donald Trump’s never-before-seen tax returns, as well as the failure of the IRS to complete required annual audits of him as president. Fox News covered the breaking news for less than 3 minutes, while its competitors covered the bombshell story for more than 1 hour (CNN) and for nearly 2 hours (MSNBC), continuing a pattern of Fox hiding Trump scandals from its viewers.
In November, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Ways and Means Committee to obtain Trump’s tax returns, which it has sought against Trump’s fierce resistance since 2019. The committee’s stated reason for obtaining the tax returns was to determine how the IRS is carrying out its duty to audit sitting presidents.
With Trump’s tax returns in the committee’s possession, The New York Times reported that the committee found that the IRS had failed to audit him as required during his first two years in office. According to CNBC, the committee found that the IRS launched its sole audit of one of Trump’s tax returns on the same day the committee requested his returns, and that the audit was never finished during Trump’s presidency. In addition to uncovering the scandalous special treatment Trump received from the IRS during his time in office, the Times further reported that the tax returns showed Trump, who claims to be a multibillionaire, paid only $750 in federal income taxes his first year in office and nothing in 2020, the year Trump attempted to overthrow the government to illegally remain in power following his election defeat.
