Trump spent $1m bailing out Donald Jrs’ failed business in 2018, new tax returns show

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Former president Donald Trump bailed out his son Donald Trump Jrs’ failed business for $1m in 2018, according to the former president’s tax returns released Friday, The New York Times reported.

In 2010, the former president’s eldest son started Titan Atlas Manufacturing, which provided cast panels for prefabricated houses. But the company quickly ran into difficult times. The Times reported in 2017 that it had fallen heavily into debt. That led to Mr Trump setting up a company called DB Pace to take over.

Mr Trumps tax returns from 2018 show that the president suffered a $1m loss bailing out his risk-taking children. The Independent contacted Mr Trump and his children’s spokesmen.

The House Ways & Means Committee released the tax returns of former presidents after a long legal battle. Mr Trump has refused to release his tax returns throughout his two presidential campaigns and his tenure in the White House under the pretense that he is being audited.

But Mr Trump’s bailout of his sons’ troubled businesses was not the only help he gave the younger Mr Trump, nor was he the only Trump child to receive help from the president.

The Ways & Means Committee said in a report released last week that the elder Mr Trump had loaned his eldest son, his daughter Ivanka Trump and his second son Eric Trump totaled $51,000 and reported interest income in 2015.

The report said it raised the question of whether the loans were bona fide arms length transactions, or whether the transfers were disguised gifts that could trigger gift tax and interest deductions by the related borrowers.

In addition, in 2016, Mr. Trump again reported interest income from loans to those three children, raising questions about whether they tried to avoid paying gift taxes. Mr Trump also reported interest income on his 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 forms.

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