Here’s what Kansas and Missouri politicians had to say about the Trump tax return story
The region’s Democratic politicians said plenty on social media Monday following Sunday’s New York Times blockbuster that reported President Donald Trump paid only $750 in tax returns in 2016 and 2017.
Republicans, meanwhile, mostly remained quiet.
Missouri Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II, on Twitter, urged the public to read the Times story about Trump’s finances, saying it “demonstrates very clearly how the President has gamed the system to benefit himself at the expense of American taxpayers.”
“He is the epitome of a con artist and corporate welfare,” Cleaver said.
Former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill also shared concerns about Trump’s upcoming financial obligations reported by the Times, saying, “The Trump tax story is a national security story.”
“Should voters know who holds these debts?” McCaskill tweeted Monday. “Who does the President of the United States owe that kind of money to?”
None of the four Kansas City area GOP senators responded when asked whether they had concerns about the size of Trump’s debt, which includes more than $300 million in loan obligations that become due in the next four years.
The size of debt has raised concerns that the president could be subject to undue influence by creditors if he is elected to a second term.
Spokeswomen for Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri declined to comment. Sen. Josh Hawley’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Jerry Moran’s office answered an unrelated question about Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, but ignored an email query about Trump’s taxes.
Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, a Democrat, was succinct with an initial response Sunday, posting 13 words that gained more than 300,000 likes on Twitter.
“He’s broke, he lives in our house, and he’s been stealing from us.”
