Trump's taxes reveal 26 times he 'crossed the line' making him  subject to prosecution: biographer

Hours after the House Ways and Means Committee released Donald Trump's tax returns from 2015 to 2020, one of his former biographers told CNN the former president has been taking full advantage of tax breaks he went out of his way to lobby Congress for over the years.

He added he counted 26 tax fraud violations that deserved scrutiny by prosecutors.

Speaking with CNN host Abby Phillip, David Cay Johnston, author of "The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family," claimed the Trump family has a history of sketchy financial maneuvers that dates back to the former president's father Fred.

Asked about what he has seen in the newly-released documents, he first, "Oh, they don't show he's successful at all."

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Digging in he continued, "They clearly show that he took advantage of every lawful method of tax avoidance including ones he lobbied Congress for in 1992, successfully lobbied them for, that were enormously beneficial to him but also show at a minimum 26 examples of where Donald crossed the line and engaged in what I believe can be prosecuted as criminal tax fraud."

"Donald in 1984 filed tax returns that showed businesses -- a business with zero revenue and $600,000 of expenses, while the city of New York and the state of New York, after trials Donald demanded, the judges held these were civil tax fraud," he added. "Well, that put him on notice he can't do that. He did it 26 times over the six years and that is powerful evidence of criminal intent, he knew he shouldn't do it, he did it anyway."

"And why did he get away with it?" he asked. "Well, being in control of the federal government, he blocked the turning over of his tax returns, he blocked the audits that are required by law and for years he didn't receive any serious mention from the IRS auditors."

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