Trump adviser: New York Times reporters must 'face jail time' for publishing tax bombshell

Boris Epshteyn, a senior adviser for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, suggested that New York Times reporters should face jail time for reporting on the billionaire's tax returns.

Following the lead of Trump surrogates Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), Epshteyn told MSNBC host Kristen Welker on Monday that his boss was a "genius" for claiming a nearly $1 billion dollar loss, allowing him to potentially evade paying for 18 years.

According to Epshteyn, the New York Timesreport that raised questions about tax evasion was based on "alleged documents," even though the tax returns were verified by the candidate's former accountant.

"There's no authentication for them," Epshteyn said. "The only authentication for them is an octogenarian retired accountant in Florida."

"If they are authentic then the New York Times reporters face jail time, five years of jail time for using someone's tax documents without their approval," he added. "The story has no facts in it whatsoever."

New York Times reporter Susanne Craig told CNN on Sunday that the paper had a legal right to publish Trump's tax documents, which were provided by an anonymous source.

"I don't think it's a crime to check your mailbox," Craig said. "And that's what we did, and then we did some reporting."

Watch the video below from MSNBC, broadcast Oct. 3, 2016.