The New York Times - USA (2020-10-17)

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A16 Y THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONALSATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020


If the American people had to
endure 90 minutes of cross-talk
and interruptions last month at the
first presidential debate, the alter-
native — clashing, simultaneous
town hall events on Thursday with
President Trump and former Vice
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. —
was not much of an improvement.
Mr. Trump tested positive for the
coronavirus after the first debate
and, citing safety, the presidential
debate commission declared that
the second debate would have to
be virtual. Mr. Trump refused, so
Mr. Biden scheduled a town hall on
ABC. Mr. Trump then scheduled
his own on NBC — at the exact
same time.It’s an open question
whether Mr. Trump’s gambit of
trying to push Mr. Biden off the
stage worked to his advantage. Mr.
Biden’s whole campaign strategy
has been to fly at a low altitude
toward victory.


Mixed Message on QAnon
After Mr. Trump went through days of
headlines and headaches as a result of
his refusal to condemn white suprema-
cy during the first presidential debate,
he was ready on Thursday to offer a
hedge-free denunciation. “I denounce
white supremacy, OK?” he said to the
moderator, Savannah Guthrie, almost
before she had finished her question.
The rare forcefulness on the topic
made Mr. Trump’s mealy-mouthed
refusal, minutes later, to disavow the
false QAnon conspiracy theory all the
more stark.
Ms. Guthrie might have delivered the
most memorable line of the night when
she quizzed Mr. Trump about a recent
retweet of a discredited conspiracy
theory that Mr. Biden had orchestrated
actions to have SEAL Team 6, one of
the country’s elite military units, killed
to cover up the supposedly faked death
of Osama bin Laden. Mr. Trump said
with a shrug, “I’ll put it out there.”
“I don’t get that,” Ms. Guthrie replied.
“You’re the president. You’re not, like,
someone’s crazy uncle.”

Views of Public Health
Masks are politically popular. They are
embraced as a public health necessity
by experts and a broad cross-section of
the American public. One of Mr.
Trump’s own advisers, Chris Christie,
said Thursday he had been “wrong” not
to wear a mask at the White House. But
Mr. Trump, despite having recently
contracted the coronavirus and requir-
ing hospitalization for it, still cannot
bring himself to arrive at a full-throated
embrace of mask-wearing.
The pandemic has upended American
life like no other event, and death rates
per capita are higher than in other
developed nations, yet Mr. Trump con-
tinued to claim that his administration’s
response had been a success. “We’re a
winner,” Mr. Trump declared, talking
about “excess mortality.” He added,
“What we’ve done has been amazing,
and we have done an amazing job.”

A Missing Agenda


Mr. Trump had kind words for conspir-
acy theorists; he wouldn’t say whether
he had tested negative for the coronavi-
rus on the day of the first debate (“Pos-
sibly I did. Possibly I didn’t”); and he
continued to undermine the legitimacy
of the 2020 vote. He did not have much
to say, however, about a sweeping sec-
ond-term agenda.
When Ms. Guthrie gave him a chance
to make his closing pitch for another
four years, he began, “Because I’ve
done a great job.” There were few other
specifics beyond the classic Trumpian
boast. “Next year,” he promised, “is
going to be better than ever before.”

Managing the Pandemic
Mr. Trump minimized the danger of the
virus, despite having been hospitalized
after falling ill with it. He has poked fun
at Mr. Biden for wearing a mask and
has resisted the idea of making masks
mandatory. Mr. Biden said that he
himself would take a vaccine by the end
of the year, and would urge other Amer-
icans to do so, “if the body of scientists
say that this is what is ready to be done
and it’s been tested.” He also said he
might support making vaccines manda-
tory — but acknowledged that such a
measure would be difficult to enforce.

On Packing the Court
Mr. Biden did make one bit of news:
After energetically avoiding the ques-
tion recently, he signaled that he would
announce before Election Day whether
he supports expanding the number of
seats on the Supreme Court. But he
said he wanted to wait until after the
Senate had acted on the nomination of
Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Many Democrats have called for
expanding the Supreme Court after Mr.

Trump and Senate Republicans
charged forward with filling the vacan-
cy created by Justice Ginsburg’s
death. Mr. Biden has made it clear in
the past that he did not support the
idea. He has avoided the question
during the campaign by saying he
didn’t want to play into Mr. Trump’s
hands and turn attention away from
what Republicans were doing with the
Ginsburg vacancy. But he agreed with
the moderator, George Stephanopou-
los, that voters had a right to know his
views, and he set out a schedule for
disclosing them.

What if He Loses?
Mr. Biden is in many ways an entirely
conventional candidate for the White
House, particularly compared with Mr.
Trump. So his willingness to answer
questions about what he would do if he
lost was striking: As a rule, that’s a
question candidates avoid.
When a voter asked about how he
might try to influence a second Trump
administration if he lost, Mr. Biden
said he would probably go back to
teaching, “focusing on the same issues
relating to what constitutes decency
and honor in this country.” He added,
“It’s just a thing that got me involved
in public life to begin with.”
Mr. Stephanopoulos leaned in with a
question: What will it say about the
country if Mr. Trump is re-elected?
“Well, it could say I’m a lousy candi-
date and I didn’t do a good job,” Mr.
Biden said. “I hope that it doesn’t say
that we are as racially, ethnically and
religiously at odds with one another as
it appears the president wants us to
be.”

In Dueling Town Halls, the Divergence Between the Candidates Is Clear


By ADAM NAGOURNEY
and SHANE GOLDMACHER PRESIDENT TRUMP Miami on NBC JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. Philadelphia on ABC

15 .1 million
Viewers on average of
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s town
hall meeting on ABC, ac-
cording to Nielsen.

13 .5 million
Viewers of President
Trump’s town hall on the
NBC broadcast network,
which includes simulcasts
on MSNBC and CNBC.

Election


Democratic candidates in com-
petitive Senate races received an-
other surge in donations over the
last few months, with some break-
ing fund-raising records in their
states and many entering the final
weeks of the campaign with sig-
nificant stores of cash, according
to new quarterly filings with elec-
tion authorities this week.
ActBlue, the central platform
for donations to Democratic can-
didates and causes, announced
that from July 1 to Sept. 30, it had
processed $1.5 billion in contribu-
tions — an amount roughly equal
to what the site raised during the
entire 2018 election cycle, and one
far exceeding the $623.5 million
that the equivalent Republican
platform, WinRed, took in during
the quarter.
Mark Kelly, the Democratic
Senate candidate in Arizona, was
among those who reported raising
another enormous sum. Mr.
Kelly’s campaign took in more
than $38.7 million in those three
months, and polls in the state
show him with a widening advan-
tage over the Republican incum-
bent, Senator Martha McSally.
His campaign indicated that it had
entered October with $18.8 million
in cash on hand.
Ms. McSally’s campaign re-
ported raising $22.6 million in the
period, with nearly $12.2 million in
the bank.
In the Kentucky Senate race,
the Democratic candidate, Amy
McGrath, raised $36.9 million in
the quarter. Her campaign, seek-
ing to unseat Senator Mitch Mc-
Connell, the majority leader, re-
ported having nearly $20 million
in cash on hand. Mr. McConnell’s
campaign raised less than half of
that, $15.8 million, and reported
$13.9 million in cash on hand.
In Maine, the Democratic chal-
lenger, Sara Gideon, took in $39.
million in her effort to unseat Sen-
ator Susan Collins, the Republican
incumbent, whose campaign
raised $8.3 million. Ms. Gideon re-
ported $22.7 million in cash on
hand, compared with nearly $6.
million for Ms. Collins, who re-
ceived an endorsement from for-
mer President George W. Bush in
August.
Jaime Harrison, the Democrat
challenging Senator Lindsey Gra-
ham, Republican of South Car-
olina, shattered the record for
Senate campaign fund-raising in a
quarter, taking in more than $
million in the period in question.
Mr. Harrison’s campaign reported
having nearly $8 million in cash at
the start of the month.
Mr. Graham’s campaign re-
ported having raised $28.5 million
over the same time. With the sena-
tor leading slightly in polling in
South Carolina and his leadership
of the Senate Judiciary Commit-
tee drawing particular attention
in his push to confirm President
Trump’s third Supreme Court
nominee, his campaign indicated
that it had nearly $14.8 million in
cash on hand.
In Iowa, the Democratic chal-
lenger, Theresa Greenfield, raised
more than $28 million, compared
with the incumbent Republican,
Senator Joni Ernst, another mem-
ber of the Judiciary Committee,

who took in $7.2 million. Ms.
Greenfield reported nearly $9.
million in cash on hand, more than
double Ms. Ernst’s $4.3 million.
In Georgia, the Democrat Jon
Ossoff raised $21.3 million, almost
four times the $5.6 million brought
in by his Republican opponent,
Senator David Perdue. Mr. Os-
soff’s campaign entered this
month with $8.3 million in the
bank, roughly the same amount
that Mr. Perdue declared.
In his bid to represent Montana
in the Senate, Gov. Steve Bullock,
a Democrat, drew $26.9 million in
the quarter, his campaign an-
nounced, and had nearly $2 mil-
lion in cash on hand. His Republi-
can opponent, Senator Steve
Daines, raised $11.5 million over
the same period and reported
nearly $3.5 million on hand.
In North Carolina, the Demo-
cratic challenger Cal Cunningham
— a former state senator who has
maintained a narrow lead in his
bid to oust Senator Thom Tillis,
even as that race has been up-
ended by a texting scandal and
health worries in recent weeks —
reported raising more than $
million. Mr. Cunningham’s cam-
paign indicated $4.2 million in
cash on hand. Mr. Tillis, seen as
one of his party’s more vulnerable
incumbents, reported raising $6.
million and having roughly that
same amount on hand to spend.
In Kansas, the Democrat Bar-
bara Bollier reported raising
about $13.5 million, a quarterly
record for any candidate ever run-

ning for any office in Kansas, and
ending the quarter with $7.6 mil-
lion in cash. Her Republican oppo-
nent, Representative Roger Mar-
shall, reported raising just over
$2.9 million and ending the quar-
ter with $1.7 million on hand.
In Alabama, the Democrats’
vulnerable incumbent, Senator
Doug Jones, raised $10.4 million,
compared with the $3.4 million re-
ported by his Republican chal-
lenger, Tommy Tuberville. Mr.
Jones’s campaign reported $7.
million in cash on hand, compared
with Mr. Tuberville’s $1.7 million.
And in Texas, M.J. Hegar, a
Democratic former Air Force heli-
copter pilot challenging Senator
John Cornyn, a Republican, re-
ported raising nearly $14 million
and concluding the quarter with
$8.5 million in cash. Mr. Cornyn,
whose place on the Judiciary
Committee has also been promi-
nent during Judge Amy Coney
Barrett’s Supreme Court nomina-
tion hearings, reported raising
just over half of what his opponent
had — $7.2 million — with $8 mil-
lion in cash on hand.
On ActBlue, the average contri-
bution amount was $47, according
to a news release, indicating
strong energy among smaller-dol-
lar, grass-roots donors. The site
processed record donations dur-
ing the weekend after Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died.

Democrats See Donations


Surge With ActBlue Haul


By REBECCA R. RUIZ
and RACHEL SHOREY

A $1.5 billion boost


that outpaces G.O.P.


contributions.


cial institutions at the Treasury
Department under President Bill
Clinton and now teaches law at
Fordham University. “If the cap-
tain gives a personal guarantee
for the ship, he will be less likely to
sink it.”
Mr. Trump was asked about the
debt in response to an investiga-
tion by The New York Times pub-
lished last month based on a re-
view of more than two decades of
his tax-return data. The investiga-
tion found that Mr. Trump had per-
sonally guaranteed $421 million of
his companies’ debts, with more
than $300 million coming due
within four years.
The Times also found evidence
that Mr. Trump might have diffi-
culty repaying or refinancing the
loans without liquidating assets.
His main source of income in re-
cent decades — a total of more
than $427 million from entertain-
ment and licensing deals that
were fueled by his fame — has all
but dried up. That cash enabled a
buying spree of failing golf
courses, and propped up those
businesses as their losses
mounted. In recent years, Mr.
Trump has burned through most
of the cash, stocks and bonds at
his disposal and has recently ex-
plored the sale of some of his hold-
ings, including the Trump Inter-
national Hotel in Washington.
The investigation revealed that
Mr. Trump’s finances were under
stress, with losses that allowed
him to pay just $750 in federal in-
come taxes for 2016 and 2017, and
nothing at all in 10 of the previous
15 years. Also hanging over him is
a decade-long audit battle with the
Internal Revenue Service over the
legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax
refund that he claimed, and re-
ceived, after declaring huge
losses. An adverse ruling could
cost him more than $100 million.
The tax-return data obtained by
The Times does not by its nature
identify the lender for most of Mr.
Trump’s debts. But the borrowing
businesses and largest amounts
track with the personal financial
disclosures he has been required
to file with the U.S. government as
a candidate and president.
The bulk of the debt appears to
be owed to Deutsche Bank, one of
the few lenders that would do
business with Mr. Trump in the
last decade, even after he de-
faulted on past loans.
The tax records, for example,
show that the largest loan bal-
ances at the end of 2018 that Mr.
Trump had personally guaran-
teed were $160 million on his
Washington hotel and more than
$125 million on his Doral golf re-
sort. His disclosure forms indicate
that Deutsche Bank was the lend-
er on both loans. Mr. Trump had
also personally guaranteed $60.
million of debt owed by one of his
entities, DJT Holdings. His Chi-
cago tower, another Deutsche
Bank borrower, is among the
many businesses he controls
through that holding company.
Deutsche Bank is the only
mainstream financial institution
that has been consistently willing
to do business with Mr. Trump.
And even that lender has required
him to personally guarantee what


he has borrowed.
As The Times has reported,
Deutsche Bank and Mr. Trump
have had a long and fraught rela-
tionship, with the bank at times
being hesitant to lend to Mr.
Trump, including refusing to ad-
vance him money during his 2016
campaign.
Deutsche Bank has spent bil-
lions of dollars trying to transform
itself into a global player, a strat-
egy that has pushed it to take out-
size risks that have repeatedly
landed it in trouble with U.S. regu-
lators. In recent years, the Justice
Department has investigated
whether the bank has complied
with laws meant to stop money
laundering and other crimes. And
in 2017, the Justice Department
completed a deal with the bank
that required it to pay $7.2 billion
for its sale of toxic mortgage secu-
rities in the run-up to the 2008 fi-
nancial crisis.
According to Mr. Trump’s dis-
closure forms and property
records, the only other significant
lender to his businesses since 2012
has been Ladder Capital.
Mr. Trump’s reputation among
lenders was sealed over the dec-
ades that his Atlantic City casinos
repeatedly filed for bankruptcy.
Ben Berzin, a retired executive
vice president and senior credit
officer at PNC Bank who dealt
with Mr. Trump over the casino
loans, said banks got “an expen-
sive education,” and the ones that
did not demand a personal guar-
antee got burned.
“They lent on the aura of suc-
cess,” he said. “And things went
really wrong.”
Mr. Trump’s most lucrative in-

vestment is one run by another
company: a 30 percent share with
Vornado Realty Trust in two office
buildings, one in Manhattan and
the other in San Francisco. Mr.
Trump withdrew $125.5 million
from his share of the partnership’s
profits from 2010 through 2018,
the records show.
The Times’s totals for Mr.
Trump’s debts do not include $
million that the Vornado partner-

ship borrowed on the two build-
ings in 2012 from four lenders, in-
cluding Deutsche Bank. Tax
records issued to Mr. Trump show
he is not responsible for any of
that debt.
The debt that Mr. Trump has
personally guaranteed was only
part of the total debt and other li-
abilities shown in his tax records
for the end of 2018. Additionally,
Mr. Trump’s businesses owe more
than $200 million for which he is
not personally responsible.
During the town hall, Mr.
Trump said that the $421 million in
debt was not a concern, appar-
ently clinging to his long-held as-
sertion that his net worth is more
than $10 billion.
“What I’m saying is that it’s a
tiny percentage of my net worth,”
Mr. Trump said
“When you look at vast proper-

ties like I have, and they’re big and
they’re beautiful and they’re well
located, when you look at that, the
amount of money, $400 million, is
a peanut, it’s extremely underlev-
ered,” he added, seemingly using
his own version of the financial
term “underleveraged.”
In a dire situation, Mr. Trump
could try to sell some assets or
properties to cover a loan coming
due. But loans are usually based
on the profitability of the business
borrowing the money.
Tax records for the businesses
on which he borrowed the bulk of
the money suggest that refinanc-
ing may be a challenge. Doral and
his Washington hotel, with more
than $300 million in debts coming
due, have posted regular losses.
And in addition to the debt he
owes, Mr. Trump has put a net of
$261.8 million cash into the busi-
nesses to help keep them afloat.
And he appears to have spent
much of the cash and investments
he had on hand just a few years
ago, as his income from entertain-
ment and endorsements began a
steep decline.
In January 2014, he sold $98 mil-
lion in stocks and bonds, his big-
gest single month of sales in at
least the last two decades. He sold
$54 million more in stocks and
bonds in 2015, and $68.2 million in


  1. A financial disclosure re-
    leased in July shows that he had
    as little as $873,000 in securities
    left to sell.
    Mr. Trump’s businesses re-
    ported cash on hand of $34.7 mil-
    lion in 2018, down 40 percent from
    five years earlier.
    Mr. Carnell, the former Treas-
    ury official, said Mr. Trump’s per-
    sonal guarantee on the debts put
    his lenders, primarily Deutsche
    Bank, in an “awkward” spot, in
    part because banks are subject to
    federal regulation and Mr. Trump
    has displayed a willingness to
    push the Justice Department to
    investigate perceived foes.
    “The Donald Trump approach
    to law is all legal levers would be
    fair game in pressuring or punish-
    ing a bank,” he said.


Trump Shrugs Over His Debts, but Test Awaits


From Page A

President Trump regularly
loses money on his hotel in
Washington, above, and he
has explored selling it. Debts
coming due are also linked to
his Doral golf resort, left.

ANNA MONEYMAKER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

SCOTT MCINTYRE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Large loans are set


to come due amid


declining revenue.


David Enrich contributed report-
ing.

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