CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript Interview with Lloyd Doggett

Interview

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I want to go straight to Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas now. So Congressman, you just heard what Nick had to say, five-year felony. He thinks there could be much in here that could put the President in jail if he's not reelected. Do you think this is fraud?

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D-TX): Well, it's certainly very suspicious and we know that President Nixon turned to the American people and said he wanted to show that he was not a crook and so he disclosed to the Joint Committee on Taxation information that they explored and found that indeed he had underpaid his taxes.

President Trump's hidden everything. We now know from the great work The New York Times did, the kind of work you did last year, on the Trump Organization, that Trump hides everything he secrets away his tax returns, because he doesn't really believe in paying taxes.

And he lives off as a freeloader, he lives off the taxes that other people are paying. It's very, very appalling to see this happen, whether it is criminal tax fraud, I'll leave that to the prosecutors and I think there are prosecutors looking at it in terms of the state in the State of New York in Manhattan.

But I'm very concerned about the message that this sends to Americans who are out there struggling right now, who know that a president who pays $750 as his total contribution for the operation of our government, our national security, our domestic security, other vital needs, that that is just flat wrong.

BURNETT: One of the things is the Time points out and as we were pointing out, obviously, he still is benefiting from all of these things that he says he isn't. But they actually go through Trump properties. We know about the Trump International Hotel, the conferences and meetings at his Doral resort in Florida, Bank of America paid $7 million in 2015, 2016. A trade association paid over a million dollars in 2017 and 2018. This is while he was running and then as sitting president.

All that money was allowed to come in. What does that tell you, Congressman?

DOGGETT: Well, it tells me that maybe that's why things are so sorry here in Washington right now, because they sought special treatment, they got special treatment. He's so dependent on foreigners coming in and staying at his hotel. And you can tell from the data, we now have as a result of this great Time's investigative reporting, that that's because he needs the money.

He's getting money from Turkey, getting money from the Philippines right now and among the few of his profitable properties to make up for the losses that he has here. That plus as you noted earlier, this huge amount of debt, he calls himself the king of debt, and certainly he is. But he won't disclose which foreign entity he is in debt to and it's very troubling in terms our national security.

BURNETT: And do you have any idea to whom he is so indebted?

DOGGETT: All we can do is look at the kind of evidence you presented and no more than one occasion Trump's children have talked about Russia. They've talked about their friends in Saudi Arabia. We know Trump just bragged about protecting the killers in Saudi Arabia, the Prince, who dismembered a journalist.

That's the kind of thinking that's involved here. I just believe he's doing what he told the American people he would do. He's running our country like his business and he may well run it into the ground. We see these 10s of thousands of families that are harmed from his mismanagement of the pandemic. I think they're seeing Trump's business sense and operation and we're all suffering from it.

[19:15:08]

BURNETT: Congressman Doggett, I appreciate your time.

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