US Elections- Trump Taxes Are 'National Security' Issue, Says Nancy Pelosi

Business Standard US elections: Trump taxes are 'national security' issue, says Nancy Pelosi

The top-ranked Democrat in Washington has called US President Donald Trump's alleged tax avoidance a question of "national security"

Us elections 2020: The top-ranked Democrat in Washington has called US President Donald Trump's alleged tax avoidance a question of "national security".

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, asked whether Trump owed money to foreign interests, following an article on his financial records by the New York Times.

It alleges Trump paid only $750 in federal income tax in both 2016 and 2017.

The President called the report "fake news", the BBC reported on Monday.

Speaking on NBC, Nancy Pelosi said the report showed that "this president appears to have over $400 million in debt".

"To whom? Different countries? What is the leverage they have?" she asked, adding: "So for me, this is a national security question."

"The fact that you could have a sitting president who owes hundreds of millions of dollars that he's personally guaranteed to lenders, and we don't know who these lenders are," she said, and suggested that Trump may be indebted to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"What does Putin have on the president politically? Personally? Financially?"

According to the explosive report in the New York Times - which says it obtained tax records for Trump and his companies over two decades -- Trump paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years. It adds that the president is personally responsible for more than $300m in loans, which will come due in the next four years.