He lies about everything so this is probably a lie too
by digby
Trump released a “disclosure form” that supposedly tells us all about his finances:
President Trump earned $598 million in income last year, according to his personal financial disclosure report released by the Office of Government Ethics on Friday evening. The financial report captures a mixed financial performance for the president’s assets over the last year.
The documents show that Trump has a minimum net worth of $1.1 billion, including more than $320 million in debts. Trump has five liabilities worth $50 million or more, such as the lease on his Washington D.C. hotel.
While Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach, Fla. country club he’s dubbed the “Winter White House,” saw a nearly $8 million increase in revenue — a 25 percent increase from last year — other golf courses had unchanged revenues. Mar-a-Largo has also doubled the amount a person must pay to be a member over the past year.
Unlike his other Florida club, Trump’s Miami golf club, the Trump National Doral, lost money over the last year. In 2015, it brought in $132 million. During 2016, though, it saw revenues fall to $115 million.
But Trump Corporation, the president’s management company, jumped from a revenue of $6.5 million in 2015 to about $18 million during 2016.
Although royalties for his book “Art of the Deal” also at least doubled, revenues for condo sales in his swanky properties decreased.
At Trump Park Avenue, for example, condo sales in 2015 totaled $44.3 million. Last year, those sales only reached $29.9 million — a 33 percent decrease — documents say.
In the last year, Trump opened the doors to his Washington D.C. hotel in the historic Old Post Office building. His financial disclosure says that he made nearly $20 million in revenue.
In 2015, Trump’s airline — Tag Air — which leases a 757 from one of his businesses, earned $3.7 million in revenue. The next year, it reported earning $7.7 million in revenue and travel reimbursements. Trump used Tag Air to travel during the campaign.
Trump also sold off all of his stocks, except for the ones held in private funds controlled by an independent trustee.
The 98-page report that covers the last year is slightly shorter than the one he filed in 2016 as a presidential candidate. Those financials clocked in at 104 pages.
In that filing, Trump claimed his net worth was more than $10 billion. His minimum net worth calculated from the numbers on the form, however, came in at $1.15 billion.
“President Trump welcomed the opportunity to voluntarily file his personal financial disclosure form; while this filing is voluntary (as no report was due until May 2018), it has been certified by the Office of Government Ethics pursuant to its normal procedures,” according to a statement from White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Friday night.
The financial disclosure reports list Trump’s various assets, liabilities and some income, but it is difficult to determine a person’s wealth based on their financial disclosure forms because the values are listed in vast ranges.
For example, some of Trump’s assets are listed as having a value of between $100,000 and $1 million. Some are just labeled as bringing in “more than $5 million” in income.
I don’t know why we should even read this, to tell you the truth. It might as well be fiction. Whatever.