President Donald Trump defended reports of his enormous business losses over 30 years ago, arguing Wednesday that it was a common practice for real estate developers at the time to avoid taxes.

“Real estate developers in the 1980’s & 1990’s, more than 30 years ago, were entitled to massive write-offs and depreciation which would, if one was actively building, show losses and tax losses in almost all cases,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Much was non-monetary. Sometimes considered ‘tax shelter,’ you would get it by building, or even buying.”

The New York Times published information from previously undisclosed tax data transcripts from 1984 – 1994 showing that Trump lost more than a billion dollars in that period of time.

“You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes, almost all real estate developers did – and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport,” Trump wrote. “Additionally, the very old information put out is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!”

The Times did not get copies of the president’s highly sought-after tax returns, but the information they obtained about the president’s reported business losses fueled critics of the president who gloated that the report proved Trump was a fraud.

As Breitbart News reporter John Carney noted, the story failed to acknowledge the epic real estate crash in the early 1990’s that hit New York City hard. Trump survived the crash, despite other business rivals failing.

The new information also fueled Democrat demands that Trump release his most recent tax returns to detail his recent financial dealings for the American public.