Warren slams 'fraud' Trump in MoveOn video

It’s hard to talk about Donald Trump, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a video out Tuesday. But that reality didn’t stop her from tearing into the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for refusing to release his tax returns.

In a four-minute video released by the progressive organization MoveOn.org, Warren blasted the billionaire businessman as a “fraud,” a “cheapskate” and a “bully” who will likely mock her with “lame new nicknames” as a result of her latest attack.


“I have to be honest: It’s hard to talk about Donald Trump,” Warren said at the outset of the video. “Between his ignorance, racism, sexism, lies — it’s hard to know where to start. But we’ve got to start somewhere, and today I want to focus on one lie that helps sum up what Donald Trump is all about: his taxes.”

Warren said Americans don’t know what the real estate mogul pays in taxes because he’s the first presidential nominee in decades not to disclose his tax returns.

“Maybe he’s just a lousy businessman who doesn’t want you to find out that he’s worth a lot less money than he claims — we can’t know for sure. But here's what we do know: The last time his taxes were made public, Donald Trump paid nothing in federal taxes — zero,” Warren said. “Zero taxes before, and for all we know he’s paying zero taxes today. And he’s proud of it.”

Trump last month boasted about paying as little taxes as possible during a telephone interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, arguing that the government wastes taxpayers’ money by throwing it “down the drain.”

Warren said Trump got rich through inheritance “and kept it going by scamming people, declaring bankruptcy and skipping out on what he owed.” But it’s the taxes of everyday Americans, she stressed, that keep the real estate mogul’s businesses going.

“Donald Trump thinks supporting them is throwing money ‘down the drain.’ I say we just throw Donald Trump down the drain,” Warren said. “Donald Trump is a fraud and a cheapskate — and he’s a bully. He’s probably going to come up with a whole bunch of lame new nicknames for me just for filming this video. You know why he does that? To intimidate us. To threaten us. To make us shut up.”

But Warren won’t back down, she said, encouraging others not to, either.

“Whatever Donald Trump says, whatever scam he tries to pull, whatever disgusting thing he thinks he can say because he’s Donald Trump — speak out,” Warren said. “Talk to the person behind you in the grocery store. Talk to the person pumping gas next to you. And yes, share this video with your friends.”

“Ask your Fox News-loving Republican uncle: Why do you pay your taxes but Donald Trump doesn’t?” she continued. “If Donald Trump doesn’t even believe in paying his fair share for government, we shouldn’t put him in charge of the government. If we’re going to build a future — not just for the rich and powerful, but for everybody — then it’s time for all of us to fight back.”

Warren's video comes as Hillary Clinton delivers a speech hitting Trump's business history to undercut the businessman's argument that he would be better for the economy.