Fox News's “Fox & Friends” hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade argued that the president's nearly $1.2 billion in financial losses demonstrates his willingness to take chances. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Media 'Fox & Friends' hosts defend Trump’s massive losses as sign of ‘impressive’ business chops

The hosts of “Fox & Friends” had an unconventional take on The New York Times’ bombshell report that President Donald Trump had amassed huge financial losses in the 1980s and 1990s — it’s all a sign of Trump’s “impressive” business career.

“If anything, you read this and you're like: ‘Wow, it's pretty impressive all the things that he's done in his life,’” “Fox & Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt said Wednesday. “It's beyond what most of us could ever achieve.”


Hosts of the cable news network’s morning show, known for its conservative bent and fierce defenses of the Trump administration, argued that the president’s loss of hundreds of millions of dollars was an indicator of his boldness and the sheer wealth he amassed.

The Times reported Tuesday night that Trump “appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer" during the 10-year period in question, weaving a tale of a businessman in financial distress, in large part because of bad deals he made. Reporters looked at the president’s tax figures from 1985 to 1994, a period when Trump was becoming increasingly famous by trumpeting his wealth and savvy.

The president on Wednesday defended himself, saying his tax write-offs from bad deals were part of the “sport” of business at the time. Trump dismissed the Times report as “highly inaccurate” but did not dispute any specific portions of it.

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“Fox & Friends” hosts echoed the president’s claims, arguing that Trump’s moves illustrated his willingness to take chances and the costs of dealing with amounts of money “we can’t even fathom.”

“I don't know that there's any suggestion that he broke the law,” host Steve Doocy said. “I think the suggestion is simply that he used the tax laws to his benefit.”

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade suggested Trump’s daring business endeavors — The Times highlighted his purchase of casinos, hotels and space in apartment buildings — are the reasons Americans have been familiar with his name for years and years.

“What do people not understand about that he's a little bit different than most people?” Kilmeade asked.

The Times story was published amid a fierce battle for the Trump’s tax returns between congressional Democrats and the White House. The administration has repeatedly denied requests for the IRS to release information on the president’s finances, which lawmakers say could reveal foreign conflicts of interest.

The Fox News hosts speculated how The Times uncovered the tax information, which is different from what Democrats are seeking but continues to taint the president’s carefully constructed image as a self-made billionaire. Last year, a Times report showed that Trump had received at least $413 million from his father.

Earhardt also argued voters won’t place much stake in the president’s tax finances because “people like what he’s doing with the economy.” The article is “interesting,” she said, but added it probably won’t “sway anyone at the polls.”

Republican lawmakers seemed generally unsurprised by the news when the Times story dropped Tuesday. It was public knowledge that Trump had a string of bankruptcies in the past, though the president attributed them to the recession that began in 1990.

The president’s proponents on the Fox News went a step further, characterizing Trump’s losses as natural costs for someone with his wealth and “bold” business strategies — even though The Times' analysis showed his losses eclipse other high-income earners of the era.

“For you or I, maybe buying a summer home is a big move, or maybe even a trailer,” Kilmeade said. “But for Donald Trump, he says: ‘I got some money, but I want to really expand my empire. I want to take chances.’”

“That's what he's done through his entire life as a personality, as a host, as a businessman,” the “Fox & Friends” host continued. “And guess what. Not all of us win on everything we buy.”