Susanne Craig, a Times investigative reporter who was co-author of a yearlong look into Mr. Trump’s early finances, said the past was prologue. “It showed that this is a man who has a pattern of behavior his whole life, and it’s simply continuing now,” she said.

New York itself “certainly is an area that caters and allows for tax breaks and tax avoidance more so than others,” Ms. Craig said. “Real estate writ large is open to this sort of abuse.”

Here are five stories to help you understand Mr. Trump, and the New York he came from.

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