Howard Kurtz Dismisses Media’s Focus on Trump Taxes: ‘Dirty Pool’ to Leak ‘Personal Financial Information’ for Political Purposes Close to Election

Fox News’ Howard Kurtz said it was “dirty pool” for President Donald Trump’s tax returns to leak so close to the 2020 election, and predicted it wouldn’t change many voters’ minds.

“The media are going, I guess the technical term is, ‘bonkers,’ Kurtz said in a Monday segment with Fox’s Dana Perino. “Obviously this was leaked on the eve of the first debate… to hurt the president, but I don’t think it’s going to move the election needle.”

He added: “I think most people are going to say why should anyone, even a very rich person, have to pay more taxes than they are legally required to?… There is no suggestion here of illegality.”

The New York Times on Sunday published information from Trump’s tax returns that the paper obtained from undisclosed sources, revealing, among other things, that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. Trump denied the report as “fake news.”

“I do think the most newsworthy thing … is the fact that he or his companies may be under some financial strain, facing $300 million in loans coming due the next four years,” Kurtz said. “All of this would’ve come out if the president, like every other major candidate for president in the last 40 years, had released his tax returns in 2016. He chose not to, and yet, I still have the feeling that it’s kind of dirty pool to have your personal financial information leaked for political purposes so close to an election.”

Watch above via Fox News.