--- title: Donald Trump Defends Leaked Tax Returns in Pueblo description: Donald Trump said Monday that he "brilliantly" used the country's tax laws to his benefit canonical: https://time.com/4517197/donald-trump-defends-leaked-tax-returns-pueblo/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-03T21:25:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:32.459Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Defends Leaked Tax Returns og:description: "As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit" og:url: https://time.com/4517197/donald-trump-defends-leaked-tax-returns-pueblo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc94deb452184f598/6988a889fb4eac163288f599/donald-trump-pueblo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Defends Leaked Tax Returns twitter:description: "As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc94deb452184f598/6988a889fb4eac163288f599/donald-trump-pueblo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Defends Leaked Tax Returns: 'I Have Legally Used the Tax Laws To My Benefit' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 3, 2016 9:25 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Pueblo, Colo., on Oct. 3, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Pueblo, Colo., on Oct. 3, 2016. Evan Vucci—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 3, 2016 9:25 PM UTC Donald Trump on Monday defended his leaked tax documents, which show that he [may have been able to avoid paying federal income taxes for more than a decade](http://time.com/4515840/donald-trump-tax-records-loss/). Part of Trump’s 1995 tax returns leaked Saturday in a New York _Times_ report, but the businessman suggested Monday that this was a reflection of the “diminished” early 1990s real estate market. “As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit,” Trump said during a Pueblo, Colorado rally. “I was able to use the tax laws of this country and my business acumen to dig out of the real estate mess…when few others were able to do.” Trump referenced a line from [last week’s debate](http://time.com/4516571/saturday-night-live-debate-comparison-reality/) against Democrat Hillary Clinton to boast about his business skills—[his temperament](http://fortune.com/video/2016/09/26/audience-laughs-at-trumps-temperament-claims/). “I never had any doubts what so ever, and most importantly, I never gave up or even thought about giving up,” Trump said. “If you didn’t have the right temperament you could have never escaped that financial jungle. Single greatest asset is my temperament and I have a temperament for winning.” The Republican presidential nominee took pot shots at Clinton, saying that his [“biggest opponent was the microphone”](http://time.com/4515148/debate-commission-donald-trumps-microphone-was-faulty/) and pitching himself as the candidate to create jobs. “Hillary Clinton has never created a single job in her entire life,” Trump said. “Just take a look, this is a movement folks, a movement like they’ve never seen. And now we’ve got one person left: Crooked Hillary.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4517197/donald-trump-defends-leaked-tax-returns-pueblo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4517197/donald-trump-defends-leaked-tax-returns-pueblo/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Defends Leaked Tax Returns: 'I Have Legally Used the Tax Laws To My Benefit'","datePublished":"2016-10-03T21:25:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:32.459Z","description":"\"As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit\"","url":"https://time.com/4517197/donald-trump-defends-leaked-tax-returns-pueblo/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Debates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc94deb452184f598/6988a889fb4eac163288f599/donald-trump-pueblo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc94deb452184f598/6988a889fb4eac163288f599/donald-trump-pueblo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, in Pueblo, Colo. 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