The Accountants

The Accountants

Author: WNYC Studios May 6, 2020 Duration: 37:48
On May 12, after a six-week delay caused by the pandemic, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the epic battle by congressional committees and New York prosecutors to pry loose eight years of President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Much about the case is without precedent. Oral arguments will be publicly broadcast on live audio. The nine justices and opposing lawyers will debate the issues remotely, from their offices and homes. And the central question is extraordinary: Is the president of the United States immune from congressional — and even criminal — investigation? The arguments concern whether Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, must hand over his tax returns and other records to a House committee and the Manhattan district attorney, which have separately subpoenaed them. (There will also be arguments on congressional subpoenas to two of Trump’s banks.) Trump’s accountants have been crucial enablers in his remarkable rise. And like their marquee client, they have a surprisingly colorful and tangled story of their own. It’s dramatically at odds with the image Trump has presented of his accountants as “one of the most highly respected” big firms, solemnly confirming his numbers after months of careful scrutiny. For starters, it’s only technically true to say Trump’s accounting work is handled by a large firm. In fact, Trump entrusts his taxes and planning to a tiny, secretive team of CPAs who have operated at various times from humble quarters in Queens and two Long Island office parks. That team, which has had two leaders with back-to-back multidecade terms, has been working for the Trumps since Fred Trump began using the firm back in the 1950s. It was eventually subsumed into Mazars USA, the American arm of a large international firm, through a series of mergers over decades. One theme has been consistent: partners and sometimes the firm itself have faced accusations of fraud, misconduct, and malpractice on multiple occasions, an investigation by ProPublica and WNYC has found. This story was co-published with ProPublica; visit their website to read Peter Elkind's full text story on President Trump's relationship with his accounting firm. Stay up to date with email updates about our investigations into the president’s business practices.

The presidency of Donald Trump presented an unprecedented puzzle, one where the lines between political power and private enterprise became profoundly blurred. Trump, Inc., from WNYC Studios and ProPublica, is a forensic examination of that puzzle. This podcast moves beyond the daily headlines to investigate the enduring architecture of the Trump business empire during his time in office. Each episode is built on meticulous reporting, asking the straightforward yet complex questions that remained: where were new deals being struck, what foreign partners were involved, and was the promised separation between the Oval Office and the family company actually being maintained? The series doesn't just outline controversies; it follows the money, documents the paper trails, and interviews the people on the ground. You'll hear a detailed account of the mechanisms, the key players, and the potential conflicts of interest that defined an era where governance and brand became intertwined. It's a persistent inquiry into the nature of modern power, accountability, and the very definition of public service. By focusing on the operational realities-the leases, the loans, the licenses-this podcast provides a crucial, lasting record of how business was conducted, offering clarity long after the news cycle has moved on. Tune in for a deep, narrative-driven investigation that connects the dots across global projects and political decisions.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Trump, Inc.
Podcast Episodes
Ukraine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:31
Why Ukraine? It’s the question we at Trump, Inc. have been asking ourselves for over a year. Donald Trump has taken money from Ukrainian oligarchs. Paul Manafort went to prison because of work he did in Ukraine. Michael…
Donald J. Trump For President, Inc. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:52
In August, at a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, a tall man with a Viking beard and an elegant gray suit walked out on a stage, carrying a stack of red Make America Great Again hats, tossing them to an adorin…
The Family Business [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:26
Trump, Inc. takes a step back to make sense of the seemingly endless scandals swirling around the White House. They're not random. They fit a pattern and that has a precedent. It turns out, Trump is running the governmen…
The Questions Mueller Didn't Ask [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:33
Perhaps you’ve heard: Special counsel Robert Mueller testified on Wednesday. There’s plenty of analysis about who won and who didn’t. We’re skipping that part.
A New Kind of Influencer: Friend of the President’s Kid [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:34
Tommy Hicks Jr. isn’t in government, but he’s a longtime pal of the president’s son. That has put him in the room when the administration talks China and 5G policy, and it lets him help others — including one friend who…
An Opportunity for the Rich [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:46
Under a six-lane span of freeway leading into downtown Baltimore sits what may be the most valuable parking spaces in America. Lying near a development project controlled by Under Armour’s billionaire CEO Kevin Plank, on…
Pay Day at the Trump Doral [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:52
At the president's resort west of Miami, Payday lenders celebrated the potential death of a rule intended to protect their customers. They couldn’t have done it without him.
Trump and Deutsche Bank: It’s Complicated [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:12
Whispers of money laundering have swirled around Donald Trump’s businesses for years. One of his casinos, for example, was fined $10 million for not trying hard enough to prevent such machinations. Investors with shady f…