Russ Buettner is a reporter on the Investigations desk at The New York Times. Since 2016, his reporting has focused on the personal finances of Donald J. Trump, including articles exploring the vast inheritance Mr. Trump secretly received from his father, the huge business losses and tax avoidance schemes evidenced on several decades of his tax returns, and his record of failure in Atlantic City.
In 2020, Mr. Buettner and two fellow reporters, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire, produced a series of articles based on two decades of Mr. Trump’s tax return information, revealing his struggling businesses, dubious write-offs, a secret audit battle, and the more than $400 million Mr. Trump received thanks to his star turn on “The Apprentice.”
That report came a year after Mr. Buettner and two colleagues, Ms. Craig and David Barstow, were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their work shattering Mr. Trump’s myth that he is a self-made billionaire and revealing instances of fraud used to increase his share of his father’s fortune. They received a George Polk Award for the same body of work.
In 2012, he and his colleague Danny Hakim were named finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for public service for a series of articles highlighting abuse, neglect and deadly mistakes in New York’s system of caring for developmentally disabled people. The project also received a Scripps Howard Award for investigative reporting.
Mr. Buettner joined The Times in 2006 after working on investigations teams at The New York Daily News and New York Newsday. His reporting at The Daily News included a series that resulted in New York publishing physicians’ previously secret malpractice histories, and another series that led to the criminal investigation of Bernard B. Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner. Mr. Kerik eventually pleaded guilty to state and federal charges and was sent to prison.
A previously unknown focus of an I.R.S. audit is a dubious accounting maneuver that effectively meant taking the same write-offs twice on a Chicago skyscraper.
By Russ Buettner and Paul Kiel
The former president will be making a campaign stop in Michigan on Wednesday amid the United Automobile Workers’ strike. He has both appeased unions and sought to circumvent them.
By Russ Buettner
Donald Trump has reunited with a former business partner to sell online trading cards, hoping to recreate a once-profitable mix of hype and celebrity. Initial sales hint at how difficult that will be in 2023.
By Ken Bensinger
Former President Donald J. Trump, who fought for years to keep his returns private, made no charitable donations in 2020, and his own tax law may have cost him. Here’s a running list of insights.
By Jim Tankersley, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner
The release of former President Donald J. Trump’s private tax documents by the House Ways and Means Committee shows heavy losses from his own ventures as he continued to cash in on inherited assets.
By Jim Tankersley, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner
The presidency of Donald J. Trump, a congressional report reveals, was marked by some of the same questionable tax maneuvers that had characterized his business career.
By Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire
Donald J. Trump paid $1.1 million in federal income taxes in his first three years as president, and paid no taxes in 2020 as his income began to dwindle.
By Charlie Smart
The former president reported a burst of income after entering the Oval Office, but by the end of his term, his tax filings had reverted to large losses, according to data released by a House panel.
By Mike McIntire, Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig
This was featured in live coverage.
By David Barstow, Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner and Megan Twohey
This was featured in live coverage.
By Susanne Craig, Mike McIntire and Russ Buettner