Jon Stewart has fired back at an attempt to compare the 2014 sale of his New York City penthouse to Donald Trump’s civil fraud case. On Monday’s episode of The Daily Show, Stewart broke down Trump’s scheme, which involved inflating the value of his properties to secure loans and then deflating those same properties when it came to pay taxes on them.
“Money isn’t infinite. A loan that goes to the liar doesn’t go to someone who’s giving a more honest evaluation. So the system becomes incentivized for corruption,” Stewart said in response to claims that’s Trump’s actions were “victimless.”
“The attorney general of New York knew that Trump’s property values were inflated because when it came time to pay taxes, Trump undervalued the very same properties,” Stewart continued. “It was all part of a very specific real estate practice known as lying.”
However, in a gotcha move boosted by the New York Post, right wing commentator Tim Pool tried to accuse Stewart of doing the same thing when The Daily Show host sold his penthouse for $17.5 million.
“Did @jonstewart commit fraud when he sold his penthouse for $17.5M?” Pool tweeted. “NY listed its market value at $1.8M an AV at around 800k. Who did he He defraud?? I am SHOCKED. SHOCKED.”
Obviously, these are very different situations. Stewart selling his penthouse to a buyer willing to pay a higher price for the property is standard real estate practice, particularly for celebrity owned properties. It’s entirely different than the scheme Trump was running. After the Post amplified Pool’s attack, Stewart fired back.
“OMG!! I’ve been caught doing something not remotely similar to Trump!” Stewart tweeted. “I guess all I need to do now is start a fraud college, steal classified docs, bankrupt casinos, pay hush money, grab pussies, discriminate in housing, cheat at golf and foment insurrection and you’ll revere me!”
OMG!! I've been caught doing something not remotely similar to Trump! I guess all I need to do now is start a fraud college, steal classified docs, bankrupt casinos, pay hush money, grab pussies, discriminate in housing, cheat at golf and foment insurrection and you'll revere me!
— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) March 27, 2024