New York investigative reporter Bernard Condon exclusively reported that President Donald Trump greatly exaggerated his State of the Union story about a homeless veteran who turned his life around thanks to a job at a company using Opportunity Zone tax breaks. Condon used federal records and interviews with both veteran Tony Rankins and his employer to show that although the man has recovered from poor circumstances, the central point of Trump’s story – that Rankins turned his life around because of investment in the tax incentive program – was false. Rankins does not work at a site taking advantage of the program and never has done so. https://bit.ly/2HBuF2L
Trump story on veteran’s comeback was not true
Tony Rankins, front left, stands with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, senior advisers to the president, during the State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 4, 2020. Rankins, a formerly homeless, drug-addicted Army vet, received a standing ovation after President Donald Trump described how he turned his life around thanks to a construction job at a company using the administration’s “opportunity zone” tax breaks targeting poor neighborhoods. But Rankins, who has indeed moved out of his car and into an apartment since landing a job refurbishing a Nashville hotel two years ago, doesn’t work at a site using the tax breaks and never has.
AP Photo / Patrick Semansky