Why Trump won't reveal his personal finances before Debate Day

Donald Trump is delaying disclosing his personal finances for a second time this year, meaning Americans will be denied the latest details about the former president's ever-shifting personal finances before he debates President Joe Biden later this week.

Trump's lawyer, Scott Gast, requested a second, 45-day extension for filing his public financial disclosure report, a requirement for all presidential candidates.

"While President Trump has made diligent efforts to prepare his report, due to the complexity of his financial holdings, President Trump needs additional time to complete the report," wrote Gast, of Compass Legal Group, on Tuesday.

Lisa J. Stevenson, acting general counsel and designated agency ethics official for the Federal Election Commission, granted the request for extension until Aug. 15.

Last year, the Federal Election Commission denied Trump's continued requests to delay filing his public financial disclosure, which is intended to provide the public with transparency about the personal finances of executive branch leaders and candidates in order to reveal any potential conflicts of interest.

Trump eventually filed his first required disclosure in mid-April 2023 after exhausting his 90 days of extensions and finding himself in violation of federal financial disclosure law by failing to disclose on time. He filed his second financial disclosure before his final deadline last August.

Trump's financial situation is markedly different from last year in that he has since been found liable for defamation and sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll, requiring him to pay $83.3 million in damages.

In April, Trump also posted $175 million in bond for his liability in a New York civil fraud case that required him to pay more than $450 million in damages, stemming from the Trump Organization's systemic fraud in terms of property valuations and tax breaks.

Trump became the first-ever current or former president convicted of a felony, when a jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.

Trump and President Joe Biden, the presumptive Republican and Democratic party nominees, are scheduled to conduct their first 2024 campaign debate on CNN on Thursday.

Biden filed his financial disclosure on May 13. The standard deadline is May 15.

Gast and Trump's campaign spokespeople did not respond to Raw Story's request for comment by the time of publication.