Susanne CraigCM is a Canadian investigative journalist and author who works at The New York Times. She gained prominence for her reporting on Donald Trump's finances, revealing his 1995 tax returns during the 2016 presidential election and co-authoring a 2018 investigation into Trump's claims of self-made wealth and financial practices.
Craig began her career as a summer intern for the Calgary Herald in 1990 where she covered various city transit topics and the career of Canada's first elected senator, Stan Waters. Although she struggled finding work due to a lack of formal education in journalism, her experience at the Herald encouraged her to keep pursuing a career in reporting.[5]
In 2010, Craig joined The New York Times to continue reporting on Wall Street as part of its business section and DealBook newsletter. She was later promoted to the bureau chief of New York City Hall for coverage of the New York State government in 2013 and moved to Albany, New York in 2014 to continue covering on state government and municipal politics.[14][10][15][16]
On October 1, 2016, The New York Times published an article authored by Craig and her colleagues David Barstow and Megan Twohey, which stated that Donald Trump had reported a loss of $916 million in 1995, which could have allowed him to avoid paying income taxes for up to eighteen years.[17][18] In subsequent television interviews, Craig described having received a portion of Trump's 1995 tax records, around which the story was based on, in her mailbox from an anonymous sender.[19]
On October 2, 2018, the Times published a 14,000-word exposé co-authored by Craig, David Barstow, and Russ Buettner titled "Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father."[20][21] The findings of the story was based on over 100,000 pages worth of documents, both public sources and private disclosures, that allegedly revealed the inner workings of Trump's financial practices and claimed misleading statements about his self-made wealth and business empire.[22][23]
In 2019, Craig and the two other reporters shared the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for "an exhaustive 18-month investigation of President Donald Trump's finances that debunked his claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges".[24] They also shared the 2019 George Polk Award for Political Reporting.[25]
On September 27, 2020, Craig and others further reported on Trump's tax record, demonstrating how Trump paid $750 in federal income tax during 2016 and no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years.[26][27]
Craig has stated that since her coverage of Trump and his finances, she has received death threats and high-profile criticism including a lawsuit initiated against her, her colleagues and her paper.[6] The lawsuit was initiated by Trump in 2021 against The New York Times and Mary L. Trump where he accused his niece, Craig, Buettner, and Barstow for conspiring in an “insidious plot” to obtain his confidential tax records. In May 2023, a New York judge dismissed the lawsuit, stating that an investigation into his finances was protected by the First Amendment and that the claims “fail as a matter of constitutional law.”[28]
In 2021, Craig started serving as an on-air analyst for MSNBC, where she has spoken about her research into Trump's finances, tax returns, and his indictment and criminal trial.[29][30]
In interviews, Craig said she intended to present a fact-based account of Trump's alleged financial mismanagement, drawing attention to the contradictions between his public persona and private failures. The book was met with highly positive critical reception, especially for its investigative depth and narration of Fred Trump's life and finances and how it bolstered his son's fortune.[33] Critics like Bethany Maclean of The Washington Post said "the news in their book lies not in one specific detail, but rather in the sheer accumulation of damning facts," while John Cassidy of The New Yorker praised Craig for making the argument that "he's a lousy businessman who only got as far as he did because of a series of lucky breaks that 'could paper over a litany of failure and still fund a lavish life.'" [34][35]
While praised for the pursuit of truth behind Trump's financial empire, Craig faced public criticism from Trump's camp. Campaign advisor Steven Cheung dismissed the book as a "desperate attempt to interfere" in the 2024 United States presidential election. Craig has defended the integrity of her work, pointing to the years of rigorous fact-checking and source verification involved.[32]
2008 Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Writing shared with Kate Kelly, Serena Ng, David Reilly for "Breakdown at Bear Stearns"[37]
2009 Gerald Loeb Award for Breaking News shared with Carrick Mollenkamp, Serena Ng, Aaron Lucchetti, Matthew Karnitschnig, Dan Fitzpatrick, Deborah Solomon, Dennis K. Berman, Liam Pleven, Peter Lattman and Annelena Lobb for "The Day That Changed Wall Street"[38]