Wednesday, David Brooks, a columnist for The New York Times, weighed in on the piece published by his colleagues about President Donald Trump’s tax return data from over 25 years ago that says the real estate mogul lost more than a billion dollars from 1985 to 1994.

Brooks called Trump “the greatest con man in American history” because he went from making everyone think he was a successful businessman to conning people into electing him president.

“He is the greatest con man in American history. This is before he became president. He conned us all into thinking he was a successful businessman, and when people realized he was not, he conned people into electing him president. He did it through a lot of nefarious ways,” Brooks said of Trump on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

He later added, “There’s a lot underlying there that we need to prove and that’s why we need the tax returns.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent