Susanne Craig is a Canadian investigative journalist and author who works at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. She gained prominence for her reporting on

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

'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 received the

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear p ...

in 2019 for this work and continued to report on and investigate Trump's tax payments. She published her first book, ''

Lucky Loser A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw. This can occur when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness ...

'', with her colleague Russ Buettner on Donald Trump's financial and business practices in 2024. Craig is also known for her coverage of the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and of

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

and

New York City government The government of New York City, headquartered at New York City Hall in Lower Manhattan, is organized under the New York City Charter and provides for a Mayor–council government, mayor-council system. The Mayor of New York City, mayor is electe ...

and politics. She also serves as an on-air analyst for

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

, and previously worked for Canada's national newspaper ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''.

Early life and education

Susanne Leigh Craig was born in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, growing up in its Charleswood neighbourhood, and attended the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

, graduating in 1991 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Political Science. While at the University of Calgary, she volunteered as a reporter for the campus paper ''The Gauntlet'' where she got her start in journalism and reported on topics like student politics, dinner theatre, and movie reviews.

Career

Career beginnings

Craig began her career as a summer

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

for the ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'' 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. She later worked on a summer contract for the ''

Windsor Star The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...

'' in 1991, and after winning the inaugural Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prize for young journalists, she was offered a full-time job as a reporter at the paper in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

. She then spent four years at ''The Star'' where she worked on reporting police stories and the

North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...

's effect on

Heinz The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...

's operations in

Leamington, Ontario Leamington ( ) is a municipality in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 29,680 in the Canada 2021 Census, it forms the second largest urban centre in Windsor-Essex County after Windsor, Ontario. It includes Point Pelee Nationa ...

. First introduced to business reporting after taking on a one-month contract with '' The Financial Post,'' Craig then moved on to join ''

'' in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

where she won the

National Newspaper Award The National Newspaper Awards () are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers. Synopsis The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards until 1989. They are now given by an independent ...

in Canada (Business – 1999) and also accepted an Honourable Mention Michener Award on behalf of the ''Globe''. She then went on to become a reporter for the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' where she has recounted a story of her interview process at the paper with Daniel Hertzberg where he allegedly said to her “money, power, and greed; what more can a reporter want?” while overlooking the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. While at the WSJ, she became the recipient of several

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Awards, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was e ...

s including one for deadline writing on the resignation of New York Stock Exchange Chairman

Richard Grasso Richard A. "Dick" Grasso (born July 26, 1946) was chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange from 1995 to 2003. He started in 1968, when he was hired by the Exchange as a floor clerk. He later became embroiled in controversies ...

. Additionally, she was the lead journalist on a team that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for National Affairs Reporting for coverage of the

bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, also known as the Crash of '08 and the Lehman Shock, on September 15, 2008, was the climax of the subprime mortgage crisis. After the financial services firm was notified of a pending credit downgrade due to i ...

''The New York Times''

In 2010, Craig joined ''The New York Times'' to continue reporting on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

as part of its business section and DealBook newsletter. She was later promoted to the bureau chief of

New York City Hall New York City Hall is the Government of New York City, seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center, Manhattan, Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, Park R ...

for coverage of the New York State government in 2013, and moved to

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

in 2014 to continue covering on state government and municipal politics. On October 1, 2016, ''The New York Times'' published an article authored by Craig and her colleagues

David Barstow David Barstow (January 21, 1963) is an American journalist and professor. While a reporter at ''The New York Times'' from 1999 to 2019, Barstow was awarded, individually or jointly, four Pulitzer Prizes, becoming the first reporter in the history ...

and

Megan Twohey Megan Twohey ( ) is an American journalist. She is an Investigative journalism, investigative reporter at ''The New York Times'' and previously reported for Reuters, the ''Chicago Tribune,'' and the ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel''. Twohey's repo ...

, which stated that

had reported a loss of $916 million in 1995, which could have allowed him to avoid paying

income taxes An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

for up to eighteen years. In subsequent television interviews, Craig described having received a portion of Trump's 1995 tax records, around which the story was based, in her mailbox from an anonymous sender. She wrote that the experience "has left me eager to share a bit of advice with my fellow reporters: Check your mailboxes. Especially nowadays, when people are worried that anything sent by email will leave forensic fingerprints, 'snail mail' is a great way to communicate with us anonymously." On October 2, 2018, the ''Times'' published a 14,000-word exposé co-authored by Craig,

, and Russ Buettner titled "Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father." 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. In 2019, Craig and the two other reporters shared the

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". They also shared the 2019

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for Political Reporting. 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. Craig has stated that since her coverage of Trump and his finances, she has received death threats and high-profile criticism. In 2020, Donald Trump sued

The New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media corporation that publishes ''The New York Times'' and its associated publications such as ''The New York Times International Edition'' and other media properties. The New York Times Company's ...

, Craig, Buettner, Barstow, and Mary L. Trump, accusing his niece of conspiring with the reporters in an "insidious plot" to obtain his tax records. In May 2023, a

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

judge in Manhattan dismissed the lawsuit, concluding that Donald Trump's claims "fail as a matter of constitutional law" and that investigation into his finances was protected by the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. The court also ordered him to pay nearly $392,000 to the ''Times'' and its reporters to cover the cost of the legal defense; the order was made under the anti-SLAPP law, which penalizes baseless litigation aimed at silencing criticism. In 2021, Craig started serving as an on-air analyst for

, where she has spoken about her research into Trump's finances, tax returns, and his indictment and criminal trial. She has also spoken on-air about her reporting on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

''Lucky Loser''

On February 22, 2024, Craig announced through an

Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...

exclusive that she would be publishing a book titled '' Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created The Illusion of Success'' with Penguin Random House LLC in collaboration with her colleague Russ Buettner on September 10, 2024. The book would draw on over twenty years' worth of Trump's confidential tax information, including the tax returns he tried to conceal, alongside business records and interviews with Trump insiders. It was released on September 17, 2024. 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 Frederick Christ Trump Sr. (October 11, 1905 – June 25, 1999) was an American real-estate developer and businessman. He was the father of the 45th and 47th U.S. president, Donald Trump. Born in the Bronx in New York City to Germans, German ...

's life and finances and how it bolstered his son's fortune. Critics like Bethany Maclean of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' 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 ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' 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." 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 United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

. Craig has defended the integrity of her work, pointing to the years of rigorous

fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...

and source verification involved.

Awards

* 1991 Inaugural Edward Goff Penny Award *1999

National Newspaper Awards The National Newspaper Awards () are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers. Synopsis The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards until 1989. They are now given by an independent ...

– Business *1999 Michener Award for ''The Globe and Mail'' – Honourable Mention * 2004

for Deadline Writing shared with Ianthe Jeanne Dugan, Kate Kelly and Theo Frances for "The Day Grasso Quit as NYSE Chief" * 2008 Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Writing shared with Kate Kelly, Serena Ng, David Reilly for "Breakdown at Bear Stearns" * 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" * 2017 Inaugural

Nellie Bly Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist who was widely known for her record-breaking circumnavigation, trip around the world ...

Award for Investigative Reporting – Museum of Political Corruption * 2019

shared with

and Russ Buettner for ''

'' * 2019

for Political Reporting, shared with the same two colleagues * 2019

Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing is an association of business journalists. Originally founded as the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, in 2018, it changed its name "as part of a broader effort to embrace a ...

Best in Business Award - Real Estate, shared with same two colleagues. *2019 Honorary LLD from

*2021

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

' NYC Club's

Daniel Pearl Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' On January 23, 2002, he was kidnapped by Jihadism, jihadist militants while he was on his way to what he had expected wou ...

Prize for Investigative Reporting shared with the same winners as the Pulitzer. *2023 Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

Personal life

Craig is the sister-in-law of former Calgary city councillor Ward Sutherland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Susanne Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian investigative journalists University of Calgary alumni Writers from Calgary The New York Times journalists The Wall Street Journal people Canadian expatriate journalists in the United States Gerald Loeb Award winners for Deadline and Beat Reporting Gerald Loeb Award winners for Breaking News Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners Members of the Order of Canada Journalists from New York City