On Tuesday, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow released two pages of President Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns. The “leak” came after a solid year of Trump avoiding the release of his taxes that could potentially be criminal and damning to his political career.
We’ve haven’t heard so much talk about taxes since the Nixon administration.
Despite the hoopla, the only information we took away from the 11-year-old taxes is that he made $150 million and paid $38 million in taxes. David Cay Johnston, the journalist who claims the return was placed in his mailbox by an unknown source, contends that despite what they have, there’s no information on the sources of Trump’s income.
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Trump made sure to give his opinion on Twitter this morning.
“Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, “went to his mailbox” and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!,” the commander-in-chief said.
But what added depth to the conversation was the dialogue on Twitter. Users tweeted theories about who sent the tax returns, why and if we’ll ever be able to see more.
There was also talk from Democrats about the taxes, which some feel were a distraction from Trump’s health care plan that will leave 24 million people uninsured.
An officially statement from the White House states, “You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago.”
Adding, “Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns. The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans.”
We’d like to note that it is not illegal under the First Amendment (“abridging the freedom of speech”) for a media outlet to publish Trump’s tax returns as it serves of important public interest and was given to Johnston anonymously.