Shortly before the airing of her nightly newscast on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow revealed that she will be covering the recent surfacing of Trump’s past tax return form from 2005. The joint-filed document (which was filed in the year that he was wed to Melania) was acquired by David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer-prize winning investigative journalist, but Maddow briefly discussed that the origin of its leak is unknown. In an extensive live interview with Maddow, Johnston revealed that the likelihood of Donald Trump—or someone working within his administration—submitting the form to his website is greater than one would think.
The controversy over Trump’s refusal to issue and publicize his tax returns is rooted in the Watergate era. In 1973, while under audit, Nixon released his public tax records to alleviate the pressure and controversy over personal taxes. According to MTVR, Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns while in office violates and overturns “a precedent maintained by every president since Jimmy Carter.” This has also sparked the interest of the public (which can be exemplified by the 1,080,259 signees on a White House petition) and presented a conflict of interest in working-class taxpayers.
Both Johnston and Maddow stressed the significance of the data provided on the tax return forms in regards to national security, presidential actions, and further avenues for reporting. As stated by Maddow, “any traces of income that can be traced back to foreign incomes can have national security implications.” The document raises questions about how Trump’s proposed tax policies will directly affect and improve his own personal tax situation and how the alleged relationship between Trump, the Russian government, and other foreign governments (which Maddow implied that is one deeply rooted in debt) will directly influence our national security.
The White House reacted to the breaking news with a curt response, stating: “Mr. Trump paid $38 million dollars even after taking into account large scale depreciation for construction, on an income of more than $150 million dollars, as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes and this illegally published return proves just that. Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns.”
Despite the White House’s claim, Maddow disputed the refutation of the leak’s legality, stating that: “It is not illegal for us to publish it, but we will take the threat in the spirit of which it was intended.”
The rest of the document—and updates on the developing news story—can be viewed on the Rachel Maddow website.
