The release of one year of Donald J. Trump’s tax returns has a kind of Al Capone’s vault feel to it.
Remember when Geraldo Rivera found the vault of the late mobster? He opened it and found — nothin’ man!
So, now we know that in 2005, the president made about $150 million and paid $38 million in federal taxes. Yes, the guy who told us during the 2016 presidential campaign that he worked to pay “as little as possible” in taxes actually paid a lot of them.
That was a dozen years ago.
What about the more recent returns? What about the money he was making while running for president? And what about those international business interests?
Americans haven’t seen the more relevant tax information from the president of the United States.
He told us he would release the returns once the Internal Revenue Service completed its “routine audit.” Except we don’t even know for certain whether the IRS is actually auditing Trump, who’s provided no proof or evidence that an audit even ongoing.
The White House decided to seek to get ahead of a story that had been hyped by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who tonight released the 2005 returns.
As it has been reported, the 12-year-old returns constitute a “nothing burger.”
Where’s the beef? I suspect it lies somewhere within the more recent returns that the president of the United States continues to refuse to release to Americans — such as yours truly — who want to know what is in them.
I would bet my last dollar that he released this. A. It is only the first 2 pages a long time ago. B. Health Care Bill imploding. C. Comey coming out to talk about the Russia investigation. My theory is that he never wanted or thought he would be elected. That is part of the reason he did not feel the need to release his taxes. He did this as a publicity stunt and promotion of his business. My feeling now is that he is terrified of what is going to come out. I think we will continue to see him do everything in his power to distract and resist.
The pressure will build.