Every single president and every single Vice President has been audited by the irs every year of their time in office. And they all still routinely release their tax returns to the public every year so that excuse from trump and the Trump Campaign never made sense. Being under audit is excuse for not releasing your tax returns as a candidate or certainly as president. Also, the audit excuse never made sense for his past tax returns. Even if donald trump wanted to release nothing under current audit, well, what about years for which the audits are completed and closed . Any year of his taxes before, say, 2008, any year that was audited before then, those years presumably would be done being audited by now. Those would be closed. So why not release those earlier tax returns even if you dont want to release the current ones for which there isnt an excuse not to do anyway . Whether or not you are a supporter of donald trump in
general, whether or not you care whats in his tax returns, it ought to give you pause that his explanation for why he couldnt release them, why he has to make history by being the first person in decades to hold this Office Without releasing them, it ought to give you pause that his explanations have never made any factual sense. Think about it. The im under audit excuse makes no sense. And if the im under audit excuse doesnt make sense, what does explain why the president hasnt released tax returns . When you get an excuse from them that doesnt make sense, you have to look for another reason. The stated explanation here makes no sense. Whats the reals plan natio s. Well, choose your owned a ventu venture. Heres an example, a home donald trump purchased for 40 million in 2004, less than four years
later a Russian Oligarch paid him almost 100 million for that same house. Could trump tax returns shed light on whether any reasonable outlay of expenses on trumps part might explain why somebody would suddenly want to pay donald trump more than double what he paid for that property after only a few years at a time when Housing Prices were dropping and not rising . If this wasnt just some Russian Oligarch dumping almost 60 million into Donald Trumps pocket for no discernible reason, Couldnt Trump tax returns clear that up . Wouldnt trumps taxes show whatever reasonable real estate inflow and outflow might explain what really does look like a bizarre dump of tens of millions of dollars of russian money into Donald Trumps coffers . Right at a time when donald trump owed tens of millions of dollars to Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Bank was breathing down his neck to get it. That Russian Oligarch who spent that money on that property and never moved into it and
ultimately tore it down, hes also a large shareholder in a bank called the Bank Of Cyprus which has been implicated in russian money laundering. The chairman of the Bank Of Cyprus is the former ceo of Deutsche Bank to which donald trump owed all that money at the time he conveniently got this very large influx of cash from a russian guy. The vice chairman of that bank until recently was our new secretary of commerce, Long Time Trump friend wilbur ross. Couldnt the tax returns sort this out for us . If there are inexplicable dumps of foreign money into the president s coffers, that cannot be explained in normal business terms, thats potentially a huge problem for some servings president of the United States, right . I mean, the interest in trumps tax returns is not a picayune thing, its not a partisan thing. If people, if interests have inexplicably given him a lot of
money in recent years, why did they do it . What do they want for that money now . Is the president in a position where we need to watch to make sure he is not paying off his past benefactors with our countrys resources with u. S. Policy, with decisions he can make as president . Thats part of why we need to see hiss t tax returns. And i raise this issue of the particular Russian Oligarch, dimitry rybolyev, i raise him as an example because we havent had any meaningful Financial Disclosures, any tax returns from the president and because of that this Russian Oligarch is one of the continuing sources of intrigue about whether our president now has foreign ties that could conceivably be motivating his actions as president and i say its ongoing concerns because its ongoing concerns. Not just interesting stuff that happened in his past that we have to worry about in the past. During the president ial
campaign, his private plane was spotted at least twice at local airports when donald Trump Campaign events were happening nearby at least once his plane was spotted alongside Donald Trumps campaign. He insists that is a coincidence but the Palm Beach Post reports this weekend rybolovlevs yacht was parked alongside the yacht owned by robert mercer, the single largest backer of the trump for president effort, the single largest financial backer of breitbart and the person who installed Kellyanne Conway and steve bannon at the top of the Trump Campaign after Paul Manafort was fired for his ties to russia and the campaign. Dimit dimit Dimitry Rybolovlev denies he has anything to do with donald trump or mercer, other than the price he paid for that house. But the people of the United States need to know if you have unexplained sources of income, particularly of income that has a foreign or gin. Hence the need to know. Has he received loans from foreign sources . One of the things you have to declare on your u. S. Federal taxes is whether you have paid taxes in foreign countries. Does the president have Foreign Bank Accounts . If so, which banks . The more i know about the Bank Of Cyprus, for example, the more i want to know about whether there are other ties, other trump ties to that troubled bank aside from his handpicked Commerce Secretary and the guy who inexplicably paid him that money for that house and the newly installed chairman from the bank that holds more of his debt than any financial institution. When the president and his administration moved to fire all of the u. S. Attorneys all of a
sudden on friday no warning get out, youre done by midnight, the Preet Bharara firing in new york was of note and particular concern because President Trump and Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions had both previously told Preet Bharara he could hold that job. They did a uturn on that, which is strange because of baoffice. His office is looking at a case with Deutsche Bank. The office has jurisdiction over trump tower and the trorgump organization. Ethics watchdogs wrote to Preet Bharara to see if he was seiffiseiff i sevening money through his business. If he is, that would be unconstitutional. Two days after receiving that letter from those Ethics Watchdogs groups asking him to look into that possibility,Preet Bharara was told to resign. When he refused, he was fired. These are the reasons people want to see his tax returns. What is his relationship with Deutsche Bank . What is his relationship with foreign sources of income. Is he receiving any money through his business from foreign sources . Is he receiving any money through his business or through any of his real estate deals that can be traced back to foreign governments . I mean, his tax returns should show any income he has received from investment partnerships, this strangeshaped building was a Trump Project in azerbaijan where the Trump Organization partnered with Family Members of a notoriously corrupt azerbaijani Government Official who also has had Business Ties to the Iranian Revolutionary guard. The president s tax returns are of interest because if he has received income from foreign sources, as he did in that
azerbaijan deal, the origin of that income may have National Security implications. If by any chance it follows those same contours back to the Iranian Revolutionary guard, which is a sanctioned organization in this country because of its links to global terrorism. The Unanswered Questions around Michael Flynn, the fired former National Security adviser, he last week retroactively registered as a foreign agent. He declared retroactively that he worked during the campaign and during the transition as a lobbyist for the interests of the government of turkey. We still dont understand why the Trump Administration hired him to be National Security adviser after they were advised that he was working for a foreign power. We still do not understand their Cage Yness Around Flynn and his firing. The white house said they fired flynn because he lied to the Vice President but they didnt fire him until almost three weeks after they learned about
those lies. We still have no idea why the Vice President says he was completely unaware that flynn was on the turkish government payroll. Because he, as head of the transition, was repeatedly notified about it, including by flynns own lawyers, so why would he say now that he had no idea, hed never heard of it until this past week . What explains the Trump Administrations cageyness around Michael Flynn and specifically around Michael Flynns financial ties to turkey . Well, you know what . It would be helpful to see the tax returns. I mean, what kind of income as Trump Towers Istanbul provided to President Trump through his business . Is any of that income for the president from the turkish government . Did turkey have a financial relationship with the president . Do they continue to have a financial relationship with the president . Is there anything about the president s financial and business entanglements that is potentially driving president ial actions around the issue of turkey, the unexplained
questions and cageyness that is yet to be explained around the issue of Michael Flynn and his firing there are definite ly personalitydriven and petty reasons to seek the president s tax returns. Is he not as rich as he says he is . Is he not as charitable as he says he is . Was he, in fact, under audit when he was using that as an excuse to not release his tax returns . Was that worse than just a bad excuse . Was he really being audited . Theres small reasons to be interested, right . But whether its for small reasons or big reasons, there has been an unrelenting demand for people to see his tax returns. More than a Million People have signed a petition demanding he release his tax returns. In 19 states, legislation has been filed that would keep him off the ballot in 2020 unless he releases his tax returns before the reelection campaign. On tax day this year, next month
in chicago, activists are raising money right now to fly a 16foot Inflatable Chicken with trumps hairdo over their Tax Day Protest as a Helium Balloon demanding the president stop being so chicken about releasing his tax returns. Literally today in missouri these protesters were outside senator Roy Blunts Office demanding that the president release his tax returns. That sign in the front there says is your refund listed in u. S. Dollars or rubles . Theres a reason people want to see his tax returns. Theres a reason there are decades of precedent for president ial candidates all releasing them. There is genuine curiosity as to whether they will bear out what he has said about himself in terms of his income. Honestly, theres genuine concern as to whether he will pursue tax policies that are designed to benefit himself and his family which we wont know about until weve seen his tax returns. Therare also concerns just
about bookkeeping. Theres reason for concern about his fec Financial Disclosure form, which is all we have about him, there are indications in the paperwork that he may have given wildly inflated valuations of the worth of his Golf Course Properties abroad. When you compare what he said in the fec document versus tax filings he made on his properties in the uk where he declared them all as losing money. Incidentally, lying to the fec is a crime for which you can go to prison for five years. But concerns about whether he might have lied or misrepresented his own financial circumstance during the campaign, concerns about whether or not he might have misstated things to the fec with all of that there looms over all of this the big National Security worry, right . The big almost existential worry, the greatest concern, the
worry that this president may be financially beholden to an individual, to an institution, to a country. And now that hes president , we wont know if he tries to use the resources and power of our country to pay off that entity to whom he is beholden. We cant know any of that without getting his tax returns. Thats why president s release their tax returns. Thats why there will continue to be unrelenting pressure to find Donald Trumps tax returns, to expose Donald Trumps tax returns and that pressure will remain every single day he remains as president unless and until he releases them, the pressure will never let up. And thats why somebody has decided to leak a portion of his 2005 tax return which is how and why we got it tonight and im
sure its only the start but its a start and our little piece of it, we just got it, well go through it next. Cold. Hashtag stuffy nose. Hashtag no sleep. I got it. Hashtag mouthbreather. Yep. Weve got a mouthbreather. Well, just put on a Breathe Right Strip and. Pow it instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone. So you can breathe. And sleep. Shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. Breathe right. Choose your civilization. China. America. Korea. Japan. Europe. World war evony. Evony the kings return. Download now. Various shouti heigh ho its off to work we go woman on the gulf coast, new exxonmobil projects are expected to create over 45,000 jobs. And each job created by the Energy Industry supports two others in the community. Altogether, the industry supports over 9 million jobs nationwide. These are jobs that natural gas is helping make happen, all while reducing americas emissions. Energy lives here. Ways wins. All while reducing americas emissions. Especially in my business. With slow internet from the phone company, you cant keep up. Youre stuck, watching Spinning Wheels and Progress Bars until someone else scoops your story. Switch to comcast business. With highspeed internet up to 10 gigabits per second. You wouldnt pick a slow race car. Then why settle for slow internet . Comcast business. Built for speed. Built for business. What i have here is a copy of Donald Trumps tax returns. We have a tax return for one year for 2005. I believe this is the only set of the president s federal taxes that reporters have ever gotten ahold of. What we have with these two pages front and back from the same 1040 form that you might have filled out when you file your taxes. In terms of whats on here, let me give you the basics. Aside from the numbers being large, these pages are straightforward. He paid 38 million looks like 38 million in taxes. He took a big write down of 103 million, more on that later. If you add up the lines for income he made more than 150 million in that year, mazel tov. We got this document today from a Pulitzer Prize winning Investigative Journalist whos better than anyone in the business, his name is David Cay Johnston.