Who Wants To See Trump's Dumb Old Taxes Anyway?

John Kennedy is a Republican senator from Louisiana. He used to be a Democrat and served as Secretary of the state Department of Revenue and was then elected State Treasurer, as a Democrat, twice before going over to the Dark Side in 2007. Kennedy knows how to read a tax return and figure out where the fraud and corruption lies. And he told a CNN audience the other day that he "would like to see" Señor Trumpanzee's taxes. "I would like to see the President’s taxes, I wouldn’t be adverse to turning over my taxes, I don’t have anything to hide." Almost 70% of Americans agree with Senator Kennedy and would like to take a look at Trump's tax returns.

Richard Neal, Pelosi's sketchy House Ways and Means Committee chair has finally told the IRS to send them over-- something you could have should have done in January. The law is clear: House Ways and Means Committee chair tells IRS to send over taxes; IRS sends over taxes. But this Trump Regime isn't about laws. And they're refusing. Charles Rettig was a Beverly Hills attorney specializing in helping rich people avoid paying taxes. Trump appointed him IRS commissioner in February of 2018 for one reason-- to have a patsy at the IRS would would never turn over his taxes. Rettig has until Wednesday to comply.

Aside from Trump's personal returns, Neal has told the IRS to send over the returns from crooked organizations Trump has used to corruptly enrich himself: Bedminster golf course LLC, the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, DJT Holdings LLC, DJT Holdings Managing Member LLC, DTTM Operations LLC, DTTM Operations Managing Member Cor, LFB Acquisition Member Corp, and LFB Acquisition LLC.

Yesterday Bloomberg ran an OpEd by it's executive editor Timothy O'Brien, who is also author of the 2005 best-seller, TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald, the book that claimed Trump's true net worth was $250 million, not the billions he was claiming. Trump sued and the judge threw the suit out of court. Trump appealed and the appeals court judge and the appeals court told Trump to stop wasting everyone's time with his publicity-seeking frivolous lawsuits. Since being installed by Putin, Trump has had to bear O'Brien frequently been invited on TV to make fun of him. Yesterday's column, I’ve Seen Trump’s Tax Returns and You Still Haven’t, is sure to enrage Trump, whose mental health is already fragile. O'Brien begins by asking his readers if they "remember back in early 2016 when Donald Trump, who was still regarded as something of a long shot for the presidency, promised he would disclose his tax returns publicly-- just like every other candidate had done voluntarily since 1973. Trump told Meet the Press at the time, "I have big returns, as you know, and I have everything all approved and very beautiful and we'll be working that over in the next period of time." O'Brien noted, as any serious Trump-watcher would that the "next period of time" turned out to mean "never."

Once Trump became skittish about releasing his returns he landed on one recurring reason for why he couldn’t put them out there, as forever memorialized when he was asked about his taxes during a presidential debate.

“As far as my return, I want to file it, except for many years, I've been audited every year,” he said in Houston on Feb. 25, 2016. “Twelve years or something like that. Every year, they audit me, audit me, audit me.”

An audit doesn’t prevent anyone from releasing their tax returns. If they really want to, they can go right ahead. Richard Nixon-- RICHARD NIXON-- released his tax returns when he was being audited. And it is extremely rare, also bordering on never, for someone to be audited several years in a row, much less twelve. So maybe Trump hasn’t been entirely forthright about his audits. But who knows? When asked during one interview why he thought he had been targeted, he gave a faith-based response. “Well, maybe because of the fact that I'm a strong Christian, and I feel strongly about it, maybe there’s a bias,” he once offered.

In the end, Trump, who regards disclosure of his tax returns as a financial form of open-heart surgery, decided that people should just stop bothering him. “I'm worth more than $10 billion by any stretch of the imagination. Has tremendous cash. Tremendous cash flow. You don’t learn much from tax returns,” he told Meet the Press several months before Election Day in 2016. “But I would love to give the tax returns. But I can't do it until I'm finished with the audit.”

All that talk of an audit may have put Trump in a corner. On Wednesday night, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee asked the Internal Revenue Service to release six years of the president’s personal and business tax returns, attributing their request to Congress’s oversight role. Representative Richard Neal, chairman of the committee, said he was making the request precisely because he wanted to make sure that the IRS was properly auditing Trump.

Trump has already said he isn’t inclined to release his tax returns in accordance with Neal’s request, so this is certain to ignite a legal battle. In the interests of good government and the avoidance of financial conflicts of interest in the Oval Office, I hope Congress wins this one. And I know, for a fact, that it’s not true that you don’t learn much from a tax return. As I noted back in early 2016, I have seen Trump’s tax returns, and I think you should too.

Trump unsuccessfully sued me in 2006 for libel over a biography I wrote called TrumpNation, citing unflattering sections of the book that examined his business record and wealth. He lost the suit in 2011, and during the litigation he was forced to turn over his tax returns to my lawyers.

As I noted in 2016, I think there are five broad categories of disclosure related to his returns that should matter to voters, politicians, and anyone else interested in making sure the White House is conflicts-of-interest free.



1) Income: The returns would offer a gauge of how financially robust the president’s businesses actually are and how much of that money flows to him.

2) Business Activities: Trump has always said that the Trump Organization employs thousands and that U.S. companies shouldn’t relocate overseas and take jobs away from U.S. workers. Tax returns would offer a view of Trump’s global footprint and provide a clearer sense of the size and scope of his company.

3) Charitable Giving: Trump has often bragged about being a dedicated philanthropist. If that’s true, his returns would prove it.

4) Tax Planning: The president uses a lot of shell companies, or LLCs, as part of his business and personal dealings. Some wealthy people have also used shell companies overseas to mask their fortunes and hide the money from authorities. Trump’s returns would show how actively he has used tax havens, if at all.

5) Transparency and Accountability: This may be the most important category of all. Trump is now, arguably, the most powerful and influential man in the world. His tax returns would provide a much clearer picture of potential financial conflicts or pressures that would come to bear on him in the White House. They would also provide a way of monitoring whether the president is more interested in his financial self-interest and deal-making than policy-making.

Neal has only requested six years of Trump’s returns, which is, I think, regrettable. Some of the transactions that may interest investigators the most took place around 15 years ago, when Trump, suddenly flush with cash, went on a shopping spree. He bought and developed golf courses, launched a new hotel and condominium in Chicago, and deepened his involvement with the Trump SoHo Hotel in lower Manhattan.

It is still curious to me how Trump, who always used to finance his transactions with debt, raised the funds to do all that in the mid-2000s and pay cash. To find out, Neal will have to dig deeper than six years ago.

What's Hiding In Trump's Tax Returns That Makes The GOP So Nervous?

When journalists start a report with "Trump said..." it should only be the introduction of a sentence about lying or flip-flopping. It doesn't matter what Trump says. What Trump says is a moment in time without relevance to anything past or future and just another example of how he lies and cheats. And, as Greg Sargent pointed out yesterday in the Washington Post, all he'd have to do-- if he wasn't so grand and pig-headed-- is learn how to talk like a Republican political automaton and his party establishment would be instantly united behind him. For instance, posits Sargent, Trump can stop calling for mass deportations and instead say, "I’ll enforce the law" and he can claim we need to "strengthen" entitlements, preferred bipartisan conservatalk for cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits to "save" the programs.

Early today, asked what tax rate he paid, he told Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos that his tax rate is "none of your business" and admitted "I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible." Talking his way out of his refusal to submit his tax returns might be a little tricky for Trump. Romney, in fact, has called the refusal disqualifying. His Facebook entry:

It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service. Tax returns provide the public with its sole confirmation of the veracity of a candidate's representations regarding charities, priorities, wealth, tax conformance, and conflicts of interest. Further, while not a likely circumstance, the potential for hidden inappropriate associations with foreign entities, criminal organizations, or other unsavory groups is simply too great a risk to ignore for someone who is seeking to become commander-in-chief.

Mr. Trump says he is being audited. So? There is nothing that prevents releasing tax returns that are being audited. Further, he could release returns for the years immediately prior to the years under audit. There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump's refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them. Given Mr. Trump's equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it's a bombshell of unusual size.

(Anticipating inquiries regarding my own tax release history, I released my 2010 tax returns in January of 2012 and I released my 2011 tax returns as soon as they were completed, in September of 2012.)

You didn't ever really think a crooked businessman and tax cheat like Trump would release his tax returns, did you? Instead, he flip-flopping and playing media games about it leaving voters confused-- as usual-- about what he's actually doing. He announced he would release the returns when the irrelevant IRS audit was over and then rescinded and said he won't release them and then backtracked and said, just wait and he'll release them, all in a 24 hour period. "There's nothing to learn from them," he told an Associated Press reporter. He says he's apprehensive his critics will analyze the returns and make an issue of them. You think? That's already started and his flip-flopping isn't helping. I wonder if he thinks stoking the fight with Ryan for his base will help get their minds off the tax returns.

Timothy O'Brien is a big-time, distinguished journalist who has tangled with Trump before and who did see Trump's tax returns-- and wrote about it for Bloomberg yesterday, pointing out that "as someone who saw Trump’s federal tax returns about a decade ago as part of a legal action in which he sued me for libel (the suit was later dismissed), I think there probably are some things to be learned from them."

The tax returns my lawyers and I reviewed were sealed, and a court order prevents me from speaking or writing about the specifics of what I saw. I can say that Trump routinely delayed-- for months on end-- producing those documents, and when they finally arrived they were so heavily redacted that they looked like crossword puzzles. The litigation ran on for five years, and during that time we had to petition the court to compel Trump to hand over unredacted versions of the tax returns-- which he ultimately did.

So despite Trump’s statements to the contrary, here are some general questions that a full release of at least several years of his tax returns might usefully answer:

1) Income: Trump has made the size of his fortune a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, implying that it’s a measure of his success as a businessman. He has also correctly noted that the income shown on his tax returns isn’t a reflection of his total wealth. Even so, income is a basis for assessing some of the foundations of any individual’s wealth-- and would certainly reflect the financial wherewithal of the businesses in which Trump is involved.

After Fortune’s Shawn Tully dug into Trump’s financial disclosures with the Federal Election Commission and an accompanying personal balance sheet his campaign released, he noted in March that Trump “appears to have overstated his income, by a lot, which could be the reason he has so far tried to avoid releasing his returns.” Tully said that Trump apparently boosted his income in the documents by conflating his various businesses’ revenue with his personal income. Trump didn’t respond to Tully’s assessment, but he could clear up all of that by releasing his tax returns.

2) Business Activities: Trump has long claimed that his company, the Trump Organization, employs thousands of people. He has also criticized Fortune 500 companies for operating businesses overseas at the expense of jobs for U.S. workers. Trump’s returns would show how active he and his businesses are globally-- and would help substantiate the actual size and scope of his operation.

3) Charitable Giving: Trump has said that he’s a generous benefactor to a variety of causes-- especially war veterans-- even though it’s been hard to find concrete evidence to support the assertion. Other examples of major philanthropic largess from Trump have also been elusive. Trump could release his tax returns and put the matter to rest.

4) Tax Planning: There’s been global attention focused on the issue of how politicians and the wealthy use tax havens and shell companies to possibly hide parts of their fortunes from authorities. If released, Trump’s returns would make clear whether or not he used such vehicles.

5) Transparency and Accountability: Trump is seeking the most powerful office in the world. Some of the potential conflicts of interest or financial pressures that may arise if he reaches the White House would get an early airing in a release of his tax returns.

For the last 40 years, presidential candidates have released their returns. Trump, of course, has portrayed himself as the un-candidate, the guy who bucks convention. But disclosing tax returns is a valuable political tradition that’s well worth preserving.

And goats on his New Jersey golf course so he can get a tax break due to farmers and ranchers. Republican voters love... a cheat, huh?

Trump’s golf clubs in Bedminster and Colts Neck both receive the break and pay reduced property taxes on the part of the land devoted to agriculture. The Bedminster course includes 113 acres of hay production and eight goats, while the Colts Neck course has 40 acres of hay plus stands of trees, according to tax-break applications filed with local governments.

...“This is a good example of Donald Trump farming the government,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the state’s Sierra Club chapter, who accuses the developer of “not paying his fair share” by using the incentive for a golf course instead of a legitimate farm.

Will GOP Voters Abandon Trump When They Find Out He's Not Really A Billionaire, But Just Playing One On TV?

Republican primary voters have now had a good look at what kind of a leader-- as opposed to what kind of a TV reality show personality-- Trump would make. And they like what they see. He's holding down the #1 position among all Republican candidates, by a growing margin.

Lindsey Graham went on CBS to call Donald Trump "a jackass." Maybe Lindsey shouldn't get into a name-calling pissing match with Trump. Sure, "everybody" already knows that Lindsey is a closeted homosexua,l but "everybody" doesn't include up-country South Carolina Republicans... and the mainstream media has always steadfastly given Graham a pass on his bachelorhood status. A serious discussion of why Senator Graham has decided to live his life in the closet-- to live a profound lie-- would be as fascinating (and ratings-rich) to the American people as the current orgy of Trump-mania. Graham should probably just let the Des Moines Register demand Trump drop out of the race by calling him a "feckless blowhard."

In the video up top, the Jimmy Kimmel staff writers seem to imply that Trump isn't just a "feckless blowhard," but that he's a habitual liar. And "everybody" knows he is-- except the same kind of Republican primary voters who can't picture Lindsey Graham enjoying other men's penises. Timothy O'Brien is the publisher of Bloomberg View and once wrote a couple of books on Trump, Trump: How to Get Rich and TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald. Like everybody else (except the "little folks"), he knows Trump isn't a billionaire. Oh, he really knows. Trump sued him, and he and his lawyers got to question Trump under oath.

Donald and I first met in the ’90s when I was writing a book about gambling, and we intersected again later when I was a reporter for the New York Times. Eventually I wrote a book, TrumpNation, that looked at Donald’s myriad roles as a carnival-barker-cum-real-estate-developer-cum-gambling-mogul-cum-celebrity.

Donald cooperated with the project, and I spent time on his plane, in his cars, at his homes, in his office, and out and about, absorbing some valuable business lessons. After the book came out, I didn’t hear from Donald for a few months. Then, in early 2006, he sued me for $5 billion (half of my net worth!), claiming that the book libeled him because it expressed some skepticism about his wealth.

But Donald had no idea how hard it was to get this right! On a single day in August 2004, he told me his net worth was $4 billion to $5 billion, then revised that later the same day to $1.7 billion. Forbes said at the time he was worth $2.6 billion. A year later Donald told me he was worth $5 billion to $6 billion, but a brochure left on my nightstand at his Palm Beach resort said he was worth $9.5 billion. When I interviewed Donald’s chief financial officer in a Trump Organization conference room in 2005 to discuss the range of numbers, the figure shared with me was $5 billion, not $6 billion. “I’m going to go to my office and find that other billion,” the CFO advised.

My sources at the time-- all of whom had worked closely with Donald and had direct knowledge of his finances-- believed that his net worth was $150 million to $250 million. Donald attributed those figures to naysayers.

“You can go ahead and speak to guys who have four-hundred-pound wives at home who are jealous of me,” he told me, “but the guys who really know me know I’m a great builder.”

When the net worth confusion appeared in my book, Donald sued, saying that low-balling his riches had damaged his reputation. My attorneys proceeded to get Donald’s tax, bank and property records. We stood our ground, and the suit was dismissed in 2009. Donald appealed, and in 2011 an appellate court affirmed the earlier ruling.

My lawyers deposed Donald for two days during the litigation, and we covered a range of interesting subjects. Among the documents discussed was a Deutsche Bank assessment that pegged Donald’s net worth at $788 million in 2005. At the time, Donald was telling his bankers and casino regulators that he was worth $3.6 billion; he was telling me he was worth $5 billion to $6 billion.

Have you “always been completely truthful in your public statements about your net worth,” my attorneys asked Donald. “I try,” was his reply. When they asked him about how he calculated his net worth, he noted that the figure “goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feelings.” Later he added that “even my own feelings affect my value to myself.”

Entertainer