A portion of the documents that President Donald Trump refused to release were obtained and released on an episode of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on March 14.
The personal tax forms were turned over to David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and founder of the website DCReport.com. The two-page 1040 form from 2005 was reportedly left in Johnston’s mailbox by an anonymous source. It showed that Trump reported a personal income of $150 million for the year.
The White House said in a statement prior to the tax filing being released on the show that Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005. It said that Maddow is “desperate for ratings” by “violating the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago.” It said that Trump had an obligation “to pay no more tax than legally required.
.@WhiteHouse statement on Maddow show @realDonaldTrump tax return via @ewstephe
Johnston and Maddow discussed the details of Trump’s document on the show.
Johnston said that it’s plausible that Trump had the document dropped off in his mailbox.
Reporter who got tax returns released to him in the mail suggests that Trump himself might have sent them to him. #TrumpsTaxReturns
The returns showed that he purchased a $30 million property in 2004 and paid 4 percent of income in regular tax. They also show his wife, Malania paying $5.3 million in regular federal income tax.
Trump’s 2005 tax return, from @maddow, via @DavidCayJ —>
