Trump's Taxes (found 1040-2005)

Associated Press wrote:MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Scores w/ minority-President's 2005 Taxes

NEW YORK (AP) — For a brief, breathless moment Tuesday night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was at the center of the political media universe.

With a single tweet, she set in motion a social media storm, compelled the White House to undercut her by releasing some of Fake President Trump's tax return information, was accused of breaking the law, was attacked by Fox News Channel and likely drew one of her biggest audiences.

Less than 90 minutes before her show on Tuesday, Maddow tweeted that "we've got Trump's tax returns ... (Seriously)," advertising her program. That teaser spread like wildfire, and within the hour, MSNBC was running a countdown clock on its screen counting down the minutes to a "Trump Taxes Exclusive."

It was actually another reporter's exclusive, and more limited than the tweet made it sound.
David Cay Johnston, founder of the web site DCReports.org and a longtime investigative reporter and author of the critical book, "The Making of Donald Trump," had received a copy of two pages from Trump's 2005 federal tax return in the mail from an unknown source.

Before Maddow even went on the air, the White House confirmed the documents were real and stole the headline by saying that Trump's income exceeded $150 million in 2005 and that he paid $38 million in income taxes that year.

"It's been a hullaballoo around here," Maddow said as she opened her show. "I'm sorry if I'm a little flustered."

She spent nearly 20 minutes explaining why many people believe it important that Trump release his tax returns, as presidents have done since Richard Nixon in the 1970s. She pieced together theories on what his returns could show — sources of his income and whether he was beholden to any foreign sources, whether he personally stood to gain from any changes in tax policies that the Trump administration sought to enact.

It felt vaguely like a bait-and-switch and there were some complaints on social media that Maddow was taking too long to get to the point. For long-time watchers of her show, the structure was familiar: Maddow frequently opens with long, detailed stories that follow many paths. This has been a winning formula lately, since Maddow's ratings in February were the highest in the nine years her show has been on the air.

The exclusive she eventually revealed in the tax returns was little more than the White House had announced before she had gone on the air. She said she hoped it could be a first step toward more information about Trump's taxes being released.

Trump failed to release his taxes during the campaign, claiming that he was under audit by the Internal Revenue Service and he had been advised against it.

"It ought to give you pause that his explanations have never made any factual sense," Maddow said.

The White House pronounced Maddow desperate for ratings and said she had violated a law against the unauthorized release or publishing of federal tax returns. Maddow said that First Amendment protections of the press gave her the right to broadcast the information.

She brought Johnston on her show to discuss the return. He speculated that Trump — or someone authorized by the president — could have been a possible source of the leaked document which he said "came in the mail over the transom."

Maddow wasn't even off the air — MSNBC kept her on for more than her hour to continue discussing the story — when she came under attack by one of Trump's most vocal defenders on television: Fox's Sean Hannity.

Hannity, on his show, called Maddow's story "a flat-out, pathetic conspiratorial attempt to smear the president." He said NBC News was part of the "deep state" looking to undermine Trump's presidency.

"Night after night this false narrative keeps getting reported," he said. "There's something really twisted and sick that they call themselves a news organization."

Raggamuffin wrote:1040?

Is there a link please?

Original Quill wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:1040?

Is there a link please?

Form 1040 (well known to Americans) is the basic form for filing federal income taxes.

Link: https://www.yahoo.com/tv/tax-story-puts-spotlight-msnbcs-rachel-maddow-032437070.html

Raggamuffin wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Form 1040 (well known to Americans) is the basic form for filing federal income taxes.

Link: https://www.yahoo.com/tv/tax-story-puts-spotlight-msnbcs-rachel-maddow-032437070.html

Oh, thank you. I thought it meant he was born in 1040.

Ben Reilly wrote:Okay, here's why I think a big bombshell may be coming about Trump's taxes.

Julian Assange obviously aided Trump in the 2016 election. Every leak was about Clinton, and Assange claimed he didn't need to leak anything about Trump because Trump was hurting himself with his own words.

More recently, Wikileaks dumped a bunch of documents detailing how the CIA can spy on people through smartphones and even smart TVs. Then Trump gave that same agency unilateral authority over drone strikes. Uh-oh!

Assange tweeted in response: "By handing unilateral power to the CIA over its drone strikes at this time White House signals that bullying, disloyalty & incompetence pays"

If Assange is finally realizing that Trump is not the hero he thought Trump was, we might finally get the full details of Trump's Russian financial interests.

Original Quill wrote:

I don't know that Assange was helping Trump.  Rather, it is the CIA that has put Assange in the difficult position he is in: first, the bogus rape charges, that Sweden was going to drop until the CIA used its considerable influence to reawaken them; second, he is now caught in an embassy in Knightsbridge, London; third, he is now aligned with Edward Snowden; forth, Snowden is in Moscow.  Assange is still in the business, and Russia now is his supplier.

But Assange is limited to what his supplier wants to peddle.  He can say whatever he wants, but Russia has the information on both Republicans and Democrats, and it is Russia that chooses which nuggets to release.  Assange is merely the conduit.  Clearly, Assange is in bed, of necessity, with the Russians.  Assange is Wikileaks.  Trump has said he is aligned with Wikileaks.  That's the Trump/Russia connection so far.

Trump's tax returns will explain the Trump/Russia connection more fully.  If Trump has a piece of Rosneft oil, it will be in there in some form or another.  As John McCain says, there are many shoes yet to drop.

Jules wrote:I always knew 10-4 means ''message received'' but I  did not know what 10-40 meant.


Looking up the other meaning of 10-40, apparently it's the code for the police racing urgently to a fighting scene in silent mode,  without sirens nor flashing lights.  Hmmm.

Jules wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

I don't know that Assange was helping Trump.  Rather, it is the CIA that has put Assange in the difficult position he is in: first, the bogus rape charges, that Sweden was going to drop until the CIA used its considerable influence to reawaken them; second, he is now caught in an embassy in Knightsbridge, London; third, he is now aligned with Edward Snowden; forth, Snowden is in Moscow.  Assange is still in the business, and Russia now is his supplier.

But Assange is limited to what his supplier wants to peddle.  He can say whatever he wants, but Russia has the information on both Republicans and Democrats, and it is Russia that chooses which nuggets to release.  Assange is merely the conduit.  Clearly, Assange is in bed, of necessity, with the Russians.  Assange is Wikileaks.  Trump has said he is aligned with Wikileaks.  That's the Trump/Russia connection so far.

Trump's tax returns will explain the Trump/Russia connection more fully.  If Trump has a piece of Rosneft oil, it will be in there in some form or another.  As John McCain says, there are many shoes yet to drop.

I find it hard to believe that Assange still holds any trump cards (and for once the pun is not intended, it's purely accidental). I don't understand Assange, I don't know what he even stands for, these days.  He must be very compromised after all this time in captivity. He's hardly in a position of strength.

To win his freedom he will probably end up cutting some complicated deal that goes against all his principles. Eww. Like many others I thought he was a man of principle.  Bit bored with the guy now, if I'm honest.