Trump urges federal judge to block release of tax returns to congress

[Sir Mohamed]

https://twitter.com/axios/status/1422926584844009474

[Hermit For Peace]

He must really have something to hide.

All the other Presidents just got it over with a long time ago. All of them. This shyster is still evading. Maybe it's good publicity, I don't know, but I can't wait for the day that he is outed for whatever it is he is running from. Must be about a BIG EGO and perhaps criminality.

[Joe Republic]

Guys, he's just waiting for the IRS audit to conclude!  Then he'll release them on his own, he swears!

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I don't care about seeing his taxes anymore, he should of lost to Hillary due the tax issue but that is in the past, rich voters voted him in anyways and we lost 3 Judges

[President Johnson]

He must really have something to hide.

All the other Presidents just got it over with a long time ago. All of them. This shyster is still evading. Maybe it's good publicity, I don't know, but I can't wait for the day that he is outed for whatever it is he is running from. Must be about a BIG EGO and perhaps criminality.

It was always pretty evident that he's not nearly as rich as claims to be, owns loans to dubious "business partners" and banks and has avoided paying taxes with all sorts of tricks. For this to surface publically would make him look like a loser. Not that his cult base would care though.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The most likely reasons I can think of for him to keep fighting on this (not mutually exclusive, and some are related to each other):

1. He's not worth nearly as much as he claims.

2. He's heavily in debt.

3. He's paid little or no tax.

4. He's used extremely questionable methods to reduce his taxes, if not outright cheating.

5. He's used highly dubious, corrupt, or criminal business practices in general.

6. He has/had business connections to organized crime and/or money laundering entities.

7. He has/had business connections to foreign governments.

[politicallefty]

I don't see any legal basis for the judiciary to block this. As President, he was granted some deference by the courts on some fictional notion that the person occupying the Presidency should be treated differently under the rule of law. However, he is now a private citizen. The relevant law grants Congress the authority to review the tax returns of anyone and everyone. The law is clear:

Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Secretary [of the Treasury] shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request, except that any return or return information which can be associated with, or otherwise identify, directly or indirectly, a particular taxpayer shall be furnished to such committee only when sitting in closed executive session unless such taxpayer otherwise consents in writing to such disclosure.

It's only unfortunate that it has taken this long. I don't think he should have been afforded any due deference even as President. There is nothing in the Constitution that should have prohibited furnishing the tax returns to Congress immediately.

[Pericles]

We already know he's a tax cheat. People should care but a lot actually agree with him that it makes him smart.

[Progressive Pessimist]

It's amazing what a distant memory it is that we actually finally saw some of his tax returns during last year's election. Remember that? Hell, do you even remember a week ago when we learned more about his attempts to influence Rosen into entertaining his delusions of a stolen election?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

He must really have something to hide.

All the other Presidents just got it over with a long time ago. All of them. This shyster is still evading. Maybe it's good publicity, I don't know, but I can't wait for the day that he is outed for whatever it is he is running from. Must be about a BIG EGO and perhaps criminality.

It was always pretty evident that he's not nearly as rich as claims to be, owns loans to dubious "business partners" and banks and has avoided paying taxes with all sorts of tricks. For this to surface publically would make him look like a loser. Not that his cult base would care though.

I agree that all of the above is both likely true and would be unsurprising to anyone paying attention. And that his cult wouldn't care if it was all graven in flaming letters on tablets from heaven. But I wonder if that is the complete extent of it?

Even if his cult wouldn't care, Donnie Dumb**** would likely hate the massive hit to his ego that having all that officially revealed would be, and so might be fighting it just on those grounds.  But there are some other possibilities..

He's not just lying about his wealth, he's dead broke.
We're not talking claiming to be worth $10 billion when he's only worth $1 billion. And not "heavily leveraged and technically underwater" - he's been there before. He may have an actual cash flow (other than political donations) in the low millions or even less. Which would mean he's been blatantly lying to all his creditors.  That wouldn't just be embarrassing, it could result in the rapid disintegration of his empire as creditors are finally forced to come to terms with the reality that they can never be paid back and go after his real assets like hungry piranha.

He's owned by hostile foreign powers.
By which I mostly mean Russia, either Russian banks, or Putin's circle (if there's even a difference). While it's a long-shot that this would all come from just IRS returns, It is possible that Donald Trump does not actually own the Trump Organization, and that controlling interest in it is actually held elsewhere. IF that were the case - and again, this is purely hypothetical - it could mean that President Trump was a paid employee of Vladimir Putin while in office. Again, this might not make a difference to his cult, but even someone like Donnie Dumb**** probably doesn't want to count on that.

[GP270watch]

I doubt the NFL would have ever seriously let him buy a team but this is an example of the business acumen of Donald Trump:



The Dallas Cowboys are ranked as the most valuable American sports franchise.

[NewYorkExpress]

He must really have something to hide.

All the other Presidents just got it over with a long time ago. All of them. This shyster is still evading. Maybe it's good publicity, I don't know, but I can't wait for the day that he is outed for whatever it is he is running from. Must be about a BIG EGO and perhaps criminality.

He's owned by hostile foreign powers.
By which I mostly mean Russia, either Russian banks, or Putin's circle (if there's even a difference). While it's a long-shot that this would all come from just IRS returns, It is possible that Donald Trump does not actually own the Trump Organization, and that controlling interest in it is actually held elsewhere. IF that were the case - and again, this is purely hypothetical - it could mean that President Trump was a paid employee of Vladimir Putin while in office. Again, this might not make a difference to his cult, but even someone like Donnie Dumb**** probably doesn't want to count on that.

If that's the case, then there better be treason charges with the death penalty attached.

[progressive85]

He better hope the federal judge is one of the cronies he and Mitchie Poo threw in there because he definitely is getting more desperate by the day to keep those tax returns concealed from the American people.

[Badger]

The most likely reasons I can think of for him to keep fighting on this (not mutually exclusive, and some are related to each other):

1. He's not worth nearly as much as he claims.

2. He's heavily in debt.

3. He's paid little or no tax.

4. He's used extremely questionable methods to reduce his taxes, if not outright cheating.

5. He's used highly dubious, corrupt, or criminal business practices in general.

6. He has/had business connections to organized crime and/or money laundering entities.

7. He has/had business connections to foreign governments.

8. All of the above.

[Torie]

Why are you all assuming that the "Trump brand," MAGA tradename and logo and so forth, is worth less than 2 billion dollars on the market? Are you not familiar with the concept of intangible assets?