For Maddow to do so, of course, is a felony because the unauthorized release or publishing of federal tax returns is a criminal offense, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to five years in jail.
But President Trump, said by some to be a master at playing 3D (three-dimensional) chess, jumped the gun by releasing his 2005 tax form before Maddow.
Worse still for Maddow and the Left is what Trump’s 2005 tax form says.
As reported by the Washington Examiner, in 2005, Trump earned $152.7 million and paid $38.4 million in income taxes, which is an effective tax rate of 25.1%. That’s a higher tax rate than:
Most people in his income group: In 2005, those among the top 0.1% of taxpayers had an average tax rate of 22.48%, according to data from the Tax Foundation.
Bernie Sanders the socialist’s 13.5% in 2014. (ZeroHedge)
Ed Morrissey of Hot Air points out the idiocy of Maddow and her source, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who runs the website DCReport.org:
[M]edia outlets shouldn’t rush everything that they get in the mail to print — or onto prime-time TV…..
In this case, that rush to publicize is doubly mystifying, because the clear content of the tax returns does nothing but help Trump. Democrats accused Trump of paying no taxes for almost 20 years, and that his business success was all a sham. Yet here in the middle of that period is proof that Trump paid a 25% tax rate on an reported annual 2005 income of $150 million — nifty proof that both narratives are false. Maddow and Johnston rushed this to air as if it were the Pentagon Papers, leading one to question whether they bothered to read the tax returns at all.
Johnston said he received the documents in the mail, unsolicited. But President Trump tweeted at 3:55 AM this morning that he doubts Johnston’s account:
“Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, ‘went to his mailbox’ and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!”
That put Johnston on the defensive. Speaking to ABC’s Good Morning America, Johnston said it’s entirely possible that he received the returns from Trump himself or someone close to him because “Donald has a long history of leaking things about himself.”
If so, then President Trump masterfully punked Johnston and Maddow.
Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha!
By the way, why does Rachel Maddow’s throat looks like she’s had her Adam’s Apple shaved off?
