BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC.
(Seriously).
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 14, 2017
I'm old enough to remember when Kellyanne Conway said Americans didn't care about Trump's tax returns and didn't want to see them. Hm. Maddow's announcement has been retweeted 15,000 times in less than 10 minutes. But we'll have to wait and see what Maddow's ratings are like tonight—that's when we'll find out just how little Americans care about Trump's tax returns.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Oval Office right now. Seriously. And here's hoping "We've got Trump tax returns" means the same thing as "We've got Donald Trump's tax returns." I'll be pissed if they're talking about Tiffany's tax returns.
UPDATE: A text from a friend: "THIS IS THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION OF OUR GENERATION. 'Where were you when Maddow tweeted that she had Trump's tax returns?' OMFG." But... she didn't say they have Trump's tax returns. She said they have "Trump tax returns."
UPDATE 2: Not Tiffany's. Donald's. But they're twelve-year-old Trump tax returns...
What we've got is from 2005... the President's 1040 form... details to come tonight 9PM ET, MSNBC.
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 15, 2017
UPDATE 3: So... let's watch Maddow together! Donald Trump's 2005 federal tax returns were obtained by investigative journalist David Cay Johnston of DCReport.org. He'll be on soon to talk about how he got his hands on this "federal document," says Maddow. But first... Maddow is going to walk us through the reason why presidential candidates have been releasing their tax returns since Nixon got caught cheating on his taxes, and the bullshit reasons Trump has given for not releasing his tax returns.
Over at the White House... they rushed to release info about Trump's 2005 taxes before Maddow went live:
The White House says President Donald Trump made more than $150 million in income in 2005 and paid $38 million in income taxes that year. The acknowledgment comes as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow says she has obtained part of Trump’s 2005 tax forms. The White House is pushing back preemptively, saying that publishing those returns would be illegal.
They clearly have all of Trump's tax returns over the years at their fingertips. So why not release them? Why not release his tax returns from last year?
Anyway, Rachel is seizing the opportunity to walk us through all the amazing reporting she's been doing on Trump, Russia, Pence, Flynn, oligarchs, flipping mansions to Russian billionaires, online petitions, etc., etc., etc. She reading out the entire indictment.
Whatever she's got this is beyond worth it for how she's reading him to absolute shit I love it.
— Jenny Jaffe (@jennyjaffe) March 15, 2017
Here's Johnston. He says the pages he provided to Maddow—two cover pages, essentially, from Trump's 2005 federal tax returns—show us how much Trump made that year but not how he made it. We don't know his "sources of income," says Johnston, and that—his sources of income—is what we really need to know and what we have, as taxpayers and voters and citizens, have a right to know. And we need to know for more recent years than 2005. Because... who does our president work for? Who owns him?
i dont care how much he made or how much he saved. i want to know WHO is paying him and for WHAT #trump #taxes #itmfa https://t.co/4PCnpwmgTx
— emilyviola (@emilyviola) March 15, 2017
Maddow sums it up and puts the Trump White House on notice: "The story here is that we have obtained this—and that this stuff is obtainable."
Clearly they're hoping the emergence of Trump's 2005 tax returns will shake loose returns from subsequent years. Here's hoping.
Rachel Maddow did nothing but affirm we still need recent tax returns, not returns from over a decade ago. No reason for Trump to hide them.
— Thor Benson (@thor_benson) March 15, 2017
"She didn't reveal anything."
Um...she revealed that ppl wanna see Tr*mp's taxes & that he lied about not being able to release them.
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) March 15, 2017
Trump is still president after the dossier about Moscow hotel rooms and y'all thought two pages of a 1040 would sink him?
— Paul Musgrave (@profmusgrave) March 15, 2017
We're disappointed because we know that Trump is a fucking criminal and the evidence is out there somewhere. We're thirsty for justice.
— CQ (@coketweet) March 15, 2017
tomorrow:
40% maddow tv criticism
30% contrarian maddow defenses
30% trump taxes
— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) March 15, 2017
NEW: Keep. Eye. On. Ball. FBI's Comey will go public Weds. on Trump/Russia. Remember: it is ALL Trump/Russia pic.twitter.com/QllSjszS1E
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 15, 2017
Earlier tweets...
If it's anything but Donald Trump's income tax return, Maddow will look like a thirsty schmuck.
— Bae Talese (@elongreen) March 15, 2017
I don't know any more than you guys do. All I can add is Maddow of course knew her tweet would go nuclear, and she's not one for hyperbole.
— shauna (@goldengateblond) March 15, 2017
@maddow had better (1) get some bodyguards and (2) not be kidding.
— Hecate Demetersdatte (@HecateDemetersd) March 14, 2017
One imagines that, if MSNBC had Trump's tax returns, they'd air them on a news program rather than waiting for a 9pm chatfest. https://t.co/4feeIB5oYi
— James Joyner (@DrJJoyner) March 14, 2017
if Maddow comes through I'm never sleeping with a man again
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) March 15, 2017
The suspense is killing me. I hope it will last.