MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to accuse President Trump of leaking his own tax return to David Cay Johnston, who unveiled it on “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Wednesday night. The reason, according to Scarborough? “To distract from Russia hearings and the Trumpcare meltdown.”
This one tax return is not bad for him because he cherry picked one return from over a decade ago and had it leaked to the press. https://t.co/P5cMuApGVe
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 15, 2017
The Trump camp released one positive tax return to distract from Russia hearings and the Trumpcare meltdown. That's painfully obvious. https://t.co/NLBVPJhwg6
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 15, 2017
To the first pro-Trump/Putin hack that says this one cherry picked tax return settles the tax issue for good:
Not even close. https://t.co/NLBVPJhwg6— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 15, 2017
Last night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow landed an exclusive with the Pulitzer Prize-winning tax reporter, who said he received Trump’s 1040 long form in the mail. Why would someone give the documents to Johnston? It’s clear that he wanted them, and would understand them: he’s the author of “The Making of Donald Trump” and won his 2001 Pulitzer at the New York Times for his coverage of tax-code loopholes.
Scarborough’s tweets mirror Johnson’s own comments: he told Maddow the leak may even have come from Trump himself — or someone working for him.
“It’s entirely possible that Donald sent this to me,” Johnston said on the program. “Donald Trump has over the years leaked all sorts of things, the very sleazy girl-on-girl pictures of the first lady in the New York Post may have come from Donald. The front pages of the state tax returns… that were sent to the New York Times… last fall may have come from Donald. Donald has a long history of leaking material about himself when he thinks it’s in his interest.”
The “Morning Joe” namesake went on to demand that Congress ensures this never happens again.
Congress must pass a bill requiring that every candidate running for president starting in 2020 release their last 3 years of taxes.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 15, 2017
Going against decades of tradition, Trump refused to release his tax information during the 2016 presidential election, despite calls to do so from Democrats, the media, a Whitehouse.gov petition, and even members of his own party. But Johnston finally landed the white whale — or at least hacked off a small chunk of it.