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发帖数: 897 | 1 It’s official: Donald Trump is the first major party nominee since Gerald
Ford not to release his tax returns during the presidential campaign.
The Republican nominee announced his bid for the White House on June 16,
2015, from the lobby of Trump Tower, the gleaming Manhattan symbol of his
real estate empire. Almost immediately after he did so, questions began to
swirl about his net worth and how much of it he would use to bankroll his
campaign.
So the following month, in July, Trump’s campaign filed a disclosure with
the FEC and issued a statement that claimed he has a “massive” net worth
that is “in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS.” At the time, Forbes listed his
net worth at merely $4.5 billion. Earlier this year, Forbes re-evaluated
the number at $3.7 billion, down $800 million from 2015.
Initially, the media reacted to the statement, capital letters and all, with
amusement. It was at the time considered as unserious as Trump’s candidacy
― conventional wisdom that soon fell apart. But the episode was an early
sign as to how Trump planned to run for president ― evading transparency
and accountability at every turn by refusing to release the very document
that could unravel the narrative he sold of a successful, wealthy and
charitable businessman.
The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold, in particular, had an instrumental
role this election with his intrepid reporting on the Trump Foundation, the
candidate’s New York-based private foundation. Trump and his campaign
often boast about his “millions” in charitable giving, but the numbers
could not be independently verified without a copy of his tax returns. The
Post reported the businessman actually used the organization to give away
somebody else’s money and claim the credit for himself. And in another
bizarre twist, Trump used charity money to purchase a 6-foot-tall portrait
of himself.
Trump’s tax returns could also offer answers to questions about his
business dealings abroad ― especially in adversarial countries like Russia.
During the campaign, Democrats suggested he refused to do so because he was
beholden to leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man Trump has
praised at length.
The GOP nominee’s explanation as to why he could not release his tax
returns ― because, as he says, they are under IRS audit ― has always been
nonsensical. Richard Nixon, for example, released his tax returns under
audit. Moreover, there is nothing stopping Trump from disclosing tax returns
for years not currently under audit.
The decision to withhold the information has also caused headaches for his
family and campaign staff, who have struggled at times to defend the
position. Eric Trump, for example, admitted it would be “foolish” for his
father to release the returns. Donald Trump Jr., his other son, has said the
move would simply invite too much scrutiny from ordinary people.
Far more concerning, however, is the precedent Trump may have created for
future nominees. If he loses by a smaller-than-expected margin on Tuesday,
the real estate mogul will have created a path for other candidates to run a
viable campaign for president while withholding sensitive but pertinent
information from the voters. One wealthy down-ballot Republican, Illinois
Gov. Bruce Rauner, for example, has already begun dragging his feet in doing
so. |
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