Trump’s tax returns are in the news again this week, including recent revelations about questionable activity by the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
First, we received notice from Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, that he and The Donald will be releasing their tax returns–Pence doing so next week while Trump will or will not do so at some undisclosed time and place in the near or distant future.
When asked by MSNBC’s Chuck Todd if that meant we might see Trump’s returns before the November election, Pence replied, “we’ll see.” Translation?
Pence then proceeded to change the subject by calling Hillary the most dishonest candidate since Nixon to run for president. It’s always fascinating to me when the Trump campaign changes the subject to Hillary’s dishonesty whenever his taxes are brought up. Is there something dishonest in Trump’s tax returns?
Trump’s refusal looks to be permanent. When questioned on ABC News over the weekend about why he continues to refuse releasing his tax returns, he made the following defense:
“I think people don’t care. I don’t think anybody cares except some members of the press … When the audit is done, I’ll release them. I don’t know when that’s gonna be. It could be soon, it could be not.”
Of course, when he says “people don’t care,” he means the uneducated supporters he loves so much–who would support him even if he committed murder.
It is believed by many that Trump’s refusal to release his returns is due to some embarrassing information about his Russian connections, net worth, charitable donations and campaign contributions. And it’s in the area of charitable donations and campaign contributions that we find another reason why Trump must release his returns.
The New York Liberal is refusing to address questions about an illegal $25,000 contribution in 2013 to a political group committed to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who at the time was about to open a fraud investigation on Trump University. The donation was illegal because charities are prohibited from donating to political candidates.
Besides violating the law, his charity didn’t disclose giving the gift, effectively hiding the illegal contribution from the IRS. In the end, Bondi chose not to investigate Trump University, and she endorsed Trump during the Florida GOP primary.
Trump bragged in a GOP debate back in January that he has often used his financial assets to buy-off politicians. Apparently, some of those assets were held by his foundation. By the way, to be completely fair and balanced, Trump has reimbursed the foundation and paid a $2500 penalty to the IRS. Of course, this only happened AFTER he got caught.
While the Donald J Trump foundation’s finances are separate from Trump’s personal finances–or at least they’re supposed to be–this latest IRS-related problem, along with his refusal to do what every presidential candidate has done for over 40 years, only fuel doubts about him held by millions of American voters.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically-incorrect and always “right.” His articles can also be found on RedState.com.
His daily radio commentary is nationally syndicated with Salem Radio Network and can be heard on stations across America.
