Fox NewsEric Trump in an interview on Fox News. President Donald Trump’s son, Eric, mocked MSNBC on Sunday for building up the release of the summary pages of the president’s 2005 tax return.
In an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, Eric Trump said the disclosure of the president’s tax return, from journalist David Cay Johnston on MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow’s show, was “just amazing,” noting that they showed his father paid $US38 million in taxes on $US150 million in income.
The president’s son slammed leakers broadly for releasing part of Trump’s tax returns, which he has withheld from the public.
“It’s really sad that we’re in an environment where tax returns are leaked by whoever it may be,” Eric said. “Just think about it. Think about how dangerous that is, how third world that is on a practice that happened. When personal information is put out by people for political agendas. As a civilian, it’s actually scary.”
Despite embracing politically beneficial disclosures from organisations like WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential election, the Trump camp has slammed leakers inside the government and the White House for revealing sensitive information to reporters that often embarrasses the new administration.
While it has been standard practice in recent decades for candidates seeking the presidency to release their tax returns, Trump has kept his under wraps, claiming falsely that an IRS audit prevents him from doing so.
Many Trump backers were quick to mock Maddow on Tuesday, saying the tax returns showed the then-real-estate mogul paid a higher amount of taxes than some Democrats predicted.
Critics, meanwhile, argued the tax return explained parts of a Republican tax reform proposal planned for later this year. Republicans have proposed eliminating the alternative minimum tax, which would have given Trump a tax cut equivalent to $US21 million if implemented in 2005.
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