While Trump’s tax returns are likely to provide a roadmap for investigators, experts told TPM that they are unlikely to be a smoking gun.
It won't be what's in the returns that is a smoking gun. It will be what ***ISN"T*** in the returns, yet should be, that sinks Trump.Pascrell is right. Trump is all about the Benjamins, so the tax returns are where the bodies are buried.
Republicans do not wait to craft a case for what the law specifically states that they have the power to do. Democrats need to stop f*in around and start to fight.
God almighty, just DO it already. Do something, Democrats. All those young people who came out to vote last November? They’re waiting, as are the rest of us. And how about the 500 candidates who want to be president? How about lighting a fire under some asses?
Look, I am 110% in favor of setting up the “need” for them. But Neil is not doing any of the necessary work. I can think of several set up’s:
(1) get letters from Oversight, Intelligence, and Judiciary asking for them, and explaining how they are needed for ongoing investigations, and lay out why they need them
(2) set up some hearings on the impact of the 2018 Tax cuts, and who it benefits, and show the need to see if Trump himself benefited
(3) set up hearings on IRS budget and lack of investigation of tax fraud, show you need to look at Trump and his audit history given Cohen’s testimony.
All three give you multiple - legitimate - reasons to want Trump’s taxes.
But Neil is not doing any of this. I really don’t know WTF he is actually doing at this stage.
Look, I’m on the cautious/check the boxes side of this (knowing this will end up in the courts) but I am beginning to suspect that Neil lacks what it takes.
Just ask Al Capone what effect his tax returns had on his freedom. Nothing to worry about, right Donnie “Tiny Hands”?
Whatever expert told TPM that Trump’s tax returns won’t have smoking guns isn’t an expert on Trump. The first rule of Trump is that you should assume the worst and then times it by infinity and he probably did something worse.
The biggest revelation I had on Trump’s returns was only recently when it came out that he hasn’t been audited by the IRS. I assumed he was being honest when he said that because it’s so incredibly dumb to admit you’re being audited as the reason nobody can see your tax returns. But I assumed that if the IRS was looking at his returns, they couldn’t be obviously corrupt.
But if Trump’s returns haven’t been audited, I’m going to assume his income is comically low with ridiculous deductions and you’ll see it the moment you look at them. I mean, if he gave out those ridiculous financial statements to banks, there’s no reason to think he’d do any better when it came to screwing Uncle Sam.
Unfortunately, the GOP has packed the courts with right-wing idealogues who will allow Republican sloppiness to pass, while putting up roadblocks to serious Democratic moves. Crafting an airtight case is the only way to get through the lower courts. Even an airtight case is going to be seriously disadvantaged in the SCOTUS. The Republican judges there will certainly consider creating precedence that protects their president, even if it further erodes the checks and balances of the Republic.
I want this to happen, too. I just want it to make it all the way to the Supreme Court, where at least Roberts appears to be concerned about his legacy as an enabler of authoritarianism.
That’s pretty funny!
Famous last words!
(Check your pulse.)
Why didn’t these rocket-scientists start “crafting this case” two years ago?
We already know from the two NYT exposes and from Cohen’s testimony that Trump has committed real estate, tax and bank fraud. The tax returns will confirm it. The person who is slow walking this isn’t Neal. It’s Nancy Pelosi. Madame Speaker has all y’all Dems fooled. She is making it very clear (to me anyway) that she’s not going to make a move that would trigger immediate impeachment cries from the Democratic base (and no, it’s not the left…it’s mainline Dems) unless someone else makes a move first: Mueller, SDNY, Other USAOs, State AGs, or the will of the force.
But they need to fight intelligently. Trump didn’t waste anytime in knocking down Obama era regulations. But the courts have pushed back on the grounds that a lot of the new regulations didn’t follow proper protocol. Building an airtight case is the smart thing to do, if actually want to ever see the returns. Otherwise it’s making noise to satisfy the base.
Nancy doesn’t like to make a fuss. She’ll quash this too.
Who is this Richard Neal fellow? Has he made any large purchases recently?
Well, she’s squandering a LOT of goodwill and political capital, that’s all I can say. At the very least, get out there every day and screech about not receiving ONE document that was asked for and the tax returns. With all due respect, if she is playing three-dimensional chess, it’s too goddamn slow.
Given his stonewalling of doc-requests, maybe it’s time to take the gloves of ?
Evidently the only thing Donald and his supporters understand is brute force.
That’s right.
I have no further comment at the moment!
Mueller is not going to get Trump, he is not going to be impeached. The only thing that is going to remove him is an election. Having too much dirt now only gives time for the public to forget it. If things take another 6 to 8 months the timing will be right.
- The President’s son stated that the President’s company gets a lot/most of their money from the Russians.
- The President’s daughter vacationed with the girlfriend of Putin, who is an ex KBG officer.
- The President’s wife, a nude model, is from a former Soviet Bloc country.
- The President has had multiple bankruptcies and failed businesses and the resultant financial problems…
- No American bank will lend money to the President, so his sources of funding are foreign
- The President lied and said he is being audited to avoid releasing his returns after he promised to release them.
- The President said he took the word of Putin over the word of the American intelligence community.
Conclusion, the facts suggest that the President has been compromised by a foreign adversary. The Congress MUST act.
There’s your iron-clad case for any intelligent person.
Agree. Madame Pelosi could demand Neal proceed expeditiously or presumably replace him. The buck in the House always stops with the Speaker.
I’m not going to judge either Neal or Pelosi just quite yet because Pelosi, in particular, has a lot of goodwill with me, but time is a ticking.