Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
Special counsel Bob Mueller has teamed up with the IRS. According to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference, his probe has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS’ Criminal Investigations unit.
This unit—known as CI—is one of the federal government’s most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities. Its 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering.
A former colleague of Mueller’s said he always liked working with IRS’ special agents, especially when he was a U.S. Attorney.
And it goes without saying that the IRS has access to Trump’s tax returns—documents that the president has long resisted releasing to the public.
Donald Trump has done everything he can to keep his tax returns under wraps so I think it is pretty obvious that he does not want them scrutinized, and especially not by a bulldog like Robert Mueller.
Personally I think the key to this whole investigation can be found in these tax returns, and it seems that Mueller might feel that way as well.
What's more I think something he already found convinced that he needed the assistance of the IRS investigators.
I can hardly wait to read what Trump tweets out about this.
The White House on Friday released a letter from two tax attorneys for President Trump claiming that Trump’s only income from Russian sources in the last 10 years came from fees for hosting the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013, his sale of a Palm Beach mansion to a Russian businessman in 2008 and his company’s routine sales of condo units and golf games to Russians.
The attorneys said their analysis came from a review of Trump’s tax returns for the last 10 years. However, they did not release the returns or provide any documents to support their claims.
The letter, from lawyers Sheri A. Dillon and William F. Nelson, also asserted that Trump holds no debt from Russian lenders and holds no equity in Russian entities. They explained that because of the way that Trump operates his businesses, his corporate income and debt would be disclosed on his personal tax returns.
Waiting for that other shoe to drop?
Here you go: Using the services of that firm makes sense for Trump, as Morgan Lewis is a world-renowned organization. In fact, just last year, Chambers and Partners rated them as the top firm in a certain country, and guess which one it is.
Did you guess Russia? You probably guessed Russia.
It’s Russia.
So yes the law firm that just sent a letter claiming that Donald Trump has no concerning financial ties to Russia, is in fact rated as the top legal firm in Russia.
No red flags there, right?
Of course ALL of this could be cleared up if Trump would simply release his tax returns, like virtually every other president before him.
“Nobody cares about my tax return except for the reporters,” he said. “Oh, at some point I’ll release them. Maybe I’ll release them after I’m finished because I’m very proud of them, actually. I did a good job.”
“I might release them after I’m out of office,” he added, after White House communications official Hope Hicks interrupted to say, “Once the audit is over.”
First of all this is a lie.
How do I know it's a lie? Because Trump said it.
Secondly NOBODY cares about Trump's taxes once he is out of office.
Thirdly there is absolutely NO doubt that there is something in Trump's tax returns that he is worried would damage him, and his presidency in some way.
We know that because releasing them would be the simplest, and most effective, way to put many of these questions about Russia to rest.
The only reason he would continue this game of cat and mouse, is because he knows that releasing them would cause more harm than keeping them under wraps.
(Sorta like Sarah Palin refusing to release Trig's birth certificate for all of these years.)
I'm telling you right now if this were a Democrat in the White House the Republicans would be running around with their hair on fire yelling that the sky was falling.
I think it is well past time for Democrats to do the same.
So here is a brief summary of what was broadcast from The Rachel Maddow show last night:
Trump paid 38 million dollars in taxes in 2005.
Took write down of 103 million.
Made more than 150 million.
MSNBC sent the form over to White House and they responded that yes it is real.
Rachel says it is not illegal to share based upon the first amendment.
Journalist who recovered it is David Cay Johnston, who says it turned up in his mailbox.
Johnston mentions Trump himself may have leaked it, however no hard evidence.
The pages leaked are incomplete and do not provide whole financial picture.
Trump paid effective tax rate of 24%, which is the same as married couples in America. Usually the top pay ~36% during that time and ~39% this year.
Incomplete returns do not reveal sources of income.
There was lots of talk about what this could mean, why Trump would not voluntarily release his taxes, and why it is important for the American people to see them, especially in light of the Russia controversy. However what you see above was really the only actual data that was presented.
Some on the internet compared this to Geraldo Rivera's "Al Capone's Vault" stunt, but it was not on that level despite that fact that it was a little over hyped.
It seems that currently most people are of the opinion that Trump himself leaked this since the form that Johnston received is stamped "Client Copy."
That is certainly possible, even though the White House is acting like they are the injured party.
WH responds to MSNBC report on Trump tax returns: "you know you are desperate when you willing to violate the law..." pic.twitter.com/DCedFdxWCc
Which of course makes their charge of illegality even more ridiculous because how could the journalists be breaking the law by reporting on a document that they themselves just released?
Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, "went to his mailbox" and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!
All in all it was interesting, but certainly not groundbreaking.
However it IS more information that we have not had before, and as was mentioned on the show there are other copies of Trump's tax returns floating around out there, so if somebody wants to contribute to a REAL explosive story on this topic they certainly know what to do.
I have the feeling that this 2005 tax return may have been one of the few that showed Trump as a responsible tax paying citizen. I bet there are many others that would be devastating to his reputation as a billionaire and which might demonstrate some rather incriminating ties to unsavory business associates.
Though our new president may not realize it, Congress has the power to obtain his tax returns and reveal them to the public without his consent, including returns under audit. As just urged by Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.), legislators seeking information on President Trump’s possible conflicts of interest should immediately exercise this authority rather than wait for the passage of new veto-proof legislation — a highly uncertain prospect — that would have the same effect.
The ability of Congress to disclose confidential tax information was added to the law almost 100 years ago. Since the Civil War, when it began requiring taxpayers to submit private information to the government to comply with the tax laws, Congress has struggled to balance the privacy interests of taxpayers with the public’s right to know. Eventually, Congress decided that tax information should remain confidential except in two situations. First, it authorized the president to determine whether any tax information could be disclosed. And, in 1924, it gave the same power to certain congressional committees.
Congress’s right to reveal tax information independent of the president’s authority proved extremely important in 1973 and 1974, when President Richard Nixon became entangled in a controversy involving his claim of a sizable charitable deduction for giving his official papers to the National Archives. ......... Following Watergate, Congress changed the law to eliminate the president’s ability to order a disclosure. But it retained the right of its tax committees to do so as long as a disclosure served a legitimate committee purpose. Such a disclosure must be in the public’s interest, and today’s understandable concerns about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest would seem clearly to justify a congressional effort to obtain, investigate and possibly disclose to the public his tax information.
I am somewhat uncertain as to whether or not this can be done with only the Democrats in the House demanding it, but I think as time goes on there may be a number of Republicans who can be convinced to sign on as well.
At this point I am all but certain that Trump is terrified of having his tax records revealed, probably for a whole host of reasons, so there is no telling to what lengths he might go to keep this from happening.
However I am also convinced that there is overwhelming evidence that it is in the best interests of the country to have these tax records made public.
ABC News together with our partners at SSRS survey research firm asked our online opinion panel if they believed Trump would be able to get Mexico to pay for building a wall along the U.S. southern border.
Seventy-eight percent said they believed Trump could not deliver on this promise, while 13 percent said he could.
Asked to give a one-word response to a video of one part of Trump's highly anticipated immigration speech last week, 67 percent reacted with a negative word, such as “ridiculous” and “disgusting.” Just 27 percent responded with a positive word, such as “great” and “agree.”
I wonder if that 78% also realizes that Trump is full of horse pucky when it comes to the reason why he will not release his tax returns?
It’s worth noting that the existence of an audit, according to the IRS, does not preclude the release of tax returns. In fact, it actually makes the release of returns less risky. The primary issue with making your tax returns public is triggering an audit. Trump doesn’t have to be worried about that.
But there is a bigger problem with the Trump campaign’s argument that all his returns are under audit: It’s not true.
The truth is disclosed in a letter from his accountants that was published to the Trump campaign website in March. It reveals that Trump’s returns from 2008 and prior are not under audit and have been “administratively closed” by the IRS.
So when Trump and his campaign staff say they are not releasing his taxes because they are under audit, that’s not true. None of his taxes from 2008 or prior are currently under audit, and yet Trump still hasn’t released those returns.
So for those of you who have recently been in a coma, Donald Trump essentially lies about EVERYTHING.
And it appears that perhaps the American voters are coming to recognize that fact.
Courtesy of Politico: Mike Pence says he is filing his tax returns and will make them available to the public, even as his running mate Donald Trump refuses to do so. "When my forms are filed and when my tax returns are released it’s going to be a quick read," the Republican vice presidential nominee said Saturday on WABC Radio's "Election Central with Rita Cosby." "The Pences have not become more wealthy as a result of sixteen years in public service. There's been a lot of sacrifices, we're a middle class family, and it’s been a tremendous honor to serve as I am as Governor of Indiana, and my years in the Congress, and we'll look forward to making all that information available." Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, has refused to release his tax returns, citing an IRS audit and advice of his lawyers, despite the IRS having no rule preventing someone under audit from releasing their returns.
So to be clear Hillary Clinton, her running mate Tim Kaine, and now Trump's VP choice Mike Pence are all releasing their tax returns.
Leaving only Donald Trump as the only guy who appears to be hiding something.
Why do I get the feeling that Pence did not clear this with his running mate before going public?
Not only did the campaign put this ad out but the Clintons also released their 2015 tax returns:
Hillary and Bill Clinton paid $3.2 million in federal income tax last year, a rate of 34.2 percent. Their 2015 return was released today by the Clinton campaign, almost five months after they signed it for filing.
The Clintons overpaid the Treasury and got a refund of more than $1 million.
The couple's income plunged last year. Adjusted gross income for 2015 was $10.6 million, compared to $27.9 million for the previous year. Charitable contributions accounted for 9.8 percent of their adjusted gross income.
Clinton is releasing the returns for two reasons: transparency and the opportunity to bash Donald Trump. The Republican nominee has refused to make his 2015 tax data public.
Okay now I have been willing to accept the idea that Bernie Sanders is for the most part an ethical guy.
However let me just say that this really does not make any sense.
Bernie Sanders (Oh I'm sorry I mean his wife Jane.) has had ample time to get his tax information ready to release to the public, and yet we still have not seen anything besides his 2014 returns, which quite frankly raised some concerns.
And let's not ignore the fact that this 45 day extension takes us past the date of the Democratic Convention, July 25-28, which means that after Sanders concedes and throws his support behind Hillary the press will probably no longer bother to ask him about this anymore.
Bernie and Jane Sanders won't release their back tax returns until Democratic rival Hillary Clinton releases the transcripts of her Wall Street speeches, Jane Sanders said Tuesday afternoon.
Bernie Sanders has repeatedly called on the Clinton campaign to release her speeches in an effort to show she's aligned with powerful Wall Street interests.
But he has been slow to answer Clinton's demand to release his tax returns, saying in a CNN debate earlier this month that his wife handles their financial affairs and has been too busy campaigning. The Sanders made public their 2014 return the next evening, showing they earned nearly $206,000 and paid about $28,000 in federal taxes that year.
Asked Tuesday when the campaign plans to issue prior years' returns, Jane Sanders told CNN's Wolf Blitzer they will wait to see whether Clinton will disclose her transcripts.
Okay two things.
First the Sanders' campaign promised that they would release these tax returns to the media, so they lied.
And second ALL serious presidential candidates release their tax information, while NONE of them have ever been asked to provide transcripts for paid speeches.
This transcript thing seems like a new hurdle specifically invented for Hillary Clinton, and both the Sanders' campaign and Right Wing media outlets are mythologizing them like Donald Trump once mythologized President Obama's birth certificate.
In the opinion of Hillary's enemies once these transcripts are revealed to the public it will destroy her campaign. Just like they are convinced that the FBI is only seconds away from indicting her and the Benghazi committee is on the verge of revealing that she shot those four Americans herself.
On a similar note the Sander's campaign is now asking for an extension on Bernie's personal financial disclosure until after the California primaries.
Okay you know the one thing about Bernie that I have always defended is his integrity.
But there is something going on here that is fairly bothersome.
After all there is no doubt that after California we will all know for an absolute fact that Bernie Sanders is dead in the water, so essentially he is putting this off until a time when nobody will be asking to see it anymore.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released eight years of tax returns Friday, as well as a complete listing of the millions she and her husband have received for paid speeches over the years.
Clinton’s release of her returns from 2007-2014 bring to 38 the number of years of publicly released tax returns by the Clintons over the course of four presidential campaigns, topping former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s previous record of 33 years set last month.
Since 2007, the Clintons have paid $43,885,310 in federal taxes, with an effective tax rate of 35.7 percent in 2014—roughly the same as Bush’s average of 36 percent.
The Clintons reported devoting more than 10 percent of their income to charity, outpacing Bush’s reported 3.1 percent average from 2007-2013.
Earlier this year, Clinton filed her personal financial disclosure revealing she and her husband earned more than $30 million in paid speeches since January 2014.
Wow! Over 43 million in taxes!
And yet the Clintons still give 10% to charity.
Kind of makes old Jebbie look like a stingy asshole doesn't it?
Anybody want to lay odds as to whether or not "The Donald" is willing to reveal this much about HIS taxes? Yeah, I didn't think so.
A magazine known for its sexually explicit material is offering a reward of $1 million dollars for a different type of bare-all expose.
The publisher of Hustler magazine, Larry Flynt, is offering the sum for the skinny on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's financials, the magazine announced.
It is taking out full-page advertisements in two newspapers - The Washington Post on Sunday, and USA Today on Tuesday - "offering up to a million dollars in cash for documented evidence concerning Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's unreleased tax returns and/or details of his offshore assets, bank accounts and business partnerships," a press release from the magazine read.
Well THIS could prove very interesting, especially since a group of hackers have already claimed to have Romney's tax records and are asking for a million dollars to return them.
An anonymous group says it stole copies of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's tax records and will release them unless the company it stole them from pays $1 million.
They of course COULD be full of shit, but if not....
Personally if on the level I think they should take Flynt's offer instead.
That way they get a million bucks, AND get to do something good for the country. It's a twofer!
P.S. By the way why is everybody suddenly channeling Dr. Evil?
"I will return Mitt Romney's tax returns, or sell them to Larry Flynt, for one miillliion dollars."
Mitt Romney conceded President Barack Obama has succeeded in making him a less likable person, but he offered a defiant retort to those hoping he will open up this week: “I am who I am.”
Romney quoted that Popeye line three times in a 30-minute interview with POLITICO about his leadership style and philosophy, swatting away advice from Republicans to focus on connecting with voters in a more emotional, human way at this convention. Instead, he vowed to keep his emphasis — in the campaign and any administration to follow — on a relentlessly goal-driven, business-minded approach that has shaped his life so far.
“I know there are some people who do a very good job acting and pretend they’re something they’re not,” Romney said. “You get what you see. I am who I am.”
Seriously? So Romney's big excuse for being robotic and unlikeable is that OTHER people also have personal flaws but are just better at faking that they are more personable?
So don't believe who Mitt Romney appears to be, just trust that he is who he, and of course his wife Ann, say that he is. Faith over observable facts, now where have I heard that argument made before?
So just "who am" Mitt Romney?
Well according to information revealed in those Bain documents he is a man who has done everything in his power to defraud the government by not paying his fair share of taxes.
Management fees for running a private equity firm are classified as earned income, and are taxable at a rate of 35%. However, if that money is then shifted offshore through the Bain maze, it can be disguised as “carried interest” and the earner pays a much lower 15% Capital Gains tax rate. Does the reader now see why Mitt Romney’s Budget Plan proposes the elimination of taxes on Dividends and Capital Gains? As Victor Fleischer – Professor of Law, University of Colorado explains:
"Because the management fees for a large private equity fund can be ten or twenty million per year, the tax dodge can literally save millions in taxes every year.
The problem is that it is not legal."
This was an exchange that Mitt Romney had on Sean Hannity's show yesterday, in response to Harry Reid saying that he has heard from a reliable source that Romney paid NO federal taxes for twelve years:
(Before I move on to the tax return question I cannot let Romney's charge about the slow rate of recovery for the economy being Obama's fault. It's not. It is mostly the fault of the Republicans for blocking virtually every attempt to create jobs or repair the damage done to our economy by the disastrous Bush administration.)
Here was Harry Reid's response to Romney telling him to "put up or shut up:"
There is a controversy because the Republican presidential nominee, Governor Mitt Romney, refuses to release his tax returns. As I said before, I was told by an extremely credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for ten years. People who make as much money as Mitt Romney have many tricks at their disposal to avoid paying taxes. We already know that Romney has exploited many of these loopholes, stashing his money in secret, overseas accounts in places like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.
Last weekend, Governor Romney promised that he would check his tax returns and let the American people know whether he ever paid a rate lower than 13.9 percent. One day later, his campaign raced to say he had no intention of putting out any further information.
When it comes to answering the legitimate questions the American people have about whether he avoided paying his fair share in taxes or why he opened a Swiss bank account, Romney has shut up. But as a presidential candidate, it’s his obligation to put up, and release several years’ worth of tax returns just like nominees of both parties have done for decades.
It’s clear Romney is hiding something, and the American people deserve to know what it is. Whatever Romney’s hiding probably speaks volumes about how he would approach issues that directly impact middle-class families, like tax reform and the economy. When you are running for president, you should be an open book.
I understand Romney is concerned that many people, Democrats and Republicans, have been calling on him to release his tax returns. He has so far refused. There is only one thing he can do to clear this up, and that’s release his tax returns.
Now Romney has suggested, in that smarmy condescending tone of his, that perhaps Reid's source is someone inside of the White House. However CBS News in Boston suggests a much more intriguing possibility:
Whatever the level of exaggeration from the Senator or his source, there is probably at least some level of truth to the statement. Unfortunately, Romney is stonewalling the American public by not releasing his records so we’ll never know the truth.
But the source coming to Harry Reid for these revelations adds a level of intrigue. Reid just happens to be the highest-ranking member of the Mormon Church in the history of this nation.
It is likely that Senator Reid’s source shares the Mormon religion with Reid and Romney.
That message will not be lost on Romney. If the Bain fortress is not a fortress; if people are talking, Romney knows that trouble lies ahead.
And the motivation for this leak may not be political. It is likely personal and tied to the Mormon Church.
Specifically, if Romney was hiding money from the IRS he may have hidden money from his church.
This was a possibility that I brought up earlier, and it is looking more and more as if IT might be the real source of Romney's panic over his tax returns.
But if not, well THAT is pretty easy to clear up isn't it? Just release them and all of this speculation simply fades away.
"We've given all you people need to know and understand about our financial situation and how we live our life."
Needless to say, using "you people" is pretty much never a good look -- at the very least, it comes across as patronizing and condescending. Dan Amira reviewed the tape and comes away arguing that's not actually what she said -- that in fact she just stumbled verbally. It's a tough call, but you can watch and decide for yourself. But who cares if Ann Romney had a brief slip? As verbal gaffes go, this one ranks pretty low. People who see this as proof of Romney's irredeemable snobbiness almost certainly felt she was irredeemably snobby already. Nor is it news that the Romneys aren't big fans of the media.
Okay I almost posted this earlier, but I came away unsure if in fact she had said this. I am definitely partisan but I do try to be as fair as I can be, and I don't want to make crap up like the other side does all of the time, (And like WE get accused of doing constantly.)
However this thing has gone viral, and is all over Twitter, so I figured the least I could do is post it and give all of you the chance to make your own determination.
Did she, or didn't she?
P.S. Even if she DIDN'T actually say "you people" she STILL came off as terribly arrogant and condescending. In my opinion.
You know the horse is beautiful too bad that stupid man keeps breaking in to lie during his performance.
Update: Apparently the Romney's are taking the Sarah Palin route and claiming to be victimized by this ad. Here is the response from DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse:
“Our use of the Romneys’ dressage horse was not meant to offend Mrs. Romney in any way, and we regret it if it did,” Mr. Woodhouse said. “We were simply making a point about Governor Romney’s failure to give straight answers on a variety of issues in this race. We have no plans to invoke the horse any further to avoid misinterpretation.”
It is beyond pathetic that MIttens is hiding behind his wife's illness in order to avoid scrutiny on his tax return question. Especially now that we learn he is so freaked out at the thought of having to release them that if he had known he would be expected to he never would have become a candidate for president.
Okay well WE'VE used the fact that after seeing Mitten's tax returns John McCain chose Sarah Palin as a dig against Romney, but to have the DNC do the same indicates that she has now simply become the MOST identifiable example of a poor choice for running mate.
Quite literally Sarah Palin has become the living example of a GOP cautionary tale. I don't even know if there is any lower that an ex-politician can go. Essentially even prison would be a step up from this, as IT would garner sympathy for her that she simply cannot attain today.
I actually sort of sat back and watched this Bain Capital thing play out.
I have been watching reports from MSNBC, CNN, and yes even Fox, to determine if the Democrats went too far in their assessment that Romney is completely lying concerning his role at Bain during this crucial 2000 to 2002 period. I have also read reports from ALL over, many with completely different takes on the story, about who is, and is not, lying about it.
I KNEW that Rachel would do the very best synopsis of the story, and of course she did.
In
the end there seems to be no doubt that Mitt Romeny is a lying scumbag,
and that the CENTRAL reason that he tells America they should elect him in
2012 over President Obama is based on a false premise about his business
acumen.
Here is a little something that Andrew Sullivan also discovered RIGHT IN Bain's 1999 press release:
It was hidden in plain sight as a Bain press release in July 1999. Here's how it described Romney's position at Bain when he says he had no responsibility whatever, despite remaining CEO, Chairman and Sole Owner as far as forms filed with SEC testify:
Bain Capital CEO W. Mitt Romney, currently on a part-time leave of absence to head the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee for the 2002 Games said ...
So Bain now contradicts Romney.
And one of the men mentioned in the press release, Marc Wolpow, described his relationship with Romney when Romney was on a previous part time leave in 1994 when running for Senate (while remaining CEO of Bain):
“I reported directly to Mitt Romney . . . You can’t be CEO of Bain Capital and say, `I really don’t know what my guys were doing,’” Mr. Wolpow said of Mr. Romney role at the company during his leave.
Is anybody else getting a Sarah Palin vibe off of Mittens right about now? I mean didn't he JUST launch a campaign calling President Obama a liar for bringing this Bain Capital connection up, and saying that he was actually there longer than he claimed he was there? Yet at the very same time he was calling the President a liar, he was lying his ass off!
Personally I think THAT is the takeaway here. The man is a chronic liar. He is essentially Sarah Palin in magic underwear!
And just like Trig's never produced birth certificate, Romney has NO intention of ever providing more of his tax returns which would, according to him, prove he is NOT lying. This from Business Insider:
First of all, we've complied with the law. The law requires us to put out a full financial disclosure. That I've done. And then, in addition to that, I've already put out one year of tax returns. We'll put out the next year of tax returns as soon as the accountants have that ready. And that's what we're going to put out.
I know there will always be calls for more. People always want to get more. And, you know, we're putting out what is required plus more that is not required. And those are the two years that people are going to have. And that's all that's necessary for people to understand something about my finances. And, look, if people believe this should be a campaign about attacking one another on a personal basis and go back to the kinds of attacks that were suggested in some campaigns in the past, I don't want to go there.
Look, just like Palin with Trig's birth certificate, the ONLY reason Romney would not be willing to provide the tax returns, which he had no problem providing to John McCain in 2008, is that he KNOWS they will prove that the Obama campaign is telling the truth and that HE is lying.
