David Jackson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday questioned the origins of a leaked tax return that showed he paid $38 million on more than $150 million of reported income in 2005 — while the recipient of the leak suggested it may have come from Trump himself.

"Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, 'went to his mailbox' and found my tax returns?" Trump tweeted the morning after MSNBC disclosed two pages of the 2005 return. "@NBCNews FAKE NEWS!"

David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote a book about Trump and founded the website DCReport.org, told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show that he obtained two pages of Trump's 2005 tax return via the U.S. mail.

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Trump tax returns show president paid $38 million in 2005, White House says

Johnston — who told Maddow that "it's entirely possible that Donald Trump sent this to me; Donald Trump has, over the years, leaked all sorts of things" — responded in kind on Twitter: "Gee, Donald, your White House confirmed my story. POTUS fake Tweet. Sad!"

The author of a book called The Making of Donald Trump also said Wednesday that he and his family have received death threats since the tax story broke.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said he has "no idea" where Johnston got the returns, "but it's illegal and you're not supposed to have it."

He added: "It's certainly not an an embarrassing tax return at all, but it's an illegal thing."

In October, The New York Times published leaked tax returns from 1995 that showed a $916 million in losses for Trump that year, an amount so large it would have enabled him to avoid paying taxes for years.

Trump — who refused to release any of his tax returns during the 2016 campaign, claiming he was under audit —wrote off more than $100 million in business losses for 2005 and paid the alternative minimum tax. The president has proposed eliminating the AMT, a move that would lead to lower tax bills for him and other wealthy Americans.

His $38 million payment in 2005 reflected a 25% tax rate.

Critics say Trump's tax returns could shed light on the investigation into Russian activities during the 2016 presidential election. Trump has called the Russia investigation a "witch hunt" and said he has no business interests in Russia.

The two pages of 2005 tax returns that emerged this week shed no light on the issue. "This describes the types of income, but not the sources,” Johnston told MSNBC.

The president and aides have not said whether he will release his next tax return, as previous presidents have done.

Tuesday night's White House statement, while confirming the numbers in the return, questioned the legality of the leak.

"The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans," the statement said.

Whoever leaked the Trump tax document, he or she did not work for the Internal Revenue Service, said Chicago-based tax attorney Robert E. McKenzie.

"It is marked 'client copy' and lacks an IRS Document Locator Number (DLN)," he said. "Therefore it was forwarded to the reporter by someone with access to his personal tax files which could include accountants, his bankers, or staff, among others."

Contributing: Kevin McCoy

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