In 1986, Geraldo Rivera opened famed Chicago mobster Al Capone’s vault on live television. In the weeks before the special aired, the public and media worked itself up into a fevered pitch. What was in the vault? Would there be a body? The night it aired, the public waited with bated breath as Geraldo opened… an empty vault. Meanwhile the Reagan administration was illegally selling arms to Iran to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.

Last night, Rachel Maddow and her guest, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Cay Johnston, opened the empty vault of Trump’s tax returns. Actually, they were two pages of his 2005 return that told us hardly anything new. Yet Twitter worked itself into a tizzy, and this morning, it’s all anyone in America seems able to talk about.

How convenient for Donald Trump, who has a lot of news he’d like to bury. Trumpcare is a political disaster. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is accused of using a fake email address to admit climate change is real (and help Exxon deny it for profit). He’s gutting the federal government in what’s being termed a “reorganisation.”

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

This has led some – including Johnston, who obtained the copy Maddow presented – to wonder if Trump himself leaked his own tax returns. After all, the copy Maddow brandished clearly said “CLIENT COPY” on them. If he did, you could hardly blame him. After all, all the two pages Maddow showed us prove is that Trump actually did pay taxes. But beyond that, it’s certainly in keeping with Trump’s history of distracting while destroying.

I’ve previously written that Trump’s tweets matter even if, much like the giant floating head Dorothy finds in Oz, they’re designed to distract us from the man behind the curtain. Trump’s tweets and tax returns can tell us a lot about the man, his psyche, where he’s getting his news, and at least with the full tax returns (should they ever surface), what – if any – conflicts Trump may have. They’re important, and they should be covered.

But Trump has become a master manipulator of the media, who makes sure these outrageous statements or leaked returns become the only story they cover for days. When journalists began zoning in on possible Russian connections, Trump claimed President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. He picked a fight with the cast of Hamilton when he settled a $25m class-action lawsuit for fraud. When unemployment figures ticked slightly up, Trump tweeted about his erstwhile show, Celebrity Apprentice and its new host Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that Trump leaked his own tax returns to distract us from the s**tshow that is his administration. However, we in the media have to stop taking the bait.

While leaked tax returns are of course newsworthy, especially given Trump’s refusal to release any returns at all, the first two pages of a 12 year old 1040 don’t warrant two solid hours of coverage, which is what MSNBC gave them last night (on both The Rachel Maddow Show and Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell). It also doesn’t warrant the fevered pitch those of us in the media (myself included) worked ourselves into in the hour or so before Maddow’s show.

In some ways you can’t blame us. Trump’s tax returns are the holy grail of political journalism right now. Full returns, with all schedules, would be telling. But those are unlikely to surface, and without Schedules C and E showing real estate and business income, they’re going to be largely useless. Maddow and Johnston – who is a Pulitzer Prize winning tax journalist – certainly know this. The rest of us just learned it.