Trump’s Tax Returns: What We Learned (And Didn’t)

In the end, Maddow gave us valuable info but not enough answers

SFGate

Donald Trump has long claimed that the only people that want to see his tax returns are journalists and his political enemies, despite 74% of Americans wanting to see his returns. As of today, Rachel Maddow has obtained a 1040 tax return for President Trump from 2005, stoking fervor for Trump to release his tax returns to clarify his financial interests.

Preet Bharara, who was fired last Friday, was found to be looking into Deutsche Bank, whom Trump owes a large sum of money. Trump is also responsible for enforcing a large penalty on Deutsche bank for the banks behavior issuing sub-prime loans during the 2000s. This figure is well below the Department of Justice’s initial $14.1 billion dollar figure under Obama’s Department of Justice, but Obama’s DoJ was unable to complete the negotiation after Trump’s election. Deutsche Bank received a much less harsh penalty under Trump, $7.4 billion. Mr. Bharara had previously been permitted to stay as an Obama appointee holdover in a deal with Sen. Chuck Schumer on behalf of the Democratic party, so the timing is suspect.

This information teases more questions than it answers. Trump and his family are filled with potential conflicts of interest. His brand and multinational business interests, as well as history of debt, bankruptcy and being highly leveraged — all of these put Trump at risk for being beholden to foreign entities, as well as being subject to conflict of interest and self-dealing. Trump has over 500 partners with his business entities.

These tax returns show raw numbers and income, but do not show sources of income. Trump has extensive foreign business dealings with Russian investors, according to his own son, Donald Trump Jr., “…in terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia. There’s indeed a lot of money coming for new-builds and resale reflecting a trend in the Russian economy and, of course, the weak dollar versus the ruble.” This provides an interesting contrast to his statement, “I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia. I have no loans in Russia. I don’t have any deals in Russia.”

This will stoke further interest in the President’s tax returns, and the calls for transparency will only get louder.