"The only news here is that the more than 20-year-old alleged tax document was illegally obtained.."

[Towlie]

So says the Trump campaign.

If it's an "alleged" document and not real then it wasn't illegally obtained, or indeed obtained at all, it was fabricated.

But if it was illegally obtained then that means it's real and belongs to Trump.

The Trump campaign is trying to have it both ways: It wasn't taken from our candidate and it was illegally taken from our candidate.

[saltpoint]

1. No sympathy for the Trump team.

Last edited Sun Oct 2, 2016, 10:35 AM - Edit history (1)

It sounds to me like manipulation of the system for personal gain, for naked profit, and without regard for the services which benefit everybody that taxes pay for in the first place.

[beachbum bob]

2. its all damage control and the fact it came from some one inside of Trump 's corporation is SWEET

[Iliyah]

3. Like hacking with the help of a foreign entity?

[FailureToCommunicate]

23. Got 'em.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Damage control. Too late.

[PearliePoo2]

5. What's really intriguing (and delicious) to me is: Who leaked it?

The return address said Trump Tower, but that may not mean anything.
Whoever has access to Trump's taxes, just hurled a timely grenade. Bless them!

[Kber]

9. My money is on Marla

His recent comments blaming women for men's affairs have to rankle and they were her tax returns too.

[spooky3]

22. Or Tiffany or any of the many employees who

Might have had access at the time and were treated poorly.

[PearliePoo2]

26. Yeah, there's been that speculation but oh man...

Given tRump's penchant for serious revenge with no time limits, I'd be really nervous of getting caught.

You know, just know, he's got his private "dicks" on their trail as we speak.
Whoever did this feels so passionately about fucking with him, they decided it was worth the risk.
In my eyes, it was an act of a patriot!

[japple]

31. Wonder if those are the same "investigators" he sent to Hawaii

after Barack Obama's birth certificate?

[PearliePoo2]

40. Yes, absolutely! He's got his two BEST guys on it!

Really clandestine characters that can slither around unseen and disappear in the darkness of the night:
John Miller and John Barron!

[rurallib]

42. probably didn't pay them

[alterfurz]

48. yes, Marla...

...and if they filed any returns jointly, wouldn't she have the legal right to release them-?

[saltpoint]

6. Trump will have to sue a hell of a lot

of news sources over this one.

Should keep Michael Cohen real busy for some time.

Go ahead, Donald. Pick up the phone and bite somebody's head off.

[tblue37]

46. "Should keep Michael Cohen real busy for some time."

Says who?

[saltpoint]

49. LOL! tblue37, that is a

totally perfect response.

I could almost see Michael Cohen doing his mob lawyer thing on cable news...

[Kber]

7. Like Wikileaks?

[randome]

10. That's different because...CLINTON IS EVIL!

All right-thinking Americans should know this.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]The truth doesn’t always set you free.
Sometimes it builds a bigger cage around the one you’re already in.[/center][/font][hr]

[KittyWampus]

21. No, Wikileaks has focused on hurting Clinton this election cycle. And NEVER discloses

anything that would hurt Putin.

[SaschaHM]

8. Complains about papers reporting on an "illegally" obtained document.

I wonder where was this concern when Democrats where getting hacked.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. He has pissed off so many employees over the past 45 years

that the potential tsunami of pile-on is most likely imminent.

As someone previously posted, the dike has broken.

[Wounded Bear]

12. So were the DNC emails....

Fuck them.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Melania leaked it

She sees the writing in the wall, Trump will trade her in for a new trophy soon and she never wanted to be First Lady anyways.

[Persondem]

14. I have been using #DeadbeatDonald all morning on Twitter

If you have an account, could be fun to get it trending

[Sunlei]

15. Trump sent it to the press.

[saltpoint]

16. If this came from someone in the Trump

campaign, there may be still more goodies in the tin.

And I happen to love cookies.

[Thinkingabout]

17. Trump needs to check with his Russian hackers, maybe Trump made a miscue and

failed to respond correctly to Putin's puppet strings. The real question are the documents the real tax returns.

[mnhtnbb]

24. The newspaper has verified with the accountant who prepared them that they 'look' like the real

deal. He says he no longer has copies. He explained how he had to use a typewriter because the software wouldn't generate
enough digits for the loss!

[Thinkingabout]

27. I would believe it is a true return, good judgement by Trump in his business deals, he should not

promote his business ability with these losses. So many lies by Trump and his team.

[exboyfil]

32. If he was my accountant I would get a new accountant

Irrespective of the politics of the situation, he is divulging information about his client.

[mnhtnbb]

33. No. He was confirming his signature on a document.

On Wednesday, The Times presented the tax documents to Jack Mitnick, a lawyer and certified public accountant who handled Mr. Trump’s tax matters for more than 30 years, until 1996. Mr. Mitnick was listed as the preparer on the New Jersey tax form.

Mr. Mitnick, 80, now semiretired and living in Florida, said that while he no longer had access to Mr. Trump’s original returns, the documents appeared to be authentic copies of portions of Mr. Trump’s 1995 tax returns. Mr. Mitnick said the signature on the tax preparer line of the New Jersey tax form was his, and he readily explained an obvious anomaly in the way especially large numbers appeared on the New
York tax document.

A flaw in the tax software program he used at the time prevented him from being able to print a nine-figure loss on Mr. Trump’s New York return, he said. So, for example, the loss of “-915,729,293” on Line 18 of the return printed out as “5,729,293.” As a result, Mr. Mitnick recalled, he had to use his typewriter to manually add the “-91,” thus explaining why the first two digits appeared to be in a different font and were slightly misaligned from the following seven digits.

“This is legit,” he said, stabbing a finger into the document.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

[exboyfil]

35. For a document that was released without authorization of his client

or under legal requirements? I don't think so. He is under no obligation to confirm or deny his signature, and doing it is actually damaging to his former client.

If someone brought a copy of your tax returns to your accountant. A copy this person should not have. Would you want your accountant to answer questions regarding the document? If he was still active as an accountant, I would think he would face sanctions by his profession (I am not familiar with it). Given Trump's proclivity to sue, I think I would expect to be sued.

If the profession doesn't have a problem with it, then I would consider very carefully ever the use of an accountant for tax returns.

Trust me I don't want Trump as president.

[mnhtnbb]

39. The guy is also a lawyer--according to the NY Times article.

So, I imagine he is aware of his legal responsibilities.

Personally, I don't have a problem with him confirming his signature and explaining the software anomaly.

I do my own taxes. I have no plans to run for public office so I'm not worried about anyone making an issue of them.

Many of us have been expecting a leak of Trump's tax returns for some time. He clearly has something to hide. Let him sue whomever.
I think people have a right to see what he's hiding.

Sometimes the concept of justice is best served in a way that shines the light on the truth, without regard to the "law".

[tblue37]

47. At age 80, he might not be all that worried about long-term consequences for himself, but still

worried about long-term consequences for the country, the world, and the people in his life that he cares about.

[mrmpa]

41. Typewriter,reminds me of ............

once when I was testifying in Federal Court on an employment issue. I was a City government employee. The Defense Attorney showed me a copy of computer generated forms. I was asked whether I had seen them before, I had of course, next question was who generated them, my answer was my Department, how did I know that, well because they were from a dot matrix printer & my department was the only department that had such a printer.

I was a Defense witness, because the City had screwed up immensely on the issue(s) in question.

[Madam45for2923]

18. Now they f*cking care about leaks/hacks

[Thinkingabout]

28. Tis true, dammit, but he is the greatest.

[saltpoint]

19. So, just to review:

The tax document in question was illegally obtained.

The tax document does not exist.

Perhaps someone inadvertently obtained the tax document.

Perhaps someone sent a tax document that does not exist to the media.

Perhaps the tax document exists but the person who sent it to the media does not exist.

Perhaps the dog ate the tax document.

Perhaps whoever fabricated Barack Obama's birth certificate also created the tax document that does not exist.

- - -

Hope that clears it up for everybody.

[Madam45for2923]

37. Sounds like Meredith McIver!!!

[saltpoint]

38. : )

[Rose Siding]

20. k&r for your flawless logic!

I don't see any option beyond your 'either/or'!

[-Steph-]

25. So DonTheCon thinks it's wrong for his information to be obtained without his permission, but...

thinks it's quite alright to ask Russia to hack into other people's information and release it? Sorry DishonestDon, you can't have it both ways.

[Gymbo]

29. What adds Hilarity to this

Trump can't sue over this because if he did, he has to admit those were his documents.

[SunSeeker]

36. Yep. The depositions would be a hoot! nt

[mfcorey1]

30. Well, Donald, you should have thought about that when DNC documents were leaked.

Karma is a %$*!

[rickford66]

34. My ESPat work

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028197621

[Beowulf42]

43. Logic? We don't need no stinking logic.

If the author or anyone else out there is looking for rational thought or any semblance of logic from the Trump campaign or the Republican Party, they're going to go home with an empty snipe bag. Anti-intellectualism is in the American DNA. We are a nation prone to seek answers in magic instead of reasoning things out using whatever real evidence one can find. Liking a candidate is more attractive that choosing the most sensible political program. Our society is teetering on the brink and I'm not sure we can save it.

[marble falls]

44. Ha ha ha ha ha ha - thats just too rich.

[bucolic_frolic]

45. You can't stiff your accountants