Donald Trump is being criticized by 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney because the New Yorker hasn’t released his personal tax returns. Four years ago, though, it was Trump who was suggesting Romney may have to release his.

“In Jan. 2012, speaking to Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, the real estate mogul discussed Mitt Romney, who was then a candidate seeking the Republican nomination,” Mediaite reports. “Romney had endured similar calls to disclose his tax returns.”

Van Susteren asked Trump in 2012 about Romney, saying, “If he called you in light of the situation he [is] in now from clamoring from opponents, would it political be shrewd he would release them now?”

“I think he may have to,” Trump responded.

I think he a step went too far. I think that April 1st or April 2nd was okay. But now I think in light of the fact that he started discussing some of the things, namely the rate or approximately the rate, I think it probably be better off just to release them now

Those who have heard the voice of Donald Trump’s publicist John Miller can be forgiven for thinking it sounded a little too familiar or that something wasn’t quite right with the situation. For three decades, Miller gave interviews to reporters on Trump’s behalf. But now that Trump has become the republican nominee for President, the bizarre truth has come out: “John Miller” is merely Donald Trump himself with a disguised voice – and there are audio recordings to prove it.

Trump, pretending to be the fictional publicist John Miller, called up various reporters for years in order to brag about himself in the third person. At other times Trump instead pretended to be John Barron, a fictional vice president of his own company. Apparently he wasn’t particularly good at the subterfuge, which his “disguised” voice merely being a less forceful version of his own, and sometimes he would slip up and refer to himself in the first person instead of the third.

Some reporters say they saw right through the disguise but allowed Trump to believe he was fooling them, so they could gain more information from him that way. Other reporters simply thought John Miller was a “creepy” publicist. In any case Donald Trump’s embarrassingly inept behavior is all coming out now that he’s a major party nominee for President. Listen to Trump pretending to be publicist John Miller below:

BNR and Ted Cruz come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, but Americans should heed his words on Trump.

Ted Cruz’s words will resonate for a long time to come. “Everyone who was responsible for the rise of Donald Trump, they will bear that responsibility going forward”

12h
Teddy Schleifer ✔ ?@teddyschleifer
Ted Cruz is asked if he has any tactical regrets:

"We executed well. We had a very capable team."
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Teddy Schleifer ✔ ?@teddyschleifer


Cruz is asked about Fox News:

"Everyone who was responsible for the rise of Donald Trump, they will bear that responsibility going forward"
7:43 PM - 12 May 2016
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Cruz may have been referring to Fox News, but his admonition pertains to all media, particularly those who are obsessed with undermining Hillary Clinton at the expense of the planet’s future.

Take note of Cruz’s warning, media, and act accordingly.

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AlGiordano
?@AlGiordano
I mean, was Ceraso behind the "harassment street theater" disaster? Did he oppose it? This may be a big part of the untold story of his exit

In the modern era, major-party presidential nominees are expected to make certain disclosures, just as a matter of course. Candidates for the nation’s highest office are expected to release information related to their personal health and public scrutiny of candidates’ tax returns is a given.

In December, Donald Trump more or less met the first of these two tests. His campaign released an unintentionally hilarious letter from Dr. Harold Bornstein, who claimed he’s been Trump’s personal physician since 1980. The physician insisted the Republican candidate’s “physical strength and stamina are extraordinary” and his recent lab tests results were “astonishingly excellent.” Bornstein added, “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”

And what of this fine physical specimen’s tax returns? The Associated Press reported this morning:
Despite pressure, the billionaire also doesn’t expect to release his tax returns before November, citing an ongoing audit of his finances. He said he will release them after the audit ends. But he said that he wouldn’t overrule his lawyers and instruct them to release his returns if the audit hasn’t concluded by November.

“There’s nothing to learn from them,” Trump told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. He also has said he doesn’t believe voters are interested.
I can’t speak to what voters may or may not find interesting, but if the AP report is correct, it appears Trump will be the first major-party nominee in the modern era to simply refuse to disclose his tax returns. Mitt Romney spent months delaying disclosure and making excuses, but in his 2012 race, even he eventually released his 2011 returns and a topline summary, including his effective tax rate, for the previous 20 years.

Trump, in contrast, is prepared to move forward with no disclosure in this area at all, prompting all kinds of questions about what, exactly, the Republican may be hiding from the public. Is he far less wealthy than he claims to be? Has most of his income come by way of television, rather than the purported success of his business?

We could know the answers – even if Trump is telling the truth about being audited, there’s nothing stopping him from releasing these materials – but according to the GOP candidate, we won’t.

It’ll be interesting to see whether or not the media gets tired of asking for the materials Trump doesn’t want to share, or if this will become a major issue in the fall.

Postscript: In case anyone’s wondering about whether Hillary Clinton has been more forthcoming in this area, the Democratic frontrunner released the last eight years’ worth of returns as her campaign got underway, and has made her returns public for every year dating back to 1977.

The Federal Elections Campaign released a letter to the Bernie Sanders campaign detailing campaign finance issues they have with his campaign with the latest forms Bernie 2016 filed. Now to be fair to Bernie, his campaign has refunded some of the people who donated more than $2,700 back in December and January, however there have been no listed refunds since then. To note this paperwork requires a response by 6/14/16 which just happens to be the day of the final primary so IF Bernie responds it will be as DC is filling out the last votes of the primary.

Some highlights include:

Actor/Bernie Supporter Mark Ruffalo continuing to donate after reaching his $2,700 limit and the campaign not refunding the excess money
Ahmed Abdelmeguid (highlighting him because he is first on the list) donating $12,604.05 from Jan 1st to March 31st
Someone named Scott Walker (and I highly doubt it’s the Wisconsin governor but I find it funny) donating $2,825.31
Attachment page 1 through the top of 595 are all donations that are above the $2,700.00 limit that have yet to be refunded. A lot of this is people making multiple donations and they may not realize they hit the $2,700 limit, though in the case of people like Mark Ruffalo who received a refund for reaching the limit and continuing to donate there is known deceit by the donator in my opinion

Now the fun part comes from pages 595 through 638 which are all foreign donations to the campaign and the last page is refunds that have no corresponding donation, just Bernie 2016 giving money to people randomly for no reason (which is probably the most innocent of the bunch since it is 100% possible that with all the donations there was a mistake in filing)

Just so everyone’s aware this is not just a problem with Bernie’s March filings, he also had a problem back with his February filing as well. In February he had a 264 page attachment with all his campaigns illegal donations received. That attachment has pages 1-241 have illegal donations over $2,700 that were not refunded and pages 241-263 of illegal donations and again the last page was money returned without an itemized reason.

By the way these are problems that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump do not have at all. This is a uniquely Bernie Sanders problem, one that brings questions about his understanding of campaign finance laws, his team’s understanding of those same laws and whether or not there is a knowing plan to deceive the FEC in order to raise funds

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/10/16
The real math on Sanders' steep path to a pledged delegate win
Steve Kornacki shows Rachel Maddow state-by-state how the pledged delegate math works in the remaining Democratic primary states, and just how favorable the outcomes have to be for Bernie Sanders to win enough pledged delegates to make his case to Democratic ... more Duration: 6:53

Hillary Clinton’s campaign website features an “issues” page where visitors can read the Democrat’s position papers on 31 different issues. Each page features a fairly detailed overview of the candidate’s approach to the issue – some, including the page on climate change, lead to additional resources with even more specific information – leaving little doubt as to how Clinton intends to govern if elected.

Donald Trump’s campaign website, meanwhile, features a “positions” page with summaries of the Republican candidate’s approach to seven issues. Most of the content is vague and boilerplate, and voters hoping to learn detailed information about how Trump would govern will need to look elsewhere

As it turns out, this isn’t an accident or the result of a bad web team. Rather, it’s the result of a deliberate decision on the part of the campaign to downplay substantive details ahead of the election. Politico reported yesterday:
A source familiar with Trump’s thinking explained that the billionaire businessman was reluctant to add new layers of policy experts now, feeling it would only muddy his populist message that has been hyperfocused on illegal immigration, trade and fighting Islamic extremists.

“He doesn’t want to waste time on policy and thinks it would make him less effective on the stump,” the Trump source said. “It won’t be until after he is elected but before he’s inaugurated that he will figure out exactly what he is going to do and who he is going to try to hire.”

Oh. So, Trump will eventually put together a policy agenda, but not until after the election. Voters should support the least-experienced, least-prepared presidential candidate of the modern era first, and then he’ll let the public know how he intends to govern.

The traditional model is for a candidate to present an agenda before the election – voters might want to know what they’re voting for – but who needs such antiquated niceties when there’s a nativist demagogue who doesn’t understand how government works running for the nation’s highest office?

Rob Reiner has voiced support for Hillary Clinton in the past, but the “Princess Bride” director is ready to up the ante.

In an appearance to promote his new film “And So It Goes,” the Hollywood icon explained to HuffPost Live’s Roy Sekoff that he would do everything in his power to make Clinton president in 2016.

“There’s nobody that has ever been more qualified to be president of the United States than Hillary Clinton,” he said. “Now will she run? I hope she does. And if she wants me to help her, I’ll do whatever I can.”

Reiner, who described Clinton as being “one of the smartest women” he’s ever met and “incredibly capable,” endorsed the then-New York senator in 2008, notably throwing her a joint fundraiser-60th birthday party at his Brentwood home in which he sang “Happy Birthday Mrs. President.”

“I’m interested in someone who can really manage those political waters,” he remarked at the time, referring to Clinton.

His admiration for her has yet to waver.

“I love Hillary,” Reiner told HuffPost Live. “I’ve always loved her. I loved her since she was in the White House at the beginning.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/09/rob-reiner-hillary-clinton_n_5571794.html

Watch the rest of Rob Reiner’s hilarious conversation with HuffPost Live below: