President Trump's Leaked Tax Return: What It Reveals
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for The American Center for Law and Justice, shared his thoughts on the leak of the president's tax information and who might be behind it on The 700 Club. Watch above.
Taxes are center stage in Washington today, but it's not proposed tax cuts for Americans that are getting all the attention. It's Donald Trump's taxes.
One of the president's leaked returns was disclosed on cable television last night and it reveals more than his political opponents expected.
TV host Rachel Maddow released details of Trump's leaked 2005 tax return on her MSNBC show.
She received the two-page 1040 tax form from financial journalist David Cay Johnston.
The question is – where did this come from? If it came from the IRS, an employee of the IRS or a former employee of the IRS, it is a crime. If it was released by a tax return preparer without the consent of the client, it is also crime.
-- Jay Sekulow, ACLJ chief counsel
Johnston says an unknown source sent it to his mailbox, but he offered some speculation on one possible source.
"Let me point out that it is entirely possible Donald sent this to me. Donald Trump over the years has leaked all sorts of things," Johnston said.
Democrats made Donald Trump's unwillingness to release his tax returns a top issue of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Last September, at the Hofstra University debate, Hillary Clinton pressed Trump, suggesting he was hiding something.
"Maybe he doesn't want the American people, all of you watching tonight to know that he has paid nothing in federal taxes," she insisted.
But contrary to speculation by Clinton and other political opponents, Trump's leaked 2005 tax return shows he paid $38 million in taxes on an income of more than $150 million. He also paid tens of millions of dollars in additional excise, sales, and employment taxes.
His tax rate: 25 percent.
That's higher than 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney paid in 2011.
I watched Rachel Maddow last night... and it was almost like a Comedy Central. What did it show? That Donald Trump made a lot of money and paid a lot of taxes. That was the story.
--Jay Sekulow, ACLJ chief counsel
Responding to the leaked tax return, the White House released a statement saying, "You know you are desperate for ratings when you're willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago."
The White House went on to say, "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. "
It is illegal for the IRS or anyone to obtain and release a person's federal tax returns without their permission, although journalists are protected if they report the returns if the information comes from an outside source.
And the question remains — who sent the 2005 tax return to Johnston?
Jill Colvin, Associated Press White House reporter, asks was it Trump, or someone else?
"Where these came from is going to be one of the key questions going forward. Who else has copies of these?" he asked. "How many of them exist? Are we going to start seeing other copies from different years pop up?"
About The Author
Mr. Lane served as International News Director and Senior International Correspondent for CBN News. He traveled to more than 120 countries—many of them restricted nations or areas hostile to Christianity and other minority faiths where he has interviewed persecution victims and provided video reports and analysis for CBN News. Also, he provided written stories and served as a consultant for the Voice of the Martyrs.
Gary joined The Christian Broadcasting Network in 1984 as the first full-time Middle East Correspondent for CBN News. Based in Jerusalem, Gary produced reports from Beirut on the Lebanese civil war. He was reassigned to Washington, D.C., at the start of President Reagan’s second term and served as National Security Correspondent from the U.S. State Department, Pentagon, Capitol Hill, and the White House.
Gary left CBN briefly in 1988 to work as Senior Press Secretary for Pat Robertson’s presidential campaign. Afterward, he returned to Washington and served as Washington Bureau Chief for CBN News from 1989-1992.
Gary transferred to CBN headquarters in Virginia Beach in 1996, where he began more extensive international traveling and reporting as a Senior Correspondent.
In addition to his extensive reporting on Christian persecution, Gary is also known for his reporting on the civil war in Sudan. He made 20 trips to the country since 1993 and also testified before Congress about the plight of Burmese refugees.
Gary produced numerous documentaries, including Americans Abandoned for the American Defense Institute, which afforded him the opportunity to become the first American journalist granted access to the Vietnamese Defense and Cultural Film archives. The investigative film about American POWs featured Vietnam War footage never seen before by Americans.
Gary also produced several persecution documentaries, including one about Christians in Egypt for Freedom House—Their Blood Cries Out—and another about attacks in Indonesia for The Voice of the Martyrs—Island Jihad. He also worked as a production consultant and videographer for the VOM video specials Underground Reality Vietnam and Underground Reality Colombia.
Over the years, Gary covered wars in Lebanon, Israel, Nicaragua, Angola, Burma, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Colombia, Libya, and Syria. He won several awards, including one from the National Gulf War Resource Center for his groundbreaking investigative reporting of Gulf War Illness, an affliction affecting veterans of Operation Desert Storm. The Australian Evangelical Press Association gave him an award for his reporting of a church massacre that occurred in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, shortly after 9-11.
Gary left CBN in 2000 to join the Voice of The Martyrs as their News Director, where he directed the mission’s multimedia efforts. Those included the website, monthly newsletter, video productions, publications, press releases, and media interviews.
Gary rejoined CBN in late 2003 as International News Director/Senior Correspondent. He served as executive producer of three weekly international news programs: Christian World News (CWN); Mundo Cristiano, a Spanish version of CWN produced in Costa Rica; and an Arabic language version of CWN, CWN Arabic, which was broadcast throughout North Africa and the Middle East. He also hosted and produced the weekly CBN News Channel program, The Global Lane.
Prior to CBN, Gary worked for various local television stations in Michigan, including one owned by Time Inc. and another by Knight-Ridder. Before that, he worked at local radio stations in Flint and Detroit.
Gary is a 1979 honors graduate of The University of Michigan, Flint, where he served as political editor of The University News, studied pre-law, and received an A.B. in political science and history.
